User blog:Corbierr/Character Analysis- Alfie



'''Howdy, folks! You ready for this? I've decided to add these blogs to my NaNo count because I'M WRITING so I no longer need to feel lazy :D'''

So anyways, Alfie Lewis...

Season 1- Class clown with a secret brain
Season 1 Alfie started out...ehh. He was just the jokester. Where Jerome was the one who got to hop around between storylines, shake things up and show some hidden depths every now and then, Alfie...didn't really have too much to do other than chase Amber around and be Jerome's sidekick. This wouldn't have been terrible...except that making him do almost nothing made it hard to really know what he was like. We couldn't get a grasp on how nice he really was, for example, as he was Jerome's sidekick and thus went along gladly with things like the initiation, scamming people and scaring Sibuna. All we knew for certain was that he loved Amber, and, well...we didn't really know'' why. ''It was clearly just an average crush on the hot girl who kissed him, which didn't give us much insight into Alfie because...it was nothing special for him to love her.

He finally became notable after getting poisoned/trapped in the cellar and thus, getting important to the story. But this was a very small amount of time and had no immediate consequences outside of making Nina quit for today, allowing Patrome to have a scene, and letting Sibuna know a little more about the Society. Which honestly means he did more than I expected when writing the above scentences. Still, it just wasn't enough to change Alfie or make him genuinely important to the story. Had it been Mick, or Amber, or Fabian, or anyone, the result would have been the same: Sibuna freaks out, Nina pointlessly quits for a day, and they learn just a bit more about the Society.

Hell, we even met his parents, which usually signifies character development or some big twist on this show but instead really did nothing but make him pretend to be smart for an episode. (Screw you writers for letting us see ALFIE'S parents for no real reason yet neglect to even mention Fabian's!)

Alfie's only legitimate importance came when he found the artifact and started hanging out with Patricia more often. We finally got to see some real depth to him when he and Patricia opened up to each other (he is, might I add, the only person besides Joy and Jason to have Trixie open up to them). We finally got to see him being a genuinely good friend when he did things like take the punishment for Fabian breaking the clock. We got to see him...''become an actual character. ''It was no longer just him being funny, he was figuring things out and helping people and actually deciding to be active for once.

Then, of course, Jerome decided to stop Alfie's kinda-development and remind the audience that Alfie is still his sidekick who gets no power to do anything of his own, and does this by guilt-tripping him into being the mole among Sibuna. Now, this was actually done very well to show Alfie's kinda-development into being a more independant person and an actual active character. He shows resistance, and guilt, and anger, and internal conflict, and these are sides of Alfie we either never saw before or saw very rarely. And we see him mess up, and fail, and get called out on it...and he's one of the few characters who are actually affected by their mistakes. We see him being emotionally troubled and struggling to avoid getting caught. Usually, when mistakes are made on this show, people only seem to care because they got caught or had bad consequences. Alfie...is one of the few people to legitmately suffer from guilt ''before things happen. ''

And he gets points for his extremely sweet action in returning Amber's dress for the finale.

Season 1 Alfie basically just started out being...just sort of there, and then he somehow managed to take control, get some sort of development or at least showed hidden depths and true personality, and also became infulencial. He jumped into the game late, but played well.

And it gets better in...

Season 2- (Insert funny title here)
Season 2, he jumped back in with one goal: being Amber's boyfriend. I already talked about the iffy reason behind her being his boyfriend in her own blog, but I'll say this, at least he put genuine effort to make her happy. All of it was increadibly sweet, even if I personally feel like his justification behind him "having" to date her wasn't fair to Amber. I'll get over that though and focus on Alfie. So once again we get to see the genuinely sweet and perfect-boyfriend side to him. He was dedicated, maybe a bit too in over his head, but he cared and that was the point. If he didn't, he'd never have gone through all the trouble of getting her the dollhouse, being on a magazine, and getting "wheels".

Of course, it still wasn't a huge role and he was still more or less back to his original position...until Sibuna came around. Then- BAM!- he got hit with the competence truck and instead of just being the Sibuna newbie who messed things up, he was...an overwhelming help! Well, it was he and Amber (who of course had their breakup when Alfie decided to finally develop and realized that she wasn't all that good of a girlfriend) both who gained massive levels in competence for the group. And not only was he competent, he became smart(er), focused, and kind of independant.

Similar to Amber and Fabian, there were no big moments that showed his growth as a character. It was subtle. And it worked! Alfie grew from the incompetent goofball to a relatively skilled Sibuna member, and at first, we don't really realize it because his personality stayed intact and he still messed up every so often. But then you notice- most of his actions became about furthering Sibuna (which sadly means even he was more focused on the mission than Nina was)! Yeah, he still had his moments. But unlike last season, he was genuinely a member Sibuna could not have done without. He pulled of a complex plan to get the amulet from Victor. He saved Amber, Jerome, Fabian and Trudy (even though he gave Trudy a concussion) from the barn. He even managed to help Jerome escape Rufus in the very end.

And when he wasn't helping Sibuna, yeah, he was being Jerome's sidekick. But unlike before, he was now coming up with all the plans, genuinely being helpful and still managing to (indirectly) help Sibuna out as well (you know, with the whole Frobisher Gem thing in the end?).

The thing with Piper deserves a mention as well, what with him genuinely falling for someone due to their kindness and their personality, not because of their beauty. Sure, it ended on a bittersweet note, but he clearly loved her for who she was, even if it lasted a short time, even if it started out as a misunderstanding.

In the end, he and Amber of course get to start over their relationship, but not before he starts actually thinking about himself and not before Amber is the one who chases him, which shows them having both changed. In his case, he became more independant and learned to respect himself more. (TAKE NOTES TRIXIE...)

Overall, Alfie had blossomed this season. He'd clearly matured, had really great scenes, and became important in many plots...all while keeping his same funny, kind, and goofy nature.

Could it get better?

Prehaps it did in...

Season 3- More proof that he's a ladies man (apparently)
In the beginning, Alfie starts off...by making a mistake. You know what I mean, the fashion-school Amber thing where he doesn't tell her about the call. Of course, this would be grating...if it wasn't followed immediately by him feeling guilty and being conflicted between wanting the girl he loves to stay, and wanting her to follow her dreams. He picks the latter, and despite being heartbroken (and making all of us here at home heartbroken as well), he tells Amber the truth, accepts the consequences, and honestly tells Mr. Millington that Amber is talented in fashion and deserves to go to the fashion school. When she's leaving, he's obviously devastated, and only seeing her one last time can put his heart at rest. Oh, and let me not forget how perfect he was when he took a page from Patricia and insisted on saving Amber no matter what! Let it never be said that Alfie is not a damn good boyfriend.

Afterwards, he reverts back to being normal Alfie, unfortunately. Zombie obsessed, goofy, Jerome's sidekick, and...wait, what's that now? He's a descendant? He's working with Patricia to stop the ceremony? He's trying to be Jerome's voice of reason? He's being serious and smart and competent again?

Yes folks, skilled!Alfie was here to stay! They didn't reverse his development! THEY DIDN'T RUIN HIM! Can I get a hallelujah?

...Unfortunately, Amber-loving Alfie was not. Suddenly he loved Willow, and...I'm not going to lie, I shipped them, just as I shipped Jeroy and just as I don't despise Mabian. But I shipped them because they were adorable and drama-less, not because they had any actual substance. Enough about the couple, though! What affect did this have on Alfie himself? Well, outside of making him get another girlfriend for no reason (Seriously, what is it with the writers thinking everyone needs to be dating to be happy?), it didn't change him too much. He was still competent in Sibuna. He was still extremely loyal, as shown in many heroic moments. He was still Alfie, just with a new and pointless relationship. So...yay?

Oh well, moving on. So, in the end, he became the best member of Sibuna. That is...while Eddie and KT (not Patricia or Fabian because Sinners...well actually even them because they were terrible at hiding it) were being kinda stupid, he wasn't! He was being at least a little smart, with recording Fabian's red-eyes-of-doom, and not being dumb enough to realize that Fabian had hurt Joy and was indeed evil. He was being at least a little determined, with him genuinely trying to battle Fabian and him getting the staff peice despite his claustrophobia which was actually still a thing because the writers didn't always fuck up the canon this season. The only reason he became a Sinner was because the writers hate us...and I guess because he loves Willow.

As a Sinner, he was nothing important, but god was he entertaining. Yeah, he may have been an asshole. But Alex was clearly enjoying it, and it just made it really, really, really funny to watch! Too bad he didn't actually do anything.

TOR, he was nothing special. He wasn't ruined, but he wasn't awesome either. Nothing to talk about there.

Over all, season 3 Alfie had no development, but come on, he was pretty stellar from beginning to end. The only thing that bugs me at all was that his feelings for Willow were made up just so we could have a romance that completely ruined the entire everything that Amfie had built up over three seasons.

Consensus / What I'd done
Alfie...was a really well written character. Similar to Amber, he was one the rare anomoly in the show who managed to be better in season 2 and 3 than he was in season 1. He was developed, used well, and what more could I ask for?

Season 1...hmm. I'd have just given him more to do at first outside of being Jerome's side-kick. Not sure what, but there had to have been something he could have done! Season 2, nothing would have changed. Well, that's not true. I'd have let him become less of a doormat, because even though I didn't bring this up, Alfie had spent a good portion of his time being pushed into doing dangerous things he didn't want to do with negative consequences, and he should have learned to say no when he honestly felt like what he would do is wrong. Season 3? Just...get...rid...of...Walfie...really, it was cute, but completely pointless!

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'''THANKS everyone! What are your thoughts? Post them below! (please post, nobody has said anything on the last two analysis blogs...well, Queenie posted once...)'''

Next week?

Eddie Willow Mick

Three people left holy shit I am almost done with this series!