The new CBS dramedy So Help Me Todd follows mother-and-son duo Margaret (Marcia Gay Harden) and Todd Wright (Skylar Astin) as they use their respective skills as a lawyer and private investigator to solve cases and help clients at Margaret’s law firm — where Todd is now also employed after losing his investigator license due to some shady behavior that nearly landed him in jail. Together, they make quite the team, but their newfound dynamic has also provided plenty of moments for personal growth as well. Alongside them is a strong cast of supporting characters, from Todd’s ex-love and new lawyer at Margaret’s firm Susan (Inga Schlingmann) to Margaret’s assistant Francey (Rose Arredondo) to the firm’s lead investigator and perpetual pain in Todd’s side Lyle (Tristen J. Winger).
However, one character that has failed to make a good impression thus far is Allison (Madeline Wise), Margaret’s daughter and Todd’s sister. When we meet Allison in the pilot episode, it’s easy to sympathize with her at first. She’s a busy doctor in the emergency room at a Portland hospital and her family takes advantage of her kindness and willingness to help out. She’s expected to host the weekly Wright family dinners at her house, even when she has just finished a 12-hour shift at the hospital. She has been letting Todd stay with her since he’s lost his job, has no money, and therefore can’t get a place of his own. His reckless antics have placed quite a strain on her. Though she is seemingly happily married, her husband Chuck (Clayton James) doesn’t seem to do quite enough to support her even though he doesn’t appear to have much of a life himself. That said, after the first few episodes, it becomes rather difficult to understand Allison.
Who Is Allison? We Still Don’t Know
We’re now about halfway through the first season, and it’s very difficult to even like Allison. Since we met her, and she expressed her feelings about family dinners that convinced Margaret to take over hosting duties, it’s all been downhill for Allison. She has fought back against her mother for being overbearing and expecting so much from her that she doesn’t expect from her sons, which caused Allison to take a glance at her life and how everything she has — her career, love life, and status — is exactly what her mother planned for her. In the ninth episode of the season, Todd discovered that Allison was on a dating app, despite her supposedly happy marriage and loving and devoted husband. At the end of the episode, Allison told Todd she had deleted the app, though we quickly learn that is a lie. Most recently, Allison got drunk and acted out, which ended in her being charged with criminal behavior and sentenced to community service.
Despite the many instances where Allison has blown her life up in one way or another, there doesn’t seem to be much growth for her. It’s one step forward, two steps back, and she becomes even more complicated and too difficult to figure out and empathize with because there’s no clear direction for her. Allison doesn’t know who she is, and it feels the So Help Me Todd writers don’t either. We can’t understand her because there’s no logical path to follow with her story, other than her wish for things to be different one second and then her pushing that away and making little to no real change in her life. The back and forth is becoming exhausting, and it’s preventing Allison from being a strong character in an otherwise powerful show.
Allison Needs a Different Approach to Her Story on ‘So Help Me Todd’
At this point, the writers need to take a different approach with Allison. There’s no reason we shouldn’t at least have some basic understanding and connection with her after over half of a season, especially given that she is a main character. Her relationships with Todd and Margaret are fantastic, which makes her presence on the show feel worth the monotonous moments of exploration into the character on her own. She doesn’t fit in the procedural aspect of things, at least not in any way that can regularly occur, and not every episode focuses on the Wright family in the way that is needed to require Allison to be present. She’s thrust into strange stories of her own, like the criminal charges and community service, as the writers have to find something to do with her to satisfy contractual obligations in the real world. Perhaps, it would be better for Allison to be a recurring character on the show, as the writers have chosen to do with the third Wright sibling Lawrence (Matthew Wilkas).
It’s too difficult to come to terms with Allison and her journey, so whatever the case, things need to change. In the remaining episodes of the season or the upcoming second season (as the show was recently renewed), the writers need to make figuring out Allison’s story and her place on the show a priority. Right now, she is sadly dragging the show down when the writers choose to focus on her own stories that don’t (much) involve Margaret or Todd. It’s becoming a chore to watch, which is disappointing as there is clearly a lot of potential for Allison, particularly in her relationships — strangely, there’s been very little to no exploration of her marriage with Chuck, either. Hopefully, the writers can do something to get us on Allison’s side and make her presence lighter with some clarity about where she’s headed. I want to like Allison and understand her, to be able to empathize with her as it was so easy to do at the beginning of the season when I could say she was my favorite character on the show. But, that’s not really possible, especially when comparing Allison to the other characters on the show and how much more they bring to the table.
So Help Me Todd continues Thursdays on CBS. Every episode is now streaming on Paramount+.