 the freak
The freak had two different personalities in and out of work for a good reason. As she explained herself, she was once a good officer - 'straight down the line.' But her girlfriend (a prisoner in Queensland where she was based at the time) was murdered by fellow inmates. From then on, Joan began to despise all prisoners for the animals as she saw them to be. Thus, she made it her mission to make all prisoners suffer the consequences of this murder.
It is possible that the character was at the early stages of a mental breakdown which took years to manifest. I think the reasoning behind her split personality was very well explained apart from one thing...the other screws. She was always very nasty to them too. On the outside she was pretty friendly to most people as long as they were to her too..yet with her colleagues, there was no love lost...she did not like any of them even to start with. I do find that rather inconsistent but oh well...
Many people have criticised the show's ending...saying that it would have been better if she was brought down by someone tougher like Bea, and that her end was too easy...Personally, I like how it was done. The woman was clearly mentally deranged and unstable, it is understandable that she became much less careless thus easier to catch out.
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