Melanie Bird

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Melanie Bird
Character Information
Seasons	1, 2, 3
Appeared in	16 episodes
First seen	"Chapter 1"
Status	Alive
Gender	Female
Species	Human
Affiliation	Division 3 Summerland (formerly)
Portrayer	Jean Smart Jaclyn Hales (young)

“	We all die eventually. The biggest tragedy is forgetting to live.	”
	— Melanie to David Haller[src]

Dr. Melanie Bird is a human leader of Summerland and the wife of Oliver Bird. She helps mutants learn to control their powers and protect them from Division 3.

Biography

Early life

Melanie married Oliver Bird.

During the 1940s, Oliver and Melanie joined together with Cary Loudermilk (and presumably Kerry Loudermilk) in the creation of Summerland, a mutant safe haven and training facility. From there, they began their search for fellow mutants like themselves. It was during their quest that they encountered a mutant by the name of Walter, who only sought chaos and destruction. Walter would later join Division 3, a government organization who is Summerland's enemy.

Oliver was a telepath, and with this ability came access to the Astral Plane, which he took full advantage of by creating his very own kingdom of sorts. However, as time went on, Oliver spent increasingly more time there, resulting in his entrapment within that plane for twenty years. Knowing he was not dead, Melanie cryogenically froze his body in a diving suit and kept him in the building.

Though no longer around she kept the memory of her husband alive, his voice on the coffee maker and in the elevator. She also took up his dream, becoming the leader of Summerland and searching the world for mutants in need of help.

Rescuing David

Following the incident at Clockworks Psychiatric Hospital, Kerry, Ptonomy Wallace and Melanie arrived in search of the mutant responsible, David Haller. The group took who they thought to be David Haller back to Summerland however they soon discovered that it was not David they took but a mutant named Sydney Barrett who had the power to swap bodies.

With the failed extraction Melanie sent Kerry and Ptonomy to find David and bring him to Summerland before Division 3 found him. However, David was able to avoid them and consequently captured by Division 3.

Knowing that Division 3 had David, Melanie orchestrated a rescue mission where Syd, Ptonomy, Kerry, Rudy and other mutants would rescue him. After doing so they reunited with Melanie on a shore near the government building. Melanie then introduces herself to David and asks him to join her side which he does .

Treating David

When David arrives at Summerland he collapses into Cary Loudermilk's arms. The high concentration of powerful mutants in one place was making David sick and confining him to a be while hundreds of voices yelled and spoke in his head. Melanie sat next to him explaining that David's "symptoms" of schizophrenia were actually his mutant powers, specifically telepathy. She taught David how to use his telepathy allowing him to finally gain some peace from the voices.

The next day Melanie brought him to see Ptonomy to begin memory work. Ptonomy is a memory artist which allows him and whoever he chooses to go back through a person's memories. Using this ability Melanie, David and Ptonomy are able to look back through David's life and see that every instance of mental illness was just his powers and also gain a better understanding of what triggers them.

Ptonomy takes David back to his childhood. They explore his memories of planting with his mother and star gazing with his father. David reveals that Mr. Haller died the year before and Clockworks wouldn't release him to attend the funeral. However things begin to go south as they observe Mr. Haller reading young David a bed time story. David is unable to see Mr. Haller's face and instead listens to the horrify bed time story called The World's Angriest Boy in the World, a picture book about a boy who beheads his mother for trying to send him to bed. The room begins to shake and David panics waking up from the memory in a hysterical state. To calm him, Ptonomy puts him to sleep.

After a mutant does memory work with Ptonomy they will go into Melanie's office and do talk work to try and figure out what it means. Both Syd and David had to do talk work with Melanie. Melanie believes David is the key to winning the war as well as bringing her husband back.

Later, Melanie, Ptonomy, and David continue with the memory work. They watch a memory of David attending a session with Dr. Poole where david re-accounts why Philly finally ended their relationship, while leaving out key details. During the conversation there is a glitch. Next they look at a memory of Lenny (who should have been Benny but David's memory was altered so all instances of Benny were replaced with Lenny) and David selling a kitchen range to the Greek for drugs. They then get high in his apartment and when David looks over at Lenny he instead sees the Devil with the Yellow Eyes. Ptonomy pauses the memory and Melanie asks David about what he sees. David is reluctance to say excusing it as what you see when you're high or a symptom of schizophrenia however Melanie refuses to believe this. Ptonomy changes the subject to the glitch in the previous memory. David protests that he's trying to remember everything and not inhibiting his therapy. Ptonomy is able to fix the glitch and allows the trio to see the kitchen explosion. Melanie asks David about it however David says he doesn't know anything. Ptonomy attempts to travel to that memory but he's unable blaming this on David resisting him. David once again protests that he isn't resisting anything. Suddenly they are in David's childhood bedroom and Ptonomy is unable change the memory. The door then slams as the room begins the shake violently causing The World's Angriest Boy in the World book to fall off the shelf and David to become terrified again.

After the second session of memory work Sydney tried to find out what occurred in David's mind by asking Melanie. However Melanie wouldn't tell her.

Cary attempts to find where David's memories are stored by sending him through an MRI. In the machine David uses his powers and sees Amy, David also teleports the machine to the lawn outside of the building. Melanie discovers the teleported machine giving proof to her theory that he's the key to winning the war.

In between sessions, Melanie likes to get coffee where she hears her husband's voice on the machine. Melanie listens to her husband tell the story of the poor woodcutter and his wife while the machine makes coffee. After the story is complete, Melanie dumps out the drink (having not touched a drop of it) and asks for another cup just to hear the story again.

David tells Dr. Bird about his sister, who decides that memory work had to be accelerated, to do this they would focus on the big events. Ptonomy, Melanie, and David further explored the memory of the day he destroyed his kitchen. This excites Melanie explaining that David was not only a telepath, but also had telekinesis as evidenced by the flying kitchen utensils. The next step was to find what triggered David into using his powers. David takes the group to when Philly walked in on David using drugs. Melanie points out it was only when David felt trapped did his powers kick in. David begins to feel uncomfortable but Melanie encourages him to continue. However when Ptonomy tries to continue the memory he is unable to. At this same moment the Devil with the Yellow Eyes appear which terrifies David. Neither Ptonomy nor Melanie can see the Devil but they do see the kitchen door violently slam. They then ask David what happened but he doesn't remember. Ptonomy attempts to play the memory again but something resists him before the trio is brought out of his memory and into reality. Not only were they out of David's memory but they had teleported 600ft through two solid walls and back into the main building of Summerland.

When Dr. Loudermilk continues to try and model David's brainwaves, David astrally projects/teleports both himself and Sydney into the room where Amy is being interrogated and tortured. Suddenly, Walter notices them and reaches for the spectral David and Syd. Fortunately, the pair vanished and materialize in the middle of the lake. The two tell Melanie, Cary, and Ptonomy what they had seen. Melanie recognized the agent - his name was Walter, a former ally of Melanie's husband Oliver when Summerland was founded. David demands that they rescue his sister but Melanie explains that he could not go back to Division 3 for risk of exposing himself or all of them. She tells David that his brain seems to be defending itself, refusing to allow them access to certain memories. Melanie also expresses her concern that the memory work is only making things worse. She elaborates that she isn't giving up on David though because he's to important and she wants to fix him because he deserves to be healthy and happy and then she wants to use him to win the war. To combat the resistance they're facing, Melanie suggests that David be sedated temporarily so she could have unfiltered access to his mind so get a better understanding of his powers. Syd declares that she's going into his memories too.

The following morning Syd, Ptonomy, and Melanie all enter david's mind. The sedation kept David's rational mind from entering the memory landscape, and so he manifested as a young boy. Since Syd's powers did not work outside the physical world, David and Syd were able to embrace for the first time. As they progress through the memory the group finds themselves watching David rob Dr. Poole. However soon things turn for the worse. First Sydney notices the room shaking as though caused by heavy footsteps. Next she sees flashes of David eating recording tape. Syd points both of these things out to Ptonomy and Melanie but neither notice these things. Finally a red crack appears in one of the office's walls and long fingered hands attempt to claw their way out. This understandably unsettles Syd and demands that they have to go. Ptonomy and Melanie are not aware of what is occurring but agree to Sydeney's plees. But when Ptonomy attempts to exit the memory he finds he can't. Child David then runs out of the room and is followed by Sydney who calls after them.

Shortly after Sydney and Child David separated from the group Ptonomy and Melanie also got separated. Melanie explores David's childhood home, passing by a scene where Mr. Haller works while Mrs. Haller bakes. As Melanie passes by the room on her way up the stairs the two stop and watch her ascend. On the top floor, Melanie hears a dog whining from David's bedroom closet. She moves the dresser that was blocking the closet (Sydney placed it there previously in an attempt to escape the Devil with the Yellow Eyes) and opens the door revealing a normal closet. On the floor of the closet is the book The World's Angriest Boy in the World. Melanie picks up the book and begins to read through it but when she comes to the last page the book violently closes on her hand. As she attempts to pry it free from the pages the Devil with the Yellow eyes slowly rises behind her. Eventually, she's able to free her hand only to find it broken and misinformed causing her to wake up screaming and clutching her hand to her chest. Ptonomy reassures her that it was just a memory and as Melanie reveals her hand it is perfectly fine. But Sydney voices their unspoken thought that what the trio just experienced were not memories.

David in the Astral Plane

After the failed memory work David doesn't wake up. With David not waking up, Cary preforms several tests on his body to try and determine what occurred. There was no medical reason for David's coma and he was not brain dead as his mind was active. Ptonomy searched his memory and his subconscious but could not find David's mind. Realizing that part of David's power was being able to create a mental projection space somewhere between reality and dream they concluded that he was trapped in the astral plane.

Melanie decides to send Syd, Ptonomy, and Kerry outside to find what really happened to David before Clockworks. Kerry is excited at the prospect of potentially fighting Division 3 agents while Ptonomy argues against the idea seeing David is dangerous. Melanie states, without room for dispute that all three are going.

After the trio leave, Melanie returns to her office only to see a translucent diving suit in it—the one that contains her husband.  After the image fades, Melanie rushes to find Cary. Cary warns Melanie that the vision may not be Oliver waking up as they have been wrong before however they'll check anyways. Melanie then asks Cary if he misses Kerry, which he does. Cary also expresses his concerns of what will happen to Kerry after he dies as she only ages outside of his body. Cary and Melanie then check on Oliver's body and find it still in the diving suit. While in the cryogenically frozen room the alarm goes off declaring an intruder in the room has been detected. Cary disarms the alarm and says its nothing but Melanie believes it to be Oliver trying to communicate to them and she speaks of Oliver’s body saying “We can hear you, my love.” In actuality it's symbolic of David arriving in the same astral plane that Oliver is trapped in.

Amy's Rescue

Syd and Ptonomy return to Summerland with a wounded Kerry and a freed David. While Cary attends to Kerry Melanie and David speak telepathically. David tells Melanie that he met Oliver in the astral plane.

Melanie then checks on Cary and Kerry. She asks Cary why he doesn't reabsorb Kerry and heal her through that. Kerry responds that he can't because he would go into shock then. Melanie then informs him that David met Oliver in the astral plane and how she's convinced that David could bring Oliver back.

After Kerry becomes stable David and Syd meet with Melanie where David tells her that he's going to get Amy in the morning. Melanie reiterates how this is a bad idea because they're unprepared, have no information on the compound, and Division 3 has mutants helping them as well. David has made up his mind to go and if Melanie doesn't want to help, she doesn't have to. Syd declares that she'll be going to rescue Amy too. Melanie continues to protest but David changes the topic to her husband. He tells her Oliver looks good and lives in an ice cube. Melanie reveals that he's been trapped in the astral plane for 21 years but before that he was like David, having psychic powers. He discovered the Astral Plane and spent more and more time in there until one day he didn't return. She asks David if Oliver asked about her but he replies that he remembers very little. David then offers to take Melanie there but Melanie only asks asks David to bring him home.

While Melanie, Rudy, and Ptonomy were working on a way to help David save his sister, Sydney tells him that David left and went to Division 3 by himself. Melanie states that they'll be going to and to wake everyone. Rudy and Ptonomy argue with this saying they have no plan and David only seems to think about himself. Syd and Melanie point out that they have his sister and that David needs them. Ptonomy refutes that this mission is a waste of resources and too dangerous. He points out that they're fighting a war that is bigger than David and his sister and that Melanie is only doing this because he could bring Oliver back. Melanie counters that he's too powerful and they'll lose him if they don't rescue his sister. Frustrated, Ptonomy leaves the room and wakes up the others.

While Ptonomy wakes everyone up, Melanie has a moment to speak with Syd. She asks Syd how he seemed and if she told David about his past. Sydney said that he showed her the White Room and did other things. Melanie says that they need to work together on his treatment but Syd says that she's his girlfriend not his therapist.

Melanie, Ptonomy, Sydney, and Rudy then all leave for the Division 3 compound. They find find the place destroyed with all of the soldiers phased into the ground and dead. Splitting the group into two teams, Rudy and Melanie traveled to the main control room to discovered what occurred. Together they watched the security cameras' recordings of David entering the compound and causing the previously scene destruction. David seemed to be enjoying himself in the footage and barely breaking a sweat while defeating an entire Division 3 army. Rudy then points out a screen displaying footage from an inferred camera. The figure in the camera is not David but the devil with the yellow eyes.

The mutants then regroup outside of the compound where they are contacted by Cary who tells them that David really is sick and they've been treating him incorrectly. Melanie cuts him off saying that David is not sick but Cary continues saying that there's a separate consciousness that's attached itself to David and has been living inside of him, like a parasite, for about 30 years. This parasite then fed off of David's powers, it would have torn him apart normally if not for the fact that David in his own right is an extremely powerful mutant. Every time David or one of the other Summerland mutants sees the parasite or realized it was there it made them forget.

While Cary is talking to the rest of the group, Syd is contacted by a terrified David who informs her that he went to his childhood home. Sydney then informs the rest of the group about this and go there while Cary works on creating a device that could isolate the parasite allowing them to speak with David separately.

Arriving at the home, Melanie warns the group that by stepping onto the property there's a chance they've left the real world and are in David's world now. Sydney asks why this is bad and Ptonomy replies that it would make him God and he's crazy. Melanie tells Ptonomy to stop it and David's not crazy, that it's much much worse.

As they step onto the property the group loses all sound. The group begins to panic but Melanie mouths reassurance and continues to lead them into the house. Rudy splits off from the rest of the group to scout for danger and Sydney wanders towards the stairwell. Ptonomy and Melanie continue exploring the main floor when they see a figure approaching a door from the outside. They prepare to jump the figure when they enter but it turns out to be Cary with the device. Cary pantomimes that this halo like device, if it was to be placed on David's head, would isolate the parasite. Melanie asks Cary to let Kerry out and help but Cary doesn't want to encase she gets hurt again. Melanie continues to ask and Kerry does appear with a baseball bat with nails in it despite Cary's protests. The group then travels up stairs and finds David and Syd in the bedroom, right as Walter (disguised as Rudy) bursts into the room and fires at David and Syd. Syd hugs David at the same time placing her self between David and the bullets.

Alternate Clockworks

To save everyone, David stops time and puts all the people in his house into an alternate reality where they are all Clockwork's Patients and the parasite/"Lenny" is their therapist.

In her session with "Lenny", it is revealed that in this reality Oliver died but Melanie can't let go of him. She keeps his clothes in the closet and his voice on the answering machine and even came up with the idea that his body is cryogenically frozen so he doesn't age or change. Melanie doesn't like change and she's the one who's frozen.

Melanie is often seen misting fake miniature flowers on a diorama of a grave or spraying perfume on large artificial flowers to make them smell nice. She enjoys looking out windows commenting of how beautiful the day is. She was also scene trying to feed someone who wasn't there, presumably her dead husband. When Kerry asked what she dreamed about, Melanie replied love.

One night as she's getting ready to fall asleep, Melanie notices that part of her wall has become the corridor to Oliver's cryogenic chamber. Melanie also sees Oliver's diving suit standing in the hallway and she moves towards the corridor telling him that she's awaited and that she's here. The man in Oliver's diving suit motions for her to follow him before the corridor image fades back into be a normal bedroom wall. Melanie then pushes through the wall and enters the corridor. At the end of the hallway she finds her self back in the real world where all of their bodies are frozen in time. The diving suit motions for her to save Syd and David from the bullets before disappearing once again.

Taking up the task of saving the lovers, Melanie first tries to move the bullets that are in mid air but finds them too hot to touch. Next she tries to move David and Syd's bodies but is unable to. Sometime later, the diving suit reappears and Melanie believes it to be Oliver. But when the helmet is removed it is Cary who's wearing the diving suit. Oliver then appears behind Melanie, drinking a martini and introduces himself not remembering that Melanie is his wife. While Oliver and Cary work on saving David and Syd using the halo, Melanie leaves the room. As she's walking out a drop of blood hits her face. Following the dripping blood to its source, she finds Rudy in a closet dying and stabbed with a knife. Saddened she leans down and whispers something into Rudy's ear. This causes Rudy to collect himself enough in the dream Clockworks to save Kerry and Syd from "Lenny". Melanie then rejoins Cary and Oliver in the bedroom.

Melanie tries to help Cary move David and Syd before Oliver offers to help by creating a psychic shield. As Oliver does this Cary works on placing the halo onto David's head. Amahl sees what Oliver is doing and appears in the room, throwing Oliver against a wall causing him to disappear before returning to the nightmare hospital. However Farouk doesn't stop Cary from placing the halo onto David's head ending the alternate reality and returning everyone to their own bodies.

Back in the bedroom time starts again and David turns to place himself between Syd and the bullets. However instead of being impacted by them, David catches them. He then teleports Syd, Ptonomy, Amy, Rudy, Kerry, Cary, and Melanie back to Summerland.

Division 3's Attack

Back in Summerland, Melanie rushes to the cryogenic chamber where she finds the diving suit that contained her husband's body empty. Oliver did not disappear but returned to his own cryogenically frozen body in the real world. Melanie, soon finds him cooking for some of Summerland's inhabitants and reciting poetry. Oliver greets her quoting "You were never no locomotive sunflower. You were a sunflower." still not knowing who she is but offering her a seat at the table and some food anyways. Oliver then takes a seat at the other end of the table from her.

After lunch Oliver and Melanie stand out on a balcony and Oliver drinks a martini. He asks her if he's ever told her the story of the woodcutter and the crane and Melanie replies he has, many times, but asks to hear it again. As he begins Division 3, led by Clark, arrives and holds them at gun point. Clark demands to speak with David and states that the other mutants could be killed. In response, David easily piles the agents and removes their weapons with his powers and agrees that they need to talk.  Melanie has Clark placed in a room and guarded by Kerry.

Now in Cary's lab, David begs Melanie to let him speak with Clark while Cary attempts to strengthen the halo. Melanie and Ptonomy both think its a bad idea to let David speak with Clark. Melanie proposes the idea that Summerland moves, assuming Division 3 knows their position, and executes plan M. David continues to beg Melanie to let him talk to Clark because the war will never end otherwise. Melanie tells David to read Clark's mind because they may never get another chance to learn Division 3's tactics and operations. David asks if they'll kill Clark after they get done using him. Ptonomy thinks this is a good idea. Cary believes that before they decide anything they need to remove Farouk's presence. If the halo fails Farouk would destroy David's mind and take over his body for good.

While debating on what to do with Clark, Melanie finds Oliver helping Cary create a device that would separate Farouk from David. Melanie asks to speak with Oliver privately before asking him to dinner tonight. Oliver agrees saying that she reminds him of someone but is still unable to remember who. Melanie says they can figure out who she reminds him of over dinner as long as they aren't all dead by then.

Melanie then goes into Clark's interrogation room and speaks with him. Melanie apologizes and Clark attempts to threaten Melanie and Summerland, something that Melanie does not take kindly to. Clark justifies his position because mutants threaten the human race. Melanie asks for Clark's name and he gives it. She then tells him that her name is Melanie. Clark replies that he knows this already and that her husband is Oliver Bird who has been missing for 20 years and presumed dead. Melanie says that he'll return sometime. Clark changes the subject saying that Division 3 will be coming for him with an army. Melanie responds by telling him that he was right that David is a world breaker and if Division 3 had killed him before she learned this maybe his threats would have worked. But Division 3 did not and the age of humans is over.

Melanie then leads Clark to David who is meditating/floating outside. David then says that there can be peace before leading everyone to a new area where Cary can supply more power to David's halo. Melanie sits in the room and listens to the conversation. David then begins speaking with Clark while Cary continues fiddling with the halo on his head. David offers a truce between Division 3 and mutants but Clark side steps it by point out that David doesn't look well. In fact David is not well at all. The halo is slowly losing power and David is soon only repeating "You don't have to be afraid." This strikes a cord in Clark as his cocky facade fades showing his fear. Sydney, who was standing in the back of room, pipes up asking why doesn't Division 3 just leave mutants alone. Clark replies that this cannot happen because they'll overthrow the human race and even if he wanted to accept this peace offering he doesn't have the authority to do so.

The meeting ends as David collapse onto the table, the halo no longer having the power to hold the Shadow King at bay. Clark asks what's wrong with him and despite Melanie and the others telling him it's nothing Sydney sets the record straight. Melanie tries to stop Syd but Syd doesn't listen believing David is right and they need to trust Division 3. She tells Clark, and Division 3 listening through him, that David is being fed off of by the Shadow King who is their real enemy and that they should make a truce so they can stop it. Before Clark can answer Melanie has Clark taken to his cell. Sydney looks at Melanie feeling betrayed but Melanie responds that she can't risk trusting Division 3.

The Shadow King's Escape

Seeing that there is no more time, the mutants prepare David to remove Farouk from his head. Syd asks how the procedure will work to which Cary responds that they identified a second set of brainwaves inside David's head. The device will then target everything that is Faourk and suck it out of David's head using a magnetic field.

They begin the procedure and as it progresses Cary asks Oliver, who is in the generator room, to adjust the power. The procedure works until Amahl starts fighting back, killing David in the process. Sydney then runs into the room kissing David and releasing Amahl and transferring him to her body. Amahl then jumps to Kerry's body as Cary rushes in to stop Farouk. Farouk, in Kerry's body, then kicks Cary and knocks him unconscious. "Kerry" then disarms Ptonomy causing him to fire his tommy gun into the ceiling before being knocked unconscious, and fires a psychic attack on Melanie who falls to the ground.

After David pushes Farouk from Kerry's body he then wakes up the Summerland mutants including Melanie. As the team regains consciousness, Cary then points out that the Shadow King needs a host to survive and that he should be in someone. Melanie then asks where Oliver is. The group then realizes that when David pushed Farouk out of Kerry, he inadvertently sent Farouk into Oliver who is now gone.

Powers and abilities

Melanie has no powers.

Relationships

• Oliver Bird - husband
• Ptonomy Wallace - ally/friend
• Cary Loudermilk - ally/friend
• Amahl Farouk - enemy
• David Haller - ally/friend
• Kerry Loudermilk - ally/friend
• Rudy - ally/friend
• Sydney Barrett - ally/friend
• Walter - enemy
• Summerland - leader
• Amy Haller - ally/friend
• Brubaker - enemy
• Clark - ally

Notes

• Melanie's look was inspired by what Anjelica Huston wore for The Royal Tenenbaums.

Appearances

Season 1

• "Chapter 1"
• "Chapter 2"
• "Chapter 3"
• "Chapter 4"
• "Chapter 5"
• "Chapter 6"
• "Chapter 7"
• "Chapter 8"

Season 2

• "Chapter 9"
• "Chapter 10"
• "Chapter 12"
• "Chapter 13"
• "Chapter 14" (archive footage)
• "Chapter 16"
• "Chapter 17"
• "Chapter 18"

Season 3

• "Chapter 25"
• "Chapter 27" (archive footage)