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Villainess Review: Jennifer O'Brien (Supernatural)

An evil Djinn covertly covers up her murderous spree, and has sinister plans for Charlie Bradbury in this Season Eight episode

By Clyde E. DawkinsPublished about a year ago 4 min read
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Lynda Boyd as Jennifer O'Brien

The eighth season of Supernatural was quite a crazy one; for one, it was coming off Dean and Castiel ending up in Purgatory after eliminating Dick Roman (couldn't stand those damn Leviathans). While they do emerge in Season Eight, the home stretch of the season has Sam going through trials in a quest to keep all demons locked in Hell permanently. So this was quite a big year for Team Winchester, but that didn't mean we wouldn't see some wonderful one-off cases during this wild season.

One such case occurred in the episode "Pac-Man Fever," where a victim is found with some sort of strange gelatinous substance in his body. Sam is feeling the effects from the trials, so Dean takes Charlie Bradbury (who debuted a season earlier; always love a Charlie episode) as his faux FBI partner, though her first go-around in real-life LARP-ing is quite shaky. They introduce themselves to coroner Jennifer O'Brien, who is an absolute stickler for rules, repeatedly telling Dean that a signed "change of custody form would be needed.

The pair continue the case when another body in the same state is found, and this time, Sam joins them, as they plan to sneak in and inspect the bodies behind Jennifer's back. This plan actually includes Charlie distracting Jennifer with small talk, including advice on where she could get a good power suit. Seriously, Felicia Day shined in every SPN episode she appeared in, and this one was no exception. After a successful inspection, the trio exhaustively looks for the exact creature behind these deaths, and Dean finally pinpoints it. It's a Djinn, but not the one they're used to.

In series history, the Winchesters dealt with Djinns in Seasons Two and Six, but they have a different proverbial animal here. While those Djinns fed on the desires of their victims, the ones in this episode feed on fear and instill a gelatinous substance into their victims. Regarding physical appearances, these Djinns have blue eyes and leave a blue handprint on their victims, and as for Charlie, she left abruptly to her apartment, where she was in the midst of donating amounts of money online, when she's interrupted by a noise coming from inside. She hears nothing, but she ends up being confronted by Jennifer, who flashed blue eyes, revealing herself as a Djinn.

The brothers figure out Jennifer's evil identity when they find out that she had previously burned bodies to cover up her own actions; all the while, Jennifer held Charlie captive and subjected her to her inner worst fear. It came in the form of a video game, but in said game, Charlie was attempting to save patients in a hospital. The vision was a representation of a real life tragedy; her mother was in an car accident on her way to pick Charlie up from a party, and the money Charlie donated was to keep her mother alive, as she hoped to apologize to her, as she had blamed herself for years.

As for Jennifer, she set her sights on Sam after he and Dean entered the warehouse to rescue Charlie, only for the villainess to be killed by Dean, who was informed by Charlie that ther was a second Djinn: Jennifer's son. The murders that the group investigated? They were committed by Jennifer's son, with his mother covering for him afterwards. Sam eliminated the offspring, and Charlie was successfully rescued.

"Pac-Man Fever" was the 20th episode of SPN's eighth season, and aired on April 24, 2013. The episode's main villainess, Jennifer O'Brien, was played by Lynda Boyd--one of a vast number of Sanctuary cast members who appeared on SPN; Boyd played recurring villainess Dana Whitcomb on the SyFy series. Jennifer O'Brien remains one of my favorite one-shot SPN villainesses; she was amazing from beginning to end. We see Jennifer portray herself as a by-the-book stickler, and a bit of a "square" at first, with Boyd playing those personalities very well. My favorite moment, of course, was Jennifer's heel turn towards Charlie, as she not only flashes her evil blue eyes, she continues to don one of those power suits that Charlie loves so much. From this point, we see Boyd truly shine as she acts out Jennifer's sinister and sadistic personality, an absolutely amazing performance.

Republic of Doyle fans definitely know Lynda Boyd for portraying Rose Doyle on all six seasons of the Canadian series, and she would return to SPN as Fortuna in "The Gamblers," from the show's 15th and final season. Boyd also appeared in the big screen film, The Age of Adaline, and her other credits include (but aren't limited to) episodes of The X-Files, Supergirl, and Arrow.

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Check out Jennifer O'Brien's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!

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About the Creator

Clyde E. Dawkins

I am an avid fan of sports and wrestling, and I've been a fan of female villains since the age of eight. Also into film and TV, especially Simpsons and Family Guy.

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