Why Alice Isn’t Dead is Somewhat Worrying

Let me preface this by stating that I am thoroughly enjoying Alice Isn’t Dead thus far. It is starting off slow and steady, much like Welcome to Night Vale did, but is already creating the world and environment that it is set in in order to create its fascinating plot and immersive storytelling. If you have yet to listen to it, I highly recommend that you do so here.

Now to continue, let’s talk about our main heroine. I do not believe that she has been given a name yet, and for that reason I will refer to her as Jasika because our creators have a tendency to give characters the same name as their voice actor. Jasika is already a wonderful character and is on her way to become a fan-favorite, much like Cecil did with us. However, the thing that is troubling me is her relationship with Alice. More specifically, how it seems that Jasika is codependent on Alice.

Codependency is defined as “excessive emotional or psychological reliance on a partner”, thus meaning that that person is more important to you than yourself, is the source of fulfillment in your life, or simply is someone that you require to feel adequate. This type of relationship is not healthy and therefore is troubling to see signs that are pointing towards this type of relationship between Jasika and Alice. There was one line in particular that I caught onto which made me think about the presence of a codependent relationship:

You freed me, and I didn’t ask you to. I didn’t want you to. I am more free now than I have ever been, and I am spiraling. I am spiraling across the country. Maybe you are, too.

Jasika explains how she hates being free in this way and that she doesn’t have control without Alice, and this is why she wants Alice back. Of course, I know that they are married and if one discovered that their wife who was presumed dead was actually somewhere else, I’m certain that they would try to find her as well. But it’s about how Jasika phrases her thoughts because phrasing is everything in storytelling. Jasika describes her losing Alice as ‘being freed’, as though that implies that her marriage was something that was restraining her. And now that she was given this freedom, and is 'more free than she had ever been’, it is ruining her. This is not how someone would speak if they found out their supposed dead spouse was alive. That would sound something more along the lines of “Why didn’t you tell me you were alive? Where have you been? Why did you leave me like this?” Because Jasika connects this with freedom is a little troubling.

But let’s go through some of the other signs before jumping to conclusions over one line in an episode. Some signs of being in a codependent relationship are as follows:

An exaggerated sense of responsibility for the actions of others

A tendency to become hurt when people don’t recognize their efforts

Lack of trust in self and/or others

Fear of being abandoned or alone

Poor communications



The first and second signs can be combined together. When one does a lot for others, even when they don’t have to, and then these efforts are ignored, they can feel discouraged and hurt. Jasika is constantly repeating to Alice that she is trying to find her and that she will keep trying until she does. She repeats it so vehemently and mentions it so often that it is almost as though she has to remind herself that she must try this hard and never give up.

Where are you, Alice? Why can’t I find you? I’ll keep driving this truck. I’ll keep wandering this country. I’m going to find you. I will.

The next one is a bit harder to place. Jasika certainly does seem distrustful of others, including Alice, but based on what we have been shown in the story thus far, it is easy to understand why. Her wife disappeared and let Jasika believe she was dead until proven otherwise, the Thistle Man is a cannibal that follows her, and she has yet to speak to a seemingly normal person in the podcast. It would be disheartening to anyone and could lead anyone to having trust issues. But she insists, without much reason, that Alice may be behind some of the strange paranormal things going on around her.

Are you doing this? Are you doing this to me? […]Your gift to me, I suppose? Charlatan again.

Jasika is constantly reasserting her fear of being alone. She speaks of how the places she drives through are empty, or how the universe seems so vast and how that’s impossibly scary. She talks about how hurt she was that Alice was gone and that despite reaching out to others (the therapy circles she mentioned) she never really felt close to anyone else.

Every relationship, no matter how long, no matter the history, is expected to be temporary. Separation is never a surprise.

This, I feel, is shown both literally and metaphorically. Alice and Jasika literally didn’t communicate well with one another with Alice disappearing and not telling Jasika that she isn’t dead. But their lack of communication and difficulty with conveying ideas to one another is also shown wonderfully through the cuts in and out and incoherent timeline within the story. The radio will crackle and the story will jump either forwards and backwards. This shows how neither story is getting across correctly and how Alice and Jasika are not communicating well with one another.

So, to conclude, I cannot say for certain whether it is Joseph Fink’s intention for Jasika and Alice to have a codependent relationship. This could all just be coincidental based on Jasika’s reactions to discovering her wife is not dead. Many of these symptoms either do not have enough evidence due to there not being many episodes or because the relationship is not codependent and instead not enough of it has been shown to prove otherwise.

However. If their relationship is codependent then I don’t think this podcast will be romanticizing this. I think that this podcast would then be about Jasika’s journey to realizing this and, upon reuniting with Alice, they will fix this aspect of their relationship. As well as figure out what in the world has been going on around Jasika along the journey, of course.

Sources: x x