Damnatio Memoriae is the 12th episode of Teen Wolf Season 5.
It aired on Tuesday January 12, 2016 at 9pm on MTV.
Damnatio Memoriae is Latin. Literally translated it means "condemnation of memory." It is a scholarly term for a punishment whereby the Roman Senate or an emperor could erase all traces of a person from the official history of Rome. This extended to seizure of property and removal of statues of the individual.
Synopsis[]
Without the support of his Teen Wolf Pack, Scott confronts what the Dread Doctors’ deadly success means for Beacon Hills.
Full Recap[]
Beacon Hills Sheriff’s dispatch radios an 11-5 (public relations assistance request) at the communication towers off Cypress Lane. The request comes from “Beacon Hills Telecom.” Hearing the report, Deputy Clark radios back that she is in the area and will check it out. Dispatch reports a technician was sent over an hour ago and has not reported back.
Clark has her sister in the Sheriff’s patrol vehicle. She’s been driving Hayden to work each night due to her three-day “disappearance” (Hayden was actually dead. See Status Asthmaticus). Arriving at the location, Clark tells Hayden to say in the truck while she goes inside to investigate.
Clark finds the tech’s truck still running and heads inside the building. Hayden, still in the car, hears someone whisper, “Help me.” She gets out of the vehicle and catches Liam’s reflection in the glass. Startled, she swings a fist at him. He ducks.
As they talk, Liam explains that he’s sent Hayden several texts and she’s been ignoring him. She makes a show of complaining that he left her for dead but he points out that she was actually dead. She tells him to go.
Deputy Clark finds the technician laying on the floor with a slashed neck and covered in blood. He whispers “Still here.” As he tries to say more, he gasps and dies.
Clark looks up in time to see an enormous clawed hand rising from the shadows. The claws pierce a steam pipe and a cloud engulfs the creature beyond. White eyes glow in the mist. Clark drops her flashlight at the creature bounds past her.
Making its way to the surface, it throws a gate in the direction of Liam and Hayden. Both take off running. Clark makes it outside and screams for Hayden to run.
The teens run through the woods. The creature is close behind. Coming to a ravine, Liam seems at a loss but Hayden says they can jump it. She makes it across with room to spare. Liam barely makes the other side and is hanging on to the edge of the cliff.
The creature catches up, leaps the ravine and comes at them from the other side. Liam pulls Hayden down and they both fall to the ravine bottom.
A few minutes later Hayden slaps Liam awake. She says she’s just making sure he’s alive. Liam explains that he can’t move his legs and thinks his back may be broken. Hayden asks if he'll heal and, hearing that he will eventually, starts to walk away. Liam wants her to stay but she says she needs to make sure her sister is all right. She also points out that Liam pulled her off a cliff and she’s lucky that she healed. Liam says he saved her life to which she responds, “This time.” Liam asks who saved her last time and she tells him it was Theo.
The prison transport driver who was attacked while taking Donovan to jail (See Dreamcatchers) remains hospitalized. Tracy and Theo enter his room. Recognizing Tracy from the night of the attack the officer reaches for his call button but Theo moves it out of reach. He asks Tracy if she wants him to kill the man for her. Tracy says her father defended someone on death row and she knows how lethal injection works. She pierces the IV bag with a claw and injects Kanima venom into it. The man dies within a few seconds. Tracy smiles slightly.
Deputy Parrish shows Scott the video from the attack at the Beacon Hills Telecom site. They can clearly see the large creature exiting the building. They discuss the fact that it’s big and too fast for anyone to get a good look at it. Scott realizes it’s the last chimera. Inside they use a black light (UV) to show the mercury fumes rising off the scene of the attack. They wonder why it would kill a random tech and Scott suggests that maybe the creature just likes to kill.
Scott asks Parrish how many bodies he sees when he dreams about the Nemeton. Parrish says, “Everyone.”
Scott tries his hand at creating a “murder board” like Stiles. He has pictures of all the known chimera and some red yarn. He ends up pinning a strand of yarn to his sleeve and, when he pulls it free, it pulls off much of his work.
Stiles has been asleep in his father’s hospital room. He wakes to find the Sheriff gone. He wanders the halls in search of him until he reaches the morgue. His father is looking at the sheet-covered body of Donovan. Stiles enters.
Chris Argent opens a safe and removes the large stalk of Yellow Wolfsbane he found in Season 4 (See Monstrous).
Sheriff Stilinski says the story Theo told about Donovan’s death was true except it didn’t happen to Theo. Stiles says yes but he couldn’t tell anyone. While his father indicates he would have believed that it was self-defense, Stiles isn’t sure that it was. He admits that he wanted Donovan dead. His father points out that there is a long way between wanting it and actually doing it. Stiles says he was worried about what a judge might think, his father says to hell with the judge. The Sheriff lays out quite clearly that it was self-defense and says he would destroy every piece of evidence to protect his son. He says he would burn the whole Sheriff’s Station to the ground.
They push Donovan’s body back into the morgue locker as Scott exits the elevator. He overhears the Sheriff say that arresting Kira was a mistake (See Ouroboros). Without a word, Scott leaves the pair to talk on their own. The Sheriff says he’s learning how to bend.
Stiles questions if the guilt over his actions will just go away. His father explains that it won’t. It is a burden Stiles must learn to bear. Saying such fatal mistakes are common in law enforcement, the Sheriff says it may not truly be okay again until there is a counterbalance. He suggests saving a life might help if only for a moment.
He explains Stiles emotional state like this:
- “The real conflict you’re having now is between your head and your heart. Your head knows the only crime you committed was surviving but your heart still thinks it was murder. I guess you’ve got to get your heart to catch up to your head.”
Stiles says he feels more than guilt. He feels like he lost something and he can’t get it back. The Sheriff agrees saying he won’t get it back entirely but can get a little bit by forgiving himself. He suggests he start by forgiving Scott. They hug.
Outside Sinema, Theo is waiting for Josh. He asks him how much he took. Josh says he had a lot but that it didn’t have any effect. Theo explains that he heals too fast for drugs to work. Josh says maybe Theo should have left him dead. Theo hands him a pair of jumper cables and attaches them to a battery. Josh powers up with lightning flowing from his hands. Josh looks happy. Theo senses Liam in the parking lot watching them.
Scott rides out to the Tate Family farm because Malia hasn’t been answering her phone. She refuses to help him saying that he won’t want her help after what she’s planning to do. He asks if it has something to do with the fact that he can hear two heartbeats inside the house and that hers is beating rapidly. She sends him away.
Inside, Braeden has former Soviet Special Forces agent (Spetsnaz) Kassian (Art Kulik) in a wrestling hold on the floor. They question him about the whereabouts of the Desert Wolf and, after bribing him with $10 thousand, he tells them that she was last seen at the Canadian border. He reports that she won’t fly. This is partly to avoid the surveillance cameras but also because she has a hostage, an “animal doctor.” Malia realizes she’s holding Dr. Deaton hostage.
At school, Liam explains about seeing Theo and Josh at Sinema. Mason puts together that Theo is building his own pack of dead chimeras. Liam says some thing is wrong with Hayden since she came back. Mason wonders if that’s what happens when they die, they come back all evil. Corey walks in with a big smile and asks them if they’re at school to help with the library clean up. Hoping to find out why he’s alive again, they decide to follow him.
Mason awkwardly tries to talk to Corey about coming back from the dead. Mason suggest the resurrection must have been difficult to explain to his parents but Corey says they don’t pay that much attention to him anyway. They are apparently glad they can sue the hospital now. Corey asks Mason out.
Stiles is getting a snack from the vending machine as EMT’s roll a gurney, with the body of the Telecom worker, passed him in the hospital.
Later, Stiles uses his father’s laptop (he has all his dad’s passwords) to look up the incident report on the creature’s attack. The Sheriff says he was hoping to Stiles wouldn’t find out about it. He says something seems to be missing from the surveillance video.
In Eichen House, Lydia Martin wakes up and rises from her bed. She hears tapping. When she looks back, she’s still lying on the bed asleep. She walks down the hallway in her dream and enters the room where she witnessed her grandmother’s trepanation as a child (See Lies of Omission). The bathtub is now full of black goo and a figure rises from the muck. It then, herky jerky, steps out of the tub and crawls along the floor. Lydia turns to leave but the door slams and locks. Behind her the figure stands up. It is Meredith Walker. She says, “Don’t be afraid.” Lydia begins to scream.
Deputy Clark is filling out her incident report and taking some ribbing for it from one of her fellow deputies.
The report reads:
- “Deputies were attacked by an enormous animal of undetermined species with possible pituitary gland disorder, at the Beacon Hills transmission tower. Beacon Hills Telecom requested an 11-5 at the transmission towers off Cypress Lane at 19:27. I was told a technician had been sent out over an hour ago that had not reported back. I proceeded to the towers with a ride along, my sister Hayden Clark.
- We arrived at the transmission towers at 27:25, upon arrival I found a telecom truck parked outside the towers its lights on and still running. I proceeded to the car to check for the driver, he was no where to be found. I turned off …”
She also lists the creature as 7 feet, 8 inches tall and 376 pounds.
- EDITOR’S NOTE: This report, as with most written props within the show, has some obvious problems. First is Hayden’s last name. It’s listed as Clark. That doesn’t segue with previous information provided by the show and other sources. There is also the matter of time. Clark says she arrived at the towers at “27:25” which is an hour that never actually comes (on this planet at least). As with most other props, this one won’t be used for the purpose of canon but is amusing.
Hayden is sitting in the Sheriff’s station. When her sister is called away, she senses or hears Theo in the building. She heads to the jail cell where he is waiting. He asks what she saw during the attack and Hayden says it looked exactly like the painting, just like Theo said it would. Theo asks if she’s told anyone else and Hayden says no because she didn’t think he would want her too. She questions why but Theo says she doesn’t need to know. He assures her that the creature is going to kill a lot of people but won’t kill them (the pack) if they’re together. Deputy Clark texts Hayden, “WHAT PART OF DON’T MOVE WAS UNCLEAR?”
- EDITOR’S NOTE: The text message is dated 12/14/15. This is the day they filmed the shot of the phone and is not an in-universe date. This date is not canon.
Theo asks if there is anything else Hayden wants to tell him. She says not really. He grabs her arm and warns her that she can’t hide anything from him.
Scott is in his bathroom doctoring his wound. The damage from where Theo clawed him on the supermoon looks deep and ragged, an almost a hand-sized hole in his chest. Stiles shows up and mentions that it is not yet healed. Scott brushes it off saying sometimes it takes longer. Stiles has come looking for Scott’s help much to his friend’s delight. They go over the footage of the attack and realize that no one other than the tech and Deputy Clark entered the building on the day of the attack. They surmise that there must be another entrance.
The cleanup of the school library is wrapping up and Corey is about to leave. Liam asks Mason what he plans to do to find out more about the risen chimeras. Mason says he doesn’t know but he’s got a date with Corey on Saturday.
Theo enters the school and hears a locker close. He senses Corey is camouflaged in the hallway. He calls him out and Corey appears. He chastises him for coming and helping with the cleanup saying he doesn’t have to be normal or nice anymore. Corey says he’s not going to hurt “them” meaning Mason and Liam. Theo claims he doesn’t want him to. He says he wants to protect them. Theo then threatens the teen saying Corey will come with him and do everything he says because he knows the other boy doesn’t want to die again.
At the Telecom building, Stiles and Scott find a grate in the floor. It is under a heavy piece of equipment. Scott tries to lift it but can’t. His werewolf strength fails him. With Stiles’ help they are able to lift it and clear the hole in the floor.
Mason is texting Corey but getting no response. Liam can sense that Theo was at the school and that he and Corey left together. Mason suggests that Liam should tell Scott about the risen chimera situation. Liam doesn’t know how to start. He doesn’t think Scott would even want to talk to him after he tried to kill him during the supermoon. Mason says if he starts with “sorry” the rest probably won’t matter.
Nurse Cross (Mandy Levin) is cajoling a catatonic Lydia. She believes the girl is faking to get something. She says they can keep someone as “dangerous” as Lydia locked up for the rest of her life. Lydia and Meredith are watching from across the room. Meredith explains that Lydia needs to wake up or her friends will die. She says Lydia knows how to fight, that she learned more and faster than any ordinary person would. She then promises to teach Lydia how to use her voice as a weapon.
Scott and Stiles descend to the tunnel below the Telecom building. They find more mercury on the floor and two Latin words scrawled on the floor, Damnatio Memoriae. Scott asks Stiles to hold a light so he can take a picture. The light slips away as Stiles collapses to the floor. Tracy has scratched him with Kanima venom.
Tracy and Scott trade blows. Josh shows up sparking behind Scott and Stiles shouts a warning. Scott maneuvers Tracy into Josh. Josh is paralyzed by her claws and she is knocked to the floor by his electricity.
Scott turns to the wall of the tunnel and growls, red eyes glowing. Corey becomes visible and visibly terrified.
Theo steps in and says his pack isn’t ready to take on an alpha. He takes a dig at Corey saying that Scott can smell fear. Corey is shaken and points out that Scott has fangs. Scott is stunned having just learned that the formerly dead chimeras are alive again. Theo says he found some new friends because he doesn’t take rejection well.
Corey and Tracy carry Josh away. Theo stays behind and viciously cracks the floor wiping out the words etched there. He explains that he’s on Scott’s side against the creature. He says they’re going to go back to school and pretend like they’re normal teenagers but at night they’ll be fighting for their lives. Theo says the creature is not a chimera. Scott points out that there is a kid underneath but Theo says not anymore.
Liam heads to the Beacon Hills Animal Clinic to find Scott. Hayden finds him there and they make up. She asks if he really almost killed Scott to save her. He blames it on the supermoon but admits he did. She admits that something is different with her now. She says nothing feels the same, nothing feels right except for him. They kiss.
Scott helps a paralyzed Stiles sit up. Stiles remembers the worlds on the floor and explains that Damnatio Memoriae means “condemnation of memory.” He surmises that it means the Dread Doctors didn’t create a new creature but resurrected one.
Chris goes to see Gerard Argent. The old man is still sick and leaking black goo. Chris produces the yellow wolfsbane and tosses it on the floor. Gerard falls on it and begins eating the flowers. He spits in his hand and, instead of black goo, it’s bright red blood. Gerard is disgusted that Chris went to all this trouble just to save Scott. Chris mentions the Dread Doctors and Gerard seems to know quite a bit about them. He surmises they’ve succeeded in resurrecting The Beast of Gevaudan.
Scott draws the inner circle of his pack symbol in the dirt on the tunnel floor. He tells Stiles that if Theo has his own pack, they need to bring their pack back together. Stiles points out that Kira is currently battling a homicidal fox spirit inside her, Malia isn’t speaking to either of them, Lydia is stuck in Eichen House and Liam tried to kill Scott. Scott says they’ll bring them back one by one. He then has Stiles finish the pack symbol by drawing the outer circle. Scott then helps his friend to his feet and they leave the tunnel. Stiles mentions again how he still hates Scott’s tattoo.
Kira and Noshiko Yukimura arrive in the New Mexico desert (Location: Vasquez Rocks, California). Kira mentions they’re looking for Skinwalkers. Noshiko says the skinwalkers will find them. Hands reach out from the desert floor and three people climb up out of the sand. They are Native Americans. Noshiko tells Kira to take out her sword and she does.
Soundtrack[]
- Howard - “Religion”
- Scene: Hayden and Deputy Clark have a talk in the car.
- Caleb Hawley - “Bada Boom, Bada Bing”
- Scene: Scott works on his own murder board.
- Black Tiger Sex Machine & DEAD BATTERY - “Rapid Fire”
- Scene: Josh powers up while Liam watches.
- NITEPPL - “Shout”
- Scene: Corey asks Mason out.
- Ed Sheeran & Rudimental - “Bloodstream”
- Scene: Stiles comes to Scott for help.
- Clarity - “Exorcism”
- Scene: Liam and Hayden share a moment outside the Animal Clinic.
- Nathan Ball - “Howling”
- Scene: Scott and Stiles leave the tunnels.
Episodes List[]
| ← Season 5 Season 5 Season 6 → | |||
| #01 Creatures of the Night | #06 Required Reading | #11 The Last Chimera | #16 Lie Ability |
| #02 Parasomnia | #07 Strange Frequencies | #12 Damnatio Memoriae | #17 A Credible Threat |
| #03 Dreamcatchers | #08 Ouroboros | #13 Codominance | #18 Maid of Gevaudan |
| #04 Condition Terminal | #09 Lies of Omission | #14 The Sword and the Spirit | #19 The Beast of Beacon Hills |
| #05 A Novel Approach | #10 Status Asthmaticus | #15 Amplification | #20 Apotheosis |
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