Michelle Tee (Mary Ashton) is the main villainess from "Kiki-Loki," episode 1.07 of Carter (airdate June 26, 2018). She is the stepmother of Jin Hatanaka, the owner of the Do-shita-no company, as well as the actress who plays the company's mascot, the titular Kiki-Loki.
Michelle had been working for the company for years, back when Jin's deceased father (Michelle's husband) owned it and promoted the Kiki-Loki character. However, in all that time, Michelle became resentful over (in her mind) being under the thumb of a mascot, and after her husband passed away and Jin suffered an aortic aneurysm, Michelle used both occurrences as an opportunity to sell the company She had believed that the Kiki-Loki character would be no more due to Jin's illness, but when her stepdaughter recovered, Jin was adamant on continuing her role as Kiki-Loki, even turning down her stepmother's plan to sell Do-shita-no.
Michelle acted agreeable to Jin's statement that the mascot will never die, but in actuality, Michelle turned heel out of sheer greed and decided to kill Jin. The villainess committed the murder by replacing Jin's medication with cyanide, and it was in the beginning of the episode that Jin succumbed to her evil stepmother's poisoning while shooting a commercial, which had Harley Carter as the featured celebrity. After killing Jin, the evil Michelle set up brothers Alex and Eddie Hughes by anomymously sending them to her hotel room, which was ransacked and had the bottle of cyanide in plain sight. Michelle ended up suspected as the killer, but it would turn into suspicion that the Hughes brothers set her up, which was part of Michelle's plan.
Harley decided to call all of the suspects together to weed out the killer, and it was during the episode's climax that Michelle, the Hughes brothers, and director Dai Takeyasu (Jin's husband) were all called to the set, with Dave Leigh and Vijay Gill watching online (as Harley was recording). The brothers stated that they were sent tips on the company to get Jin to sell, and handed them a note that they were given. Harley's suspicion later turned to Dai, but after learning that someone from the inside was contacting the brothers, he moved towards Michelle and revealed her as the true killer. Michelle cemented her reveal by lashing out at her late husband and Jin, while stating that the former's death and the latter's illness was the perfect opportunity for her to sell. She later pointed a gun at the group and warned them not to follow her as she escaped, but she was later stopped by Dot Yasuda (who dressed as Kiki-Loki) and Sam Shaw, with the latter holding the villainess at gunpoint and ordering Michelle to drop her gun before arresting her.
Quotes[]
- "Do you know what it's like to live in the shadow of some character? Watch your husband waste his money--our money--on a ridiculous fantasy? When he died, when Jin got sick, I thought all that time I put in had finally paid off." (Michelle Tee's callous remarks about her husband and stepdaughter, while revealing that she killed the latter)
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