MBTI Type: ISFP

Mia relates everything back to herself, and her feelings, when making major decisions—she decides to side with Bebe Chow at work, in her desire to find and recover her daughter, because Mia herself could not give up her child despite being a surrogate mother. She decided that Pearl ‘belonged’ to her, because she ‘came out of my own body,’ and that defines motherhood to her: if she is yours, if you gave birth to her, then she belongs to you, regardless of extenuating circumstances. Even though she is living in Elena Richardson’s rental, and working for her in her home, Mia risks everything to sell a photograph of herself and get a lawyer to fight against Elena’s husband in court. Her daughter says she wishes Mia could make choices about her, once in awhile, rather than just thinking about herself all the time. She also reacts heavily in the moment, and lives entirely there without thinking as much about how things can spiral out and influence other things in her life. Mia has a great deal of casual sex, and her daughter says that Mia says it ‘can happen at any time, with anyone.’ She is a photographer and artist who just packs up and moves whenever she gets tired of a place, who won’t sell various pieces of art because they are too deeply personal to her, who had a hard time paying tuition in college because she refused to go to a trade school (being an artist is who I am!). She is opportunistic, sneaking around in Elena’s house and using what she finds out about them to help Bebe, but also risking herself in the process. She never imagines Elena, being a reporter, will dig up her past and use it against her in court, and deliberates on whether she can testify to Bebe’s character at the risk of exposing herself, but chooses to do it anyway. She rushes off to tell Bebe about finding her daughter, only to have her turn around and rush into the middle of the child’s birthday party—and supports her in this, not thinking how it could get them kicked out of their home and/or displease their landlord.

Enneagram: 4w5 sp/sx

Mia at her best wants other people to be able to live the lives they choose and be completely true to themselves (allowing her to connect to Izzy and help her through a hard time) and at her worst is self-absorbed and does whatever she wants, without thinking about how she is hurting other people. She becomes angry and defensive when her daughter accuses her of only thinking about herself, but makes no true attempt to win her over or do anything but control her. She makes emotional decisions, based out of an internal sense of what she believes, often hurting other people in the process—but she thinks she is trying to do good. She can be cold and critical when tearing people down, such as when she rakes Lexie over the coals for using Pearl’s name at the abortion clinic, rather than emotionally supporting her by telling her she did the ‘right’ thing. She has a lot of rules in her life that alienates her from other people, including her own daughter; she won’t even allow her to come into the studio at times. Mia is so afraid of exposure, she won’t tell anyone anything about her, she won’t stay in one place, and she refuses to join in on anything. Mia does not want to be beholding to anyone, tied down, or dependent; she is super secretive, withdrawn, and distant from strangers out of fear. But she can be confrontational when she thinks she is right, even if it costs her.