Villainess Review: Janice Barber (9-1-1)

I absolutely love 9-1-1; it's yet another gem from the magnificent mind of Ryan Murphy. Among the many things I love about the series is that every episode seems to have a theme, and regarding the episode, "Breaking Point," it's just that--emergency calls centered on people who have basically had it and can't take it (whatever it is) anymore. One such call actually saw Athena Grant report to the home of Janice Barber, as her alarm was continuing to go off, much to the annoyance of her neighbors.

The alarm continued to go off even during Athena's routine check, which revealed that there were actually two people inside the house. The apparent second person was Janice's husband, Clint Barber, with Janice claiming that her husband was at work. Athena wasn't convinced of Janice's story and searched the Barbers' bedroom, where a freezer was found. Once Athena opened the freezer, she only saw an immense amount of frozen meat, with Janice stating that Clint was rationing. So nothing suspicious in the freezer, but Athena and the 118 crew ended up learning that there was someone trapped inside the walls.

Further inspection ended up revealing that the person trapped behind the walls was none other than Clint Barber, Janice's husband. After Bobby Nash spotted movement from Clint inside the walls, Janice uttered the following:

"What?! He's still alive?!"

Yeah...not the normal response you expect from the wife of a man trapped inside the walls. Janice attempted to cover up her shock with relief, but it was too late, and while she was handcuffed and detained, she revealed everything to Athena. As it turned out, the Barbers' marriage wasn't perfect, and it led to Janice filing for divorce from Clint a year prior. However, one teeny, tiny problem put a damper in that plan: a worldwide pandemic. COVID-19 led to the courts (among many, many other things) being closed and shut down, and as a result, Janice and Clint had to put up with each other. In the same house, too. Oh boy.

Now, Janice and Clint were bitter enough when they could easily get away from each other. But in the same house under COVID restrictions? Absolute recipe for disaster. Clint eventually decided to divide their assets as part of a compromise, but in Janice's mind, Clint was taking everything she owned. Janice suddenly turned heel by grabbing a grilling fork and plunging it into Clint's back in a fit of rage, which was followed by the madwoman sealing her soon-to-be ex-husband inside the bedroom walls, the very act that caused the alarm to go off repeatedly. Miraculously, Clint actually survived Janice's maniacal attack, and following her confession, Janice was taken into custody.

"Breaking Point" served as the winter finale in 9-1-1's fourth season, and aired on March 8, 2021. The episode featured Maggie Egan as wife-turned-villainess Janice Barber, who I couldn't help but love. We actually see hints of Janice's true demeanor once the freezer of meat is found, as after remaining collected in her deception over her husband being at work, we see a bit of her bitterness when she mentions Clint's rationing. Her verbal reveal was the perfect way to reveal the depths of Janice's villainous personality, and as we saw in the flashback scenes leading to Janice's heel turn, this was a woman who felt nothing but bitterness towards her husband to the point of delusions and rage-filled insanity. Janice Barber was a very maniacal villainess, and while Egan played her calm demeanor well at first, she really shined while acting out Janice's twisted rage in the flashback scenes.

Maggie Egan has tons of TV shows to her credit, including Knots Landing, Quantum Leap, and Seinfeld. Her more recent credits include guest starring roles on The Mentalist and Grey's Anatomy.

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