
“You are not prepared,” the promos said. “Death is here,” they warned. The much-hyped death of a major character was to happen in Insatiable, the penultimate episode of Teen Wolf Season three-B. On this front, it delivered, but should Insatiable have maybe delivered more?

A character as significant and as wonderful as Allison Argent simply had to exit in a sacrifice. She fought tirelessly for the people she cared about, even changing the Argent family code to “we protect those who cannot protect themselves”. This, she did, not even thinking twice about her own safety in her quest to rescue Lydia, and destroying an Oni (something which only the nogitsune itself has been able to do) before her death. But somehow, the death seems lacking. Perhaps this is due to there being such a focus in these final scenes on Allison’s romantic attachments. She was stabbed saving her current boyfriend, Isaac, and died telling her ex, Scott, that she still loved him. This can only be seen as a disappointment for a character who is so much more than her pairing. Would the scene read differently if she had died in the arms of her father, or Lydia? We will never know.
Allison was unique in genre television. She began as a love interest, but gained her own agency and relevance to the storyline away from Scott and Isaac. She developed from a naive teenage girl, to a fierce, brave warrior, to eventually a hero and a martyr. And crucially, Allison was human. She had no supernatural ability, but she held her own against werewolves, kanimas and nogitsunes through her own dedication, training, and mastering of weaponry, particularly her iconic bow and arrow. With Allison gone, the only human lead to remain is Stiles, and even he is possessed by a supernatural creature at the moment. Allison was grounded in reality. She was a role model for viewers, an ordinary person not only surviving extraordinary circumstances, but kicking ass. Crystal Reed should be commended for Allison’s development. She filled Allison with a maturity beyond her years (perhaps due to Reed’s own 29 years), a bravery unsurpassed by any other character, and the vulnerability of a teenage girl. Crystal Reed was an exceptional talent who, unfortunately for most of this season, didn’t get the material to showcase this, but both her and Allison Argent will be dearly missed by fans.

There were two moments of great emotion that did work in Insatiable. The first was the bittersweet scenes between Allison and Chris Argent, as they fashioned Allison a silver arrowhead and shared how proud they were of the other, for escaping their hunter origins to become protectors. While these moments clearly foreshadowed Allison’s coming death, they were honest, and powerful, and it will be interesting to see how Chris functions as a character without his daughter.
The second was brief, but extremely powerful. Lydia had warned her friends not to save her from the nogitsune, knowing that someone would die if they did. As she, Scott, and the real Stiles rush back to the battlefield, Stiles collapses, and Lydia waits with him, panicking that he will be the casualty. As Allison is stabbed, the scene cuts to Lydia screaming Allison’s name, and Holland Roden’s delivery is so desperate, heartbroken and sorrowful that it packs the scene with a great deal of power. With Allison’s death, we have not only lost one half of the show’s original couple, and the leader of the Argent family, but we have lost the only significant female friendship on the show. And that is a real shame.
So what is to come in the finale? The real Stiles appears to be dying while the nogitsune grows ever stronger. Could another lead meet their demise? Will the real Stiles be left with the guilt of his friend’s death? One thing’s for certain, the pack, and the show, will be poorer for Allison’s loss, but perhaps it’s her death that will motivate the pack to triumph.