Character Profile: Alison Hendrix, Female Walter White and yet not
Out of all of the clones, my opinion on Alison Hendrix has changed the most. I originally found her kinda useless to the group that at best served as a replacement for Beth in the original Clone Club and at worst, just a character to paste into scenarios that wouldn't fit any other clone for the lolz. Then as I rewatched it and looked more deeply at her arc. In a way Orphan Black is Alison's story, not Sarah's given that Sarah's arc while subtle is way less of a change than what Alison becomes. Alison is also way more broad in humorous scenarios than the other comic relief character in Helena. While Helena is comedic since she's so out there, emotionally stunted and abused she can't deal with normal things normally, Alison is a far more relatable humor I've seen fans openly say "I know a few Alisons in my neighborhood." and have a jovial laugh immediately afterwards. Since Alison is my favorite clone and to me has the best arc in the series. This post will be far longer and more detailed than my Cosima and Helena profiles since I see Cosima and Helena as the most static characters in the series therefore I can only really stretch their profiles so much without spoiling the entire show for you. I'm also going to compare and contrast Alison Hendrix and her meme husbando Walter White in the community as while I originally found Alison's Walter White arc stupid and clearly trying to play off Breaking Bad's popularity, I realized it's far from a transparent rip off and while there's some validity to the meme, as the title of this blog says there also isn't.
Alison is a female Walter White because in a way she is an unfulfilled WASP woman. She's sterile so she has to adopt (out of all the clones I see her and Helena as having the strongest maternal instincts but I'll get to their relationship later), her husband while truly loves her is very much a doofus and isn't masculine like she wants (yes he took her last name but that's because his last name is embarrassing), she loves her kids and yet resents herself and Donnie for being unable to conceive. I hear the saying that "Men create, women maintain." and I somewhat agree with that but Alison is clearly the more creative of the two and Donnie is the maintenance man (he maintains with providing money for her and the kids) but Alison clearly wants to do more creative things, like art, theater and eventually a business woman in her own right compared to Donnie who while a businessman is probably low on the totem pole and actually probably works under people instead of an actual entrepreneur. Looking at Alison from this perspective I can understand why Alison cheated on Donnie with Chad, Chad and Alison probably were attracted to each other in their younger years and Chad being not Donnie would make any woman in that stagnant, unfulfilled life in a way tempting.
Alison's stagnation is also shown in what she had to offer prior to Beth's death, Beth was a cop which comes with a lot of perks and could be seen as the muscle of the group given her authority to carry a gun in a country where gun laws are strict, Cosima was basically the one woman who could unravel what is up with clones on a scientific and genetic level. Alison, had money which was stolen by Sarah. Alison had no skills, talents or abilities that made her invaluable to the team just resources and that in a way really made me see her as basically the void filler when I first watched the show. Especially since Alison also tends to screw up a lot of plans such as she gives up her agency basically for the safety of her kids where the others refuse. Yes she was taking gun lessons from Beth but between a cop and a person who just shoots on the range, I think when the chips are down anybody will take the cop all other things equal. I also have a feeling than while Gemma and Oscar don't hate their parents. I think they see Felix as the "cool uncle" and Helena as the "cool aunt" they want to hang out with more than their actual parents and probably respect them more in some capacity. All of these scream what Walter White was prior to being a meth chemist, just from a masculine lens obviously.
Her stagnation as a woman also clearly bleeds into her relationships with her clone sisters. Alison is clearly the one clone with the most to lose and also has the least agency in a way. She's married, she has a house and two kids and overall she's the clone that wants her life to be normal the most. Obviously because she had the most normal life out of the clones. Cosima while had a normal upbringing compared to Sarah and Helena was clearly a genius and therefore her life prior to learning she was a clone wasn't normal since not everybody's a genius. Sarah was a career criminal that bounced from foster home and lived as an itinerant grifter is really just a part of certain circles in the world and Helena was clearly abused by those who fostered her and trained her as a child soldier. While she doesn't maliciously manipulate or dehumanize her sisters, Alison does see her sisters as tools who have agency in a way. Cosima is the smart one, Sarah is the shady but resourceful one, Helena is the brawn, ect. I also think that Alison very much resents or at least envies Helena and Sarah due to the fact they can have kids, I also think she probably at one point feared that Helena would be the "cool aunt" that Gemma and Oscar would gravitate towards instead of their own adoptive mom which probably stung. Especially when Helena teaches her kids karate and other things while she's busy maintaining the household. I honestly would've loved to see the two interact more to explore the idea on just how much sterility can gnaw at a woman even if they adopt. Not make Alison go crazy or suicidal for it but just work through it.
Where Alison and Walter split from what makes Alison not just a female Walter White is just that. She's a female, she likes pink, she likes glitter, she loves art and especially musical theater and overall she likes more traditionally feminine things and really only gets aggressive when her family is in danger and stability is threatened (outside of threatening her family the best way to get Alison to do something is to tell her things will be stable). She's ruthless in the social ladder that the women of Scarbourough climb and while she let Aynsley die because she thought she was her monitor. I think a part of her was also willing to let her die because Aynesley was a loose end to her affair with Chad and her death would overrule an affair when it came to gossip at the wine table. I also think the fact when she ran for school trustee and was willing to basically bribe the women in her church with drugs and soap is also very telling of her opportunistic ruthlessness when it comes to social games. Mentally from my perspective (as it's all but confirmed that all clones are autistic) I think Alison's autism manifests in the middle road of Cosima's and Rachel's, she can be ruthless and almost sociopathic like Rachel but also incredibly high strung and overly dependent for emotional validation like Cosima. Kinda like how I am bipolar, but a lot of people think I am autistic given the mood swings that happen to me.
Alison is also different from Walter White in that people like Ramon or Jason want to genuinely work with Alison where Walter White keeps getting denied or has to work under people for most of his drug career and just has an abrasive personality (one thing that Fring had over Walter was the fact people who worked under him actually respected him and were loyal to him probably because Fring was able to be emotionally distant to them). Alison's main issue with her contacts isn't her, it's her husband and sestra that usually screw her over (along with other bad luck). Alison also unlike Walter, is very much content just being the local dealer not state or region wide kingpin. She's not even really sad that her soap and pill empire is destroyed as if she only did it to be school trustee. Alison is also not Walter White since Walter White is done in by his bad relationships with people and not his own internal demons like Alison usually is, in short Walter White doesn't take his own meth, Alison clearly takes her own pills and amplifies it with alcohol.
Alison's entire arc over the story is getting out of her stagnating neighborhood of enablers of sin (while Alison was at first very in denial of her issues she realizes she's messed up) and leaving it for her clone family. One thing I admire Orphan Black for is making the Protestant leader in the show a genuinely good person worried about Alison and not just standard "God hates everything" stereotype that is obviously a cult leader. It also shows that Alison probably left the church moreso out of enabling parishioners and not a wicked head of church which is refreshing. While it's heavily implied she probably embraced some new age faith with the purple hair and California I think someone who craves stability as much as Alison probably just changed churches, especially given the liberal mindset in Canada it wouldn't be that far of a stretch to just go to another church who's worldview is very similar to yours but just have different people in the pews.
Overall, as you can see I love Alison and I now understand why she has so many fans, she's a flexible character scenario wise she's very flawed and compared to say, Cody and other villains in the show she's not a bad person, just has a lot of vices. I also find her Christianity very refreshing and I see as the prodigal daughter in a way.
Alison is a female Walter White because in a way she is an unfulfilled WASP woman. She's sterile so she has to adopt (out of all the clones I see her and Helena as having the strongest maternal instincts but I'll get to their relationship later), her husband while truly loves her is very much a doofus and isn't masculine like she wants (yes he took her last name but that's because his last name is embarrassing), she loves her kids and yet resents herself and Donnie for being unable to conceive. I hear the saying that "Men create, women maintain." and I somewhat agree with that but Alison is clearly the more creative of the two and Donnie is the maintenance man (he maintains with providing money for her and the kids) but Alison clearly wants to do more creative things, like art, theater and eventually a business woman in her own right compared to Donnie who while a businessman is probably low on the totem pole and actually probably works under people instead of an actual entrepreneur. Looking at Alison from this perspective I can understand why Alison cheated on Donnie with Chad, Chad and Alison probably were attracted to each other in their younger years and Chad being not Donnie would make any woman in that stagnant, unfulfilled life in a way tempting.
Alison's stagnation is also shown in what she had to offer prior to Beth's death, Beth was a cop which comes with a lot of perks and could be seen as the muscle of the group given her authority to carry a gun in a country where gun laws are strict, Cosima was basically the one woman who could unravel what is up with clones on a scientific and genetic level. Alison, had money which was stolen by Sarah. Alison had no skills, talents or abilities that made her invaluable to the team just resources and that in a way really made me see her as basically the void filler when I first watched the show. Especially since Alison also tends to screw up a lot of plans such as she gives up her agency basically for the safety of her kids where the others refuse. Yes she was taking gun lessons from Beth but between a cop and a person who just shoots on the range, I think when the chips are down anybody will take the cop all other things equal. I also have a feeling than while Gemma and Oscar don't hate their parents. I think they see Felix as the "cool uncle" and Helena as the "cool aunt" they want to hang out with more than their actual parents and probably respect them more in some capacity. All of these scream what Walter White was prior to being a meth chemist, just from a masculine lens obviously.
Her stagnation as a woman also clearly bleeds into her relationships with her clone sisters. Alison is clearly the one clone with the most to lose and also has the least agency in a way. She's married, she has a house and two kids and overall she's the clone that wants her life to be normal the most. Obviously because she had the most normal life out of the clones. Cosima while had a normal upbringing compared to Sarah and Helena was clearly a genius and therefore her life prior to learning she was a clone wasn't normal since not everybody's a genius. Sarah was a career criminal that bounced from foster home and lived as an itinerant grifter is really just a part of certain circles in the world and Helena was clearly abused by those who fostered her and trained her as a child soldier. While she doesn't maliciously manipulate or dehumanize her sisters, Alison does see her sisters as tools who have agency in a way. Cosima is the smart one, Sarah is the shady but resourceful one, Helena is the brawn, ect. I also think that Alison very much resents or at least envies Helena and Sarah due to the fact they can have kids, I also think she probably at one point feared that Helena would be the "cool aunt" that Gemma and Oscar would gravitate towards instead of their own adoptive mom which probably stung. Especially when Helena teaches her kids karate and other things while she's busy maintaining the household. I honestly would've loved to see the two interact more to explore the idea on just how much sterility can gnaw at a woman even if they adopt. Not make Alison go crazy or suicidal for it but just work through it.
Where Alison and Walter split from what makes Alison not just a female Walter White is just that. She's a female, she likes pink, she likes glitter, she loves art and especially musical theater and overall she likes more traditionally feminine things and really only gets aggressive when her family is in danger and stability is threatened (outside of threatening her family the best way to get Alison to do something is to tell her things will be stable). She's ruthless in the social ladder that the women of Scarbourough climb and while she let Aynsley die because she thought she was her monitor. I think a part of her was also willing to let her die because Aynesley was a loose end to her affair with Chad and her death would overrule an affair when it came to gossip at the wine table. I also think the fact when she ran for school trustee and was willing to basically bribe the women in her church with drugs and soap is also very telling of her opportunistic ruthlessness when it comes to social games. Mentally from my perspective (as it's all but confirmed that all clones are autistic) I think Alison's autism manifests in the middle road of Cosima's and Rachel's, she can be ruthless and almost sociopathic like Rachel but also incredibly high strung and overly dependent for emotional validation like Cosima. Kinda like how I am bipolar, but a lot of people think I am autistic given the mood swings that happen to me.
Alison is also different from Walter White in that people like Ramon or Jason want to genuinely work with Alison where Walter White keeps getting denied or has to work under people for most of his drug career and just has an abrasive personality (one thing that Fring had over Walter was the fact people who worked under him actually respected him and were loyal to him probably because Fring was able to be emotionally distant to them). Alison's main issue with her contacts isn't her, it's her husband and sestra that usually screw her over (along with other bad luck). Alison also unlike Walter, is very much content just being the local dealer not state or region wide kingpin. She's not even really sad that her soap and pill empire is destroyed as if she only did it to be school trustee. Alison is also not Walter White since Walter White is done in by his bad relationships with people and not his own internal demons like Alison usually is, in short Walter White doesn't take his own meth, Alison clearly takes her own pills and amplifies it with alcohol.
Alison's entire arc over the story is getting out of her stagnating neighborhood of enablers of sin (while Alison was at first very in denial of her issues she realizes she's messed up) and leaving it for her clone family. One thing I admire Orphan Black for is making the Protestant leader in the show a genuinely good person worried about Alison and not just standard "God hates everything" stereotype that is obviously a cult leader. It also shows that Alison probably left the church moreso out of enabling parishioners and not a wicked head of church which is refreshing. While it's heavily implied she probably embraced some new age faith with the purple hair and California I think someone who craves stability as much as Alison probably just changed churches, especially given the liberal mindset in Canada it wouldn't be that far of a stretch to just go to another church who's worldview is very similar to yours but just have different people in the pews.
Overall, as you can see I love Alison and I now understand why she has so many fans, she's a flexible character scenario wise she's very flawed and compared to say, Cody and other villains in the show she's not a bad person, just has a lot of vices. I also find her Christianity very refreshing and I see as the prodigal daughter in a way.
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