Danger Gal Friday: Deputy Sheriff Josefina Lupo

“Try anything and I’ll deviate your septum.”

This week’s Danger Gal is Josefina “Jo” Lupo, deputy sheriff on the SciFi Channel show Eureka.

Josefina LupoLupo is a Jersey girl, a former U.S. Army Ranger and a very smart woman. She’s more than your average tough girl character who’s long on muscle and short on brains. For example, in the episode “God is in the Details” Lupo tells love interest Zane that she loves the opportunities available in a town like Eureka, such as “…assembling a chromium flash suppression barrel for my grenade launcher.”

I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t know a chromium flash suppression barrel from a grenade launcher, let alone how to assemble one. You?

More than intelligence and special forces skills, the writers have hinted at Lupo’s feminine side, a facet she may rarely display in public, but does possess. She tells Sheriff Jack Carter that as a girl she wanted to be a ballet dancer, and in the episode “God Is In The Details” she shows up for brunch date in a dress, throwing Zane off balance. Moreover, Lupo seems just as comfortable in a dress as she is in her deputy uniform.

The dress that Jo wears for her brunch date with Zane is virginal white sundress she also wore to church that morning. In a science-dominated town like Eureka, Jo is one of the few believers, and someone who has found a way for her religious belief and her interest in science to coexist.

When Zane shows off how conceited he is as a theoretical physicist the likes of which come up with the really important grand ideas, Jo responds with “[S]ome of us like a practical application,” and promptly ends their date, heading back to her job.

The virginal white dress Lupo wears for the date is an obvious statement that she hasn’t dated much, that this feminine side to Lupo rarely gets to play. Despite this vulnerability, when Zane stomps on her intellect and talents Lupo stands up for herself and refuses to play along. If he’s not going to respect her intelligence, Jo doesn’t want to have anything to do with Zane even if he is wowed by her ability to deviate his septum.