Riddled

**Riddled** is the eighteenth episode of Season 3 and the forty-second episode of *Teen Wolf*.

## Synopsis

Stiles goes missing. Scott and the others set off on a search. Lydia tries to master her new abilities.

## Plot

Stiles makes a panicked late-night phone call to Scott after he finds himself in a strange location with his leg in a steel trap. Lydia leads them to the mental health center where Barrow was committed, only to find that Stiles is not there. Scott's mother and father find Stiles, who had been sleepwalking. Derek and Kira find Stiles's baseball bat at the power station, and Derek deduces that Kira was indirectly responsible for the Nogitsune taking over Stiles's body. Stiles has an MRI scan to test for frontotemporal dementia, the same illness that caused his mother's death. The power then goes out, due to the Nogitsune having damaged the wiring on the roof the previous night. The Nogitsune, now in complete control of Stiles's body, confronts the remaining Oni, who are revealed to be led by Kira's mother.

## Cast

### Main Cast

* Tyler Posey as Scott McCall
* Crystal Reed as Allison Argent
* Dylan O'Brien as Stiles Stilinski
* Tyler Hoechlin as Derek Hale
* Holland Roden as Lydia Martin

### Supporting Cast

* Melissa Ponzio as Melissa McCall
* Linden Ashby as Sheriff Stilinski
* Daniel Sharman as Isaac Lahey
* Arden Cho as Kira Yukimura
* Max Carver as Aiden
* Matthew Del Negro as Rafael McCall
* Tamlyn Tomita as Noshiko Yukimura
* Tom T. Choi as Ken Yukimura
* Aaron Hendry as Nogitsune
* Brandon Boyce as Dr. Vandenburg
* Ryan Kelley as Deputy Jordan Parrish

## Continuity

* It is confirmed that Stiles is possessed by a Nogitsune in this episode.
	+ It is also revealed that in *Galvanize*, the Nogitsune used William Barrow to trigger Kira's foxfire so that Stiles would be shocked by it through his baseball bat (which was found at the electric substation by Derek and Kira), thereby jump-starting the Nogitsune's power inside of him.
* It is revealed that Claudia Stilinski died from complications due to frontotemporal dementia, which Stiles is believed to have inherited as a result of his recent symptoms, such as sleepwalking, vivid dreams during the day, and an inability to tell dreams from reality. Claudia's death was first mentioned in Season 1's *Lunatic*, and it was first suggested that he may have the same disease she had in *Silverfinger*.
* It is revealed that William Barrow was formerly a patient at Eichen House, and was admitted after he bombed the school bus. Barrow last appeared in *Galvanize*.
* Lydia, during her struggle with using her Banshee powers to find Stiles, mistakenly believes that Stiles had sleepwalked to Eichen House. However, it was actually revealed that Stiles was simply dreaming that he was in Eichen House, but in reality was in Malia Tate's old coyote den in the Beacon Hills Preserve. Stiles will eventually return to the place that he dreamed of in this episode in *Echo House*.
* Derek reveals to Scott that, during his visit with his mother's spirit, she told him that the Hales not only lived in Beacon Hills, but that they protected it. He then says Beacon Hills needs someone like Scott to protect it, and offers to mentor him on what he knows about being a Werewolf. Derek had this conversation with his mother's spirit in *Galvanize*.
* Aiden reveals that he overheard the conversation between Scott and Stiles in which Stiles confessed to believing he sent Barrow after Kira. This conversation occurred in *Silverfinger*.
* One of the riddles the Nogitsune asks Stiles is "When is a door not a door?", to which the answer is "When it's a jar [ajar]." Stiles hallucinated that Bobby Finstock and his entire business class were asking him this riddle in *Anchors*, which was then attributed to side-effects of the surrogate sacrifice ritual but which now appears to actually be a side-effect of his possession by the Nogitsune.
* Noshiko Yukimura reveals that she has a history with the Nogitsune possessing Stiles when she asks him if he remembers her. She also informed him that if the Oni demons couldn't defeat him, she knew of someone else who could, implying that it would be her daughter Kira. This history will be explored more in *The Fox and the Wolf*.
* During Stiles' dream, the Nogitsune draws the *jiko* kanji, which means "self." This symbol was first shown in *Illuminated*, when Isaac, Ethan, Aiden, Lydia, and Derek all had the mark tattooed behind their ear by the Oni after they successfully passed their test and were confirmed to not be possessed.
* This episode confirms the concept of "chemosignals," or signals in scent that supernaturals with super-senses can use to interpret emotion in people who have been in an area recently.
* The drawing of the Nemeton, which Lydia was seen drawing in *Unleashed*, *Currents*, and *The Girl Who Knew Too Much* was seen framed in Stiles' bedroom by Aiden.
* This episode marks the first time Lydia uses sound divination in order to glean information about a supernatural event when she plucks strings of yard in Stiles' room to figure out where Stiles is.
* This episode marks the first reference to Camp Oak Creek, a Japanese internment camp in Beacon Hills during World War II. This was discovered after Allison received a strange voicemail in Japanese of a recording from the camp instructing the campers to remain ten feet away from outside fences.
	+ Ironically, Allison would later be killed within ten feet of the fence surrounding Oak Creek in *Insatiable*, suggesting the recording was sent as a warning.

## Trivia

* The title refers to the various riddles that the Nogitsune asks Stiles when he was sleepwalking and ended up near-hypothermia in the coyote den. These riddles include:
	+ What gets bigger the more you take away? (A hole)
	+ What gets wetter the more it dries? (A towel)
	+ When is a door not a door? (When it's ajar)
	+ Everyone has it, but no one can lose it—what is it? (A shadow)

## Locations

* McCall House
	+ Scott's Bedroom
	+ Living Room
* Beacon Hills High School
	+ Art Room
	+ Locker Room
* Yukimura House
	+ Kira's Bedroom
* Stilinski House
	+ Stiles' Bedroom
* Beacon County Sheriff's Station
	+ Sheriff's Office
	+ Bullpen
* Eichen House
	+ Lobby
	+ Basement
* Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital
	+ Emergency Room Lobby
	+ Roof
	+ Parking Lot
	+ MRI room
* Beacon Hills Preserve
	+ Coyote Den
* Electric Substation
* Argent Apartment
	+ Foyer
	+ Allison's Bedroom

## Soundtrack

* "Let Me Be" by Harleighblu
	+ Lydia is sketching in the art room at school after-hours while Aiden models for her
* "A Million Drums" by Claire
	+ The light bulb in Kira's lamp goes out while she's studying, and when she goes to unscrew it, electricity flickers from her fingers into the bulb, making it glow so brightly it explodes
* "Gallows Strung" by Snow Ghosts
	+ Kira calls out to Scott at school, but he's too distracted to notice. Derek sees this and tells her that Scott is preoccupied before offering to help her himself
* Slippin Around" by Zhala
	+ Lydia is sitting alone in her car in the hospital parking lot, where she's overwhelmed by a Banshee premonition of Stiles getting his MRI, causing her to flinch at the loud clanging sounds she hears until she finally screams to get some relief
* "The Call" by Ruu Campbell
	+ Dr. Vandenburg tells Sheriff Stilinski and Melissa that Stiles' MRI shows signs of frontotemporal dementia

## Gallery

*Teen Wolf Wiki* has 55 images related to ***Riddled***.