Damnatio Memoriae

**Damnatio Memoriae** is the twelfth episode of Season 5 and the seventy-second episode of the series.

## Synopsis

Without the support of his pack, Scott confronts what the Dread Doctors' deadly success means for Beacon Hills.

## Plot

### Telecommunications Towers

Deputy Valerie Clark is driving her sister, Hayden, to work. Clark explains that because she was gone for three days, she's not letting her out of her sight. She then adds, "For all I knew, you could have been dead," and Hayden frowns at the memory of dying in *Status Asthmaticus*. The deputy receives a message on the radio asking her to check out an abandoned truck near the telecom station, as they lost contact with the technician they sent there. When they arrive, Clark gets out of the car to investigate and instructs Hayden to stay behind. The truck is still on, so she turns it off. She proceeds to check out the building. It appears to have been broken into, and with her flashlight and gun in hand, she proceeds into the building and down the stairs.

Hayden waits in the car until her enhanced hearing picks up a voice coming from inside the building saying, “Help me.” Hayden, worried about her sister, gets out of the car to back her up, but before she can go inside, Liam appears and surprises her. He's clearly worried about her and sad that she didn't tell him that she was alive or respond to any of his texts. Meanwhile, inside the transmission towers, Clark finds a badly wounded man whose neck has been clawed out, though he's still barely alive. To Clark's horror, she turns to find the Beast, who claws out a pipe before running past her and out of the building. Once outside, it heads straight for Liam and Hayden, who immediately start to run as Hayden asks Liam what the creature is. He has no idea and tells her to keep running, and behind them, Clark has run out of the building and screams at them to run.

They do just that until they reach the ravine, and Hayden convinces Liam that with their super-strength and agility, they can jump across it. They get a running start and run across, but while Hayden easily clears the space, Liam just barely makes it and hangs off the edge. Unfortunately, the Beast is able to make it across the ravine as well, and at a loss for options, Liam grabs Hayden by the ankle and pulls them both into the ravine. The Beast abandons them and instead runs off into town.

### Ravine

Hayden finds Liam unconscious on top of a large boulder and slaps him several times to wake him up. Once he does, he realizes that he can't move because he broke his back when he landed and he can't feel his legs. Hayden asks him if it will heal, and when Liam assumes that it will eventually, Hayden gets up to leave. Liam is appalled that she'd just leave him there, but Hayden insists that she needs to check on her sister and that since he pulled her into the ravine, she's lucky she healed. She also once again references Liam leaving her for dead, and when Liam asks her who brought her back, Hayden reluctantly admits that it was Theo before she leaves.

### Hospital

Tracy and Theo are at the hospital, where they're visiting the prison guard who Tracy mauled in her night terror in *Dreamcatchers*.

## Cast

### Main Cast

* Tyler Posey as Scott McCall
* Dylan O'Brien as Stiles Stilinski
* Holland Roden as Lydia Martin
* Shelley Hennig as Malia Tate
* Arden Cho as Kira Yukimura
* Dylan Sprayberry as Liam Dunbar

### Supporting Cast

* JR Bourne as Chris Argent
* Linden Ashby as Sheriff Stilinski
* Ryan Kelley as Deputy Jordan Parrish
* Tamlyn Tomita as Noshiko Yukimura
* Cody Christian as Theo Raeken
* Khylin Rhambo as Mason Hewitt
* Kelsey Asbille as Tracy Stewart
* Victoria Moroles as Hayden Romero
* Michael Johnston as Corey
* Meagan Tandy as Braeden
* Michael Hogan as Gerard Argent
* Maya Eshet as Meredith Walker
* Benita Robledo as Deputy Valerie Clark
* Henry Zaga as Josh Diaz
* Tiffany Phillips as Dark Spirit (Skinwalker #1)
* Emily Alabi as Black Night (Skinwalker #2)
* Tonantzin Carmelo as Skinwalker #3
* Aaron Thornton as Deputy Strauss
* Art Kulik as Kassian
* Mandy Levin as Nurse Cross

### Guest Cast

* Andrew Thacher as Telecom Technician
* Chris Gann as Driver

## Continuity

* This episode introduces a new supernatural species, the Skinwalkers. It also introduces several new characters, including three Skinwalkers, a new Sheriff's deputy named Strauss, and a Soviet Special Forces member named Kassian who has information on the Desert Wolf for Malia and Braeden.
* Kira and Noshiko Yukimura appear at the end of this episode. She was last seen in *Ouroboros*.
* Nurse Cross appears in this episode. She was last seen in *Creatures of the Night*.
* Meredith Walker appears in this episode. She was last seen in *Monstrous*.
	+ She also offers to teach Lydia how to use her Banshee scream as a weapon, which Lydia was seen using in *Creatures of the Night*.
* Hayden's death in *Status Asthmaticus* was referenced several times in this episode.
* Scott's wounds from Theo killing him still haven't finished healing for the second episode in a row, though they do look slightlybetter. The wounds were caused in *Status Asthmaticus*.
* The Desert Wolf was mentioned by Malia and Braeden while they were interrogating a Soviet Special Forces (*Spetsnatz*) member named Kassian. She was last seen in *Ouroboros* and last mentioned in *Status Asthmaticus*.
	+ Alan Deaton was also mentioned as the Desert Wolf's hostage. He was also last seen in *Ouroboros*, and left Beacon Hills to research the Dread Doctors in *Condition Terminal*.
* Scott and Stiles begin to repair their friendship and vow to reunite their pack. They "broke up" in *Lies of Omission*.
* La Bête du Gévaudan was seen for the first time in person by Liam, Hayden, and Valerie. It was apparently resurrected sometime between *Lies of Omission* and *Status Asthmaticus.* The Beast was first mentioned in the series in Season 1's *Heart Monitor*.
* It is established that supernatural creatures with accelerated healing abilities can heal from a broken spine after Liam falls and breaks his back when he lands on a boulder. This will come into play again in the Season 5 *Apotheosis*.
* The prison driver who Tracy mauled in *Dreamcatchers* appears in this episode, when Theo and Tracy went to the hospital to finish him off.
	+ Mr. Stewart was also mentioned by Tracy in this episode, and was last seen in *Dreamcatchers* as well.
* Stiles finally confesses to Sheriff Stilinski that he killed Donovan Donati in *A Novel Approach* in this episode.
* The yellow wolfsbane that Chris Argent put in his safe at Argent Arms International in *Monstrous* came back into play in this episode, when he gives it to Gerard in order to heal him from the condition that makes him bleed black blood from his facial orifices.
	+ However, how exactly the wolfsbane healed him remains unknown.
* Sheriff references Kira's arrest in this episode when he tells Stiles that arresting her was a mistake. She was arrested for homicide in *Ouroboros*.

## Trivia

* The title is a reference to *damnatio memoriae*, a type of punishment that was popularized in Ancient Rome. It is Latin for "condemnation of memory," as they believed that being forgotten by history was a punishment worse than death. For that reason, those who received this punishment had their names stricken from written record, their faces chiseled off of sculptures, and in some cases, their property was all seized, erasing any and all vestiges of a person's existence from recorded history.
	+ It is implied that the Beast's human identity was given this punishment as a result of their crimes, and that the Dread Doctors resurrected them and are now trying to get them to remember themselves.
* Despite Scott's wounds not being healed yet, Scott transformed into a werewolf in this episode, confirming that his powers are still intact.
* The Soviet Special Forces soldier that Malia and Braeden captured, Kassian, revealed that the Desert Wolf and Alan Deaton were last seen at the United States/Canada border, and that she is heading for Beacon Hills.
* It is implied that the resurrected Chimeras have come back darker and with less humanity than before they were killed. It's unknown if this is a reaction to resurrection in general, the serum that was used to revive them, the fact that they are Chimeras, or a combination.
	+ Deaton explained in *Alpha Pact* that the surrogate sacrifice ritual would cause Scott, Stiles, and Allison to have a darkness around their hearts, so it is possible that all resurrection rituals will have this effect.
	+ It is also unknown what effects Scott being resurrected for a second time will have, if this is true.
* Liam and Hayden rekindled their romantic relationship after Hayden confessed that her feelings for him are the only thing that feels right after her resurrection.

## Body Count

* Telecom Technician - mauled to death; killed by The Beast of Gevaudan
* Prison Driver - suffocation via Kanima venom; killed by Tracy Stewart

## Locations

* Beacon Hills, California
	+ Beacon Hills Telecommunication Towers
		- Parking Lot
		- Basement
	+ Beacon Hills Preserve
		- Ravine
	+ Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital
		- Prison Driver's Room
		- Sheriff's Room
		- Morgue
	+ Beacon County Sheriff's Station
		- Parking Lot
		- Bullpen
		- Holding Cells
	+ Argent Arms International
	+ Sinema
	+ Tate Ranch
		- Front Porch
		- Living Room
	+ Beacon Hills High School
		- Library
	+ Eichen House
		- Closed Unit
			* Lydia's Room
	+ McCall House
		- Scott's Bedroom/Bathroom
	+ Underground Sewers
	+ Beacon Hills Animal Clinic
		- Parking Lot
	+ Beacon Hills Nursing Home
		- Gerard's Room
* Shiprock, New Mexico
	+ Skinwalkers' Desert

## Soundtrack

* "Religion" by Howard
	+ Hayden and Valerie drive to the telecom towers so Valerie can investigate an unresponsive technician.
* "Bada Boom, Bada Bing" by Caleb Hawley
	+ Scott works on his own crime board in his bedroom, but accidentally drops a bunch of the files and photos.
* "Rapid Fire" by Black Tiger Sex Machine & DEAD BATTERY
	+ Josh laments the fact that he can no longer get high on drugs, and Theo shows him how he can get a similar high by siphoning electricity from a car battery while Liam watches from the shadows.
* "Shout" by NITEPPL
	+ Corey asks Mason out while they volunteer at the school's library.
* "Bloodstream" by Ed Sheeran & Rudimental
	+ Scott bandages up his still unhealed wound in his bathroom. Stiles arrives and is worried about the wound before asking him for his help in figuring out who is the last Chimera.
* "Exorcism" by Clairity
	+ Hayden arrives at the animal clinic to talk to Liam. She admits that her relationship with him is the only thing that feels right since her resurrection, and the two kiss passionately.
* "Howling" by Nathan Ball
	+ Scott and Stiles vow to reunite the pack, and they write the symbol for the McCall Pack in the dirt on the floor before they leave the tunnels.

## Gallery

*Teen Wolf Wiki* has 44 images related to ***Damnatio Memoriae***.
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