Jessica Roberts

Jessica Roberts
Relatives	Eddie - father
Affiliation	Star-Ledger (alleged)
Occupation	Journalist (alleged) Fixer (actual)
Biographical information
Date of death	2021
Place of death	Wiskayok, New Jersey
Cause of death	Smoked cigarette spiked with fentanyl by Misty Quigley
Physical description
Gender	Female
Eye color	Brown
Appearances
Portrayed by	Rekha Sharma
Debut	"Pilot"

Jessica Roberts is a character on the Showtime original series Yellowjackets. She is portrayed by Rekha Sharma.

Profile

Jessica Roberts was a female individual who claimed to be working as a journalist with the Star-Ledger. She interviewed several individuals who were loosely connected to the tragic plane crash involving the WHS Yellowjackets, including at least one teacher at Wiskayok High School and the school's vice principal, Berzonsky. She also called and left several messages for Shauna Sadecki, one of the survivors of the crash. When Shauna did not respond to her messages, she came and paid her a visit at her home. Shauna told her that she didn't speak to journalists and was not welcoming to the idea of speaking to her, but agreed finally to invite her inside and give her five minutes. Jessica agreed, saying that she could tell her to leave at any time if she didn't like what she had to say.

Once inside, Shauna tells her that the truth is that the plane crashed and a lot of her friends died, the rest of them starving and scavenging for 19 months. Jessica replies that they both know there's more to it than that. She offers Shauna a seven-figure book deal, but Shauna tells her she's not interested. Indicating Shauna's dingy surroundings, Jessica says that it can't be the way she expected her life to turn out, that she was a straight A student, accepted to a top college, and going to the nationals in soccer. Shauna tells her to get out, that she doesn't know anything about her life, calling her a "smug little bitch." Jessica leaves, but not before leaving behind a card, saying that it's in case Shauna changes her mind.

Later, Shauna talks with Taissa Turner, one of the other survivors of the crash. She explains that she Googled Jessica, but was unable to find even so much as a byline on her. Taissa tells her not to worry, that these people come out of the woodwork every few years on anniversaries and there's no reason to think this is any different. Shauna replies that she can think of a few and that she saw her on television promoting her run for senate. She warns her that they're all in trouble if someone's digging and tells her to take care of it.

In truth, Jessica Roberts is actually a private detective who was hired directly by Taissa Turner. Taissa is having her investigate anyone who is any way connected with the plane crash, determined to know if anyone talked, lest it derail her ambitions to become State Senator of New Jersey. Jessica reports to her that so far nobody has talked. Taissa asks her how hard she's been pushing and Jessica quips that she's going to have pay her more if she wants to break kneecaps. Taissa explains that her opponent, Phil Bathurst has just hit her with an attack ad. Jessica asks if she wants to push back, supplying her with the information that Bathurst buried a drug arrest for his daughter.

Jessica Roberts, captured and chained up by Misty Quigley

Jessica continues to nose around the surviving Yellowjackets, showing up a cafe where Natalie Scatorccio is meeting with Kevyn Tan to try to get him to give her the details on the autopsy report of Travis Martinez, a fellow crash survivor who recently died in an alleged suicide. She is confronted by Misty Quigley, who has also been keeping an eye on the meeting, and Misty warns her that "I know when you look at me you don't see someone that you should be afraid of, but you're wrong." Sometime after this incident, Misty calls up Jessica, asking her to meet her. Jessica thinks that Misty is finally ready to spill the dirt. She arrives at the designated meeting place and heads for Misty's car, from which Misty is blasting the theme "The Phantom of the Opera." When she gets in, Misty injects her with a needle and she passes out almost immediately. When she awakes, she finds herself chained up inside Misty's basement, her mouth covered in duct tape. Misty tells her to sleep tight and to not let the fact that she's a terrible person keep her up at night.

Sometime later on, Misty goes to Jessica and removes the gag from her mouth. Jessica asks her what she wants from her and Misty replies that she wants the truth. Jessica tells her that her haircut is unflattering and Misty asks her if there's something else she should try if the easy way isn't going to work. She tells Jessica that she's protecting her friends and that all roads lead to her, that she's blackmailing them and murdered Travis. Jessica calls it all insane and Misty says she knows what she did, but Jessica replies that she doesn't truly know or else she wouldn't be there. She tells her it's not the first time she's been held hostage. She says that she knows for a fact that Travis was murdered and she'll tell her everything if she lets her go, calling it "leverage." Misty, however, slaps her and puts the duct tape back over her mouth. She tells her she only has leverage if she's not willing to make her talk, which means she has no leverage at all. She later returns and injects chocolates with fentanyl in front of Jessica, threatening to send them to her elderly father, whom everyone will believe died of an overdose. In response, Jessica reveals that Travis's bank account was emptied after he died.

Becoming desperate to escape, Jessica manages to get a hold of Misty's pet bird, Caligula, and threatens to kill the bird if Misty doesn't let her go. Misty, however, calls her bluff, claiming that she doesn't care and then tossing objects at her, startling her into releasing the bird. Although Jessica is rattled by the incident, Misty seems just as rattled by it as well.

Jessica begins working on Misty, claiming that she can get her a book deal and even a movie. She appeals to Misty's feelings of being disregarded by the other survivors, noting that they've all been in contact with each other, but have ignored her. Misty seems receptive to her, to the point of asking Natalie why she should even talk to her when she shows up asking for her help. However, Natalie apologizes, saying that she is good at things, and asks for her help in getting rid of a body on behalf of Shauna. Once this is taken care of, Misty returns home and lets Jessica go, talking with her about who should play her in the movie and asking if the next move is going on Oprah or Dr. Phil. She hands her the keys to her car and her bag, telling her that she's parked her car outside. However, Jessica discovers that her cigarettes are missing and asks for them back. Misty fishes them out of the trash, but warns that it's a dangerous habit. Jessica gets in her car and immediately lights up, then drives off. As she drives, her vision starts to get blurry and then she passes out and crashes. "Fucking bitch," she realizes, as Misty injected her cigarettes with something, quite likely fentanyl.

Taissa Turner wins her campaign for election as state senator. Shortly afterwards, she is confronted with the reality of the strange activities she has been engaged in while sleepwalking by her wife, Simone. Taissa's alternate sleep personality, however, retaliates by causing a car crash which badly injures Simone, leaving her hospitalized. In the aftermath of this, Taissa attempts to call Jessica Roberts, but gets no answer.

Later, Taissa finds herself at Camp Green Pine, an "intentional community" run by Lottie Matthews, along with Misty and the other remaining Yellowjackets survivors: Natalie, Shauna and her one-time girlfriend, Vanessa "Van" Palmer. Lottie, Natalie and Shauna all wonder how Taissa even found Van in the first place, given that she had fallen out of contact with them and was residing in a video store in Pennsylvania. Misty, however, comments that Taissa could have just asked her for Van's address, that she's had it for years, instead of "outsourcing." They wonder what she means by this and Misty reveals that Taissa had hired Jessica Roberts to look into all of them. She also reveals her own kidnapping of Roberts, having believed her to be the blackmailer, and how she "took care" of her.

Following this, Walter Tattersall frames the detective Kevyn Tan for the murder of Adam Martin, as well as Roberts, whom he describes as being a known political operative. He kills Tan and tells his partner, Matt Saracusa, that there is a wealth of evidence connecting Tan to the death of both. He offers him the choice of either accepting this scenario or having the evidence point to him instead.

Trivia

• In the original script for the "Pilot" of Yellowjackets, this character was named Jessica Cruz and was to be portrayed by Briana Venskus. An article from Variety in 2019 reported Venskus as having been cast for the program.
• Her phone number as seen in Taissa's smartphone in "Digestif" is 609-555-0134. While 609 is a correct area code for a New Jersey number, "555" is a standard exchange used in fiction to prevent viewers from attempting to dial and reaching an actual phone number.