The Black Tapes Podcast

Alex Reagan is a plucky, driven, Canadian-born investigative journalist for the fictional equivalent of NPR, Pacific Northwest Stories. Her personal podcast, The Black Tapes starts as a show based around interesting people doing interesting things and then dives into the world of the paranormal and the nature of belief. Playing the agnostic believer to the devout skeptic, Alex dives into the world of demons, cults, sacred geometry, horrifying children and the possible end of the world--which may be her fault. Oops. Obsessive and driven in nature, Alex is also empathetic to a fault despite the fact that her moral code may be loose and flexible (at best) at times.

One of the things at the very core of Alex’s personality is her determination. It’s shown over and over again in the series, right from the theme that has Strand’s“returning one of 11 phone calls from someone named Alex Reagan.” That’s one of the first things that you need to know about her and how that leads into her persistence. The two go hand and hand, and while more often than not, they can be traits that are valuable to her both as a person as well as a reporter, they can often lead her down a path to destruction. When she wants something (especially along the lines of a story) Alex rarely takes no for an answer, even when cooler heads prevail on her to do so. In that way, Alex is often the epitome of the “Person No! Person YES.” meme. Even those eleven phone calls of Alex’s come after multiple people have told her that Strand isn’t going to talk to her, including his assistants and publishers.

When she is on the trail of a story, especially one Alex is personally involved in (like the Black Tapes) everything other than that is tangential. Things that should be important to her like journalism ethics, Strand’s personal life and even the law go right out of the window especially if she thinks someone is hiding something from her. To be fair, Strand is shady af in this area and that's where most of her lapsing ethics come from, but as she grows more involved her personal and professional curiosity grows into something that becomes an obsession. As Alex herself says, “I feel like the black tapes paranormal train is going to leave with or without me and I deserve to be on it.” However, in many ways, Alex’s determination also makes her like an earnest puppy with a bone. Her enthusiasm for things can be entirely contagious at times, and her determination comes from a place of that. Determination and perseverance make her jump into things feet first and recorder out, even when cooler heads prevail. She is determined to understand what is going on around her, and to seek not only her truths but the truths of people around her.

A large part of Alex’s seeking truth comes from an intense curiosity. Her podcast is first meant to be about interesting jobs done by interesting people because these are things that she is curious about. The fact that Alex’s favorite adjective seems to be “enigmatic” definitely points to things that she wants to understand. Indeed, the reason that Alex lies to get back into Strand’s equipment cabinet to see those black tape cases are because she is curious about them, and of course what they mean to him. Often, however, Alex’s curiosity comes with a large side of curiosity killing the cat; it tends to drive her mental and to do things that she otherwise might not do like record Strand and Amalia without their permission, and more than that, even when she said that she wouldn’t. Her curiosity can sometimes come with a sense of entitlement, especially when it comes to the show and to Strand’s personal life. Digging into his personal life becomes something that Alex can’t seem to help but do, probably because she often feels like he’s withholding information, manipulating her or outright lying to her. Alex hates being lied to in no uncertain terms, because she sees this as a betrayal of the opposite ways that they both have of searching for truth.

Alex’s curiosity also tends to lean more to the side of belief and she often acts as a sort of Mulder to Strand’s Scully. As her intellect and heart start to put things together, she starts to believe in this world of demons and cults and shadow figures though she tries very hard to cling to Strand’s assurances that what she's actually seeing is “apophenia” (the notion of putting together random instances and seeing connects where there aren't any). Her power of belief in the world is so strong that Alex starts to lose her ability to sleep which makes her obsessive tendencies even worse. While it is possible that within the world of her canon there is something supernatural involved with her lack of sleep until the show takes an actual stand one way or another, I'm going to say that it's probably anxiety that this stuff is real and that it might be after her now because of her association with Richard Strand.

Part of the reason that people tend to connect with Alex other than through her persistence is through her empathy. In fact I would go so far as to say that the closest thing that Alex has to a super power is her empathy. This empathy makes people want to trust her (honestly even when they shouldn't) so she can get people who otherwise wouldn't open up about people or experiences that they've had. Her charm goes hand and hand with this and it's one of the ways that she gets people like law enforcement to open up files and cases and give her access to things that she really shouldn't have access too. It’s important to note that despite how many lapses Alex may have in her professional ethics, she rarely, if ever, attempts to manipulate people into giving her information. Indeed, sometimes when she would be better served to lie (or at least to withhold information, like when she’s speaking to John Uvela at Urraca Mesa about the fallen totems) she doesn’t.

Strengths.: Determination: One of the things at the very core of Alex’s personality is her determination. It’s shown over and over again in the series, right from the theme that has Strand’s“returning one of 11 phone calls from someone named Alex Reagan.” That’s one of the first things that you need to know about her and how that leads into her persistence.

Empathy: Part of the reason that people tend to connect with Alex other than through her persistence is through her empathy. The closest thing that Alex has to a superpower is her empathy. This empathy makes people want to trust her (honestly even when they shouldn't) so she can get people who otherwise wouldn't open up about people or experiences that they've had. Her charm goes hand and hand with this and it's one of the ways that she gets people like law enforcement to open up files and cases and give her access to things that she really shouldn't have access too. It’s important to note that despite how many lapses Alex may have in her professional ethics, she rarely, if ever, attempts to manipulate people into giving her information.

Curiosity: A large part of Alex’s seeking truth comes from an intense curiosity. Her podcast is first meant to be about interesting jobs done by interesting people because these are things that she is curious about. The fact that Alex’s favorite adjective seems to be “enigmatic” definitely points to things that she wants to understand. Indeed, the reason that Alex lies to get back into Strand’s equipment cabinet to see those black tape cases are because she is curious about them, and of course what they mean to him.

Weaknesses: Curiosity: A large part of Alex’s seeking truth comes from an intense curiosity. Her podcast is first meant to be about interesting jobs done by interesting people because these are things that she is curious about. The fact that Alex’s favorite adjective seems to be “enigmatic” definitely points to things that she wants to understand. Indeed, the reason that Alex lies to get back into Strand’s equipment cabinet to see those black tape cases are because she is curious about them, and of course what they mean to him. She will follow the curiosity to the end of the line, because she's driven by a need to see things through, and doesn't stop even when they're causing her mental or physical damage.

Single mindedness: When she is on the trail of a story, especially one Alex is personally involved in (like the Black Tapes) everything other than that is tangential. Things that should be important to her like journalism ethics, Strand’s personal life and even the law go right out of the window especially if she thinks someone is hiding something from her. However, in many ways, Alex’s determination also makes her like a puppy with a bone. Determination and perseverance make her jump into things feet first and recorder out, even when cooler heads prevail. She is determined to understand what is going on around her, and to seek not only her truths but the truths of people around her.

Obsessions to leaps of logic: As her intellect and heart start to put things together, Alex starts to believe in demons, cults and shadow figures though she tries very hard to cling to Strand’s assurances that what she's actually seeing is “apophenia”. Her power of belief in the world is so strong that Alex starts to lose her ability to sleep which makes her obsessive tendencies even worse.

Lack of journalism ethics: Alex’s drive tends to drive her mental and to do things that she otherwise might not do like record Strand and Amalia without their permission, even when she said that she wouldn’t. She feels entitlement especially when it comes to the show and to Strand’s personal life. Digging into his personal life becomes something that Alex can’t seem to help but do, probably because she often feels like he’s withholding information, manipulating her or outright lying to her. She also breaks into buildings and things on leads for a story.

Alex's complete and utter fear of demons. The things that scare Alex most in canon are demons. The demons from her canon are very specific though, and not the same as the demons here. Still, the idea will screw her up for a while.

• Investigative skills based on being a journalist.
• Empathetic, gets people to like, trust and tell their stories to her when they wouldn't to others.
• Excellent research skills.
• Speaks both fluent English and French, reads some latin.

CANONPOINT: 303 (non canonmates) 306 (canonmates)
AGE: 33
HEIGHT: 5'1"
BUILD: Slight
HAIR: Long and brunette. Straight.
EYES: Brown, with glasses.
APPEARANCE: Link
STATUS: Complicated and depending on canon point.
OCCUPATION: Investigative journalist, podcast host.
RESIDENCE: Seattle, Washington, US

BACKTAGGING: I will backtag forever!
4TH-WALLING: Yes, because TBT is presented as "real" she' she'll just assume someone is a fan.
THREADJACKING: Yes.
MIND READING: Yes.
FIGHTING: Yes, but let's talk about it.
ROMANCE: Yes! Alex is pansexual af.
INJURY: Yes but let's talk about it.
KILLING: Possibly, but let's talk about it.
KINK LIST: Link