Shelby Coulson (Brooke Nevin) was a hidden recurring villainess from the third and final season of Perception.
Introduction[]
Shelby Coulson first appeared in the final scenes of episode 3.08, "Prologue," approaching Donnie Ryan about jumpstarting his political career. It was in the following episode, "Silence," that it was officially revealed that Donnie was running for alderman, with Shelby serving as his campaign manager. Shelby's encounter with Kate Moretti involved questions about any skeletons in Donnie's closet, which later ended with Shelby revealing to Kate that Donnie told her that he cheated on Kate in the past. She was last shown with Donnie at a bar, celebrating Donnie's success in the polls.
Death and Reveal[]
Shelby drugging Donnie's drink
Shelby was found dead in the beginning of episode 3.10, "Dirty," and as the episode and investigation into her death progressed, she was shockingly revealed as a villainess and conspirator against Donnie. Other than her affair with married Kevin Gillespie (Donnie's political opponent), it was revealed that Shelby was part of a conspiracy to blackmail Donnie into backing the financial interests of Brian McGrath, who enlisted Shelby and a man named Pete as part of the plan. The villainess used Donnie's past indiscretion as part of the scheme, as she flirted with Donnie while Pete was supposed to snap photos of the two of them together.
When Donnie resisted the advances, the evil Shelby drugged Donnie and took him to her apartment, where she donned lingerie and posed seductively on top of the knocked out Donnie, with Pete taking pictures. Regarding Shelby's death, she was killed by a male neighbor who had a crush on Shelby, and became enraged when she turned him down. Shelby's body was placed on her bed next to Donnie, who ended up accused of murder as a result. The neighbor's arrest cleared Donnie of the murder, and it was Dr. Daniel Pierce's investigation of the apartment that revealed Shelby's heel persona as a scheming blackmailer, as he noticed that the bed was actually moved back and that a third party (Pete) was in the closet.
Trivia[]
- Brooke Nevin also played vampire Buffy Sanders on Smallville, greedy villainess Rachael Sparks on NCIS, as well as the evil Heather Williamson on Motive.
- Brooke Nevin later appeared as villainess Nikki on Longmire, the psychotic Vanessa Renzy in the Lifetime film, The Wrong Mother, and the villainous Sara Burns on Lethal Weapon.
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