Reception
Critical reception to Jo has been mixed. Diana Steenbergen of IGN favored Jo from the beginning, deeming her "tough and direct, and also female, something the boys don't have a lot of in their lives right now". She also believed that Jo and Dean had a "natural chemistry" between them, which continues even with her reappearance in the fifth season. However, Steenbergen was confused by Jo's anger at Sam and Dean over John Winchester's involvement in her father's death, feeling that the show's producers may have added it to the story as an excuse for Jo's removal from the series. While Tina Charles of TV Guide was at first unsure about the character, she felt that by the episode "No Exit", "Tal did step things up and kinda won me over". She believed that while Jo did not make a good love interest for Dean, she was good in a "sisterly or friendly fellow-ghostbuster way", deeming her as "someone they can count on in a pinch". Overall, Charles felt that Jo "fit into that world, whether she was a little overzealous or not". Commenting on the character's final appearance and her dying farewells, Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune noted that Tal "brought A-game to 'Abandon All Hope…'". Ryan added that " perfectly into the 'Supernatural' world because that on this show, restraint is everything. It's not necessarily just about what the characters say or do, it's about what they don't say—what they can't find the words for". However, Sean Elliott of IFMagazine disliked the "Scrappy-Doo qualities of the character", and compared Jo to Dawn Summers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, feeling that she "is always trying to help and always gets in the way".
Fan reaction to the character was generally negative. Jensen Ackles, who portrays Dean, summed up the response as, "No, no, we just want this to be about the boys." Though Kripke found Tal to be a "terrific actress" that "did valiantly and beautifully with the part gave her", he feels that the mistake was introducing her as a love interest, and came to believe that women should only be introduced into the series as antagonists.
Read more about this topic: Jo Harvelle
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