Joanna Frankel was an insecure news reporter at the “Eastwick Gazette”. Although Joanna found it difficult to have the things she wanted, she ironically exhibited the hypnotic ability to control and manipulate the minds of men.
Biography[]
Personality[]
Character Arc[]
Joanna is attending the annual witch celebration with her best friend Penny in Eastwick when a coin comes out of nowhere and hits her on the head, after she embarrasses herself in-front of Will. Taking the coin, Joanna is drawn towards the fountain in town square and tosses it into the water, unbeknown her her, she has just summoned the mysterious wealthy businessman Darryl Van Horne to town.
Shortly after, Bun suffers a stroke as a result of the awakening of magic and is admitted to the hospital. Joanna follows suit in order to get details for a story about it for the paper, that’s when she meets Roxie and Kat, with the former inviting the women around for drinks. A blossoming friendship is born, much to the dismay of Penny who feels like she is being neglected.
She encounters Darryl when she buys the Eastwick Gazette and asks her to write a featured article on him. He then informs her that she has the power to hypnotise men with her eyes, and implores her to be more confident and authoritative to get what she wants. Surprisingly to her, it works and she successfully gets a promotion from her Editor using her powers. Feeling confident and powerful thanks to her gifts, Joanna hypnotises Will and forces him to kiss her. However, she quickly stops as she realises what she has done - hoping for genuine feelings of love rather than an enchantment. Later, Penny approaches Joanna with information from an anonymous source that Darryl isn't who he says he is.
With this newfound information Joanna, alongside Penny researches articles on "Sebastian Heart", a man who shares a striking resemblance to Darryl Van Horne and interviews the former journalist who wrote the story, but he has no memory of ever doing it, even when prompted by her hypnosis powers. She investigates further and finds a photograph of Darryl with Eleanor and Bun at Eastwick's Historical Society. She confronts Eleanor about Sebastian, who confesses that she killed him years ago.
Relationships[]
Will St David - Joanna has had a crush on Will for two years but every time she gets the opportunity to speak to him she rambles and often embarrasses herself by oversharing. So when he discovers her powers, she uses them to finally get what she wants ... Will. However, she quickly regrets this and breaks off a hypnotism-induced kiss, wanting him to like her genuinely and not because of a spell. After this incident, Will tries to ask her out on multiple dates but she regrets it, thinking he is still under her spell.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Hypnosis: Joanna possess the power of hypnosis or mind control, which enables her to make incredibly strong suggestions to the subconscious mind, but limited to men alone. With this power Joanna can make men do anything she want, such as giving her money, kiss her, turn over police reports and so on. Though strong willed subjects may be able to resist her control over them with a strong mind or a special amulet.
- Telekinesis: As her powers grew, she later developed the gift of telekinesis which enables her to move objects with a simple thought of her mind. She used this power many times during the season to simply move objects to her or push objects or people with great force. Her most impressive feat of telekinesis seen on Eastwick was when she projected Jamie through the air into a tree trying to save Roxie from being buried alive.
Weaknesses[]
Joanna's power is channelled through her eyes, she must make eye contact with whoever she wants to hypnotise and she can only control men, so women remain unaffected by her powers of persuasion. Her eyes are also the conduit for her telekinesis, she must see the object/person she wants to move, so she is rendered powerless if she is blindfolded.
Trivia[]
- Her 'Witches of Eastwick' book/movie counterpart is Jane Spofford (played by Susan Sarandon in the 1987 film)
Gallery[]
