Mary Palmer

**Mary Palmer** was Dr. Laszlo Kreizler's housekeeper.

She was a major character portrayed by Q'orianka Kilcher.

## Official Description

"*MARY PALMER is Dr. Kreizler’s housekeeper. She is an exotic beauty with a bewitching face. After years of abuse and sexual violation, she chained her father to his bed while he slept and set the house on fire. She has never spoken again as a result of those acts. Kreizler discovered her at the Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island and determined that she was not insane. He found ways to communicate with her and to teach her to communicate back. He ultimately brought her into his home as one of his staff. Unlike Cyrus and Stevie, who become part of the investigation, Kreizler wants to keep Mary as far away as possible from the sordid and grisly details of the case, not only for her own security, but also because of his evolving feelings for her.* "

## Character Overview

Mary Palmer was a young Native American woman who was born with aphasia and agraphia, leaving her unable to speak and write. She was strongly scarred by the abuse endured from her father, augmented by the fact that she couldn't tell anyone about it and establish relationships with her peers due to her speech disorder. However, Mary found a way to discover her true value and get out of the spiral of suffering after Dr. Kreizler took her under his protective wing. Mary was able to communicate through gestures but above all through the eyes, being able to communicate a wide range of emotions through glances and stares. Mary was a voracious reader and a lover of little, delicate things like flowers pressed between the pages of a book, or an altruistic, gentle gesture towards her. However, in spite of this sweet and friendly nature, Mary was capable of violent and heinous gestures if forced by the situation and had no fear of fighting to save those she loves.

Mary came to enjoy her role in the household, especially since Dr Kreizler was almost dependent on her in his everyday tasks due to his disability, further blurring the lines of what a housemaid is supposed to do.

## Biography

 Early Life

Grown up in a difficult and violent family environment, Mary burned her father to death. According to what John Moore discovered, it took her several attempts to set him alight. She was taken in by Dr. Kreizler when she was still quite young. Since then, she was his housemaid and was slowly introduced to the pleasures of reading, music and the love of a loving family formed by Cyrus, Stevie, and Dr. Kreizler himself.

 A Voiceless Angel

New York City, March 3rd, 1896.  At Kreizler's House, Mary Palmer woke Dr. Laszlo Kreizler by knocking on his door in the middle of the night, pointing to him to go down to the kitchen. The stable boy, Stevie, had found a child in need of help. After recovering a little from the shock, the child revealed that he had seen the corpse of a boy wearing women's clothes on the under-construction Williamsburg Bridge. Kreizler urged Stevie to fetch John Moore and lead him to the crime scene.

A few nights later, John Moore had found some files the alienist was interested in and the two met at Kreizler's house, where he was playing music in the sitting room along with his servants.

Once Dr. Kreizler decided to conduct a parallel investigation to that of the police, he started bringing some of his co-workers home. Mary was somewhat unhappy with the presence of Miss Sara Howard, an educated and beautiful woman with whom the alienist was very interested in making conversation.

Continuing to do household chores at the Kreizler house, Mary offered to wash Laszloʼs shirt when he stained the sleeve with ink. It was then that Stevie came into the kitchen to warn the doctor that another murder had been committed at the fomer Immigrant Station.

Aiming to please the doctor and his colleagues, Mary prepared a large breakfast at the Kreizler Institute. As soon as Kreizler returned with Mr. Moore and Ms. Howard, though, he scolded Mary for taking that stupid initiative — as he didn't want her involved in the investigation of the murder case — and ordered her to be taken home by Cyrus.

Besides the jealousy she had towards Ms. Howard and the time she spent conversing with Dr. Kreizler — something that was impossible for Mary because of her aphasia — Mary was also angry with the alienist for the rude way in which he had recently treated her.

When John Moore visited his friend Laszlo and discovered he was at the park with Miss Howard, the handsome bachelor decided to spend the afternoon with Mary to distract her from bad thoughts and bring her back into good spirits. After a walk, the two went to see a show at Edison's cinematograph, where Mary had a great time watching the moving images on the screen.

Once they got home, Mary was scolded by Laszlo because she hadn't said she would go out or where she went. Mary ignored the doctor, and left the room after thanking John in sign language.

A Severed Blossoming Love

Mary served Dr. Kreizler's lunch, who immediately noticed the bandage on her finger. The woman had accidentally cut herself in the kitchen. The man kissed her wound, saying that his saliva was a natural coagulant, making her blush.

The housekeeper could not avoid listening to the various gruesome conversations that the alienist and his collaborators held during their meetings. More than once, Laszlo himself had confessed to Mary his fears about the investigations and the motivations that could push a man to perform such wickedness.

Finally, finding courage, Laszlo asked Mary to have dinner together and the woman accepted. During the meal, the two shared a kiss.

Mary was beside herself with joy. The man she loved reciprocated her feelings! Unfortunately, however, Mary's happiness was destined to die in the bud. While Dr. Kreizler was on a business trip to Washington, DC with John Moore, a group of men led by former Captain Connor broke into the house. While two of them had knocked out Stevie and Cyrus — who had recently been discharged from the hospital following an assault, and was still recovering from the injuries — Connor attacked Mary.

Ignoring that she was suffering from aphasia, the man continued to ask her questions and make accusations and allegations about her and the doctor. But Mary was not as helpless as he had assumed. The woman tried to defend herself with a kitchen knife and fought when the man tried to rape her after Mary managed to escape upstairs. During the scuffle, however, the man pushed her from the balustrade and Mary broke her neck and died when she hit the downstairs floor.

## Appearances

The Alienist

* Ep. 2: *A Fruitful Partnership*
* Ep. 3: *Silver Smile*
* Ep. 4: *These Bloody Thoughts*
* Ep. 7: *Many Sainted Men*
* Ep. 8: *Psychopathia Sexualis*
* Ep. 9: *Requiem*  (archive footage)

## Notes

* According to Q'orianka Kilcher, Mary was jealous of the time Dr. Kreizler spent with Sara Howard, sharing thoughts and opinions in a way that Mary could not do. She also described Mary as trapped in her own mind which is her escape and prison at the same time.
* In the novel, Mary was a former patient of the Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island. Initially believed to be affected by dementia praecox, now known as schizophrenia, Dr. Kreizler discovered that Mary was actually affected by classic motor aphasia – the extreme difficulty of speaking although retaining comprehension abilities – and agraphia, or inability to express thoughts in writing.
* At Mary Palmer's funeral, John Moore read the poem Christina Rossetti titled "When I am Dead My Dearest," published in 1862.

## Gallery

* Promotional Stills
* Screencaps
* Videos
* Behind the Scenes

 *Photo by Kata Vermes and Jesse Giddings. [Courtesy of TNT Pressroom]*

The Alienist Dinner with Mary - Season 1, Ep. 7 CLIP TNT

## References

1. ↑ *‘The Alienist’: Mary Palmer Promotional Quote on TNT Instagram account.*
2. ↑  *Official Overview for Q’orianka Kilcher's Mary Palmer — TNT Pressroom*
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Gina Gionfriddo (writer) & Jakob Verbruggen (director); (February 5, 2018); "Silver Smile". Episode 3.*The Alienist*. TNT
4. ↑  E. Max Frye (writer) & James Hawes (director); (February 19, 2018); "Hildebrandt’s Starling". Episode 5.*The Alienist*. TNT
5. ↑ Hossein Amini (writer) & Jakob Verbruggen (director); (January 22, 2018); "The Boy on the Bridge". Episode 1. *The Alienist*. TNT
6. ↑ Hossein Amini & E. Max Frye (writers) & Jakob Verbruggen (director); (January 29, 2018); "A Fruitful Partnership". Episode 2.*The Alienist*. TNT
7. ↑ Gina Gionfriddo & Cary Joji Fukunaga (writers) & James Hawes (director); (February 12, 2018); "These Bloody Thoughts". Episode 4.*The Alienist*. TNT
8. ↑ E. Max Frye (writer) & Paco Cabezas (director); (February 26, 2018); "Ascension". Episode 6.*The Alienist*. TNT
9. ↑ John Sayles (writer) & Paco Cabezas (director); (March 5, 2018); "Many Sainted Men". Episode 7.*The Alienist*. TNT
10. ↑ John Sayles (writer) & David Petrarca (director); (March 12, 2018); "Psychopathia Sexualis". Episode 8.*The Alienist*. TNT
11. ↑ *The Alienist These Bloody Thoughts - Season 1, Ep. 4 INSIDE THE EPISODE TNT*
12. ↑ Hossein Amini (writer) & Jamie Payne (director); (March 19, 2018); "Requiem". Episode 9.*The Alienist*. TNT