Meg Jackson / Morris

[jamie_leigh44]

i don't really look at prison Joan as the whole character. Yes, i know she had a certain level of corruption to her, but understanding some of the reasons behind it help me to appreciate the character more...

For example, she's been brought up by her father (an army major) to succeed and raise to the top. this explains her strictness and determination. but her father couldn't handle her lesbianism, and this lead to her total self reliance. after not making it in the army, she became an officer... a good officer - straight down the line and she fell in love with a prisoner, but other prisoners killed her lover, Audrey, so she came to hate them for that.

So with no family, no lover, and only her job with prisoners she hated, she came to wentworth, and before she's been in the place 5 minutes Megs in Erica's office saying things like "a woman like that" to which Erica replies that they shouldn't pass judgement. so her workmates weren't exactly trying to welcome her. she did, however, seem to get along with male officers a bit better, like Len (to begin with) and Steve (to begin with).

Outside the prison, she began to have a relationship with her father again, of whom she only ever wanted approval and she finally got it... then he died... she had a relationship with Shane and came to love him and think of him as her son... then the courts declined guardianship.... she was welcomed into the family that fostered him, but had to give that up eventually for Shane's own good... showing she couldn't be selfish and had to let him, and the first family she'd been a part of, go.

TWO separate groups of prisoners and their cohorts killed the only two friends Joan ever truly had and loved... Hano (?) and Major. (yes i know the second one was done by Joan herself - but it wasn't exactly her fault) - she was taken hostage, been bashed, been framed, been bullied, been fired, been used.... but unlike Meg, never becomes a victim throughout it all...

Yes, she was a villain, but she wasn't as bad as she's painted... I think the character was well developed and thought out, and is certainly one of my favorites. there were instances when not only was she good to prisoners, she actually helped them, and she even tried to be good once but Meg put a stop to that with all her shifty eyes, giggling, bitching behind Joans back and "sexily" moaning loudly at every opportunity. to each their own...

JL