Elsa Gardner one of the two tritagonists (alongside Doug) of the Netflix comedy drama series Atypical. She is the mother of Sam and Casey Gardner. She attends a weekly support group on autism with other mothers. She is the wife of Doug Gardner and a hairdresser. Elsa is portrayed by actress Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Personality[]
Elsa is an action-oriented, fiercely protective yet often overbearing, doting mother with strong organizational and planning skills. She is always seamlessly managed the household while her husband--although loving, responsible and hardworking--often took a backseat to parenting.
However, as their two children become more and more independent, her husband begins connecting with them more often. As his confidence as a parent grows, her confidence subsides. Her sense of purpose deflates, which leads to changing roles and some big missteps along the way.
Biography[]
Season 1[]
Elsa is a kind and a caring mother to Sam and Casey, and a loving wife to Doug. She resents her husband for not being as involved in their son's life and eventually we learn this is because Doug left them for eight months back when Sam was first diagnosed with autism.
Feeling discontent and trapped in her life, Elsa begins an affair with a kind, but clingy bartender named "Nick", who tends to her shoulder wound with first aid kit after she was hit by a flying dart by accident at the bar.
Although, Elsa meets Luisa at the autism group meeting with other parents of autistic children. She talks with Luisa about the challenges of how autistic kids face everyday. However, they accept them, and they love them for who they truly are.
At the end of Season 1, Doug finds out about her affair, once he discovers that Casey wrote "Stop banging the bartender" on the schedule board on his house's kitchen wall. She tries to own up to her mistakes, but her husband and daughter are rightfully hurt and angry, and not ready to forgive her.
Season 2[]
In Season 2, Elsa gets hair bangs for the very first time, since her college years, as her new hair style to impress Doug. Her family is still annoyed by her presence. Furthermore, she is kicked out of the Gardener house to move in with her friend, Luisa, at her house, where Luisa helps Elsa to take care of Kathy's pet kitten for a short time.
Out of not respecting social boundaries, Elsa continues to go inside of the Gardner's house to make food for them and cleaning up the house, even if they never ask for her kindness. When Sam and Casey are both not present in the kitchen, Doug gains Elsa's attention by telling her how disgusting she is whenever he looks at her and asks her if she had an affair with Nick. Elsa nervously confesses that she did, causing Doug to have a panic attack or a stroke. Doug is rushed to a hospital, but Elsa still continues to violate her family's privacy. After Doug recovers from a stroke, he tells her that they are both getting a divorce, but she says that Doug can't do all the work himself to take care of their kids. Having no options left to Doug, he permits her to stay with the family until their kids become old enough to live on their own.
Elsa's love with Doug is reconciled, thanks to therapy sessions with several therapists, including Julia, and playing board games with him while they talk about Sam's childhood. They both even have sex in their shower, and she sleeps with him in their bedroom after sleeping separately from each other for a while, due to the cheating incident.
Season 3[]
During Season 3, Elsa has a very hard time letting go of Sam. She constantly asks if he needs anything from her, even at times when he is clearly doing fine. Elsa realizes that she has almost an addiction to meddling in other people's lives. She does this with her husband, her kids, Paige Hardaway and Julia Sasaki. Elsa realizes that she has a compulsive need to feel that she is needed. This brings back memories of her childhood, especially her mother. It can also be shown when Elsa takes care of Kathy's kitten like her third, adopted baby in the previous Season. Lastly, Elsa is seen watering, talking and caring of Paige's plants extensively.
In town, Elsa runs into her mother, Lillian, who acts casually friendly to Elsa. However, Elsa displays her hatred towards her own mother, since Lillian resents her son-in-law, Doug (a working class or a middle class EMT paramedic), for not being rich as another man, who she thinks that her daughter should marry instead for an easier and a happier life. Elsa doesn't care about that and she prefers a husband who cares about her very much, other than caring about only wealth and status. Lillian witnesses her daughter leaving the conversation to avoid her. Later on, Lillian continues to harass Doug constantly, but her daughter stands up for him and she removes Lillian from the Gardner family's life. Although, Lillian states that she is trying to redeem herself by apologizing to them, and that she is a changed woman now, not convincing her daughter to give her another chance.
With assistance from Luisa, Luisa encourages Elsa to move on from her horrible past, involving with Elsa's mother and with cheating on her family. She tells Elsa to smash plenty of kitchen dishes on the ground outside of her house to drain away her anger and pain. Elsa does so, allowing her to feel enlightened.
Unfortunately, when Elsa believes that her husband doesn't love her enough and he is beginning to take interest in the autism support group's leader, Megan, she starts to become kind of depressed by smashing some kitchen dishes outside of her house on the ground. Not to mention she lits her mattress on fire to deal with her emotional pain. After she does these things, she travels to Megan's home to attempt to take her frustration on her, but her anxiety prevents her from saying anything to her and she chooses to leave Megan's home immediately. She even demands a divorce with Doug to end their marriage. Luckily, even though Megan loves Doug for a very long time, Megan is respectful to their marriage by refusing to be with him and she leaves their marriage alone, as she confesses her feelings to him in New York.
Season 4[]
Elsa has a hard time letting go in Season 4 - Sam going to Antarctica and Casey going to college. Eventually, Elsa finally lets go, and she allows Sam to travel to Antarctica with her husband, Doug, on a boat away from the USA, since he is grown up and he is independent now.
Appearances[]
Season 1[]
- Antarctica (S1:E1)
- A Human Female (S1:E2)
- Julia Says (S1:E3)
- A Nice Neutral Smell (S1:E4)
- That's My Sweatshirt (S1:E5)
- The D-Train to Bone Town (S1:E6)
- I Lost My Poor Meatball (S1:E7)
- The Silencing Properties of Snow (S1:E8)
Season 2[]
- Juiced! (S2:E1)
- Penguin Cam and Chill (S2:E2)
- Little Dude and the Lion (S2:E3)
- Pants on Fire (S2:E4)
- The Egg Is Pipping (S2:E5)
- In the Dragon's Lair (S2:E6)
- The Smudging (S2:E7)
- Living at an Angle (S2:E8)
- Ritual-licious (S2:E9)
- Ernest Shackleton's Rules for Survival (S2:E10)
Season 3[]
- Best Laid Plans (S3:E1)
- Standing Sam (S3:E2)
- Cocaine Pills and Pony Meat (S3:E3)
- Y.G.A.G.G. (S3:E4)
- Only Tweed (S3:E5)
- The Essence of a Penguin (S3:E6)
- Shrinkage (S3:E7)
- Road Rage Paige (S3:E8)
- Sam Takes a Walk (S3:E9)
- Searching for Brown Sugar Man (S3:E10)
Season 4[]
- Magical Bird No. 1 (S4:E1)
- Master of Penguins (S4:E2)
- You Say You Want a Revolution (S4:E3)
- Starters and Endings (S4:E4)
- Dead Dreams (S4:E5)
- Are You in Fair Health (S4:E6)
- Channel the Cat (S4:E7)
- Magical Bird No. 2 (S4:E8)
- Player's Ball (S4:E9)
- Dessert at Olive Garden (S4:E10)
Trivia[]
- Elsa is one of four characters to have appeared in every episode of the series, with the others being Sam, Casey and Doug.
- Elsa likes to cook and clean.
- She is named after the character, Elsa the Ice Queen, from Disney‘s Frozen film. However, she’s more of a clumsy and persistent opposite to the Snow Queen.
- When Doug kicked her out of the house in Season 2, it was the first time she had ever spent a night away from Sam since his birth.
- She attends an autism support group weekly, but was told to take a "sabbatical".
- She has been married to Doug for 22 years.
- When Sam got diagnosed with autism, she was a lot more accepting and understanding of it than her husband.
- She is known to be ditzy and an airhead, such as when she gets caught by Doug in a lie and mumbles as she tells the truth.
- She is known to be a pathological liar as when she says that she’s a good mother, she often has flashbacks when she had sex with Nick.
- Having dated a girl in her past, she is the first LGBTQIA+ character to be shown on the show, followed by her daughter (Casey), Izzie, and Abby.
- She flips Julia off with her middle finger in the first episode. She later reconciles with Julia and often hangs out with her, after Julia reveals to her that she was pregnant. Julia even allows Elsa to hold her son, Hanzo.
Gallery[]
