Josie Packard

Jocelyn "Josie" Packard is a character from the television series "Twin Peaks", created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. Played by Joan Chen, she is a classic "femme fatale" character.

Background

She is from Hong Kong, and is ethnic Chinese. Throughout the first season, Josie seems innocent, an easy mark and potential victim for her more savvy and cunning sister in law, Catherine, and Catherine's lover, Ben Horne. It is only later that we learn that Josie is not at all what she seems, as she is a classic "femme fatale" character whose innocence masks a manipulative and cold-blooded side.

A Chinese native, Josie meets Andrew Packard, owner of the Packard Mill, in Hong Kong and accompanies him to Twin Peaks as his wife. After Andrew's death in a boating accident, Josie inherits the mill, which is run by Catherine. Her sister-in-law resents Josie for taking over the mill and suspects that Josie was responsible for Andrew's demise. Catherine's husband, Pete Martell, a former woodcutter, is good friends with Josie, seeing her fragile side and striving to protect her.

After her husband's death, Josie starts dating the town sherriff Harry S. Truman. FBI Agent Dale Cooper, in town investigating the murder of Laura Palmer, has befriended Truman, and quickly detected Truman's feelings for Josie, but does not himself trust her at all. He tries to warn Truman against getting too close to Josie, but to no avail. At the end of the first season, a mysterious caller shoots Cooper. He survives, thanks to a quick operation, but does not get a look at his assailant, who is later revealed to have been Josie.

Josie was taking English lessons from Laura Palmer, right up until the day of Laura's death. (In the "Secret Diary of Laura Palmer," it is revealed that Laura and Josie were sexual partners as well.) It's implied that Josie's malapropisms and thick accent when speaking with Pete or Harry early in the series are a put-on; when Josie is revealed to be more than meets the eye, she is shown speaking to Ben with perfect English and no trace of an accent.

At first, Catherine and Ben Horne conspire to steal ownership of the mill away from Josie. Later, it is revealed that Josie herself is in fact working with Ben Horne to cut Catharine out of the picture, and that Josie employed Hank Jennings to kill Andrew with Ben's knowledge and complicity. Still later, it is revealed that all the while she was taking orders from Andrew's former business partner and rival, Thomas Eckhardt.

In the show's second season, Josie is horrified when both of the men in her life return. Andrew had not been killed in the boat accident, and returns to live with Catherine, treating Josie as a maid. Eckhardt then arrive in Twin Peaks and ordered Josie to come see him.

On the last night of her life, she takes a gun with her to meet Eckhardt. Cooper, who had been monitoring Josie discreetly, learns from coat hair fibers found at the scene that she shot him. He goes to the Great Northern to arrest her, followed by Truman. However, they are too late to prevent Josie from killing Eckhardt.

Moments later, Josie collapses dead in front of Cooper and a shattered Truman. At the moment of her death, Cooper sees a vision of Bob and the Man from another place. At the autopsy, her body was found to have lost a dramatic amount of weight. Deputy Hawk speculates that her soul is no longer in the body. Indeed, it appears that Josie's soul is trapped within the wood of the hotel. She was mentioned once more when Pete said - at the hotel - "Josie, I see your face."

Casting

According to an interview with Joan Chen in the documentary "Secrets from Another Place", included with the 2007 "Gold Box Edition" DVD release of "Twin Peaks", Josie was originally conceived as an Italian woman named Giovanna (a reproduction of a script page shown on screen during this segment of the documentary indicates "Josie" was intended to be a nickname for Giovanna). David Lynch's domestic partner at the time, Isabella Rossellini, was to have played her.