The Night Agent season 3 unexpectedly killed off a major character (but it actually worked)

Since The Night Agent first premiered on Netflix, we have grown accustomed to the hit spy thriller surprising us. Even though you think you might know how a season will end, we're also left on the edge of our seats and bowled over by the inevitable twists that we couldn't have seen coming. There are plenty of those in the newly released season 3, including some major deaths.

Given the violent nature of Peter Sutherland's work, it's not out of the ordinary for the series to have a high body count, but The Night Agent season 3 just might boast the most deaths of any season, especially the most deaths of very important characters. However, there's one character death that's particularly devastating and tragic, and as much as we hate it, we have to admit it works.

Warning: This post contains major spoilers from The Night Agent season 3.

The Night Agent season 3 kills off Catherine Weaver

Unfortunately, at the end of The Night Agent season 3 episode 2, Peter loses his close friend and handler Catherine Weaver, who was played by Amanda Warren. Peter's team had concocted a sting operation to use Jay as bait in order to gain proximity to The Broker, a.k.a. Jacob Monroe, and catch the criminal once and for all. Well, Monroe managed to be two steps ahead of them.

As Catherine approached the black SUV she was expecting to contain Peter, Jay, and The Broker, she opened the door to find an empty vehicle full of explosives. Monroe realized that Peter would have been trying to work one over on him and planted a decoy car in the distance, sending the FBI away from their actual vehicle. Catherine isn't able to outrun the explosion before the bombs go off.

Tragically, Catherine gets caught in the explosion, and when Peter arrives on the scene, she has already died. He blames himself for her death, at least feeling guilty and responsible. He not only lost his boss and teammate, but he lost another person he had grown really close to. Early in the season, we saw as Catherine's niece referred to him as "Uncle Peter." They became family.

Catherine's death was an inevitable casualty of the dangerous cat and mouse game they were playing with The Broker, and while we wish that it had happened and she lived, The Night Agent differs from Stranger Things in the sense that the high stakes of the story often result in difficult decisions. It wouldn't feel true or realistic if The Broker's threats were simply words or unscathed violence.

The death worked for the story, but Catherine deserved better

Peter needed to feel the gravity of the stakes to increase his need to complete this mission and unearth the truth, and you can't do that with a random unnamed FBI agent we don't know. We as the viewers have to feel the grief, too, and it's horrible that in this situation, The Night Agent writers' options were limited and had to choose Catherine. But because it's her is why it works. We see how bonded they have become. This is personal for Peter.

Last season, Peter also grappled with the death of his partner Alice, who was played by Brittany Snow. Alice was killed within five minutes of the season 2 premiere, and because we didn't know the character, it didn't hit nearly as hard. If you're a Brittany Snow fan and were hoping that she would be in the show longer (guilty!), then yes, Alice's death aggravated you.

But it wasn't as impactful as a driving force for Peter. His relationship with her wasn't as deep because they were still getting to know each other. This time, someone Peter loved was killed during a mission. In that instance, it worked as motivation for Peter and stakes for the story. But the fact that Catherine's death wasn't mentioned again later in the season? Now that didn't work.

Catherine deserved so much better, as did Amanda Warren, and that's just putting it lightly. There isn't a funeral for Catherine or a reflection on her passing. She received justice in the form of Jacob Monroe later being killed, but his death is never actually connected back to hers as a comeuppance. As much as certain character deaths work to help move the story and character development forward, Catherine's ended up feeling forgotten, and that's the last thing she should have been.