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Ellen Mathison
Ellen Mathison
Status: Alive
Age: 50s
Nationality: Flag of the United States American
Spouse(s): Frank Mathison (divorced) (d. 2014)
Children: Maggie Mathison (daughter)
Carrie Mathison (daughter)
Tim (son)
Played by: Victoria Clark
Season(s): 4
Appears in: "Long Time Coming"
  • Carrie’s mother says: “I wasn’t very good at being married,”
  • Carrie says: “I’ve always thought that being bipolar meant that you couldn’t be with people. Not for the long haul, because they’ll up and leave you soon enough.”
  • her mother says: "No,”

Ellen Mathison is the estranged mother of Carrie and Maggie Mathison.

Novels[]

The first mention of Maggie Mathison's name came in the novel:

Ellen Mathison is a character, who appears in the novel written by Andrew Kaplan:

Background[]

The first mention of Ellen comes when Carrie and Brody are at the lake house. They talk about Carrie's mother, to which Carrie says that one day she just disappeared. Although she understands that her mother did not have an easy life with her father's illness, it pains her that she never contacted her again. Brody thanks Carrie for her candor, who responds that he's the first person she's told this to. (The choice)

Back home, Carrie meets her mother, who has appeared for the first time in 15 years. Carrie wants to get rid of her immediately and tells her to disappear, which she finally does. Maggie tries to stop them, but is too slow and then angrily turns to Carrie, who has made sure that they probably won't see their mother again for 15 years.

That evening, Carrie asks Maggie why she is willing to forgive her mother so suddenly, to which Maggie replies that they only have one mother. Carrie replies that she simply abandoned them, to which Maggie accuses her of doing the same. Carrie insists that this is not the same as she has always come back and stayed in touch.

Hours later, Carrie lies awake in bed. Finally she gets up and looks at old photos of her parents. The next morning she wants to go to her mother. Maggie asks her to spare Franny the long drive to Missouri, whereupon Carie decides to leave her daughter with Maggie.

Carrie has arrived in Missouri. When she knocks on her mother Ellen's house, a teenager answers the door and explains that her mother is already at work. Carrie claims to be a friend and tells him she can come back later. Then she makes her way to a school where her mother works. Carrie immediately talks to her about the boy. Ellen explains to her that Tim is Carrie's half-brother and Carrie angrily replies that she abandoned her children just to have more children. Ellen knows that Carrie is right and wants to meet her at home that afternoon.

A short time later, Carrie is waiting for Ellen. When she comes home, the first question she asks is about Tim's father, whereupon Ellen says that he left her before she was born. Ellen explains that she wasn't good at being married and cheated on Frank several times, which ultimately led to the end of the relationship when she became pregnant. Carrie explains to her that she needed her mother the most at that time, as she found out about her illness at the beginning of her studies. Ellen explains that she cut off contact completely because she didn't want to hurt people anymore and instead focused on Tim. Carrie replies that all along she believed she couldn't be around people with bipolar disorder because her father couldn't either, but now she knows the breakup came from her mother. Ellen assures her that she can have a relationship even with bipolar disorder. Carrie then goes back to her hotel room and packs her things.

Carrie, who suffers from the same illness as her father, is then relieved to realize that she is able to have a relationship after all and will not have to die without a partner like her father.

Quotes[]

Spoken by Ellen[]

  • Hi
  • Ah.
  • Thank you.
  • Look who showed up.
  • Carrie.
  • What is this? I saw the obituary.
  • I had to come.
  • You have a lot of nerve.
  • - I wanted to be here.
  • - Why? You haven't been here for 15 years.
  • - Carrie.
  • - No, no, no.
  • No, you don't get to play grieving wife all of a sudden.
  • Would you calm down? Maggie says you have a daughter.
  • I'd love to meet her.
  • Too bad.
  • Really? You're not in our lives.
  • Look, I made a hard decision a long time ago, and I'm sorry.
  • I'm sorry a thousand times.
  • You know what this is called? Too little, too late.
  • So that's it? Should I just get back in my car and drive away and never darken your door again? That sounds good.
  • - Not to me.
  • - I'd like to make amends.
  • - Get out.
  • - Excuse me.
  • This is my house.
  • Fine.
  • Then we're leaving, 'cause we're not spending another second with this woman.
  • - If that's what you want.
  • - Yeah, that's what I want! No.
  • Hold on! Mom! No.
  • What are you doing? Let her go.
  • She's my mom too.
  • Fuck her! You don't get to speak for both of us.
  • Good going.
  • Now we won't see her for another 15 years.
  • Works for me.

- Ellen reunites with Maggie and Carrie after 15 years.

  • Carrie.
  • Hi, Mom.
  • What are you doing here?
  • I drove. All night. I went to your house.
  • Did you?
  • There was a boy there. He told me where to find you.
  • Tim.
  • Who is he?
  • Your brother. Half brother.
  • So you left your children to go have more children?
  • Sorry, that was- What I deserve. You have to go.
  • Can we meet at 3:30? At the house?
  • Sure.

- Carrie meets again her mother and discovers a half-brother, Tim.

  • Hydrangeas.
  • Your dad- They'll take all your water, but they're worth it.
  • " So should I be bracing to meet Tim's father? No.
  • He left before the baby was born.
  • And how old is Tim? He's 14, 15? Fifteen.
  • Why didn't you just tell us you were pregnant? I couldn't.
  • But you could just vanish? It's hard to explain.
  • Well, how about you try? I guess I wasn't very good at being married.
  • You mean you weren't very good at being married to Dad.
  • To anyone.
  • I don't get it.
  • Let's go inside.
  • Did Dad know? Not about Tim's father, no.
  • Wh-What do you mean, not about Tim's father? There were others? Oh, yeah.
  • There were others.
  • How did I not know about this? Dad never said a word.
  • He was loyal like that.
  • He'd forgive me, and then I'd go out and do it all over again.
  • Until it ruined us.
  • He always said that-that you left because of him.
  • Because he was too impossible to live with.
  • No.
  • I mean, it wasn't easy.
  • It was a circus at times.
  • You know that.
  • Yeah.
  • But I broke it apart.
  • I got pregnant and couldn't face up to what I'd done.
  • Uh, so don't blame him.
  • Blame him? Blame him- No, I-I don't.
  • Good.
  • He stayed.
  • You're the one who let me down.
  • Right when I needed you the most, by the way.
  • What's that mean? I got sick.
  • Like Dad.
  • The first month of college.
  • And then a professor walked me into the ER, and then I'm on a psych ward, and then I'm in a room- just me and a mattress and a cage on the window.
  • Oh, my God.
  • All I wanted was my mom, and you were not there.
  • You were nowhere.
  • How do you not call? How do you not send a fucking Christmas card? I always meant to get in touch, but I couldn't say what I'd done.
  • I'd hurt so many people already.
  • I just had to stop.
  • I had to stop and do one right thing- focus on Tim.
  • And so I did.
  • I have to go.
  • Are you okay? I've always thought that being bipolar meant that you couldn't be with people, not for the long haul, 'cause they'll up and leave you soon enough.
  • No.
  • Well, that's what I've thought.
  • All this time.
  • It's not true.
  • Please believe that.
  • I don't even know if that's possible anymore.
  • It's possible.

- Carrie and Ellen talk

Spoken about Ellen[]

  • So you guys own this place, right?
  • From my mom's family. They'd come here every summer.
  • Where's your mom now?
  • The day I left for college, she told my dad she was going to CVS and she never came back.
  • Wow, did you see that coming?
  • Well, my dad was pretty impossible. He has what I have, but he just wouldn't get treated.
  • Uh-huh.
  • So there'd be a message in the stars, and he'd have to buy a camper and drive us all out to the Great Lakes for the miracle. It was that kind of thing.
  • But now he's on meds?
  • Yeah, and he's good. He's, he's well.
  • And your mom?
  • You'd think I'd hate her-- Maggie does-- but I understand. I mean, living with that can eat you up.
  • Has she reached out to you since?
  • No, that part does hurt.
  • Thanks for telling me.
  • You're the first one.

- Carrie talking with Brody about her mother,

Behind the Scenes[]

Appearances[]

Season 4
"The Drone Queen" "Trylon and Perisphere" "Shalwar Kameez" "Iron in the Fire" "About a Boy"
"From A. to B. and Back Again" "Redux" "Halfway to a Donut" "There's Something Else Going On" "13 Hours in Islamabad"
"Krieg Nicht Lieb" Long Time Coming
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