Jessica Cowley (Republic of Doyle)

The evil Jessica Cowley

Jessica Cowley (Natalie Brown) is a villainess from "High School Confidential," episode 3.07 of Republic of Doyle (airdate February 22, 2012).

Jessica Cowley's backstory only revealed that she went to high school with Jake Doyle, Walter McLean, and her eventual husband Clyde Cowley; though at some point, Jessica colluded with banker Jeff Vallis in a scheme that involved a recent oil discovery, as Vallis had purchased the land around the discovery area. The plan had Jessica making sure that Clyde couldn't pay the mortgage for their house, doing so by forcing Clyde to spend extravagantly on her, which resulted in Vallis foreclosing on their home.

As a result, the evil Jessica received a percentage of Vallis' profits and divorced Clyde, sending him into a deep depression that saw him attempt suicide in the episode's opening, only to be saved by Jake and Malachy Doyle. The episode saw Jessica display a cold demeanor towards not only Clyde, but Jake as well, as she referred to Jake as a "creep" and later mocked Jake's crush on her in a later encounter, which saw the villainess deny taking $100,000 of Clyde's money. In addition, it was revealed that Jessica was engaged in an affair with Walter, with Jake and Clyde catching the pair while hiding.

Jake managed to get the truth from Vallis during a staged bank robbery, all the while, Jessica was being held hostage by loan shark Liam "Chili" Power. As Jake, Malachy, and Clyde went to rescue Jessica, Clyde demanded the truth from Jessica, with the villainess confessing to sabotaging him, stating that Clyde couldn't provide a future for her, so she got one for herself. After knocking out Liam, Clyde held a gun to his own head, with Jake and Malachy talking Clyde down, while Jessica was less than enthusiastic, but still talked her ex-husband out of killing himself. In response to Clyde asking if there was any chance of getting back together with Jessica, the callous villainess stated that there wasn't, but claimed that she never meant to hurt him. It was ultimately revealed that a neighborhood kid stole the $100,000; though Jessica's fate remained unknown.

Trivia

• Natalie Brown later appeared as the evil Uma Voss on iZombie, as well as identity thief Sylvie Binette on Private Eyes, and anti-villainess Caris Carter in 2024's Locked in My House.