This week’s Teen Wolf is all about upping the stakes, continuing from last week’s revelation that someone is paying assassins to kill off Beacon Hill’s supernatural community. There are finally hints that the separate plot points are beginning to knit together, which will hopefully lead to a more cohesive story in the near future.

“I.E.D” begins with the murder of a frightened beta werewolf by Garrett and Violet, the two teen assassins who decapitated the keg delivery guy last week. It isn’t nearly as frightening as the murder of the wendigo family, probably because bratty 15-year-olds aren’t very intimidating, even when they’re deadly assassins. Don’t they have curfew to make or something?

At the Beacon Hills Police Station, Stiles and Scott fill the Sheriff in on the “dead pool” details, including how all of the assassins are evidently being paid with the Hale’s stolen money. However, what Lydia managed to crack last week was only a third of the list. With the help of Kira and Malia, Lydia tries to trigger her banshee powers to no avail. At least until she calls Meredith. It was great to see the other banshee again, especially since her circumstances are so enigmatic and intriguing. While her advice to Lydia is frustratingly cryptic, Lydia deciphers it to find the key to the next third of the hit list.

Over at the high school, Scott, Stiles, Liam, and Kira (yay, my wish came true!) get ready for their upcoming lacrosse match against Liam’s old school. While his anger issues threaten to cause Liam to lose control, it’s Garrett everyone really worries about. They pretty quickly realize that he’s the killer, thanks to Stiles’ inappropriate classroom inspection of crime scene photos, not to mention the fact that Garrett attempts to murder Liam with a wolfsbane-laced lacrosse stick. Because of course he does. Not for the first time, I wonder how no one notices the attempted murder that takes place on the field.

In the locker rooms, Violet attempts to murder Liam’s rival Brett, a werewolf himself. It turns out to be a ploy to attract Scott to the scene. When he arrives to find Brett mostly unharmed, he’s attacked by Violet, who’s sick of killing betas for chump change. Except that Scott is basically the werewolf messiah, so he brushes Violet off like a flea and knocks her clean out. Silly freshmen. That’s what happens when you mess with the Teen Wolf©.

Chris Argent is back from Paris and he’s going after Kate, even if it means slipping back into his old ways. As he meets up with Derek to discuss his undead sister, Derek reveals that Kate is apparently draining his werewolf powers dry. Can nothing go right for him ever? At least we get to see him lurk in the boys locker room and intimidate innocent betas. Just like old times.

Lydia learns some fun facts about Deputy Parrish this week, namely that his first name is Jordan and he’s a supernatural creature. Well, duh. He’s probably an angel. Or a unicorn. Or something else equally precious. If he turns out to be evil, I will cry.

Speaking of Lydia, her expression of frustration at being the only one with sucky powers is very emotional. I’m not sure it’s intentional, but her outburst is witnessed by several background students, which serves as a reminder of the fact that everyone at Beacon Hills High thinks she’s unstable. It seems like the life of a banshee is a difficult one, with no apparent way to achieve normality.

“I.E.D” did a decent job of keeping the hit list plot moving while also reintroducing the stolen money/Kate Argent plot. Both Chris’ renewed vigor to find and apprehend Kate and the hint that the Benefactor is paying the hit-people when Hale bearer bonds cemented the previously separate storylines. Hopefully it’ll become a lot clearer how everything connects as Teen Wolf moves forward.

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