Evil serial killer Victoria Jones
Victoria Jones, nee Meeting (Cherry Jones) was the hidden main villainess from Season One of the HBO Max series, Velma.
Backstory[]
Victoria Jones was the wife of wealthy William Jones, the owner of Jones Gentlemen Accessories, as well as the mother of their son, Fred Jones. However, Victoria's backstory revealed that she was the daughter of General Harry Meeting, who funded Project SCOOBI (Special Covert Operation Brain Initiative), which centered on brain swapping. The research on the project was performed by Dr. Edna Perdue (the maternal grandmother of Norville Rogers), but after the operation was successful, Harry took full credit for Edna's work.
However, after finding out about Harry's deception, Edna reversed the swap and hid her research, prompting Harry to institutionalize Edna to force her to give up her information. As a result, Victoria suffered financially, but after picking up a pocket watch from William's company, Victoria decided to marry William to increase her status, which resulted in Victoria running JGA alongside her husband.
Events[]
Victoria in her villainous disguise
Victoria and William's plan was to mold Fred into their family business, but his incompetence and immaturity served as obstacles in their goal. Victoria turned heel by planning to use her knowledge of Edna's research to make Fred a better businessman, with her plan beginning with moving into Edna's former home. Two years prior, Diya Dinkley (the mother of central protagonist Velma Dinkley) began looking into Edna's research at the Jones' house, only for Victoria to capture Diya and hypnotize her into resurrecting the project, which also included Victoria donning a welder's mask and lab coat and killing Velma's schoolmates, Brenda and Krista, as she planned to implant the brain of a popular teenage girl into Fred.
Victoria also hypnotized a young Velma into believing that she would never find her mother, and that her mystery-solving was to blame for Diya's disappearance, which led to Velma having frightening hallucinations in the years that passed. She also planned to frame Velma for the murders, only for Fred to end up arrested and convicted instead. The villainess murdered another girl, Lola, to exonerate Fred, as well acquire another brain, and it was in episode 1.07, "Fog Fest," that Victoria appeared in her disguise and attacked Velma and Daphne before abducting Fred, who was rescued in the following episode, "A Velma in the Woods." The episode also ended with Diya being found, but with no memory of her abduction.
Reveal and Death[]
Victoria's reveal as the serial killer
Despite Velma's efforts to restore Diya's memories in the season's antepenultimate episode, "Family (Wo)man)," the ending saw Diya actually confess to the killings, leading to her arrest. The following episode (and season finale), "The Brains of the Operation," saw Diya state that she wanted to place the brain of a popular girl into Velma, only for Velma to realize that she was hypnotized into making her statement. As for Victoria, she was shown with Daphne Blake attempting to further her and Fred's staged relationship by having Daphne intern for her at JGA, though her actual plan was to implant Daphne's brain into Fred.
After Velma figured out that she was hypnotized along with her mother, she went to the hidden lair and found Fred and Daphne tied up, and later subdued the masked killer with the use of perfume given to her by Daphne. Velma unmasked Victoria as the killer after tying her up, which was followed by the villainess revealing her father's past, lambasting her father for ruining her family, while adding that she resurrected the research for her business. During her admission, the evil Victoria voiced her realization that Velma had the perfect brain for Fred, and after William appeared with gun in hand, it was revealed that she hypnotized her husband after he realized what she had been up to.
After Velma and Fred were tied up, the former feigned acceptance in Victoria's evil scheme and called out Fred for being entitled, knowing that Fred would break free in a rage. Fred frees Velma (and thanks her for telling the truth) before confronting Victoria, who tricked her son into believing that she was actually possessed by Edna's spirit, claiming that the "possession" was responsible for Victoria's heel turn and her murderous scheme. This allowed Victoria to hold Daphne and Velma at gunpoint, only for Norville to enter down the well and divert Victoria's gunshot with a sword. As the villainess began to boast that she would get away with her crimes, the bullet struck a stalactite and caused it to fall on the villainess, killing her instantly.
Trivia[]
- Just months later, Cherry Jones appeared on Poker Face as the evil Laura.
- Notably, Victoria served as the third iteration of Fred's mother to be depicted as a villainess; the others being hypnotised henchwoman Peggy Jones in 2006's Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy! and the evil Judy Reeves on Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.
Gallery[]
