| Alex | |
|---|---|
| Nikita character | |
| First appearance | Pilot |
| Created by | Craig Silverstein |
| Portrayed by | Lyndsy Fonseca Eliana Jones (Child) |
| Information | |
| Full name | Alexandra Udinov |
| Nickname(s) | Alex Ms Udinov Little Miss Udinov |
| Aliases | Jillian McMillan Diane Lange |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | Spy |
| Family |
Father: Nikolai Udinov Mother: Katya Udinov |
| Significant other(s) |
Ronnie (deceased) |
| Relatives | Family killed by Division |
| Nationality | Russian |
Alexandra "Alex" Udinov is one of the main characters of Nikita and the deuteragonist of the show. She is presented in the pilot episode as a drug-addicted teenager when she and her boyfriend Robbie both rob a drug store. She is arrested for the shooting of the owner of the store by Robbie and is soon after seen by Michael and brought in to Division, who tells her her old life is over.[1]
Amanda originally thinks that Alex is Ukrainian and asks the meaning of her butterfly tattoo,[2] yet Alex is originally from Russia. She came illegally to America in a shipping container alongside other immigrants such as Irina.[3] Nikita found Alex and, with the determination to avenge the deaths of her family, saw potential in her to take down Division. Alex was promoted to Division field agent after the death of Thom and the destruction of her only way to communicate with Nikita from the inside. Later on in the first season she started a romantic relationship with Nathan, her unknowing neighbor.[4]
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Alex is the daughter of the late exiled Russian oligarch Nikolai Udinov and his wife who were murdered when Alex was a child. Nikolai owned the billion-dollar company Zetrov, which Alex was the sole heir of. She was saved by Nikita as she watched the rest of her family perish. Nikita was powerless to save Alex from anything else as she had to return to Division, and Alex was sold into sex slavery at her very young age by one of her father's former associates.
To keep her from fighting against them, the slavers keep Alex with them by keeping her high and eventually forcing her to become a drug addict.[3][5] For a few years, she has no choice but to stay with them to get her next fix. Nikita later rescues her, as she tried years before, and forces her to become clean, but to Alex's irritation.
Alex brings this up to Amanda, saying that the slavers "had the decency to keep [her] high" as they held her captive, comparing this to Division. She also suffers panic attacks due to certain things that trigger somewhat suppressed memories of her past, such as being under a car reminding her of being under a bed as she watched her family die. After Nikita succeeds in helping Alex past the worst part of her addiction, she starts to train her both mentally and physically to be fit enough and intelligent enough to stay one step ahead of Division when she is inserted there.
The only things clear about Alex's childhood is that she grew up in a Russian oligarch family often likened to the Russian tsars and was the only heiress to her family's wealth.[5] Her family planned to move to America when she was a young girl and her father implored her to practice her American accent as opposed to her more familiar language. Alex's family is soon after killed by Division and is sold by a prior right-hand man of her father to human traffickers. Alex was kept as such well into her late teens until being rescued from the streets by Nikita. Her being sold into human trafficking stopped her inheriting the Zetrov company and name, something that it is implied she never really wanted to have.
Alex was forced to illegally immigrate to America alongside girls such as Irina whilst hidden in shipping crates when she was sold into human trafficking.
Alex tends to be a solitary character in the first season, with old and new relationships hindering Division missions. In her relationship with Nikita, the two shared the same ideals to bring down Division from the inside until the episode Betrayals . Nikita is a former recruit and the only one (at the start of the first season) to have escaped. Nikita attempted to rescue Alex after Nikita killed Alex's father, yet failed to stop the girl from being sold into human trafficking. Nikita does, however, help Alex by rescuing her from the traffickers and helping her become clean, despite Alex's protests. Alex learned of Nikita's plans and pledged to help avenge her family's murderers.
Alex's neighbor, Nathan Colville, soon becomes good friends with her and he urges her to tell him of her real life and career after an odd dinner with Michael. Nikita spots signs of Alex and Nathan's relationship beginning to take a romantic turn, and she warns Alex that Division will know if she proceeds. Regardless, Alex and Nathan begin their relationship. In Echoes, Alex runs into a part of her dream that she has imagined in her own apartment. She is searching for the younger version of herself she has been trying to protect throughout her dream, yet finds that, in this scenario, she and Nathan are married with a young daughter. Towards the end of her dream, Alex must fight a version of herself that she is scared to become, the Udinov heiress, from shooting her two potential family members.[5]
Another side to Alex is shown in "Alexandra", when a girl from her past (whom is stuck in life that Alex, with the help of Nikita, managed to escape) reappears. Irina is a drug addict and a sex slave, both things that Nikita saved Alex from. Alex and Irina smuggled themselves into America together in the same containers.
Alex's relationship with Michael largely echoes that of Nikita's when she first met him, although rather noticeably without the romantic element. It was heavily implied before "Echoes" that Michael has figured out that Alex is Nikita's mole and even does not say so when Thom is killed and blamed for this. It is shown that Michael always protects Alex and she even accused him of being her guardian angel.
"However, praise must certainly go to Lyndsy Fonseca, who plays Alex. The tortured, recalcitrant junkie kid in the flashbacks could easily have been overplayed, but she handled it extremely well, showing breadth in her abilities this early on, and in the present day scenes she also gives off the unmistakeable aura of someone who is a little bit harder than they are letting on."
Lyndsy Fonseca has received generally positive reviews for her portrayal of Alex. Jonah Krakow of IGN called Alex "a beautiful young woman" and said that "Alex's story was my favorite part of the show".[7] Episodes such as "2.0" and "Alexandra" were praised by critics for the look into Alex's past and background. Gabrielle Compolongo of TV Fanatic said that "Alex plays the clueless trainee perfectly" and she does "every intelligent thing" not to be caught.[8] Luke Holland of Den of Geek also praised Alex's abilities, saying that Fonseca showed "breadth in her abilities".[6]
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