Character Profile: Cosima Niehaus, Unicorn with Stockholm Syndrome

Labeling Cosima for this post was hard. Not because she's a badly written character but because there's so many ways to interpret her that it's hard to say where I stand with her. Cosima was my favorite clone in the beginning of the series however rewatching it and as her arc stagnated I slowly lost interest in her. Hence why it was hard for me to pin down a label fitting for her. She's been both my favorite and least favorite clone in the series.

Cosima is autistic as the series bible says and was the first clone that I found out was. This didn't surprise me given that in college I met literally a man that was basically male Cosima, I'll call him Warren. Warren was a guy who was prone to talking with his hands, socially apt compared to the stereotype of autistic people (he could be annoying but not insufferable), very geeky and liked having some attention threw his way. The one thing that's different from Cosima and Warren is that Warren was a devout Christian and Cosima is very New Age. Cosima is a character that wasn't just relatable to me (geeky, romantic that everybody liked) but I also had a person in real life that I could see a lot of Cosima in. Making her character all the more real. So even while Cosima is my least favorite clone, even my least favorite clone is better than most fictional characters.

I gave Cosima the title Unicorn with Stockholm Syndrome for her main arc being her relationship with Delphine. Cosima is a Mary Sue in many regards and therefore I see her as basically a unicorn. Perfect in every way and even when she has flaws it's seen as virtuous. Cosima's main weakness outside of her physical health is the fact she's too trusting and too forgiving. I'm in the minority that doesn't ship Cophine, in fact I find Cophine to be a very toxic relationship given Delphine's incredibly abusive behavior that under normal circumstances wouldn't be acceptable. I also have suffered similar abuse in my relationships but that's another story. I really hate how after Delphine threatens to kill Shay (who's worse sin was lying on a dating site) under solely a hunch more or less for working for the enemy makes Cosima the one doing the apologizing. This is why I say she has Stockholm Syndrome. Cosima is in an abusive relationship and yet likes it over a relationship she was actually in a way content with being in with Shay.

This post is pretty bare bones because like Helena, Cosima's arc is very static and resolved quickly into the series. However Alison will be the polar opposite once I get to her as I find her to be the best character.