The simple fact that the only two named women in HL2 have a contentious relationship is enough to raise an eyebrow but it's more than that. It's more than Mossman low-key being an evil stepmother figure, it's more than Alyx being immature and angry, it's the fact that Alyx is right- or at least justified by the narrative.
And that's by necessity. It's by design- listen to any of the developer nodes and it becomes clear just how much effort went into making Alyx as likable as possible at every turn. And for good reason! She's the most talkative, constant NPC in the game, players needed to like her. In addition to that, the devs had to try to make the audience sympathetic not only to the deuteragonist, but the Blasian woman deuteragonist. They had a fuckton to juggle with her characterization- she had to be strong, but not overbearing, smart but not arrogant, sexy but not sexualized, all without falling into stereotypes. And in 2004!!!!!
I love Alyx. They did a fantastic job with her, not just for the time but as a long-lasting character whose writing has aged pretty damn well. But one of the drawbacks to this, to making her so awesome, is that she can't have flaws.
The player has to like Alyx. There can be no room for her to be too stupid, mean, or flawed. This also means she has to be right.
Her issues with Mossman are plainly immature. There's the implications of real pain under it, and certainly it's a topic many can relate to and sympathize with. A parent dating someone new after the untimely death of their partner, and the child's righteous upset at such. We've all been there! But the way she acts around Mossman is closer to a young teenager than a grown ass woman in her mid-to-late-20s.
We can recognize that she's a bit of a dick to Judith, but the game doesn't really leave room for a lot of sympathy for the good doctor. Mossman's character exists mostly in relation to Alyx and Eli; the player doesn't exactly spend quality time with her. We view her through Alyx's ungenerous gaze. And then, of course, there's the double-cross.
When Judith seemingly betrays the resistance, all of Alyx's treatment towards her becomes justified. The player is once again incentivized to hate her. Now, using one character to further another's story is hardly new, but it sits a little uncomfortably when it's A) pitting two women against each other and B) villainizing one of the only women in the game.
(Judith having a change of heart- or perhaps, having planned a triple-cross all along, complicates things a little. Her intentions are never fully explored, and she largely disappears post-betrayal. The ambiguity is actually a positive for me, but doesn't allow for closure with Alyx.)
Half Life 2 is, generally, a first person shooter. It's an RPG, for sure, but generally the story and the characters take a bit of a backseat to the gameplay and level design. This kind of design necessitates the flattening of characters, even ones as well done as Alyx. Because the player doesn't get to see anyone call her out on her bullshit, because our sympathy for Judith was low to start, both characters end up less interesting than they could be.
And again, by design of the game, there's not really a way to fix this, unless the writing were to be redone from the start to place more importance on narrative over spectacle. In an ideal world, Alyx would be allowed to be flawed, to be told she's wrong, to reconcile with Judith. I don't see how this could have been done neatly in the game itself.
I guess my complaints boil down to a frustration with the "hyper competent woman" trope. Alyx is wonderful. I can't stress enough that I love her. I also can't stress enough how much more interesting she could be, were she allowed to be wrong.
In conclusion: let women suck!!!!!!!
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