Alex (Lost)
Encyclopedia
Alexandra "Alex" Linus is a recurring
fictional character
on the ABC
television series Lost
played by Tania Raymonde
. She was born 16 years prior to the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, but was taken
from her mother, Danielle Rousseau
(Mira Furlan
) by the Others. She was raised among them, believing her mother to be dead. She has helped the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 on many occasions, and is reunited with her mother at the end of the third season. Not long after however, she is shot and killed by Keamy
(Kevin Durand
) after her adoptive father, Ben (Michael Emerson
), would not listen to his demands. Her death scene was received positively by critics, earning it a spot on multiple "top moments of the season" lists (see Reception).
) and her husband Robert (Guillaume Dabinpons) along with the rest of their crew, shipwrecked on the island, 16 years before the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, during a French scientific expedition. According to Rousseau, her team becomes "sick", so she kills them all, and later gives birth to Alexandra. Rousseau claims she saw a column of black smoke on the island a week later. That night, Benjamin Linus and a young Ethan Rom (William Mapother
) are ordered by Charles Widmore
(Alan Dale
) to kill Danielle and, subsequently, her baby, Alex. Instead, unwilling to kill an innocent child, Ben neglected Widmore's orders and kidnapped Alex to raise her as his daughter and let Danielle live.
woman Claire Littleton
(Emilie de Ravin
), whom the Other, Ethan Rom, had kidnapped to take her baby. Alex tells her that the Others will kill Claire once they get her baby. She leads Claire out of the Others' hatch and tries to make her get back to safety.
When Kate, Sawyer and Jack are captured by the Others, Alex attempts to break Kate and Sawyer out of where they are being held captive, but stops and gives up when another Other, Danny Pickett (Michael Bowen
) pulls a gun on her. In a later rescue attempt, Alex is successful in helping Kate and Sawyer escape. She agrees to let them back to the main island so long as they help rescue her boyfriend, Karl (Blake Bashoff
). After finding where he is, they break him out of a mysterious room where he has been undergoing brainwashing. Alex, Kate, Sawyer, and Karl are about to leave when Juliet
(Elizabeth Mitchell
) insists Alex stays. Later Alex helps Jack escape from his cell to stop Juliet's execution. Thanks to their interference, Juliet is not executed, only "marked."
Alex, along with the rest of the Others and Jack, returns to her home in Barracks. She is surprised when Sayid
(Naveen Andrews
), part of the rescue party that has arrived to get Jack, says that he knows her thought-to-be deceased mother. She later unknowingly walks past Danielle Rousseau, her mother, while taking Locke
(Terry O'Quinn
) to the Other's submarine at Ben's request.
The Others leave the Barracks and begin travelling to the Temple with Locke, as he wishes to join them. After he is initiated, Alex approaches Locke, and gives him a pistol
, claiming he'll need it if he was planning to meet the leader of the Others, Jacob. However, when Ben returns alone the next day, he bitterly returns the gun to her, and reveals his plan for a group of Others to go to the survivor's camp that night and kidnap the pregnant women. Sensing trouble, Alex flees into the jungle in search of Karl, who has been living in hiding since his escape. She gives him her gun and tells him he must warn the survivors. The two kiss before Karl heads off. Ben goes to confront the survivors, bringing Alex with him. On the way there, Ben tells her that he is taking her to her new family, explaining the reason he locked Karl up was he didn't want him getting Alex pregnant. Once they meet the survivors, Ben reunites Alex with her mother.
She joins Locke's group who head to the Barracks, fearing people on an incoming freighter. Ben sends Alex, Karl and Danielle to the Temple for extra safety, but on the way they are ambushed by mercenaries from the freighter who are looking for Ben, resulting in Karl and Danielle being shot. Alex surrenders shouting that she was Ben's daughter. She is used as a hostage to try and have Ben surrender. Alex sets off a distress signal at the electric fence surrounding the Barracks to warn Ben and the others that the mercenaries were coming. They threaten to kill her if Ben will not surrender himself. Ben refuses, and the lead mercenary, Keamy, executes Alex with one gunshot to the head. Later, Ben goes to Alex's body to say goodbye.
Alex appeared posthumously as a manifestation of the Smoke Monster to judge Ben for Alex's death. Ben is spared but as his punishment, the Monster (in the form of Alex) ordered him to follow and listen to John Locke's every word and never again to try to harm him in any way or he will bear the consequences. Crushed by once again seeing Alex, Ben complies. Richard Alpert later explains that he buried Alex's body and shows Ben where.
for Yale University
. Ben backs down, preferring to savor Alex's educational future. Unlike his counterpart, Ben has chosen Alex over himself. He is eventually invited over for dinner at Alex's home, where her mother is the same mother she had previously.
, a girl raised in the jungle who is an expert in fighting with makeshift weapons.
. Cast members often read fake lines with a different name in their audition to limit potential spoilers from leaking. In her first appearance, Raymonde was credited as "young girl", preventing viewers knowing in advance that Alex would be introduced.
Mira Furlan met Raymonde for the first time just minutes before shooting their reunion scene in the season three finale. The actors believed the scene to be a "huge moment" for their characters, which Furlan described as a "basic human moment". Furlan was glad to have "such a beautiful partner", and noted their physical resemblance.
described Alex's death scene as "hardcore", commenting that it will be "sitting very high on this ranking of all-time pivotal Lost moments" by the end of the series. Before the season finale
aired, Jensen ranked this as the second best moment of the season IGN
s Chris Carabott also considered it "one of the more pivotal scenes in the entire series" due to it being "phenomenally shot, edited and acted" Oscar Dahl described it as "perfectly paced … and provided a huge shock … and some of the best acting you'll ever see" ranking it the fifth best moment of the season. Daniel from TMZ
loved Alex's execution scene, giving it an "A+".
Recurring character
A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in an episode, sometimes being the main focus...
fictional character
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
television series Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
played by Tania Raymonde
Tania Raymonde
Tania Raymonde is an American actress. Raymonde's first prominent casting role was the recurring character of Cynthia Sanders in TV series Malcolm in the Middle between 2000–2003, followed by a popular role as Alex Rousseau in ABC's Lost from 2006 to 2010.She can currently be seen as UTF officer...
. She was born 16 years prior to the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, but was taken
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
from her mother, Danielle Rousseau
Danielle Rousseau
Danielle Rousseau is a fictional character on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the South Pacific. Croatian actress Mira Furlan plays the scientist who shipwrecks on the island sixteen...
(Mira Furlan
Mira Furlan
Mira Furlan is a Croatian actress and singer currently residing in the United States. She is well known for her roles as the Minbari Ambassador Delenn on all five seasons of the science fiction television series Babylon 5 , and Danielle Rousseau on Lost.-Early life:Furlan was born to an...
) by the Others. She was raised among them, believing her mother to be dead. She has helped the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 on many occasions, and is reunited with her mother at the end of the third season. Not long after however, she is shot and killed by Keamy
Martin Keamy
First Sergeant Martin Christopher Keamy is a recurring fictional character played by Kevin Durand in the fourth season and sixth season of the American ABC television series Lost. Keamy is introduced in the fifth episode of the fourth season as a crew member aboard the freighter called the Kahana...
(Kevin Durand
Kevin Durand
Kevin Serge Durand is a Canadian actor known for his roles as Joshua in Dark Angel, Martin Keamy in Lost, Fred J. Dukes in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the Archangel Gabriel in Legion, and Little John in Robin Hood....
) after her adoptive father, Ben (Michael Emerson
Michael Emerson
Michael Emerson is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his roles as Benjamin Linus on Lost and fictional serial killer William Hinks in The Practice.-Early life:...
), would not listen to his demands. Her death scene was received positively by critics, earning it a spot on multiple "top moments of the season" lists (see Reception).
Before the crash
A heavily pregnant Danielle Rousseau (Mira FurlanMira Furlan
Mira Furlan is a Croatian actress and singer currently residing in the United States. She is well known for her roles as the Minbari Ambassador Delenn on all five seasons of the science fiction television series Babylon 5 , and Danielle Rousseau on Lost.-Early life:Furlan was born to an...
) and her husband Robert (Guillaume Dabinpons) along with the rest of their crew, shipwrecked on the island, 16 years before the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, during a French scientific expedition. According to Rousseau, her team becomes "sick", so she kills them all, and later gives birth to Alexandra. Rousseau claims she saw a column of black smoke on the island a week later. That night, Benjamin Linus and a young Ethan Rom (William Mapother
William Mapother
William Reibert Mapother, Jr. is an American actor and former teacher, perhaps best known for his role as Ethan Rom on the television series Lost.-Personal life:...
) are ordered by Charles Widmore
Charles Widmore
Charles Widmore is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the south Pacific. He is primarily portrayed as an older man by Alan Dale; Tom Connolly and David S...
(Alan Dale
Alan Dale
Alan Hugh Dale is a New Zealand actor. As a child, Dale developed a love of theatre and also became a rugby player. After retiring from the sport he took on a number of professions to support his family, before deciding to become a professional actor at the age of 27. With work limited in New...
) to kill Danielle and, subsequently, her baby, Alex. Instead, unwilling to kill an innocent child, Ben neglected Widmore's orders and kidnapped Alex to raise her as his daughter and let Danielle live.
After the crash
Sixteen years later, Alex meets the pregnantPregnancy
Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...
woman Claire Littleton
Claire Littleton
Claire Littleton is a fictional character played by Emilie de Ravin on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of the survivors of a plane crash in the South Pacific. Claire is introduced in the pilot episode as a pregnant crash survivor. She is a series regular until her...
(Emilie de Ravin
Emilie de Ravin
Emilie de Ravin born 27 December 1981)is an Australian actress. She is commonly associated with her roles as Tess Harding on Roswell and Claire Littleton on the ABC drama Lost....
), whom the Other, Ethan Rom, had kidnapped to take her baby. Alex tells her that the Others will kill Claire once they get her baby. She leads Claire out of the Others' hatch and tries to make her get back to safety.
When Kate, Sawyer and Jack are captured by the Others, Alex attempts to break Kate and Sawyer out of where they are being held captive, but stops and gives up when another Other, Danny Pickett (Michael Bowen
Michael Bowen (actor)
Michael Bowen is an American actor. Films he has appeared in include Jackie Brown, Magnolia, and Less Than Zero. Bowen also had a recurring role as Danny Pickett on the ABC television series, Lost....
) pulls a gun on her. In a later rescue attempt, Alex is successful in helping Kate and Sawyer escape. She agrees to let them back to the main island so long as they help rescue her boyfriend, Karl (Blake Bashoff
Blake Bashoff
Blake Warren Bashoff is an American television and motion picture actor, known for his role as Moritz Stiefel in Spring Awakening. He has also appeared in a number of guest roles on television series, including the ABC series Lost as Karl Martin.- Life and career :Bashoff was born in Philadelphia,...
). After finding where he is, they break him out of a mysterious room where he has been undergoing brainwashing. Alex, Kate, Sawyer, and Karl are about to leave when Juliet
Juliet Burke
Dr. Juliet Burke is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Elizabeth Mitchell. Her character was introduced in the third season premiere.- Prior to arrival on the island :...
(Elizabeth Mitchell
Elizabeth Mitchell
Elizabeth Mitchell , is an American actress/modelwho is known for her roles as Dr. Juliet Burke on ABC's TV series Lost and as FBI agent Erica Evans on V. She has starred in such films as The Santa Clause 2, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, and Gia.-Early life:Mitchell was born Elizabeth...
) insists Alex stays. Later Alex helps Jack escape from his cell to stop Juliet's execution. Thanks to their interference, Juliet is not executed, only "marked."
Alex, along with the rest of the Others and Jack, returns to her home in Barracks. She is surprised when Sayid
Sayid Jarrah
Sayid Hassan Jarrah is a character from the ABC show Lost portrayed by Naveen Andrews.-Season 1:Sayid fixes the transceiver recovered from the cockpit, and leads a group into the jungle in order to send out a distress signal. Instead, he picks up a looping message . He tries to locate the...
(Naveen Andrews
Naveen Andrews
Naveen William Sidney Andrews is a British American actor. He is best known for portraying Kip in the movie The English Patient and Sayid Jarrah on the American television series Lost.-Early life:...
), part of the rescue party that has arrived to get Jack, says that he knows her thought-to-be deceased mother. She later unknowingly walks past Danielle Rousseau, her mother, while taking Locke
John Locke (Lost)
John Locke is a fictional character played by Terry O'Quinn on the ABC television series Lost. He is named after English philosopher John Locke...
(Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn is an American actor, most famous for playing John Locke on the TV series Lost. He made his debut in a 1980 television movie called F.D.R.: The Last Year. Since then, O'Quinn has had minor supporting roles in films and TV movies such as Young Guns, All the Right Moves, Silver Bullet,...
) to the Other's submarine at Ben's request.
The Others leave the Barracks and begin travelling to the Temple with Locke, as he wishes to join them. After he is initiated, Alex approaches Locke, and gives him a pistol
Pistol
When distinguished as a subset of handguns, a pistol is a handgun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, as opposed to a revolver, wherein the chamber is separate from the barrel as a revolving cylinder. Typically, pistols have an effective range of about 100 feet.-History:The pistol...
, claiming he'll need it if he was planning to meet the leader of the Others, Jacob. However, when Ben returns alone the next day, he bitterly returns the gun to her, and reveals his plan for a group of Others to go to the survivor's camp that night and kidnap the pregnant women. Sensing trouble, Alex flees into the jungle in search of Karl, who has been living in hiding since his escape. She gives him her gun and tells him he must warn the survivors. The two kiss before Karl heads off. Ben goes to confront the survivors, bringing Alex with him. On the way there, Ben tells her that he is taking her to her new family, explaining the reason he locked Karl up was he didn't want him getting Alex pregnant. Once they meet the survivors, Ben reunites Alex with her mother.
She joins Locke's group who head to the Barracks, fearing people on an incoming freighter. Ben sends Alex, Karl and Danielle to the Temple for extra safety, but on the way they are ambushed by mercenaries from the freighter who are looking for Ben, resulting in Karl and Danielle being shot. Alex surrenders shouting that she was Ben's daughter. She is used as a hostage to try and have Ben surrender. Alex sets off a distress signal at the electric fence surrounding the Barracks to warn Ben and the others that the mercenaries were coming. They threaten to kill her if Ben will not surrender himself. Ben refuses, and the lead mercenary, Keamy, executes Alex with one gunshot to the head. Later, Ben goes to Alex's body to say goodbye.
Alex appeared posthumously as a manifestation of the Smoke Monster to judge Ben for Alex's death. Ben is spared but as his punishment, the Monster (in the form of Alex) ordered him to follow and listen to John Locke's every word and never again to try to harm him in any way or he will bear the consequences. Crushed by once again seeing Alex, Ben complies. Richard Alpert later explains that he buried Alex's body and shows Ben where.
After life
Alex is a bright high school student in Los Angeles hoping to major in history. Her teacher, Ben Linus, holds her in high regard, telling her future is nothing to worry about. Later, while he is tutoring her, she reveals to Ben about Principal Reynolds' sexual affair with one of the school nurses on campus, which leads to Ben attempting to blackmail Reynolds for his position as principal. However, Reynolds retaliates by saying if he is blackmailed, he will not write Alex a letter of recommendationRecommendation letter
A letter of recommendation is a letter in which the writer assesses the qualities, characteristics, and capabilities of the person being recommended in terms of that individual’s ability to perform a particular task or function. Recommendation letters are almost always specifically requested to be...
for Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. Ben backs down, preferring to savor Alex's educational future. Unlike his counterpart, Ben has chosen Alex over himself. He is eventually invited over for dinner at Alex's home, where her mother is the same mother she had previously.
Characteristics
Alex is a renegade Other who often turns her back on her group in order to help the crash survivors. Sawyer nicknames her "Sheena", a reference to Sheena, Queen of the JungleSheena, Queen of the Jungle
Sheena, Queen of the Jungle is a fictional, American comic book jungle girl heroine, published originally by Fiction House. The female counterpart to Tarzan, Sheena had two things in common with Edgar Rice Burrough's Jungle Lord: Both possessed the ability to communicate with wild animals and were...
, a girl raised in the jungle who is an expert in fighting with makeshift weapons.
Development
Tania Raymonde was told her character would be called "Jessica" when first cast in the role. Furthermore, her character was promoted as a survivor who would be introduced in Maternity LeaveMaternity Leave (Lost)
"Maternity Leave" is the 15th episode of the second season of Lost,and the 40th episode overall. The episode was directed by Jack Bender, and written by Dawn Lambertsen Kelly and Matt Ragghianti. It first aired on March 1, 2006 on ABC...
. Cast members often read fake lines with a different name in their audition to limit potential spoilers from leaking. In her first appearance, Raymonde was credited as "young girl", preventing viewers knowing in advance that Alex would be introduced.
Mira Furlan met Raymonde for the first time just minutes before shooting their reunion scene in the season three finale. The actors believed the scene to be a "huge moment" for their characters, which Furlan described as a "basic human moment". Furlan was glad to have "such a beautiful partner", and noted their physical resemblance.
Reception
Jeff Jensen from Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
described Alex's death scene as "hardcore", commenting that it will be "sitting very high on this ranking of all-time pivotal Lost moments" by the end of the series. Before the season finale
There's No Place Like Home
"There's No Place Like Home, Parts 1, 2 & 3" is the season finale of the American Broadcasting Company's fourth season of the serial drama television series Lost, consisting of the 12th through 14th episodes. They are also the 84th through 86th episodes of the show overall...
aired, Jensen ranked this as the second best moment of the season IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
s Chris Carabott also considered it "one of the more pivotal scenes in the entire series" due to it being "phenomenally shot, edited and acted" Oscar Dahl described it as "perfectly paced … and provided a huge shock … and some of the best acting you'll ever see" ranking it the fifth best moment of the season. Daniel from TMZ
TMZ.com
TMZ.com is a celebrity news website that debuted on November 8, 2005. It was a collaboration between America Online and Telepictures Productions, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested AOL in 2009. However, it is still affiliated with AOL News and has the AOL News logo affixed in...
loved Alex's execution scene, giving it an "A+".