Annabelle Kent (Kathleen Munroe) is the main protagonist and hidden villainess of "The Woman Who Knew Too Little", episode 1.07 of Republic of Doyle (airdate March 3, 2010).
Season One (Introduction)[]
In her first appearance in "The Woman Who Knew Too Little," Annabelle was introduced as a woman who ran into Jake and Malachy Doyle in a cemetery while visiting the grave of Jake's mother, wearing a red dress and having no memory of who she was or how she got there.
After having the currently unnamed woman checked out at the hospital, Jake helped the woman in trying to recover her memory and find out who she was, despite the suspicions of Malachy and Constable Leslie Bennett that Annabelle was faking her amnesia. The pair were ultimately able to track down the woman's car (a Jaguar) outside a restaurant, using the GPS to locate her address.
Once arriving at the house, a butler waiting outside identified the woman as Annabelle Kent, with an enthused Annabelle kissing Jake as a thanks for "finding" her--only to be shocked to learn she was married to Eli Kent. Annabelle and Jake went inside for Annabelle to be reunited with Eli, who Annabelle and Jake were surprised to see was much older than Annabelle. But despite the initial awkwardness, Annabelle told Jake that while she couldn't remember Eli, she felt a connection with him.
In the episode's climax, Annabelle was abducted from the house by Tom Rockwell, who Ian (a man that had tried to take Annabelle into his car earlier that day before he was stopped by Jake) claiming the man was Annabelle's jealous ex-husband. Jake and Ian eventually tracked Tom down to the cemetery where Annabelle was found, with Jake finding Annabelle tied up and gagged after Ian knocked out Tom. But as Annabelle was brought by Jake back to Ian, she revealed that he wasn't her brother and that he had tackled her at Ian's house before Tom intervened and took her. Ian briefly held the pair at gunpoint before getting into a struggle with Tom.
During the struggle, Annabelle grabbed Ian's gun and fired it into the air, demanding that the men tell her the truth about who she was. Tom then revealed that he was a private detective hired to bring Annabelle back to the United States, as she and Ian (Annabelle's boyfriend) were notorious con artists who had been bilking wealthy older men out of their money. It was also revealed that, the previous night, Ian and Annabelle had been digging up the grave of Eli's deceased first wife to retrieve the jewelry she had been buried with. After recovering the jewelry, however, Annabelle told Ian to take the jewelry as his "severance pay", as she had genuinely fallen in love with Eli and didn't want to con him out of any more of his money. Ian, enraged at Annabelle and believing she intended to take Eli's money for herself, refused to accept the jewelry and struck Annabelle with a shovel and fled, resulting in Annabelle's amnesia.
After knocking out Ian and Tom (the latter of whom wanted Annabelle to give him Eli's late wife's jewelry in exchange for letting her walk away), Jake and Annabelle retrieved the box of jewelry and researched Annabelle's criminal life, finding that she had been working under numerous aliases to cover her tracks. Shocked and remorseful for her criminal activities, Annabelle expressed uncertainty on what to do, not wanting to go to prison for crimes she didn't remember committing. But at that moment, Eli arrived and Annabelle told Eli she was a con artist, only for Eli to tell her that she had already confessed to him a few days prior and that it had been his idea to give Ian his late wife's jewels to make him leave her alone. After thanking Jake for his help and leaving with Eli, Annabelle turned herself in, with Eli having his firm work in Annabelle's defense to keep her from being extradited back to the US.
Season Three (Heel Turn & Arrest)[]
Annabelle re-appeared in episode 3.12, "Con, Steal, Love" (airdate March 26, 2012), first appearing as Jake "saved" her from being assaulted by a man at The Duke of Duckworth bar, with Jake being stunned at Annabelle's return. Soon afterwards, the man (later identified as Brodie Dixon) claimed that Annabelle had seduced him to steal a valuable violin from him, initially convincing Jake that Annabelle had returned to her criminal ways. Jake initially failed to corner Annabelle when he tracked her back down, with Annabelle kneeing Jake in the crotch. Later on, though, Annabelle was brought in for questioning with Jake and Annabelle claimed that she had become a private investigator after Eli died, while also claiming Brodie was a con man who had stolen the violin from her client (later revealed as boxer Holden Neely).
But as revealed in the episode's climax, Annabelle actually had returned to her life as a con woman, and had conspired with Brodie (her lover) to steal the violin for themselves, manipulating Holden as well to further the scheme. Annabelle's villainous reveal began when Jake learned through Des Courtney had Annabelle lied about getting a private investigator's license and that the money she'd given him as proof that she was truly redeemed was fake. Annabelle's villainous nature was officially confirmed when Jake met with Annabelle in his office under the promise of handing over the violin, with Brodie entering and holding Jake at gunpoint. During the exchange, the evil Annabelle claimed that she was just trying to get by with her criminal acts, and that Jake understood her and even (partially) admired Annabelle's crimes. But at that moment, the police (led by Leslie Bennett) stormed the office, revealing that Jake had set Annabelle and Brodie up, with Annabelle and Brodie both being handcuffed and arrested.
Trivia[]
- Kathleen Munroe later appeared on Motive as vengeful murderer Ashley Kirkwell and NCIS: New Orleans as the evil Anita Karr.