Teen Wolf season 5, episode 12, “Damnatio Memoriae,” just finished airing, and the Beast is getting even closer to our heroes.

Right off the bat we learn that Hayden had been missing for three days, though her sister wasn’t aware she actually died. Deputy Clarke, who has already had suspicions about the strange happenings in Beacon Hills, is now aware of the Beast, having come face to face with it.

Luckily for her, it wasn’t interested in an officer of the law. Unluckily for Hayden and Liam, it was interested in them. It chases after the pair, who don’t have time to talk about what happened, and right when it looks like they’re between a rock and a really high cliff, Liam pitches them over the side to get away from it.

While Hayden seems to have a lock on the whole not being homicidal thing, Tracey is having a bit of trouble. She visits the guy who drove Donovan in the van, the only witness to her earlier killing spree while under the Dread Doctors’ control. She kills him using her Kanima venom.

In a scene we’ve been waiting for since Donovan was killed, Sheriff and Stiles finally talk about what happened. The sheriff has no problem forgiving his son, even telling him, “I would destroy every shred of evidence to protect you. I would burn the sheriff’s station to the ground.” Looks like the sheriff has no problem bending the rules anymore. Melissa is going to be so proud.

And he gives Stiles a good piece of advice: Forgive Scott.

Scott goes to Malia for help, but she says she can’t do anything to help him, especially since she’s about to do something he’s not going to like. Inside, Braeden is wrestling with a Soviet Special Forces operative, but no amount of violence will get him to talk. Thankfully, buying him off works just fine. Braeden and Malia find out the desert wolf is on the move and she still has Deaton as a hostage.

Soon after her admittance into Eihen House, Lydia appears to astral project. She goes into a room with a bathtub much like the one her grandmother was found in. Out of it, covered in black goo, rises Meredith, who tells Lydia not to be afraid. Naturally, Lydia screams her head off.

Stiles shows up at Scott’s house to ask for help, and it’s clear Scott is trying not to bounce across the room with happiness. But he’s quickly brought back down the Earth when Stiles asks the big question: If two people went in the building and three people came out, where did the Beast come from?

Theo continues to weave his web of dead chimeras, manipulating them into going to him for protection or power and getting them to report back to him in return. Hayden seems hesitant to trust him, and he’s quick to not-so-subtly warn her against keeping anything from him. Corey is also hesitant to do any damage, but he’s a lot easier to bully into following through on Theo’s plans.

Back at Eichen, Meredith tells Lydia she needs to wake up in order to help her friends, though Lydia isn’t sure how. Meredith also promises to teach Lydia how to use her voice as a weapon. Yes!

Stiles and Scott go back to the scene of the crime to find out where the Beast came from. Unfortunately, Theo’s chimeras show up and Stiles gets the Kanima venom once again. And he’s not the only one to get a taste. “Sucks, doesn’t it?”

Theo calls the chimeras off before Scott can take all of them out, and now everyone knows everyone else is alive. Theo tries to tell Scott they need to work together to beat the Beast, but no one is feeling particularly fuzzy toward him at the moment.

Theo also destroys the words the Beast wrote, which read, “Damnatio Memoriae.” It’s unclear why he felt the need to do this if he really wants Scott’s help destroying the monster, but either way Stiles knows what it means — condemnation of memory. This proves the beast is very old.

In the next scene, we learn the Beast is indeed La Bête du Gévaudan, which has a connection with the Argent family. And speaking of the Argents, we get our first glimpse of Gerard since the end of season 3. He’s still as leaky as ever, but a special flower from Chris rejuvenates him. We can only hope this is the beginning of the end for the Argent patriarch. The Beast’s only job is to kill, and we hope he has no problem taking out Grandpa Argent.

After a touching scene between Scott and Stiles with them rekindling their friendship and building the pack back up from the ground again, we see Kira arrive in the desert with her mom. Skinwalkers rise from beneath the and, and Noshiko tells her daughter to get out her sword.

This episode gave us a bit more information about the Beast, but it was mostly about rekindling relationships. Scott and Stiles had the most ground to cover, and though not everyone is back to where they were, they’re certainly getting there. We can only hope the next episode brings us even closer to getting Scott’s pack back in order.

What did you think of ‘Teen Wolf’ season 5, episode 12, ‘Damnatio Memoriae’?