Personality: When Junior Detective Juliet O’Hara is first introduced in the show, she’s just transferred from her hometown Miami to Santa Barbara to replace Head Detective Carlton Lassiter’s old partner. It’s instantly obvious that Juliet is the polar opposite of the surly, brusque Lassiter. She’s sociable and talkative, eager to please and impress, unfailingly optimistic and always ready to aid and cheer everybody up, whether they like it or not. Her sunny disposition falters only at times, when her frustration over the lack of respect displayed by her fellow officers – especially her partner – gets to her.
Though Juliet is extremely smart and ambitious, her young age makes it hard for people to take her seriously as a cop and her superiors to delegate more responsibilities to her, at first. She also has to learn the hard way how too much eagerness and friendliness can be taken the wrong way in her chosen work environment after a well-meant attempt to befriend one of the few female officers at the station ends up in a harassment charge. But as the months go by, Juliet gains more self-confidence and gets more familiar with the way things are done. She begins to assert herself more determinedly around the workplace, especially with Lassiter, although never in a disrespectful manner. During her years in Santa Barbara, she slowly sheds her youthful naivety and the sharpest edge of her spirited behavior as she settles into her role at the police department, perhaps even hardening a little by some of the harsher realities of her job that have forced her to realize both her own mortality and those of the people she has come to love. She no longer needs to prove to people that just because she’s a tiny, cute blonde doesn’t mean that she can’t be a competent professional as well. Though less eager and peppy now than when she first started in SBPD, her basic personality hasn’t changed that much. She’s just matured, has a better grasp on where she stands and who she is, and having more than earned the respect she now commands around the station.
She may seem like the proper all-American sweetheart at first glance, but Juliet’s obviously had a very interesting youth that’s a veritable wealth of stories. There are many instances throughout the series when she divulges some random, colorful piece of information about her past that tends to raise eyebrows, referring to an adventurous side that’s usually reigned in. Growing up with older brothers only, she probably had to learn early on to hold her own and defend what is hers, by force if necessary. In ‘American Duos’ she reveals she got kicked out of cheer camp for smacking another girl on the head after she stole Juliet’s nail polish, whereas during her undercover op as a roller derby contestant in ‘Talk Derby To Me’ she dislocated another girl’s nose by elbowing her in the face for “clipping into her wingspan”. (It’s okay, they made friends afterward.) She also has a reserve of childish enthusiasm to her that complements Shawn Spencer’s often juvenile sense of humor; on their “romantic, adult vacation” in ‘Neil Simon’s Lover’s Retreat’, the two can’t resist gleefully tossing snack foods down during a hot air balloon ride just to see how fast they fall out of sight.
Despite her relatively young age, Juliet is an excellent cop. She’s very intuitive and good at deductive reasoning, stumping even Lassiter when she subdues a perp on the run by cutting him off through a detour the other officers hadn't thought of in ‘There’s Something About Mira’. It’s revealed that she scored an impressive 98.4 out of 100 in the detective’s exam, thus beating Lassiter’s standing record of 97.2. She’s also an excellent marksman. Though generally flexible and easygoing, she’s no pushover; especially when it comes to work. She holds her own firmly when she believes in the rightness of what she’s doing, having full faith in her own abilities. But she also owns up to her mistakes if she makes them. Her competitive streak doesn’t like being wrong, but she will swallow her pride when needed, admit culpability, and then work hard to resolve any errors or inequalities. She agonized over slipping so that a criminal made his escape in ‘Bounty Hunters!’ and blamed herself worse than anyone else could have, showing not only her strong dedication to justice but also a sense of personal reliability – she wants to be worth the trust that’s placed upon her 100%, and failing that trust hit her hard and left her nearly inconsolable until the case was solved. Similarly in ‘True Grits’ she works relentlessly to right a wrong that she’d had a hand in bringing about originally, burning the midnight oil to find the real culprit.
There are two sides to Juliet. She’s a cheery, optimistic girly girl who loves the color pink, cats, sappy movies and department store sales. And she’s a kickass detective who will take you down, figuratively and/or literally, if you mess with her. There is some overlap with the two, at times; though Juliet strives to display the appropriate gravitas required of a detective from the get-go, she can’t always suppress her innate good humor and some of her more feminine inclinations. Cute shoes are cute shoes, whether or not she’s on duty. She easily returns Lassiter’s snippy comments with blithe comebacks or “cornpone country-bumpkin sayings”, rarely taking offense at his moods. On the flipside, she’s not shy of using sarcasm or biting retorts if need be, having no problem putting people in their place. She can definitely take on a no-nonsense attitude as easily as she can flash a smile, knowing very well when to be serious and when to lighten up. If she’s not intimidated by Lassiter, she’s not intimidated by much anybody.
Despite being so vastly different, Juliet and Lassiter have managed to forge a relationship based on mutual trust and respect. Juliet’s more sensitive attitude is a good counterpart to Lassiter’s often abrasive manner and direct approach; she reminds him of the importance of compassion and discretion while he teaches her the necessity of cutting corners and playing hard sometimes. He may exasperate her on a regular basis, but Juliet knows she couldn't ask for a better partner and mentor than Lassiter. She trusts him implicitly, even makes him a confidant in ‘A Very Juliet Episode’ in regards of how to deal with an old college boyfriend. The results are dubious at best, but it’s an important step in their friendship.
Juliet tends to act as the peacekeeper between her partner and the psychic consultant Shawn Spencer who goes out of his way to torment Lassiter. Juliet considers Shawn to be vastly more amusing and useful than Lassiter gives him credit for, being more open to the possibility that sometimes standard police procedures aren’t the only things that can advance an investigation. On a more personal note, she also can’t deny that Shawn is interesting and handsome, the attraction between the pair obvious.
For all her outward candidness, Juliet guards her innermost feelings carefully. She doesn’t like to show any weakness, preferring to retreat from overwhelming situations to deal with them in private. Sometimes she can also live in denial if it suits her purposes. The episode ’Romeo and Juliet and Juliet’, finds her temporarily reassigned to the most boring desk job ever at the city hall after a kidnapping incident weeks prior, and she refuses to return to the force under the excuse of taking some time to heal from a trauma. It’s not until Shawn and Lassiter both use slightly underhanded but well-meaning tactics that she returns to her detective post at the PD.
And speaking of Shawn, there is the matter of Juliet’s feelings for him; Juliet and Shawn were locked in a game of will-they-won’t-they for nearly five years before finally getting together. In ‘Woman Seeking Dead Husband-Smokers Okay, No Pets’, Juliet questions Lassiter about the affair rumors involving his previous partner, stating that she is uncomfortable with interoffice romances; a baseline reason as to why it takes her three years to even admit a romantic interest in Shawn and to ask him out. Possibly using Lassiter’s relationship with his old partner as an example, she’s hesitant to risk ruining a friendship/work relationship for a romantic one that may or may not work out. She is undeniably attracted to Shawn, but worries about his seeming inability to commit and grow up. It isn’t until almost two years after Juliet first admits her interest in going on a date with him that Shawn finally displays the sort of emotional maturity and depth that has Juliet taking the chance on him. They keep their involvement a secret at first, shocking Lassiter deeply when he accidentally witnesses a kiss between Juliet and Shawn in ‘Shawn Rescues Darth Vader’. The partnership between Juliet and Lassiter is soured for a while as Lassiter feels stung by Juliet’s lack of trust and her choosing the one person he cannot stand as her boyfriend, while Juliet doggedly sticks to her right to date whomever she wants. Eventually the two make peace and things settle down while Juliet and Shawn’s involvement becomes public knowledge – but the snide barbs from Lassiter about Shawn and his shenanigans keep on coming, which Juliet often lets slide. Mostly because at times, they actually have some truth to them, and Juliet knows how to pick her battles.
Juliet O'Hara | Psych | 2/?
Though Juliet is extremely smart and ambitious, her young age makes it hard for people to take her seriously as a cop and her superiors to delegate more responsibilities to her, at first. She also has to learn the hard way how too much eagerness and friendliness can be taken the wrong way in her chosen work environment after a well-meant attempt to befriend one of the few female officers at the station ends up in a harassment charge. But as the months go by, Juliet gains more self-confidence and gets more familiar with the way things are done. She begins to assert herself more determinedly around the workplace, especially with Lassiter, although never in a disrespectful manner. During her years in Santa Barbara, she slowly sheds her youthful naivety and the sharpest edge of her spirited behavior as she settles into her role at the police department, perhaps even hardening a little by some of the harsher realities of her job that have forced her to realize both her own mortality and those of the people she has come to love. She no longer needs to prove to people that just because she’s a tiny, cute blonde doesn’t mean that she can’t be a competent professional as well. Though less eager and peppy now than when she first started in SBPD, her basic personality hasn’t changed that much. She’s just matured, has a better grasp on where she stands and who she is, and having more than earned the respect she now commands around the station.
She may seem like the proper all-American sweetheart at first glance, but Juliet’s obviously had a very interesting youth that’s a veritable wealth of stories. There are many instances throughout the series when she divulges some random, colorful piece of information about her past that tends to raise eyebrows, referring to an adventurous side that’s usually reigned in. Growing up with older brothers only, she probably had to learn early on to hold her own and defend what is hers, by force if necessary. In ‘American Duos’ she reveals she got kicked out of cheer camp for smacking another girl on the head after she stole Juliet’s nail polish, whereas during her undercover op as a roller derby contestant in ‘Talk Derby To Me’ she dislocated another girl’s nose by elbowing her in the face for “clipping into her wingspan”. (It’s okay, they made friends afterward.) She also has a reserve of childish enthusiasm to her that complements Shawn Spencer’s often juvenile sense of humor; on their “romantic, adult vacation” in ‘Neil Simon’s Lover’s Retreat’, the two can’t resist gleefully tossing snack foods down during a hot air balloon ride just to see how fast they fall out of sight.
Despite her relatively young age, Juliet is an excellent cop. She’s very intuitive and good at deductive reasoning, stumping even Lassiter when she subdues a perp on the run by cutting him off through a detour the other officers hadn't thought of in ‘There’s Something About Mira’. It’s revealed that she scored an impressive 98.4 out of 100 in the detective’s exam, thus beating Lassiter’s standing record of 97.2. She’s also an excellent marksman. Though generally flexible and easygoing, she’s no pushover; especially when it comes to work. She holds her own firmly when she believes in the rightness of what she’s doing, having full faith in her own abilities. But she also owns up to her mistakes if she makes them. Her competitive streak doesn’t like being wrong, but she will swallow her pride when needed, admit culpability, and then work hard to resolve any errors or inequalities. She agonized over slipping so that a criminal made his escape in ‘Bounty Hunters!’ and blamed herself worse than anyone else could have, showing not only her strong dedication to justice but also a sense of personal reliability – she wants to be worth the trust that’s placed upon her 100%, and failing that trust hit her hard and left her nearly inconsolable until the case was solved. Similarly in ‘True Grits’ she works relentlessly to right a wrong that she’d had a hand in bringing about originally, burning the midnight oil to find the real culprit.
There are two sides to Juliet. She’s a cheery, optimistic girly girl who loves the color pink, cats, sappy movies and department store sales. And she’s a kickass detective who will take you down, figuratively and/or literally, if you mess with her. There is some overlap with the two, at times; though Juliet strives to display the appropriate gravitas required of a detective from the get-go, she can’t always suppress her innate good humor and some of her more feminine inclinations. Cute shoes are cute shoes, whether or not she’s on duty. She easily returns Lassiter’s snippy comments with blithe comebacks or “cornpone country-bumpkin sayings”, rarely taking offense at his moods. On the flipside, she’s not shy of using sarcasm or biting retorts if need be, having no problem putting people in their place. She can definitely take on a no-nonsense attitude as easily as she can flash a smile, knowing very well when to be serious and when to lighten up. If she’s not intimidated by Lassiter, she’s not intimidated by much anybody.
Despite being so vastly different, Juliet and Lassiter have managed to forge a relationship based on mutual trust and respect. Juliet’s more sensitive attitude is a good counterpart to Lassiter’s often abrasive manner and direct approach; she reminds him of the importance of compassion and discretion while he teaches her the necessity of cutting corners and playing hard sometimes. He may exasperate her on a regular basis, but Juliet knows she couldn't ask for a better partner and mentor than Lassiter. She trusts him implicitly, even makes him a confidant in ‘A Very Juliet Episode’ in regards of how to deal with an old college boyfriend. The results are dubious at best, but it’s an important step in their friendship.
Juliet tends to act as the peacekeeper between her partner and the psychic consultant Shawn Spencer who goes out of his way to torment Lassiter. Juliet considers Shawn to be vastly more amusing and useful than Lassiter gives him credit for, being more open to the possibility that sometimes standard police procedures aren’t the only things that can advance an investigation. On a more personal note, she also can’t deny that Shawn is interesting and handsome, the attraction between the pair obvious.
For all her outward candidness, Juliet guards her innermost feelings carefully. She doesn’t like to show any weakness, preferring to retreat from overwhelming situations to deal with them in private. Sometimes she can also live in denial if it suits her purposes. The episode ’Romeo and Juliet and Juliet’, finds her temporarily reassigned to the most boring desk job ever at the city hall after a kidnapping incident weeks prior, and she refuses to return to the force under the excuse of taking some time to heal from a trauma. It’s not until Shawn and Lassiter both use slightly underhanded but well-meaning tactics that she returns to her detective post at the PD.
And speaking of Shawn, there is the matter of Juliet’s feelings for him; Juliet and Shawn were locked in a game of will-they-won’t-they for nearly five years before finally getting together. In ‘Woman Seeking Dead Husband-Smokers Okay, No Pets’, Juliet questions Lassiter about the affair rumors involving his previous partner, stating that she is uncomfortable with interoffice romances; a baseline reason as to why it takes her three years to even admit a romantic interest in Shawn and to ask him out. Possibly using Lassiter’s relationship with his old partner as an example, she’s hesitant to risk ruining a friendship/work relationship for a romantic one that may or may not work out. She is undeniably attracted to Shawn, but worries about his seeming inability to commit and grow up. It isn’t until almost two years after Juliet first admits her interest in going on a date with him that Shawn finally displays the sort of emotional maturity and depth that has Juliet taking the chance on him. They keep their involvement a secret at first, shocking Lassiter deeply when he accidentally witnesses a kiss between Juliet and Shawn in ‘Shawn Rescues Darth Vader’. The partnership between Juliet and Lassiter is soured for a while as Lassiter feels stung by Juliet’s lack of trust and her choosing the one person he cannot stand as her boyfriend, while Juliet doggedly sticks to her right to date whomever she wants. Eventually the two make peace and things settle down while Juliet and Shawn’s involvement becomes public knowledge – but the snide barbs from Lassiter about Shawn and his shenanigans keep on coming, which Juliet often lets slide. Mostly because at times, they actually have some truth to them, and Juliet knows how to pick her battles.