Mila and Amanda

Lori Collins, is John Bennett’s long-term girlfriend and the person he is trying to build a more mature future with while still being deeply attached to his living teddy bear, Ted. Lori is caring, intelligent, confident and generally patient, but she becomes increasingly frustrated by John’s childish behaviour and Ted’s constant influence over their relationship. She genuinely loves John and wants their relationship to progress, but she also expects him to take responsibility and grow up. Lori is not simply against Ted; she understands that he is important to John, but she believes their friendship often prevents John from becoming the person he needs to be. Her disagreements with John and Ted create much of the emotional conflict in the first movie, particularly when John struggles to balance his friendship with Ted and his relationship with Lori. Samantha Jackson is a young lawyer who becomes closely connected with John and Ted when they need legal help. Samantha is friendly, confident, enthusiastic and considerably more accepting of Ted’s unusual personality than many of the people around him. She works alongside John to help Ted fight for his legal rights and prove that he should be recognised as a person rather than treated as property. Samantha is intelligent and determined, and she takes Ted’s situation seriously even though the circumstances surrounding him are extremely unusual. She also develops a close friendship with John during their work together, and her supportive personality makes her an important part of the story. Unlike Lori, whose main role revolves around John’s personal life and his relationship with Ted, Samantha’s role is strongly connected to Ted’s legal struggle and his attempt to establish his identity and rights.