# Allison Kerry

Detective Allison Kerry is a fictional character in the Saw film series. She is portrayed by Dina Meyer and first a minor character in the original film, her role expanded in the sequels until right up until her death in Saw III and discovery in Saw IV.

## Appearances

In Saw, Kerry is a detective working with detectives David Tapp and Steven Sing. She was present at the scene of discovery of Paul Stallberg's corpse, hanging in the wires of a trap created by the Jigsaw Killer. She also found a penlight present at the scene of Mark Rodriguez's corpse, which led the investigation to Dr. Lawrence Gordon.
In Saw II, Kerry was seen, after having called Detective Eric Matthews to identify Michael, a police informant killed in yet another one of Jigsaw's traps. It was revealed in Saw II that she had been working on the Jigsaw case since day one, and had previously been partners with Eric. However, after having an affair on him that led to the break-up of his family, they split. Eric got a desk-job while Kerry continued her detective-work. However, after bringing Eric to Michael's trap-sight, he was convinced to help out with bringing Jigsaw down, after finding a clue that led the police to Jigsaw's lair. After arriving and getting ready to arrest Jigsaw face-to-face, however, Eric was put into a test, in which Kerry and Daniel Rigg, a SWAT officer who was friends with both Eric and Kerry, advised him on. Kerry insisted that Eric go through with his test, which simply involved sitting and talking with Jigsaw long enough to get his kidnapped son back. However, Eric could not deal with the stress, and she decided that he should threaten to destroy his work, figuring that Jigsaw was relishing the thought of being studied. Eric eventually beat Jigsaw up and escaped the building with him to find his son, believing he was currently in a house filled with a poisonous gas. However, upon leaving, Kerry and her team discovered Daniel in a safe that had been sitting a couple feet away from Jigsaw previously.
In Saw III, Kerry was shown as being stressed and guilty, feeling responsible for Eric going missing after the events of Saw II. She arrived at the scene Troy's demise, where she revealed her theory to Rigg and Forensic Hoffman that Jigsaw wasn't responsible for the trap that killed Troy, as it had no possible escape, unlike Jigsaw's previous traps. Later, she was seen reviewing the instructions for Troy's test on a TV in her bedroom. When she went to investigate her closet, due to a camera-feed been shown on her TV as coming from there, she was attacked from behind by someone wearing a pig-mask. She woke up in a device that threatened to rip her ribcage apart if she failed to escape it. She was supplied with instructions on how to escape, but after following them, she found herself still stuck. Amanda Young, the apprentice of Jigsaw, stepped forwards and revealed herself as the inventor of the trap, and Kerry realized that it was impossible, as Troy's trap had been. She braced herself before the device was activated, at which point she died.
In Saw IV, Kerry's corpse, now a nesting place for rats, was discovered by Rigg and Hoffman. When Agent Lindsey Perez and Peter Strahm come to investigate the corpse, they state that Kerry was actually a contact for the FBI and that she had informed them that two officers were in danger of Jigsaw's next game. When Agent Perez asked if they should notify Hoffman and the rest of his team about Kerry's message, Agent Strahm decided to keep this information disclosed from the rest of the police department. The two officers in danger of Jigsaw's next game turned out to be Perez and Strahm themselves.
In Saw V, a memorial service is held for the deceased officers from the Jigsaw murders. Kerry's police picture is among the pictures of the deceased officers.

## Characterization

Kerry plays significant roles in Saw, Saw II, and Saw III. She works with Detective Tapp in the Saw and is close partner with Eric Matthews in Saw II, in which it's discovered they had an affair.
Kerry was the one of the only character in the Saw franchise who came the closest to solving Jigsaw's complex games, and as such served the purpose of countering the Jigsaw character. She appeared as being steps ahead of all the other characters in trying to understand Jigsaw's games with the intention of overcoming them. Kerry were presented as very intelligent fictional characters and both acknowledged 'the rules' of the games. However, given their differing motives and desires in the plot, their characters' wits were designed to clash.

## Reception

In a list of WhatCulture, Meyer performance is one of the best characters and most likeable and competent character across these three films.