The actress that plays Alice said she is coming back but she won't be "Alice" per say. They say that the episode tonight was just the beginning of what's going to happen this season.
I was having an in-depth conversation about the show with someone from the industry the other day and we really started to unpack performances on a very detailed level. I’ve always said Olivia as Alice is the one I struggle with the most because I don’t think Olivia is a bad actress at all, but I think she makes a lot of bad choices for this character and I haven’t been sure whose fault it was. I don’t know if she’s just got the wrong approach to the character, if the showrunners steered her in the wrong direction while developing the character, or if the directors just really fail at getting the best out of her. Whatever it was, I saw none of that tonight. Olivia SLAYED that episode. I’m talking like...impeccable performance. I loved every second of what she did and that’s why I’m going to watch it a couple more times. I want to really dissect what her acting choices were. Honestly, this is the performance I knew Olivia had in her this whole time.
That was such good television. Everything about that episode was on point, but Olivia definitely carried it. If this is what we’re going to be getting from her for the rest of the season I’m going to be a very happy viewer because despite the flakey performances she’s my favorite character. Don’t get me wrong, I adore Julia and I know that objectively and overall she’s the best thing on the show, but for some reason I’ve had the biggest soft spot for Alice/Olivia since the pilot and seeing her own this episode was so satisfying on so many levels.