Tom Harris. He went from being the stereotypical best friend character to the glue. His parents probably don't know where he is most of the time, and they don't seem to care, he idolizes his big brother in the way only a boy raised by his brother could. He's willing to give up spending time with his idol to keep his best friend safe. He's fully aware that his friends could do this without him, but as long as he's alive he makes sure they never have to. He hates museums and Spiderman, and he's bad at cool spy tricks like hopping over walls or hacking but he can keep a level head hundreds of miles from home when a ship with his best friend aboard explodes. His first instinct is to get them to safety, regardless of how much he wants to stay. He's strong enough to drag Kyra out of harm's way while she's falling to pieces. He is eternally optimistic, he doesn't give up hope that Alex is alive, and he refuses to leave him, even in a lot of emotional turmoil and physical danger. He comes up with solutions quickly, and he knows how to tie a bowtie. He eats cereal straight out of the box. He records everything because he wants to make films. He records everything to make sure that there's evidence to protect Alex this time. he has microbangs. He's Alex and Kyra's number-one hype man. He calls his best friend's guardian more than he calls his parents, he doesn't believe anyone is ever broken beyond repair. He would dress up as a pizza man and bike for miles just to hug his best friend and make a poor analogy about anchovies.
One of my favorite things about season three was the extraordinary gentleness Alex was met with when was pulled out of SCORPIA. Mrs. Jones wasn't angry, she was distraught at the pain he was in. Smithers and Crowley were protective and reassuring, Jack and Tom and Kyra were patient and so so accepting and loving. After four episodes of watching Alex spiral into darkness, you see him pulled forcibly back into a life he was walking away from, and you can see he was CLEARLY expecting anger and retribution. But instead, he was met with understanding and grief on his behalf, and he was so confused because SCORPIA are very very good at what they do, and they got in his head. This show really did such a fantastic job of reinforcing that, while Alex did make some bad decisions, he was manipulated and lied to and beaten and those things were not his fault.
I sent Guy Burt (screenwriter/adapter/executive producer of the Alex Rider tv series) a load of questions hoping he may choose a few to answer and he VERY kindly answered them all! Incredibly grateful he took the time to do so 🥲
Alex Rider is a good show because the core trio is so evenly balanced Alex can DO the stuff and Kyra can THINK and HACK the stuff and Tom holds EVERY OUNCE OF COMMON SENSE