Anne Donnelly

[hoosier]

After posting yesterday on the ABC thread concerning Jim and Anne , it got me thinking. We know very little about the infamous Ms. Donnelly. All we really know is that she is Karen's friend and had confided in Karen about their affair. We don't even know if Christie knew her name or just knew that she was the 'other woman'. Were they planning on revealing more if the series had continued? Would we have finally gotten a glimpse of her even if only in a flashback?

Some of my thoughts on the subject--

How did Jim and Anne get involved? Its almost a given that she would have to have been attractive to have caught Jim's eye. And smart. No way would Jim have gone off with someone like the vampid airhead Ms. Chenowith. She would have had to challenged him mentally and physically.

Was she a cop? We assume that she was. If so, she would have had to been assigned to some precinct far away from where Jim worked or she would have known he was married. (Karen's comment that Anne had wondered why it had taken Jim so long to tell her he was married says she had no idea he was) How did they meet? A common case? A stakeout? Chance meeting?

Was this Jim's one and only affair? I think it was. The night of the party at Clay's Christie shoots back with "just because you couldn't stay faithful doesn't mean that I can't" Couldn't not because you can't stay faithful. Or at least this is the only time Christie knows about.

Why did Jim have an affair? What were the problems in their marriage? Too consumed with work? Finding out they just weren't compatible? Wanting something different or more out of life? We didn't get to see any of the "couples therapy" which would have given some insight. Christie told Dr. Galloway she didn't want to get into anything unless he was taking them on and Jim certainly looked uncomfortable prior to this revelation. Was he steeling himself to actual hear Christie put into words what he had imagined her saying a thousand times before?

Anyone else have any thoughts on the subject? After all, its purely conjecture on our part ;D

[mlm828]

hoosier said:

How did Jim and Anne get involved? Its almost a given that she would have to have been attractive to have caught Jim's eye. And smart. No way would Jim have gone off with someone like the vampid airhead Ms. Chenowith. She would have had to challenged him mentally and physically.

We can only speculate about how they might have met. I do think, however, that Jim, being married to Christie, might have been attracted to someone less "challenging." Not an airhead, by any means, just less challenging.

hoosier said:

Was she a cop? We assume that she was.

I don't assume Anne was a cop. She might have been, but we just don't know.

hoosier said:

Was this Jim's one and only affair? I think it was.

I think so, too. A while back, some information was posted about a version of the "Anne Donnelly, friend of mine" scene in which Karen says something implying Jim had multiple affairs (or at least hit on a lot of women) in the past. Since we never saw that scene, it suggests the writers decided one affair was enough.

hoosier said:

Why did Jim have an affair? What were the problems in their marriage? Too consumed with work? Finding out they just weren't compatible? Wanting something different or more out of life?

Possibly any or all of the above. All we know comes from Jim's rather self-serving (not to mention defensive) comment to Karen, to the effect that he was going through "a very rough time" in his marriage at the time of the affair.

Another thing we know (or we can infer from what we know) is that Christie learned about the affair relatively close in time to Jim's being shot. This is based on her statement to him in "Four Feet Under," to the effect that she's still feeling hurt and betrayed, and she didn't deal with her feelings because he was shot.

I have wondered whether Anne is the woman in the background in the hallway when Jim goes to see Terry in the hospital in "Up on the Roof":



I have no basis for this conjecture, except that she keeps looking at him. Of course, there are plenty of reasons, aside from being his ex-mistress, why she might be looking at Jim!

[matilda]

My thoughts have always been that Dunbar is your classic roamer - can't help it, loves to look/flirt with/control women.

That's fine, we all know them, and we all, as women (sorry, Big Fulla), have worked out our different ways of dealing with them over the years - to me the question is why change and why want to behave differently to hold on to the marriage post-accident?

Was the accident a kind of epiphany resulting in a "this is s silly way to live and what I've got at home is far too valuable" moment? Was Anne Donelly the most recent one pre-accident?

So Anne Donelly to me would have been just another notch, but the one Christie found out about, and have always assumed she was a cop because of Karen raising it. Maybe she wasn't?

I've often wondered if there had been more BJ would the roaming thing have re-emerged as a relationship issue post-counselling and Jim's reassurances, and if so, would Anne have appeared? Something tells me yes ...

Matilda

[hoosier]

mlm828 said:

I have wondered whether Anne is the woman in the background in the hallway when Jim goes to see Terry in the hospital in "Up on the Roof":



I have no basis for this conjecture, except that she keeps looking at him. Of course, there are plenty of reasons, aside from being his ex-mistress, why she might be looking at Jim!

She's obviously human like the rest of us.

I never noticed the woman lurking there because Semple is always eating up the scenery! Plays into my theory that Anne was a cop--that and the fact that she and Karen are friends. I could see them commiserating about work, men and life in general.