#derek meta

I can't remember New York being specifically mentioned in the series as the place Derek and Laura lived before they came back to Beacon Hills. If I’m mistaken, please correct me. 

We do know that Derek has a New York driver’s license - Kate looks at it in season 1. This could of course be a fake. 

Also I think Jeff might have mentioned it in interviews at some point. He did get a question during one of his Tumblr Q&As a few years back about what Derek and Laura did in New York which indicates this as a fact and he didn’t deny it.

What did Derek and Laura do in New York?They went to Splash Bar.Link

Firstly here’s a link to the gifset. 

I think the answer might tie into the conversation and other things going on in that scene. Let’s ask ourselves the always important question of WHY WAS THIS SCENE INCLUDED?

Stiles: What the hell is happening to this kid? Deaton: He’s been poisoned by a rare wolfsbane. I need to make an incision and you need to hold him as still as possible. Stiles: Hey, Derek, how about a little werewolf strength? Derek: Yeah, I’m not the only one here with werewolf strength. Deaton: If you can’t hold him still, the incision might kill him. Stiles: Derek, he’s slipping. I don’t think I can hold him. Ah! Peter: I guess I still have a little werewolf strength myself. Derek: Yeah, maybe more than a little. Stiles: Hey, Doc, I don’t think he’s breathing. Is he okay? Deaton: I think he’ll be fine, but probably out for a while. Stiles: Guys, can you hear that? I think he’s saying something. Brett: The sun… The moon… The truth… The sun… The moon… The truth… Deaton: Three things cannot long be hidden. The sun, the moon, and the truth. It’s Buddhist. Peter: Satomi.

This scene gives us both overt and subvert information 

How to get the rare wolsbane poison out of a body

Peter is strong again. He’s been saying that he’s physically weak since he came back from the dead, in fact he’s taken great care to repeat it several times. This raises the question of HOW he got his strength back and so suddenly.

The Satomi buddist mantra is repeated, this will become important later in the season, so great reminder.

Derek is losing his strength. His cuts heal more slowly. Stiles clearly notices

Derek’s cryptic “I’m not the only one here with werewolf strength” that I believe is at least partly in reference to Stiles, who is managing to hold Brett down rather well considering he’s a werewolf with panic and spasms and Derek is losing his powers. 

I think Derek is perhaps one of the few who has actually noticed that Stiles is stronger than you would expect from a human. They have not spent all that much time together lately (that we know of) and in this scene Stiles comments and notices Derek’s diminishing strength and for the first time Derek actually somewhat cryptically addresses Stiles’ increasing strength. Stiles reaction when he says that is very telling. 

The wonderfully clever, and yet sometimes also frustrating thing about TW is that the dialogue is so layered. We can watch a scene and think we understand what just happened and then you sit down and watch it again and really pay attention to what is said, and it can turn out that it’s worded in such a way that you might not have understood it the right way after all. Or maybe there isn’t a right way - perhaps both ways are true. 

So stiles is slightly baffled that Derek is struggling to hold Brett down. In fact they’re showing about equal strength in this scene. And Derek isn’t fully human yet, he’s just a bit drained at this stage. So this serves to make Stiles aware that all is not well with Derek.

That is the first layer of this scene.

The second alludes to Stiles, but it’s shown indirectly with Derek’s choice of words and hidden behind the easy assumption that he’s referring to Brett. Which of course he also is…. Confused yet? :)  When Stiles requests werewolf strength Derek’s reply is “I’m not the only one here with werewolf strength” which leaves it ambiguous to whom he’s referring.

The obvious interpretation is Brett. But if so why no just say that - “He’s got werewolf strength too”  making it 100 % clear that he’s referring to Brett and not Stiles. But by choosing “I’m not the only one” that leaves three other people in the room to choose from. And he could also mean more than one, as in both Brett and Stiles. We just don’t know. We can’t really be sure. But there’re also the looks exchanged that speak volumes…

And the way Derek barks out “werewolf strength” you can almost hear the sarcastic quote marks.

Remember Derek has been present for a few of Stiles’ show of strength before, and he seems to be the only one (aside from Peter) who keeps an eye on Stiles when shit is going down. 

I seriously googled how to make your bat splinter into a million pieces by hitting something hard, and it’s next to impossible… 

I also googled how long can you thread water while wearing clothes, shoes and holding someone up who’s unable to help in any way. The answer is a depressingly short time. 

In this scene Derek wants Stiles to come and hold down a werewolf who’s about to experience the worst pain he’s ever felt.

It takes two werewolves to hold down the top of Isaac but Stiles is perfectly capable to hold down his feet while Deaton watches the proceedings all zen-like. 

I think the end of the scene where Derek just stares at Stiles mostly in wonder is just that. To Derek the most fascinating thing in that room is Stiles - the person who’s his anchor, and trumps both suspicious uncle and close-to-death teenager.

The lightning is also important in TW. I can’t remember if Jeff or someone else has said this outright, but we've tracked the various kids of lightning used in different scenes throughout the series and there is a pattern. Scenes are usually white, gold, blue or turquoise in color, and each convey certain emotions. I won’t get into that in this meta, but I know others have written about it before, but unfortunately I can’t see to find it. 

In this scene what we do notice is the light behind Derek that shines very deliberately onto Stiles. The light beams go out in many directions, but they never reach Deaton, but it’s a direct line between Derek and Stiles. 

In the first one here Derek looks at his arm where the wound heals, albeit slower than usual. His focus is then on Stiles for the rest of the scene. It’s like he’s really seeing him here - like all doubt has been erased. 

I might be reading to much into things as usual. 

Or maybe not

SO EVERYONE ASKS WHERE STILES IS DURING THE FINAL BATTLES OF S4

REVIVING DEREK IS WHAT HE'S DOING

I AM 95% SURE

derek convinces him to go save scott, but stiles hesitates because derek's dying and he might be able to save him, so when scott looks fine considering the circumstances stiles runs back. stiles completely disappears between peter starting his monologue and scott telling kira to stay back; he should have been fully visible when scott and peter jump at eachother but he's not there at all.

we see braeden look towards derek once after stiles has disappeared. just minutes after, derek howls and braeden looks to where his body was- and it's gone.

so stiles gets derek's body out during the fighting and revives him, which is why derek came from a completely different direction than he should've had he just crawled away on his own. 

which ALSO means stiles teaching derek how both how to anchor himself and fully shift= stiles is a druid and the hale emissary

edit: stiles is back like 7 minutes later episode wise, plenty of time for him to run out, do what he has to, then get back in.

edit 2: he's covered in dust in the end of the ep, not grimy like scott and kira but beige dust. he wasn't when he went in.