RenkonNairu is the Emperor's Foot

Just throwing this idea out there into the world in case anyone else wants to pick it up and run with it

Jennifer Nocturne, a Character Analysis 

(This analysis was requested by @freshcreationgarden​ who after reading my posts on other Ben 10 content, wanted to get my takes on Jennifer.) 

First, I just like to say that there actually is not very much content on Jennifer Nocturne at all. She only appears in 3 episodes across the whole franchise, 2 in Ultimate Alien, and one in Omniverse, and her appearance in Omniverse is basically just a one-line cameo. 

But, ya know what, that just more reason to analyze her! 

I’d like to begin by saying that prior to going back over her episodes for this post, I never really had any compelling opinions about her one way or another. And we’re gonna talk about why in her debut episode. 

Hero Time

Hero time takes place in season 1 of Ultimate Alien and, in addition to introducing Jennifer Nocturne as a character, also in introduces the main antagonist of the episode: Captain Nemesis. 

This is important because Jennifer’s character arc is interwoven with Nemesis. 

We open with Ben, Gwen, and Kevin waiting in line to see a famous actress (Jennifer) and talking about why she’s so famous. In-universe, she is equivalent of Kristen Stewart and the movie(s) she stars in are just straight-up the Ben 10 equivalent of the Twilight series. 

Anyway, Jennifer is central to the conflict of this episode, yet not an active participant in it. What I mean by that, is that Jennifer seems swept along by the plot instead of taking an active role in it. 

At the very beginning of the episode, she is nearly kidnapped by masked thugs crashing her event. 

And is subsequently rescued by Ben. 

Which earns him a kiss,

and an invite to a date. 

The episode moves on. We have a scene of Gwen and Kevin asking Julie how she feels about Ben getting kissed by a celebrity. Ben enters the chat. Kevin makes fun of Ben. Standard fair for Our Heroes, but this post ain’t about them. 

Jennifer shows up to pick Ben up for their date in a helicopter. 

This is hilarious because right before Jen showed up, Ben had just finished telling everyone that Jennifer was a “really down to earth person” and that “limos just weren’t her style”. 

Well, Ben, you're half right. 

Jennifer might be a Bella/Kristen Stewart parody, but she’s throwing around serious 50 Shades of Gray energy right here. 

So, what do we know about Jennifer Nocturne so far? She’s a popular actress and she’s wealthy enough to employ a helicopter and pilot as her regular form of transportation. 

The party Jen is taking Ben to is hosted by billionaire, playboy, philanthropist,

oop! Sorry, wrong image!

Captain Nemesis!  

And then the plot of the episode promptly shoves Jennifer to the side. 

Do you see her there? 

Because I barely do! 

The plot of the episode is about Ben and his struggle with Captain Nemesis. An egotistical billionaire who used to be a superhero 10-20 years ago, but is not old, washed up, and irrelevant. He hates Ben for being young and popular and is determined to destroy Ben and make a come back. 

But this post ain’t about them.

Jennifer continues to appear in the episode. 

In the capacity of a “guest” news anchor instead of an actress. 

So, good for her. 

As a reporter, she’s a little stiff and makes from cringy jokes. But, honestly, I can't tell if that's because of the writing -this is a kids show, remember- or because the character herself is supposed to be awkward and nervous without a script. 

She is an actress, and a child actress at that. In “Catch a Falling Star” we learn she left home at the age of 8 to be on a TV show. So, for more than half of her life so far, she has been given instructions on what to say, how to act, and what her personality is. 

Which means it’s understandable when she’s given the freedom to write her own lines that she doesn’t know what to say or how to act. (These comments will become more relevant when I start talking about “Catch a Falling Star”.)

After the competition between Ben and Nemesis -a competition that Nemesis lost- Jennifer disappears from the plot again and we cut to Nemesis being a sore loser, and asshole, and an absolute sociopath. 

Nemesis then decides that the best thing to do after his defeat is to kidnap two innocent women and force Ben 10 to save one of them while letting the other die. 

So, we see Jennifer again when she is kidnapped by Nemesis. 

His death trap is the classic “two loved Ones handing by the same line, not enough time to save them both” gag. Nemesis cuts the rope and both Jen and Julie fall at the same time. To spite being the “victim of the week” for this episode, Ben does not save Jennifer, he saves Julie. 

Jennifer is instead saved by Gwen, and Kevin also happens to be there. 

Ben and Nemesis fight. Ben wins. Nobody is surprised. 

After the fight is over and they’re going into the wrap-up, Jennifer starts trying to flirt with Kevin because he caught her after Gwen saved her. 

I can only assume that this was meant to show how “vapid” and “fickle” is since. Since Jennifer spent the whole of the episode up to that point trying to date Ben. 

Enough about the episode now. 

What do we know about Jennifer Nocturne’s character?

That last one is in parenthesis because it’s not supported by canon, but my own interpretation based off the above listed. 

Now lets move on to the second episode she appears in. 

Catch a Falling Star

Which is in season 3 of Ultimate Alien. 

I want you all to remember how the last episode we saw Jennifer in ended: she was rescued by Gwen (with an assist from Ben and Kevin). She did not have any really significant on-screen interactions with Captain Nemesis. They exchanged a few words at his party when she brought Ben as her plus one, and then he kidnapped her and tied her up. 

“Catch a Falling Star” opens with Jennifer visiting Nemesis in prison and then breaking him out because she’s fallen in love with him. 

We’re gonna get into that in a sec. Honestly, I should make a separate post about “Catch a Falling Star” by itself. But here I’m talking about Jen, so let’s talk about Jen! 

In the hall talking to the guards before she’s let in to see Nemesis, is the first time Jennifer shows any real personality. 

When the first guard says he has to search her with a metal detector, she complains that she doesn't have to put up with this at the airport. Then when the second guard comes up and asks for her autograph, she calls him out saying that most of her fans are teenage girls. Sure, these interactions make her seem like an unlikable person, but she’s still displaying more personality in this one scene than she did in the entire episode she previously appeared in. 

So, she breaks Nemesis out of jail, and they escape in her limo. 

I guess helicopters are too mainstream for her now. 

And Jennifer’s so happy to be running away with Nemesis. This man who kidnapped her and put her in a deathtrap that could have killed her, all so he would beat a 15-year-old delinquent. 

She even comments that her endgame is the two of them stretched out on a beach together without a care in the world. 

Meanwhile, Ben and Gwen are searching for Jennifer, and visit her childhood home to gather clues or a means of tracking her, and we get to meet Jennifer’s mother. 

Maureen Nocturne has not seen Jennifer since she was 8 years old. 

Which makes me wonder who was actually raising Jennifer these past 11 years (she’s not 19 according to the wiki). If this girl did not grow up in any version of a “household” or a “home” and was raised by her agent or manager then it 100% explains both her 2-dimensional cardboard personality in “Hero Time” and the events that are taking place now in “Catch a Falling Star”. 

Anyway, Jen’s mom give’s Gwen her old childhood dolly so that she can track Jen’s mana. 

Back with Jennifer and Nemesis, Jen has cut and colored her hair so that she looks different, and is advising Nemesis to do the same. 

Something that I find interesting here, is that Jennifer elected to change her appearance herself. Nemesis didn't tell her to. In fact, she’s telling Nemesis, “color your hair and shave your mustache”. 

For the first time, her character is trying to take charge of her situation and assert herself. If not assert herself as the one in charge of her fate, then at the very least, assert herself as a participant in her fate -which is more than she was doing in her debut episode. 

Jennifer is evolving. 

Nemesis chooses not to follow her very reasonable advice and instead gore in for the much more complicated, costly, and dangerous plastic surgery. Saying that his face is still too famous and that they would be recognized. 

I have to pause my analysis of Jen right here to talk about this guy. HOW MUCH OF A NARCISSIST IS CAPTAIN NEMESIS!? He is traveling is a popular, relevant, and current celebrity. A person who’s face has been on not just every billboard and bus bench, but also every teen and twi-mom’s locker or refrigerator door for months! What makes Nemesis think he’s the one who needs to surgically change his face, but all she’s gotta do with style her hair differently and they’re good to go? 

Anyway, Ben and Gwen catch up to them at their motel room.

Ben and Nemesis fight. 

And Jennifer steps in to help...

...Nemesis. Jennifer steps in to help Nemesis. I dunno why I did that dramatic pause. The audience has known she’s on Nemesis’ side this whole time. 

But it’s a huge shock to Ben. 

Ben is knocked out. They have left by the time Gwen comes back. Gwen must rush Ben to the hospital. Heroes exit stage right. 

While Our Heroes are patching up their wounds, Nemesis gets that plastic surgery he wanted, and Jen pays for it for him. 

After the surgery, Jen and Nem are sitting by the road side. Nem is covered in bandages and Jen is feeding him soup. She is talking about how all she wants to do is run away with him. Get away from the cops and anyone that would hurt them and things like that. Nemesis says they’ll never be free until he defeats that pesky 15-year-old kid. 

Nemesis is literally telling Jennifer -to her face- that she is not as important to him as his murder-boner for a minor. Yet she’s still in love with him. 

A truck pulls up and we don't see what Nemesis does to the driver, but it is heavily implied that he kills him and leaves the body there with a note for Ben. 

Since it happened off screen, we can’t say for sure what Nemesis did. But, we can be sure that it was something violent enough to merit highway patrol and/or the police, since it’s a police officer that hands off the note for Ben. 

So, Jen just watch Nemesis attack -and possibly kill- some random stranger, and she’s still madly in love with him. 

Back in the car with Ben and Gwen, Gwen mentions that Jennifer’s aura is starting to feel less like Jennifer. She specifies that Jennifer is losing her sense of “self”. And Gwen finally mentions what has been going on this whole episode:

Stockholm Syndrome 

For those of you who don't know, Stockholm syndrome is when hostages, prisoners, or just people in inescapable relationships start to identify with their captors. It has 4 defining characteristics:

Now let’s take a look at Jennifer Nocturne:

So, yup. I’d say she has Stockholm syndrome for Nemesis. 

Thing is, this is a kinda clumsy depiction of Stockholm syndrome. I’m all for children’s shows tackling serious subjects. In fact, I wish more children’s shows would. But I also feel like episodes that deal with serious subjects should be read and edited by the whole wiring team -ideally that would also include an expert on the specific subject- before the episode goes to production. Because, the entire flow of the episode just feels kinda choppy and abrupt. 

Either that, or they should have had a transition episode some time between the two to show Jennifer succumbing to Stockholm. Because they barely interacted in “Hero Time” and when that episode ended, there were no words -not even looks- exchanged between Nemesis and Jennifer. So, her breaking him out of prison right at the start of this episode feels like it came out of nowhere. This leaves a viewer ever so slightly confused through out the rest of the episode. 

Anyway, back in the episode, Ben and Gwen catch up to Jen and Nemesis at Nemesis’ old office where he keeps his super-weapons. As one does. 

Ben and Nemesis fight again. 

And, again, Jennifer jumps to protect Nemesis. 

Piloting Nemesis’ super-weapon. 

Ben has trouble fighting her, so Gwen is -once again- the hero of this episode. Ripping open the floor to pull out some power cables and electrocute the Hulk-buster suit Jen is piloting. 

And so the fight’s over and Jennifer is injured. she needs medical attention, Gwen flat out says “we need to get her to a hospital”. But everyone in the room also knows that she won’t submit to help unless Nemesis tells her to. 

So, and here’s the weird thing, Nemesis gives up. 

He was uninjured and could definitely have run. I was 100% expecting the episode to end with Jen asking Nemesis for help and him just leaving her there and escaping on his own. Use her injury to cover his escape. The heroes wouldn’t leave her there to die. He could get away while they took Jen to the hospital. 

But he didn't do that. 

Instead, he holds Jennifer in his arms and tells her that he’s turning himself in. That they’re gonna send him back to jail, and he wants her to go to the hospital, get the attention she needs, and wait for him. 

This is really weird because it seems like the conclusion of the episode is that it’s not Stockholm syndrome, but actual real mutual affection, and that just doesn’t sit well with me. It doesn’t even make sense since he spent the majority of the episode ignoring what she had to say and just asserting his own agenda. 

This subplot doesn’t even had a conclusion either!

We don’t even see Jennifer Nocturne again until the final season of Omniverse when she is almost instantly eliminated on “The Most Dangerous Game Show”.

The Most Dangerous Game Show

She does, at least appear to be a little sassy here, even though it’s just a cameo. So, maybe she got some therapy after the Nemesis ordeal and learned to be her own person. 

Honestly, I don't know. 

It was really hard to analyze Jennifer’s character. Partly because there’s just so little content of her. But mostly because her “character” appears to be more dependent on who else she’s with rather than Jennifer herself. 

I have no conclusions here. Just a long post of rambling thoughts.