WARNING: This post contains spoilers, but let’s be honest, you’ve had plenty of time to listen to the Dirty John podcast or watch the series on Netflix, so read at your own risk.
For those of you are up to date, you might see Veronica Newell (Juno Temple), whose real name is Jacqueline Newell, as a mean, spoiled rich girl. But to me, she’s the true hero of the story.
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While Veronica’s mother Debra Newell (Connie Britton) falls for John Meehan (Eric Bana) almost instantly, Veronica realises as soon as she greets him at the front door (huge mistake by the way, Debra) that there’s something off about him.
John tells her that Debra “has a really nice place”, to which Veronica quickly responds, “Mmmhmm. It’s like that on purpose.”
As soon as her suspicions are raised, we see Veronica, a fiercely protective daughter and sister, investigate the highly dangerous man who has her mum eating out the palm of his hand.
She also does most of this work herself with a little help from her sister Terra (Julia Garner), cousin Toby (Kevin Zegers) and a female PI (Judy Reyes).
We watch on as Debra marries this man her daughters and nephew have no trust in, despite the fact she’s been given hard evidence of some of his wrongdoings.
Veronica’s investigation is the reason her mother eventually sees the light and the reason her family survives John’s terrorising – OK, yes, Terra fatally stabbing him definitely helped, but you get the point.
Not only this, but Veronica also provides some much needed light to the show. Her one-liners and attitude are probably the main reasons I kept watching. She’s unapologetically herself and incredibly confident – to put it simply, she’s a bad bitch, and I mean that with the most respect.
A great scene shows Veronica selling a Chanel bag so she can afford to pay for her private investigator. The saleswoman agrees to buy the bag and she tells her, “Yeah, you will. And I’ll tell you for exactly how much.”
Ladies, let’s be honest, we all need a little of that confidence when negotiating!
One of my favourite Veronica scenes, however, was when she’s getting dropped off at home by an Uber and realises John has found her apartment and has been stalking her. She makes the driver chase him and when they lose him they head straight for Terra’s house. They search the outside of the property and Veronica forces the driver to stay with her the whole night while she watches in case John has found where Terra lives.
It’s pretty clear from this scene that Veronica would do anything for the people she loves. She is the person I hope I would be in such a situation and we could all probably learn a thing or two from her.
While Terra is the one who eventually kills John, without Veronica’s suspicions and investigating, who knows what would have happened to the Newell family.