Joy McHugh (Jessica Tuck) is the main villainess from "Eye of the Beholder," episode 4.05 of Castle (airdate October 17, 2011). She is the wife of Anton McHugh and the co-owner of a valuable art sculpture known as The Fist of Capitalism.
The McHughs were attending a reception at a museum, where Brian Hayes, the executive director, was found impaled to death on the spikes of a Statue of Liberty sculpture. It was concluded that Hayes was killed by a thief who was stealing the Fist, which was revealed to be worth $50 million. Kate Beckett and Richard Castle ended up joined by the museum's sultry insurance investigator, Serena Kaye, on the case, with Serena revealing that a notorious art thief known as Falco was involved in the theft.
Joy later appeared at the precinct and claimed that Anton was behind the theft, revealing that they were in the midst of a bitter divorce and were dueling over the Fist. Anton denied the claim, stating that he was using Joy's desire for the Fist to keep her from getting his vineyard in Napa. After learning that Serena was a thief herself, Beckett suspected her in the murder, only for Serena to reveal that she takes stolen art and returns the items to their rightful owners. Despite this, Serena worked with the pair and helped them get Falco, who later revealed to Serena that his accomplice was a woman in a black dress at the reception. Following the discovery of the Fist in a wooden panel, Castle and Beckett suspected employee Alyssa Lofters, who denied the claims and stated that the Fist was already sold, only to gasp in shock when she put everything together.
As revealed shortly afterwards, the Fist was sold to none other than Joy, and that ended up revealing her as the villainous mastermind and murderess. Believing that Anton was after the Fist, Joy bought the sculpture from Alyssa as part of her plan to stash it inside the museum. The scheming and greedy villainess then paid Falco to disable the security system late one night, allowing Joy to take the Fist easily. Once Hayes caught her in the act, the evil Joy shoved Hayes towards the spiked sculpture, killing him to keep her villainous actions from being uncovered.
Joy was interrogated by Beckett, with the villainess denying the claims until she confessed after Beckett revealed that bloody fingerprints were on the sculpture. She defended her actions by stating that she couldn't let Anton have the Fist, while claiming to have no choice regarding killing Hayes. Beckett reminded Joy that Anton had no interest in the Fist, leaving Joy shocked before she was arrested (off-screen).
Trivia[]
- Jessica Tuck later appeared on Rizzoli & Isles as serial killer Victoria Nolan, on Scandal as villainous politician Stephanie Vaughn, on Stalker as psychotic villainess Andrea Brown, and on CSI: Cyber as the evil Dr. Giana Luca.