Everything You Need to Remember from Season 3

Teen Wolf, MTV's thrilling show about teenaged werewolves that not enough people are watching, will return for its fourth season on Monday night, and boy, does it have a lot of explaining to do. The second half of the third season, which had its own winter premiere and functioned almost entirely outside of the former half, saw everyone’s favorite comic relief possessed by a chaos-hungry evil fox spirit, the ultimate badass warrior huntress die, and the absolute sweetest teenaged werewolf out there harness his powers as the most powerful Alpha in over a century, based only on the merits of his pure, pure heart. Also, there was a were-jaguar.

Basically, a lot went down and with the complex lore and many important relationships at the center of Teen Wolf, it can be hard to keep track of everything—especially when you have to wait three months between seasons. But it's very important that you remember all of last season's important developments before diving into Season 4, which promises to be…a lot of things. Romantic relationships will be deepening, lore will be expanding, and we’ll finally get those kids back on the lacrosse field. Here’s a breakdown of what went on last season.

The New Girl in Town and The Nogitsune

After surviving, you know, dying in a bathtub, Scott, Allison, and Stiles dealt with the darkness surrounding their hearts. For Scott and Allison that meant some hallucinations and a pretty tough time, but for Stiles, it meant being possessed by a dark trickster spirit, a Nogitsune. The Nogitsune spirit had been lurking in the Nemeton, the metaphorical lightning rod for all the Big Bads in Beacon Hills, and where the trio found their parents after their hallucination-by-death ritual.

When new girl Kira rolled into town with her awesome dad and mysterious mom, she brought with her the power of the Kitsune, an electricity and katana-wielding trickster spirit. Her mother is a 900+ year old Kitsune who has brought her Oni guards with her to try and find the Nogitsune and destroy it. This all happened to occur at the same time that Kira discovered that she is a Kitsune, and when she’s kidnapped by a mass-murdering electrical engineer, his attempt to electrocute her backfired when she harnessed the electricity and magnified it, killing him and causing a surge that awakened the Nogitsune hidden in Stiles’s body and allowed it to begin possessing him. Got all that?

Derek & Peter

Season 3b began with Derek and Peter being held captive by Spanish-speaking hunters asking about the she-wolf, seemingly referring to Derek’s sister, Cora. They were rescued by Braeden, the mercenary who likes to pop up every once in a while, and returned to Beacon Hills, where Derek becomes Scott’s beta/were-mentor. Derek and Peter returned with the werewolf claws of Derek’s dead mother, which contain a memory that she took from Peter. Peter exchanged information with Lydia for her help in harnessing the memory from the claws, and she discovered that Peter is a father. Lydia only told Allison what she learned, and that she believes his daughter is Malia Tate, a girl whose family was killed by a were-coyote that also bit her, trapping her in her transformed animal state, until Scott and the gang discovered her and helped transform her back into a human teenager.

Echo House

Once back in her human form, Malia made out (and possibly more) with Stiles in the mental institution they’d each checked themselves into, Eichen House — which happens to be where the body of the Nogitsune’s former host is stored. Stiles was forced to let the Nogitsune fully take over his body so it wouldn't kill Malia. Saved, Malia set out to find Scott, who joined forces with Lydia to enter Stiles’ possessed consciousness and free him, causing the Nogitsune and Stiles to split into two physical beings, severely weakening Stiles, and strengthening the Nogitsune.

Allison’s Death

With the Nogitsune in full possession of a host body, he was able to take control of the Oni and turn them to fight against all of the werewolves, Allison, and Kira, who didn't know how to defeat them. Just as Allison killed the first Oni with a silver arrow, the Oni stabbed her with his katana, killing her, and breaking everyone's heart. The Oni and Beacon Hills gang ended the battle, but there was little time to grieve for Allison, as the Nogitsune began to use the Oni to take over the town. Isaac and Mr. Argent discovered the other silver arrows that Allison created, which they used to kill some other Oni while Scott, Lydia, Kira, and an almost-dead Stiles tracked down the Nogitsune in the high school. Aiden was also killed, just before the Oni were defeated.

After uncovering a comically tiny scroll that instructs the only way to defeat the Nogitsune is to change it’s form, Lydia and Kira distracted the Nogitsune, while Scott bit him to transform him into a werewolf. Kira then stabbed it with her katana, ultimately destroying it’s host (AKA Dark Stiles). Isaac trapped the Nogitsune spirit, taking the form of a fly, in the Nemton-wooden cylinder that formerly held Derek’s mother’s claws.

A New Pack

The season ended with Scott’s ragtag team of shape-shifters, humans, and banshees beginning to take shape. Scott and Stiles taught Malia how to control her shift, Ethan told Danny he’s leaving Beacon Hills, who responded that he knows all about werewolves because Danny is super smart, and Lydia and Malia shared a devastating look that reminded fans that Allison is gone forever.

But not everyone is gone forever, apparently. Derek went to Stiles to ask him how to tell if what's happening to him is real or a dream and it was revealed that he was, in fact, dreaming. He then woke to find that Kate Argent, instead of being killed by Peter’s claws, was transformed into a werewolf-like creature, and is there to abduct him.

Now, after a wait that was exactly three months too long, we'll finally find out how all of this will affect out favorite characters as they enter Season 4.

Images: MTV