| “ | Dick Solomon: Doctor Albright, have I been a perfect ass? Mary Albright: Aw, nobody's perfect |
” |
–Dick Solomon and Mary Albirght | ||
Dr. Mary Albright is a professor at Pendelton State University. She’s Dick Solomon's on-and-off girlfriend.
Their relationship has been one of incredulous tribulations as Dick, being an alien, has never felt infatuation for another sentient being beforehand and behaved improperly in his efforts to win her heart which bordered on illegal tendencies occasionally. Eventually though, Mary conceded and they engaged in a serious relationship for the continuum of the series but this has been strained at times.
The first one involved her new job as Dean of Arts and Science which resulted in Mary and Dick isolating for a brief period and driving him to her substitute, Jennifer Ravolli but they reunited at last. Near the end of their series when Liam Neesom returned, Mary left Dick for him but he was turned into a monkey by the latter.
She has had an affair with a string of men close to Dick's life including Vincent Strudwick and shared a kiss with Don Orville, but this did not last long at all.
Personality[]
Being one of the few humans who have full encounters with the alien, Dick Solomon, Mary has been caught off-guard and even at the receiving end of Dick's hurtful, offensive, offhand, discourteous and derisive comments or actions. He has shown little care for her thoughts, feelings, opinions and even personal space as he has offended her on several personal levels, her work and before her colleagues, once reading her psychiatry files to just get an idea for a gift for Mary on Valentine's Day. However, he does not see the taboo or possible consequences of his actions as he’s oblivious to socially acceptable norms on Earth, but overall, Mary tends to suffer more than she deserves. Even so, she remains dedicated to Dick and has an unwavering love for him, although not as much as vice-versa.
She has shown a desire to aspire to a sophisticated, respectable and above all superior position over her colleagues and close friends in Pendleton and other high-society classes for no other reason than sheer egomania as she states that she finds most of them to be exhausting and irritating. Although most of her shortcomings come from Dick affecting her societal and town image, Mary herself has been cause of her own miseries. She was known for being highly promiscuous, engaging in ill-gotten affairs and short-spanned relationships with her colleagues and other Pendleton faculties. When inebriated this becomes more apparent until her voice becomes a comical but drunken slur of misshapen words and her inhibition and self-control lower completely. Most of these traits are originated to her miserable childhood as her parents were embittered, repressive, completely hostile to each other, cheated and divorced and demeaned Mary's self-esteem to the development of a severe eating disorder.
Although she became Dean of Arts and Science during the 3rd or 4th season, Mary was implied to be incompetent at her own work of anthropology. Dick claims her thesis made him laugh, her published paper which she submitted to the Dean when she was a young lady was considered, by Mary herself to be "crap", according to Dick during her tenure as Dean changed nothing nor did any major action or significance and as her assistant, Nina claims makes continuous mistakes, especially apparent in her speech which was unchanged by Sally when she became her assistant. Ultimately, Mary was accustomed to using her sexuality and being outwardly sycophantic to her superiors to gain positions of advantage rather than her work alone.
Mary is also held with discourtesy and occasionally even contempt with the rest of Dick's unit due to believing she was only a diversion that clouded his judgement and authority as the High Commander as it was also the oath of the unit to not change the course of a human life. Whilst considered a disturbance and this has been proven true on occasion, Mary was still highly significant in Dick's life as she kept him punished to humanity in moments where he would have been purely alien and taught him much on what it meant to be a human-being during his time on Earth.
Early Life and Family[]
Mary formerly drank a lot and often used her femininity to get what she wanted from men. Her father had many affairs and her mother drank a lot. Mary comes from a seemingly average, yet trashy family, but she and sister Renata have become successful - Renata is rich, while Mary is a professor and doctor. In one episode, Dick marries Renata, in order to divorce her and get her to promise she will not build a library at Pendelton that will cast a shadow in Mary's office. Mary also has a younger brother, Roy Albright, who claims to have been abducted by aliens. This completely freaks out the family, to this end Sally and Harry take out the cornfield to perform operation "KillRoy", an operation that meant hitting Roy over the head killing him to ensure he won't talk. In the end he is found out to be lying and is let go.
Mary was a part of the 1960s counterculture in her youth (flashbacks in the episode The Dicks They Are A'Changin showed her dressed in hippie garb), though she mentions she "never made it to Woodstock". Mary attended UC Berkeley in the late '60s and was apparently involved in the Free Speech Movement there.
Relationships[]
She and Dick Solomon have a long lasting relationship throughout the course of his stay on earth. Mary is often embarrassed by Dick's antics and reprimands him constantly. On one case Dick actually proposed to Mary and she said yes, but this was just as the Big Giant Head sent his niece to pose as Dick's wife. Mary found out and the wedding was called off. A poor relationship between Dick and Mary ensued only to end when Dick and Mary got locked in the university's library for an entire weekend.
Mary and Dick
The rest of the Solomon family has little to no respect for Mary, referring to her as 'Albright' or as a 'Slut'.
However Mary learns to like them and even has a short relationship with Tommy. She often helps Sally with advice on being a woman, and her relationship with Don. She even learns to love Harry and often finds his antics funny and charming.
When the Big Giant Head came to visit and he met Mary accidentally joked about how she had a crooked ear, he then referred to her as Crooked Ear for the remainder of his stay. She works in her office at the university with her assistant Nina Campbell.
In the middle of Season 5, Mary became pregnant with Dick's child, and later gave birth to their daughter Suzy in the finale.
Career[]
Mary has a Ph.D in anthropology and is a professor at Pendleton State University. She also served as Dean of Pendleton's School of Arts and Sciences during season 4 However, she lost this job and returned to her role as professor after she was caught breaking in to friend and colleague Judith's office after Dick convinced her that Judith was after her job.
Alternate Universe[]
In the two-part episode "Dick'll Take Manhattan" Mary was a singer for a local bar in downtown Manhattan where she met the Dick from the home universe. At first she was reluctant to fall for Dick as she didn't believe that true love existed. But soon she gave into Dick's advances and was unknowingly invited by Dick to go to the home universe though for unknown reasons he forgot about her when he decided to go back home with Sally and Harry.
Trivia[]
- Mary is one of the few humans in the series who was aware that the Solomons were aliens in disguise.