"Teen Wolf" Review: "Insatiable"

Alysha Boynton ‘17 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

There’s no way to properly discuss Monday night’s episode of Teen Wolf without giving away some truly massive spoilers, so if you’ve managed to avoid them so far, this is your official warning to stop reading now.
Since the very beginning of season 3B, fans have been teased and taunted about a major character death that would take place at some point during the season and change everything. Theories began to form as people tried to deal with the fact that one of their beloved Teen Wolf characters would be leaving the show, even though many thought it was all just an elaborate hoax to drum up attention and viewers.
Well, it turned out they weren’t bluffing, and in the penultimate episode of the season, “Insatiable,” television said goodbye to one of the strongest, bravest, most inspiring female characters of all time: Allison Argent (Crystal Reed). Whatever else happened in the episode is irrelevant to this reviewer, because it would feel cheap to sideline Allison in a review of her final episode, as she was so callously sidelined all season by the writers.

Although she wasn’t given the send-off she deserved by any means, there were some poignant moments to be found in this disaster of an episode, mainly the scene between Allison and her father (JR Bourne). In the hunter tradition, she was supposed to forge her own bullets made of silver, but instead she chose to make an arrowhead for her weapon of choice. Knowing that she and her friends would be going into battle again the Nogitsune and the Oni to rescue Lydia (Holland Roden), Allison tearfully told her father, “I love you. I’m proud of you. I’m proud of us,” citing the fact that she didn’t get to say anything to her mother before she died as her reason for getting sentimental.
This was the point in the episode where it started to become nerve wracking. Even though Allison had been a popular contender for the possible character death earlier on, many viewers simply did not believe the show would kill off one of the core five in such a way, with no real reason or meaning to the death. Allison made her last stand at the Oak Grove internment camp, fighting against a group of Oni that had been taken over by the Nogitsune. After one of her arrows found its target in the chest of one of the demons, making her the first human to ever kill one, she was promptly stabbed through the stomach by another one of the Oni, crumpling to the ground in one of the most shocking moments the show has ever had.

It would be easy to praise the scene that followed, saying that it was beautiful or a tear jerker or any number of things, and in some ways, that’s all true. But in what universe is it an acceptable goodbye to a warrior like Allison Argent to have her die peacefully in the arms of her first love (Tyler Posey) and say that it’s “perfect” because she’ll always love him? There’s no debating that it was painful and dramatic and felt like a punch in the stomach, but it still wasn’t right. She was only 17 years old, with a whole life in front of her, and yet unlike Jackson (Colton Haynes) who also left the show because of the actor’s wishes, she was brutally murdered, instead of moving to London like he did or getting to leave with her life intact.
This death doesn’t hurt like most TV deaths hurt. It hurts because we all loved Allison, yes, but it also feels like a fundamental betrayal of trust and a disgrace to female characters and women in general. Jeff Davis has a very noticeable record of letting his male characters live, no matter what, and killing his female characters, even when it doesn’t further the story. So, so many girls and women looked up to Allison and saw her as their personal hero, and the fact that she died not only as a glorified publicity stunt but as yet another log on the fire of perpetual man pain of Teen Wolf will never be anything but a travesty.
Overall Episode Grade: C+