Villainous psychiatrist Katrina Pynchon
Dr. Katrina Pynchon (Jennifer Van Dyck) is the main villainess from "Scared Crazy," episode 5.09 of Law & Order: Criminal Intent (airdate December 4, 2005). Her backstory reveals that she served in the U.S. Army and worked under the SERE program at Fort Bragg, where she was training soldiers in how to resist torture and interrogation. After this, however, Pynchon was transferred to Guantanamo Bay, where she--ironically--trained people to engage in harsh and tortuous interrogation techniques. Such practice was due to the fact that this was right after the attacks on 9/11, and it caused Pynchon to question her morals and what was more important: her oath or her country.
In the episode, Pynchon was using her evil methods on computer programmer Robbie Boatman, a patient of hers. She locked him inside a room for two weeks; a room that was barely lit and had house music playing nonstop. As a result of his experience, Robbie grew to hate house music; in fact, it was after hearing the music that he eventually murdered co-worker Aidan Grant, doing so by crushing him with a vending machine. When encountered by Goren and Eames, Pynchon doesn't cooperate, only spotting holes in Goren's attempt to deceive her.
Pynchon's reveal came when Goren and Eames place Robbie in the interrogation room, and turn off the lights and play house music. Eames informed Pynchon about the nightmares she had been having, as well as the guilt she felt over what she did at Guantanamo Bay. She used the methods on Robbie in an attempt to forgive herself, hoping to realize that what she did wasn't evil, and she broke down when she revealed that Robbie had phoned her regarding the murder. After Pynchon's confession, Goren opens the blinds and reveals that Robbie wasn't in the conditions they described, as they set it up to get a confession. Pynchon is later arrested, but not before she expressed relief that Robbie was OK.
Trivia[]
- Dr. Katrina Pynchon is similar to Dr. Faith Sutton from Law & Order: SVU; both are villainous psychiatrists with military backgrounds who eventually come to start practicing (or helping administer) torture to war criminals, with their actions indirectly leading to a death. A major difference between the two is that Faith felt no remorse for her actions, while Katrina was extremely remorseful.
- Jennifer Van Dyck appeared on Law & Order: SVU as the evil Ann Ostilow, and later played villainess Inga Skoll on New Amsterdam's series finale.