It’s been
a long time since I’ve written about 12
Monkeys, which ended on a bang with its fourth season earlier this summer. But it was always inevitable that, sooner or
later, I would have to write about Jennifer.
I’ve always loved her, and today is all about our favorite Primary
(Jennifer-related spoilers.)
Granted,
Jennifer carries on the long tradition of people with mental illnesses in genre
shows actually having special abilities (see also, David from Legion, and assorted others,) but the
way the show has set it up, I’m okay with it.
I like that introducing the concept of Primaries – people who are
uniquely plugged into time and can see visions of both the past and future as
well as being sensitive to changes in time – builds up the show’s
mythology. First, it allows for other
people at different points in time who are like Jennifer, many of whom, like
her, have been institutionalized and/or exploited for their abilities. That’s something really important for
Jennifer – not just the fact that her “hallucinations” are really prophecies,
but the fact that there are other people like her. Even before she meets another Primary, just
knowing they’re out there in time has a huge effect on her understanding of
herself.
Because
Jennifer’s had a rough time of it. She’s
both suffered and witnessed violence, she’s been locked up for her mental
health struggles (plus seeing things she shouldn’t have,) she’s been lied to
and manipulated by forces that just want to use her, and she’s spent a huge
chunk of her life plagued by visions that no one understands. In her view, simply being her is frustrating,
exhausting, and painful, and when she discovers someone who believes that what
she sees is really happening somewhere in time, she latches on and doesn’t let
go.
She
throws herself wholeheartedly into helping Cole, and later, Cassie, Jones, and
the rest of the team, with the mission, and that’s one of the best things about
her. Despite how much she’s been kicked
around, she still has so much fight in her and thrives on being able to
help. It doesn’t always run smoothly –
even though everyone on the team knows she’s a Primary and thus is more
clued-in to time than they are, they still ignore her vital information
sometimes, and there are occasions when it’s demoralizing for her to feel like
everyone’s Primary prophecy machine, just there to spit out answers when they
need them – but by and large, Jennifer has found her sense of purpose by taking
part in the fight to stop the virus. And
while she can still fear her abilities, what they make her see, and how they
make her feel, she’s much more accepting of them and willing to use them to
help her friends.
And
honestly, 12 Monkeys can be a heavy
show, and Jennifer brings a lot of light to it.
Not always, of course, because she has her moments of being very lost,
overwhelmed, and heartbroken. Overall,
though, her default switch is set to enthusiasm. I love her pop culture references,
non-sequiturs, and nicknames. I get a
kick out of her first trip in the splinter machine, which she treats like the
best amusement park ride ever, and I love her growing fondness for/affinity
with the machine. I appreciate her
earnest devotion to her friends, and I like her gung-ho plans and off-beat
internal sequences. She’s such a
terrific character, and the show is careful to use just the right amount of her
zaniness – it really wouldn’t be the same without her.
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