Alex Udinov

Alexandra "Alex" Udinov is one of the main characters on the television series Nikita, portrayed by Lyndsy Fonseca. Many fans of "Team Nikita" (consisting of Nikita, Michael, Birkhoff, Sean, Ryan, and Owen) consider Alex as the baby of the "family," this is because Alex, being the youngest of the group, when her walls are down, can behave childlike and callow.

Character arc

Background

Alex is the daughter of the late Russian oligarch Nikolai Udinov and his wife who were murdered by Division, on orders of Sergei Semak, when Alex was a child. Udinov owned the billion-dollar company Zetrov, of which Alex was the sole heir. Alex was to inherit the Zetrov company, which flashbacks show her as never really wanting in the first place. She was saved by Nikita, after Nikita killed her father, as she watched the rest of her family perish in a fire. Nikita was powerless to save Alex from anything else as she had to return to Division, and she gave Alex to one of Udinov's associates for safe-keeping. Instead, Alex was sold into sex slavery by her father's associate since he needed money and thought no one would recognize her if he did.

To keep her from fighting against them, the slavers kept Alex high and eventually forced her to become a drug addict.^[1][2] She escaped the slavers by herself, though she remained a user and was shown in flashbacks to be living as a junkie, living from hit to hit. Alex brings this part of her past up to Amanda, saying that the slavers "had the decency to keep [her] high" as they held her captive, comparing this to Division.

After Nikita escapes Division, she finds Alex again and rescues her before she is about to get raped and forces her to get clean, much to Alex's irritation. It is revealed in a flashback that it was Alex's idea to infiltrate Division, and that if Alex hadn't tried to kill herself in front of Nikita, Nikita would never have told Alex the truth about Division. After Nikita succeeds in helping Alex past the worst part of her withdrawal, she starts to train her both mentally and physically to stay one step ahead of Division once she is inserted there. Nikita makes it clear to Alex that once she gets in, she will be on her own and Nikita won't be able to be there if something goes wrong.

Alex also suffers panic attacks when certain things trigger somewhat suppressed memories of her past, such as being under a car (reminds her of being under a bed as she watched her family die). Alex was shown to also have nightmares about her deceased family, often speaking Russian and screaming for her father. Amanda and Nikita also don't allow Alex to drink alcohol, because if she were she would go back to doing drugs.

Season 1

At the beginning of season one, Alex was arrested while robbing a drug store with her abusive boyfriend Ronnie; Ronnie shoots the store owner and runs away as the police arrive, leaving Alex, covered in blood, with the stolen drugs. Alex was blamed for the murder and sent to prison – soon after; Alex wakes up in Division, officially having committed suicide in prison, and meets with Michael, who brings her into Division as a new recruit.

This was revealed as a ploy set by Nikita who was actually portraying Ronnie in the robbery, so Alex could get into Division as a mole. Amanda originally thinks that Alex is Ukrainian, yet Alex is originally from Russia. As the season went on, more was revealed of Alex and her relationship with Nikita. Saving Alex was the first time Nikita defied her orders from Division, which were to kill her entire family. As a result, Nikita and Alex share a very close bond that is always being tested. Amanda and Percy both think Alex reminds them of Nikita.

Season 2

Alex was working with Division to gather the intel and resources she needed to reclaim her birthright. She claimed that she was merely using Division (although Amanda would argue otherwise), she had gone on a number of missions for them, although only if they provided vital information on Semak. Percy only agreed to feed information to Amanda if Alex was the one sent to talk to him. In the first half of season two, Amanda and Alex's relationship took an interesting turn. Although they agreed to be "business partners", it ran a lot deeper than that. Since Alex was away from Nikita, given that she was in Division and Nikita wasn't, Alex turned to Amanda for council. Alex disobeyed Amanda by assassinating Anton Kochenko, they tried to make Alex abort the mission after Nikita messed up their plans. Alex said, "So, Nikita wins again," and then fired her sniper rifle, killing Kochenko. When Alex returned, Amanda was disappointed and angry that Alex disobeyed a direct order. However, unlike any other recruit who would have been punished severely, she went unpunished. Alex, through a series of events, was also being manipulated by Percy. At one point, through blackmail, Percy seemed to have his claws around Alex. Where Alex was once a mole for Nikita, she appeared to be becoming one for Percy instead, though unknowingly.

Eventually she managed to reconcile with Nikita and was able to betray Amanda and Ari. She inevitably retook her father's empire and rescued her mother. For the rest of season two she worked with Nikita in bringing down Division. She later assisted Nikita in her raid on Division, which ended successfully with the deaths of Percy and Roan, and with Ryan Fletcher placed by the US government to be Division's Director.

Season 3

Alex reprises her alter ego, the spoiled Russian princess Alexandra Udinov, in a unique way for a couple episodes this season. Liza’s abduction brings up painful old memories for Alex, who tries to get closer from Liza's mother. Nikita, Michael and Sean attempt to stop a terrorist attack but are one man down after Alex is shot. She saves Nikita by taking a bullet to the shoulder, Nikita goes to kill Mia for revenge. In season 3 episode 4, Alex starts to unravel. It appears Alex is starting to relapse into drugs; however, it is just taking pain pills. She takes them after a heated argument with Sean in the medical facility, and because her bullet wound was causing her so much pain, she gave in and took one pill. After Alex gets sick of waiting at Division and hurt after her and Sean's conversation, she tells Nikita she's going on the mission to Amanda's house with her. Nikita allows her reluctantly, which results in Alex taking a heavy beating from a man twice her size and leaving her in immense pain.

When she gets back to Division she secretly takes more pills, and it appears she is slowly starting to get addicted to them. However, her apparent addiction was not full blown, she would only take them when her arm was in pain. Michael eventually confronted her in season 3 episode 7, and she told Nikita the truth.

Nikita was disappointed and mad at Alex, however, later she told Alex that they would handle her addiction together. When Alex was addicted to drugs, Amanda told her that she becomes anger, and tells her she can use it to her advantage ( Alex usually vents by boxing a punching bag very intensely).

In episode 10, Ryan allows Alex to go back out into the field. Sean becomes jealous of Alex's relationship with Owen. She tells things about her past to Owen that she can't tell to Sean because Sean grew up in a regular American family, and she is afraid of him judging her or not understanding her. Amanda holds Alex hostage and tells Nikita she will release Alex in exchange for Ari. Amanda "brainwashes" Alex with "the chair" by forming bridges where they aren't supposed to. Such as Alex's sex slave past is linked with Division and their current predicament, Alex is still Alex and has good intentions, but she is irrational and mentally unstable.

However, as far as Alex knows she is still herself and everything she is doing is because she wants to. Alex recruits Birkoff to dig up secrets on Danforth to use as leverage in case things get messy with the government. They are shocked when they find out the president has made a kill house and was ready to wipe out all of Division with the marines that were trained. Alex and Sean are tasked with investigating who, inside Division, is behind a mutiny that ends in bloodshed. It is revealed Alex is, but only the mutineers and Ryan knows. Ryan is in a coma because Alex shot him, not with evil intentions though. Alex confesses her desire to leave Division to Birkhoff and almost gets him aboard until Sean interrupts them.

Personality

Alex is known for her complex personality, she is a very debatable and complicated character, she is neither black or white, nor good or bad; she is a gray character. She has many sides to her that some don't see. On the outside, she can appear tough and snarky, but on the inside she is a damaged girl. She is known to have a dangerous streak about her. She is very unpredictable and has a sneaky attitude with a strong determination that constantly gets her into trouble. Alex is known to have many walls that protect herself from being caught emotionally off guard. Amanda even has trouble getting through to the real Alex. Amanda claims that "...the girl's like one of those Russian dolls, you open one version of her, only to find there's another hidden inside her." Birkhoff also claims Alex is a bunch of small "why" dolls stacked inside bigger "why" dolls She does not talk about herself or her past much. When she does, she talks to Nikita and Amanda, or it is shown through flashbacks. Despite Alex and Nikita's closeness, she sometimes lies to Nikita to hide what she's really feeling, sometimes it may be because she is afraid that Nikita may become disappointed or overprotective. Alex also has a hard time conveying her emotions, she is also sometimes oblivious if a guy is hitting on her. She is emotionally close to a few people, her distinctively tragic past has caused her to close off herself from many people. Sean once jokingly said " Wow, those walls you got there are tough." "What do you Russians build with anyway? Field stone...petrified potatoes?" He claims that sometimes, when he's with her, he can see a crack in her wall, and he can see a look she gives him that shows him she does treasure her relationship with him. Many people remark how much Alex reminds them of Nikita, which is both true and not.

Alex has a mature and condescending exterior. Sometimes when she opens herself up, she appears to still be an immature kid that never had the chance to be a child. She also thinks that she can take care of herself and doesn't always need Nikita to help her. However, she is fiercely loyal to Nikita, and she is Alex's only meaningful family. Alex on many occasions proves how much she loves Nikita, however, their relationship is very complex. Alex doesn't build many emotionally charged bonds with men. Michael, Sean, and Birkoff are some of the few closest male relationships she has. Alex leans towards the mother figures, like Amanda and Nikita, to give her comfort and support. Despite that Amanda and Nikita are enemies, Amanda shows her way of affection to Alex. Although Alex can for the most part control herself from taking drugs or alcohol, she isn't allowed to take any type of drugs, such as pain pills, due to the fact that she might relapse. Therefore, if Alex gets shot, breaks an arm, or is seriously injured, she isn't allowed to take morphine that will help her with her pain. After Alex takes a bullet to the arm for Nikita, she isn't allowed to go on missions because she is still healing. Since Alex no longer has a reason to do something, it forces her to remain still and recollect her thoughts. However, Alex is not the type of person to throw down a towel and bathe in the sun. Division is her life, and it's all she knows and what she considers home. Her dark past is something she rarely talks about, and some repressed memories are starting to come back to her as she has time to think about it. Alex mostly plays the physical and emotional punching bag of others. She can be cool headed in one moment, then fierce and passionate in the next. She is playful and snippy with many people such as Amanda and Owen. But then she can be gravely serious and no nonsense if it is a topic that affects her emotionally. Birkhoff makes a note that Alex is so fired up and ready to put her life on the line, that she would do drugs just to get back out into the field. This greatly conflicts him, Alex, and Nikita; Nikita told Alex, in order for her to get clean, she must find the reason why she feels the need to put her life is to confront her suppressed past.

Alex's traumatic past has made her a survivor. She doesn't understand why she is always the one to live; such as when her family was murdered, when she escaped her sex slavers, and when she was a junkie.

Tattoos

Alex has a butterfly tattoo on her back, it has been shown and brought into the storyline from season one to season three. In season one, when Alex first arrives at Division, Amanda asks Alex in Russian what her butterfly tattoo means when in transformation. Alex didn't answer her, but it was brought up many more times throughout the seasons. Such connections have been made with the fact that when Alex was a little girl, her mother and father would take her to their cabin out in the woods and they would catch butterflies every time they were there. While speaking to a sex worker she met while attempting to enter Russia, Alex told her " Butterflies are God's proof we can have a second chance at life." In season 3 episode 11, Sean persists in Alex telling him the story behind her tattoo. Alex was reluctant and asked if they were just gonna tell each other their stories now that they are together. It finally comes to a head in season 3 episode 12, Sean kept pestering Alex about why she got her tattoo. Owen catches wind of their conversation while making his way over to Alex. Owen told Sean that it was private and that he should stop bothering Alex about what it meant, Owen also has a butterfly tattoo, as well as many other tattoos. He told Sean that when Alex was ready she would tell him, but since she obviously isn't he should lay off. While Alex and Owen are partnered with each other, Owen brings up a past conversation he had with Alex towards the beginning of the episode. It leads him to talking about how he got his tattoo; Emily always used to say how you can have a second chance at life. Alex then brings up that she knew someone who used to say that all the time. She reveals that she knew a girl, when she first came to America who worked in the same brothel Alex did. Alex said she shared a room with the girl and she told Alex that she would dream about escaping from the roof and flying off the roof on butterfly wings, and one day she got high and decided to "try and fly." Alex claims she was just like the people in the elevator, innocent.

Relationships

Nikita and Alex

During Nikita's time in division, she was once on an operation were they raided the Udinov . Knowing that one of the targets was a child, Nikita couldn't bring herself to kill a child. So, during the raid Nikita rushed to Alex's room, but killed the father on self-defense, saving Alex at the cost of her father's life. Forced to return to division, she left Alex under the care of one of her father's associate. However, he sold her to sex traffickers. Eventually Alex escaped her captors but remained addicted to the drugs they had given to her to keep her high. After fleeing division, Nikita kept searching for Alex for two years, until she found Alex, who was trying to buy "Smack" from a local crackhouse for a fifty. However, her dealers tried to rape her, saying "you make us feel good, we make you feel good". Nikita saved her, and took Alex. In her lair, she put Alex in a portable Sauna until she was unaddicted, a process she had experienced first-hand. Afterwards, she took care of Alex. One day, Nikita found Alex unconscious on the floor after shopping for clothes. Seeing the pill bottle nearby and realizing Alex had a weak pulse, Nikita put two and two together and saved her by inducing vomiting. However, Alex was ungrateful and told Nikita "I have nothing to live for. All the people I love are dead." At that point, Nikita revealed o Alex she had been looking for her for 2 years and that she knew who killed her parents, assuring her she had something to live for. Nikita explained to Alex about Division and Alex joined Nikita in her crusade to take down division. Nikita trained Alex, teaching her everything to prepare her for her infiltration of Division.

Alex is fiercely loyal to her and willing to do anything for her more than just taking a bullet. Nikita has even accused herself of being Alex's "Fairy God Mother". 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. Nikita rescued Alex from being raped, after she escaped the human traffickers, and helps her become clean, despite Alex's protests. Alex tried to kill herself in front of Nikita, Nikita revived her and told Alex she had a reason to live. She told Alex of her plans to defeat Division and pledged to help avenge her family's murderers. During season one, it is brought to light that Alex and Nikita are lying to each other. Alex lies about what's happening in Division emotionally to her, and Nikita, on the outside, is lying about situations that happened and keeping secrets from Alex. At the end Season One, Alex refuses to run off with Nikita and Michael, due to Nikita lying about murdering her father, instead she takes Amanda's advice and tries to forge her own path. When Alex is revealed to be the mole, Alex shoots Nikita for the Division cameras, but it is revealed that she has shot her with a drug that stops vital signs, but does not kill. Nikita quickly awoke when Roan was about to "clean " her body and escaped. Alex goes back to Nikita's safe house to grab some things, and she happened upon Nikita. They startle each other and point their guns at each other, Alex says she doesn't want any trouble. Nikita says she should have thought of that before Alex shot her. Alex claims it was to save her life, Nikita says she's not gonna hurt Alex. Alex tells her to put her gun down, but Nikita says to put her gun down. Alex keeps her gun raised and Nikita says they should talk about her father's murder. They do and Alex wonders why Nikita didn't just tell her the truth, Nikita says it was never the right time. But Alex says it was because Nikita didn't trust her enough to handle it, and now Alex can't trust her. Alex says she's going to get her own revenge, she tries to leave, but Nikita grabs her and tells her she will end up somewhere she doesn't want to be. Alex says it is her decision and tries to rip away from Nikita. Division attacks them, and while Nikita escapes, Alex finds a different way off the roof, not following Nikita.

In season 2, Alex is not completely hostile towards Nikita, yet does not want to have anything to do with her since Alex no longer trusts her. In season 2 episode 1, they get into a fight where they are expressing their anger without having to kill each other. Nikita breaks Alex's arm and shoots her in her leg, leaving her injured, wearing casts, and going through therapy for many episodes. She tells Alex she did it because she cares, and tells her to get out of Division before it's too late. While they no longer have a close relationship, they are not enemies. They run into each other a bit and have short awkward conversations, but they help each other out a bit, slowly mending their relationship. As of "Sanctuary," Alex and Nikita live together at Birkoff's house, after Alex needs a place to stay after attempting to reveal more about her own past. Nikita comforts Alex when she has a hard time dealing that her mother is alive, had an affair with Semak, and all of her childhood memories of her home aren't what they seemed. Alex and Nikita became friends again, she had the chance to settle down in Greece with her mother and live in peace, however, she said it's not who she wants to be and wanted to help Nikita since it is her fight too. They continued to provide support and information to each other throughout the rest of season 2. Eventually defeating Percy and Division, though while Alex was in a medical facility for another broken arm, inflicted by Roan, Nikita tells Alex "Here we go again," (Nikita said "here we go" before Alex infiltrated Division).

As of the start of season 3, Alex and Nikita are in a good place. They seemed to have matured increasingly since the last season. Alex saved Nikita's life by taking a bullet to the arm, in an attempt to push her out of the way. After Nikita returns to Division with a disoriented Alex, anxious Division members awaited to see what their fate would be, her personality changes noticeably. Without getting mad at the recruits, everyone seemed anxious around her, Ryan, Birkoff, and Michael even seemed concerned. Before, Nikita was going to bring in the rogue agent with no force. However, her mission shifted after she shot Alex. Ryan asks Nikita,"Why do you think she turn?" Nikita says, "She shot Alex, I don't care." She then coldly leaves the room to go kill the rogue agent. Nikita is always concerned for Alex's welfare, when she heard Alex scream at a Division member, suspected of being a mole, Nikita heard her and quickly went into panic mode trying to find her (season 3 episode 5). When she learns of Alex taking pills, she is heartbroken and disappointed that Alex didn't come to her; however, she eventually tells Alex that they will work through her addiction together. In one of the episode in season 3 Alex had said then Nikita is the most important person in her life.

Amanda and Alex

Amanda has a complicated relationship with Alex. Amanda's relationship with Alex largely echoes that of Nikita's, most notably without Amanda being completely heartbroken, for what Nikita did to her. Mostly because Alex was mentored by Nikita, and much of Alex resembles Nikita. Amanda found it hard to uncover Alex's motives and claims that "...the girl's like one of those Russian dolls, you open one version of her, only to find there's another hidden inside her." Amanda finds it particularly hard to get into Alex's head, mostly from her training with Nikita and some of it from her traumatic childhood that built up walls. Amanda finds Alex sometimes unpredictable and she is, at the beginning of the series, mystified about Alex's past. She spends most of her time in season one trying to figure out what Alex is hiding from her. Not the fact that she was Nikita's mole, but her past that she rarely ever talks about. Although Amanda recommended that Percy cancel Alex in the beginning of the first season, Amanda was not necessarily out to get Alex. She seen brilliance in Alex, but at the same time, if there was any weakness or doing something she shouldn’t be doing, Amanda would take the chance to tell her to stay inline. However, Alex's relationship is more rare with Amanda compared to the other recruits. They share a deep connection that doesn't appear on the surface. But Alex often tries to exert her power over Amanda in front of the recruits, something they wouldn't dare to do. Also, Alex often back talks to Amanda, which Amanda usually blows down with ease. When Alex sneers or banters to Amanda, she seems to be amused with Alex, and her thoughts, and she calmly retorts back. Even though Alex didn't like Amanda nor wanted to like her, they are connected and show their unique version of empathy with each other.

In the beginning of season one, Alex does not like Amanda nor want to like her, yet Amanda and Alex seem to have a unique understanding of each other. When Amanda first met Alex, she instantly was reminded of Nikita and wanted her cancelled in fear of another "Nikita" situation happening again. It was later revealed that it wasn't because Amanda was afraid there would be another rogue on the loose, but the fact that she couldn't stand to lose another "Nikita" that she spent so long perfecting and transforming. When Amanda was trying to figure out Alex's past, she didn't find what she was looking for. Therefore, was stumpped, which Percy note rarely happens. In the season one finale, when Amanda kills Alex with her kill chip, after 25 seconds of Alex being dead, Amanda uses adrenaline to bring her back to life. She states that Alex doesn't need Nikita, nor should she go back to Nikita, and tells Alex that she won't hang on to her like she did to Nikita, and lets Alex go free.

In season two, Amanda's relationship with Alex changed drastically. Although Alex claimed they were just "business partners", Amanda comforted Alex on many occasions when Alex needed guidance for her past and future. Amanda found it harder to control Alex because she was getting impatient with Amanda, who prefers to move at a slow pace (in contrast to Alex, who at this time was impulsive and passionate about her revenge). Amanda wouldn't allow Alex to leave Division without an armed escort to protect her from Gogol. Amanda keeps it in her best interest to keep Alex under her control and convince her she needs Division, while giving Alex intelligence to kill Semak, the person who ordered her father's murder. Alex and Amanda would often take the roles of teenage rebellious daughter and mother. Alex would often back talk to Amanda, something the recruits in Division would never dare to do. Alex once uses it as a remark when Sean steps up to Amanda, Alex snarkly says, "Can't remember the last time someone spoke to Amanda like that, oh well, yes I can, that was me" ("Looking Glass"). Amanda sometimes finds Alex rather amusing and challenging. Whenever Alex sneers or banters to Amanda, she seems to enjoy the intellectual challenge and she calmly retorts back. In season 2 episode 1, Percy asks why Alex is always looking for mother figures and names Amanda as one of them. Amanda, throughout the season, acts as a mother figure and business partner, as it appears Amanda deeply cares for what happens to Alex. Ari said the only way he and her could be together, with some money, would be a way that she wouldn't approve of. He tries to persuade Amanda that the only way for Amanda to get what she wants, is if she kills Alex and blames her death on Semak. Amanda was distraught with this decision and said that Alex has worked so hard and doesn't deserve such a fate. Though they never went through with the plan, as Alex said she was taking over Zetrov, Amanda was happy that she was going back to her original plan. After Alex finds her mother, Amanda wants to make a deal. Alex can have her mother, as well as a big sum of money from Zetrov, if Alex hands over everything in the name of it. Alex was thinking of handing it over to Amanda, until she says it isn't fair to Nikita if she just gives Amanda Zetrov. Amanda complained that Alex should think for herself and not Nikita. Alex says Amanda doesn't deserve to win, Amanda says if Alex leaves the building (the place her mother was staying at) that Amanda will hunt Alex down. Alex tells Amanda not to worry, she will come to her. Amanda is now on the run and hunted by Division, Alex and Nikita had done this to both Ari and Amanda. The plan would have not gone through if it weren't for Alex pulling through for Nikita. Amanda showed Alex empathy and her version of kindness, and Amanda feels utterly betrayed by Alex.

In season three, Alex went on the mission to get Amanda, however, their cover is quickly blown thanks to Alex's altercation with Amanda's henchman that was twice her size, and the raid became a free-for-all. Alex reinjured her arm, but she and Michael recover the key. They have had no interaction so far in season three, however, Amanda knows the way to hurt Nikita is to go after Alex. On "Black Badge," Alex and Amanda had their first interaction since they last met. Amanda calls the phone she left behind for Nikita. Alex asks what lesson Amanda is trying to teach them now. Amanda responds by say, " Alex? So nice to hear your voice." Before the conversation is over on the phone Amanda mentions that Alex was right, the lesson is that every operative is expendable. In 3x13, Nikita and Amanda talk about Alex at length. Amanda compares Alex, herself, and Nikita. She claims she made Nikita, like Nikita made Alex; and that in the end, Alex will betray Nikita (like Nikita betrayed Amanda). This may be what Amanda intends to do to Alex, turn her against Nikita. At the end of the episode, Nikita goes to retrieve Alex (who had surrendered to the police to by time for Stefan and Krieg to escape) before the police can process Alex. Another police car approaches and sirens Alex's police driver to pull over, Alex smiles at the notion thinking Nikita has come to get her. The officer leaves the car to talk to the other officer. Alex hears a shot from the police car and it is shown the officer has shot Alex's police driver. Alex is in shock as the person appears to get closer to her car, after shooting the police officer again. Amanda appears behind the glass in a police officers uniform, Alex then trembles to get out of the car. But it is no use, as it is a police car. Amanda gets in the car as Alex trembles in shock, Amanda then smirks at Alex and says, " Looks like I won't be leaving Geneva empty handed after all." She then proceeds to say, " Let's see how well she taught you," and speeds off with Alex in the back (effectively capturing her).

Sean and Alex

Alex's past love interest. Though they had a very rough start from the beginning they eventually started to soften towards each other. Sean has a hard time getting Alex to bring down her walls. Alex herself tries not to get emotional and Sean sometimes gets Alex to recognize that he likes her. Despite Sean giving many signs of attraction to Alex, she either ignored them or she was oblivious to them since she was emotionally not ready to commit to a relationship with all the things happening in her life. He and Alex share a first kiss in a car with Birkoff driving and Ryan in the passenger seat. In the second-season finale, he tries to ask her out on a date four times, but Alex never lets him finish due to being in action, criticizing that he said that she was a goal, Alex passing out due to a broken arm and being electrocuted, and Nikita interrupting Sean right before he was going to ask Alex while she was in a Division medical facility. At the start of season 3, it appears Alex and Sean are in a relationship. However, by episode 3 it is revealed that Sean is only at Division for Alex, because he loved her. But Alex is at Division because it is the only place she knows as home, where she can be herself, and where her "family" (Nikita) is. After a toxin is released in the lab, Sean returns to ask Alex why she's not returning his calls, and asks her again why she's still there. "I can't tell you what to do, Alex, but I'm not going to stand by and watch this place destroy another person that I love," he says before he kisses her. "I love you, but if that's not enough of a reason for you to leave, I've got no reason to stay." After he leaves, she pops a pill and heads for the operations floor, insisting that she ought to be included in the hunt for Amanda. They eventually make up after an emotional scene in a medical room, they then entered a storage closet and make love, for the first time. In "Black Badge", Amanda framed Sean for the death of the head of the CIA. As a result, they faked his death and Sean was officially welcomed into Division by Alex. Sean died in season 3 episode 18, as a result of a bullet nicking his artery. They shared their last moments together in where they met, operations. When Nikita enters OPS, she finds Birkoff near Sean and Alex gone. She presumably went to get revenge for the current events. Sean later died in Alex's arms towards the end of season 3.

Owen and Alex

Once Owen is brought to Division, Ryan wants him interrogated in order to find out where he's been and assigns Alex to do the job, since he hasn't met Alex before. When Alex introduces herself Owen puts the pieces together that she is the Alex that Nikita would talk to him about. They exchanged witty banter and Alex asks him questions about what he has been doing. Owen tells Alex about Anne breaking him out of the Russian prison. When they first meet, they don't initially click under the circumstances. However, in episode 5 they partner up to find the mole after he figures out Ryan tasked her with this objective. They connect on a partnership level and at the end of the episode they joke about how sexy his scars are and Alex asks him about his butterfly tattoo. He says he likes to keep some of his memories to himself, she says she has to go and tells him to stay out of trouble. As she leaves, he notices she has a butterfly tattoo, on her back, too and smiles. Sean is jealous of the relationship Alex shares with Owen, Alex can share her past easier with Owen than she can with Sean, who was raised in a regular American family. Alex and Owen bond over their rough childhood and conflicted thoughts about Amanda and Division.

Seymour and Alex

In the first season, while Alex was still in Division as a recruit, Birkhoff would often yell at her and make her stay after class to get the computer sets right. Though she was faking to make it appear like it was new to her. In the second season, Alex and Birkhoff have a cute brother-sister relationship, as they both like to crack a couple of jokes at each other. Birkhoff and Alex often get snippy with each other when they are on a mission, Alex complains that Birkhoff takes too long to do his nerdy stuff and Birkhoff complains Alex takes too long to set things up for him to do his nerdy stuff. Small things like this happen in about every mission they do together, sometimes it ends up in Nikita having to get them back on track. Though Alex does trust Birkhoff and has shown to care for him and Birkhoff shows he cares for Alex. An example would be when Alex first stayed with Nikita, Birkhoff noticed Alex stole some of his pills for his pain, as he believed that she was going back to drugs after a shaky encounter with her mother. He told Nikita and Nikita confronted Alex about her emotional state. Alex also saved Birkhoff's life many times, even while she was working with Division in season 2. When Alex took a bullet for Nikita, Birkoff and Sonya missed the guard where the rogue agent got a gun from. Birkoff was initially scared that Alex would believe it was all his fault because of what Sonya would have told her. However, Alex says she was shot and sweetly whispers what ever problems he and Sonya have, he has to fix it. They are almost always on good terms, despite their witty banter and outward appearance of annoyance with each other at times.

Michael and Alex

Alex's relationship with Michael largely echoes that of Nikita's when she first met him, although rather noticeably with 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. Alex was highly suspicious of his and Nikita's relationship, and was not surprised when she imagined them kissing in Echoes. Michael has always protected Alex and she even accused him of being her guardian angel. He found out she was using pain pills and confronted her before she became fully addicted to them.

Nathan and Alex

Alex's neighbor and love interest in the second half of the first season. Alex fell in love with Nathan because he was normal, and that was what she wanted, an escape from Division. After he killed Jaden, while protecting Alex, he scattered to the wind after Alex told him to. He hasn't been seen since.

Reception

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".^[4] 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.^[5] Luke Holland of Den of Geek also praised Alex's abilities, saying that Fonseca showed "breadth in her abilities".^[3]

References