Uncommon Nonsense

No.  No, no, no, no, no.

Ok, I need to talk about Allison Argent for a second because there are problems.  And this is not coming from a shipper who doesn’t like her because she’s getting in the way of my ship.  This isn’t about her being a girl.  This is about recognizing flaws in a character that I really really really wanted to like, and have been, so far, severely disappointed in.  

Let’s start with the accusation that Allison didn’t deserve Derek’s comments.  

Yes actually.  She did.  She so totally did deserve that.  Name one thing that Derek said to her that was false.  One thing.  You can’t.  He has no reason to trust her.  He has no reason to believe that she really does just want to help.  90% of Derek’s interactions with Allison have been her going after him, going after the people that he loves, his family, his pack.  The last Derek even knew about her was that she was sadistically hunting down his pack, that her ultimate goal was to kill him, and anyone who got in the way, including Scott.

I want to make it clear, that I am in no way saying that Derek wasn’t sort of an asshole to her.  In fact I’ll flat out say that he was an asshole.  What I’m saying is it doesn’t matter that he was an asshole.  Yes she was trying to help, but she said it herself, she was trying to help Scott, she’s only there for Scott, she doesn’t care about helping Derek, she doesn’t care about finding Erica or Boyd and honestly that’s the only thing that Derek’s worried about at the moment. They are the ones in current and immediate danger, they are the ones that might possibly/will probably die in the next 24-48 hours.  They are Derek’s priorities.  So in that moment, with the information she had available to her (a bruise that may or may not form up with Lydia’s bruise to form a pattern – it doesn’t even matter that at that time we all know that it actually meant something because they didn’t, and honestly that was a pretty big freaking long shot), she was doing nothing but wasting his time, and for all he knew she were doing it on purpose.  Remember Derek has no reason to trust that she wants to help and every reason to think that she wants to hurt him.

And for anyone saying Derek’s comment about her mom was out of line – just don’t.  Because it wasn’t.  And you know what? Even without Allison knowing why Derek bit her, even without knowing it was to save Scott’s life, it shouldn’t matter.  Because what it boils down to is that Victoria Argent thought that killing herself and leaving her only daughter was preferable to becoming a werewolf.  She decided that her code was more important than her life.  Not Derek. 

Furthermore, if Derek had wanted to kill Victoria, there were a million other ways he could have done it.  Like slashing her throat, ripping her apart, beating her to death.  He’s a werewolf, his body is a weapon.  He has teeth and claws and strength.  And all he does is bite her and let her go?  He never went for the killing blow.  He never even thought about it.  It was all about defense, about saving Scott, not killing Victoria.  If Derek had wanted to kill her, he would have but he didn’t.  And Allison should think about that. 

Right, moving onto the scene in the bank.  My Best Buy Credit card was about five seconds away from being dusted off cause mama almost needed a new television.  But instead of throwing my shoe through the screen, I settled for screaming obscenities at it for a solid five minutes.  At least. 

Derek told her not to break the seal.  He knew what he was getting into going into that vault.  He knew that he might have to pay a price, and that price might be his life.  He even told Scott that, told him that he was willing to die to save Erica and Boyd, that dying was a real and tangible consequence, and Scott followed anyway.  And even after they realized what was happening, Derek would have much rather stayed in that vault, fighting a sister he didn’t even know was alive, until the fucking sun came up then letting two feral werewolves out on the general population.  So he told her not to break the seal, and she didn’t listen.  And yeah maybe she saved Scott’s life, maybe she even saved Derek’s life, but it wasn’t her call to make.  Derek had already made his choice and, essentially Scott did too, she decided to ignore that. (See future rant about how people constantly disregard Derek Hale’s personal choices like it’s going out of style.[And yes I’m looking at you Scott McCall and the utterly casual way you ignored pesky issues like consent when forcing him to bite Gerard for your oh so “brilliant” master plan]   I’m about 8000% done with that shit too).

So we come to the comment.  You know which one I’m talking about.  “I’m not the one turning teenagers into killers”

Yeah let’s just let that one sink in for a minute.  Because that really says it all doesn’t it.  That says everything that Allison really thinks about Werewolves in one neat little sentence.  In her mind she equates werewolves with killers.  Even a part of her, a part she probably doesn’t want to acknowledge, includes Scott in that.  And yet the part that people have a problem with is Derek’s response of, “No that’s just the rest of your family.” 

Again, tell me how Derek’s wrong.  He’s not.  The fact of the matter is Derek isn’t the one turning teenagers into killers.  He gave them the bite, yes to make himself stronger, to build a pack.  But he also chose carefully and purposefully.  To him the bite is a gift.  He gave it to Isaac, Erica, and Boyd to make their lives better.  To make them more.  He gave them the bite so they could stop just existing in some sort of half life and start living.  And yet, generation after generation of Argent’s have done nothing but turn more generations of Argents into killers.  They train them to hunt and kill werewolves, not to defend themselves, not for survival, just to kill.  They are enforcers of their own laws- doling out so called “justice”, acting as their own judge, jury, and executioner.  If this show has taught us anything it’s that sometimes humans can be more like monsters than the monsters. 

But I think, honestly the thing I’m most fed up with in all this is the idea that somehow Allison is suddenly untouchable.  That by simply by virtue of being a “strong” female character it gives her carte blanche to do whatever the fuck she wants with no repercussions because of “Girl Power!”.  (And yes I did put strong in quotation marks because as much potential as she has to be that, she is consistently falling just short of the mark for me.  Giving someone a bow and arrow and teaching them some kick ass moves does not automatically a strong character make, there needs to be more, I want her to be more, you don’t understand how much I want to like Allison guys, I just don’t.  Not yet.)

So, no.  She doesn’t get a pass.  You don’t just get to say “Allison doesn’t owe anyone anything”. Because in the end, she’s still a fucking person and as a person she has a responsibility to at least attempt to be a decent fucking human being – regardless of her sex or level of badassness.  She doesn’t get a pass on douchebaggery just because she’s a girl.  At some point it’s stops being girl power and starts just being annoying.