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Jennifer
Reiner Jennifer, whose street name was Crystal, became a prostitute after years of abuse by her policeman father. MacGyver, Cynthia Wilson, and Kate Murphy helped to reform her. |
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| MacGyver Online Forums > Characters > Jennifer Reiner |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 26 December 2007 - 07:23 PM | ||
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| Posted by: MacsChick 26 December 2007 - 08:28 PM |
If we're talking about the Jennifer in Runners, she's a good character--I truly felt compassion for her. If it's the Jennifer in MacGyver's Women--forget it!  |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 26 December 2007 - 08:55 PM |
| the difference being? |
| Posted by: Victoria_Rose 27 December 2007 - 06:38 AM |
| I felt sorry for the girl in Runners too, but I never considered her one of "MacGyver's Women." I would have reserved that title for the women that he was seeing, not just women that came into his life or that he tried to help. And I definitely didn't like the way they were treating Mac in that episode. |
| Posted by: MacsChick 27 December 2007 - 03:10 PM |
| I mean the actress who played her in each episode. The Jennifer in MacGyver's Women behaves completely different from the Jennifer who played her in Runners. She doesn't have the same vulnerabilities and seems rather sexual and flirty in MacGyver's Women, whereas in Runners she wasn't sure about her "chosen profession" and in fact seems uncertain, scared, and rather disgusted by the notion of sleeping with total strangers. The Jennifer in Runners just seems more genuine and realistic to me because of the portrayal by the actress, that's all. |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 27 December 2007 - 04:10 PM |
| I agree, but I don't think it's the actresses fault. That first scene in MacGyver's Women seemed to have all 4 womens behavior out of character. I'm pretty sure this has been mentioned in the episode discussion, but that whole scene just seemed so out of whack with regards to the way the women were behaving. So that would indicate that it was written that way rather than just the actors playing it that way.. |
| Posted by: MacGyver 27 December 2007 - 04:29 PM |
| Hmm- Jennifer Reiner had 2 appearances, so it's hard to say a whole lot about her. I definitely felt compassion for her in the "Runners" episode- that was a good episode that dealt with a heady topic and got across the message well. I think Jennifer also proved to be a bit insightful as she pointed out to MacGyver that they were both runners who were running from problems they didn't want to deal with. Jennifer got some resolution with her problem by the end of the episode (and "MacGyver's Women" shows that it's still ongoing) and MacGyver got some resolution with his problem in "The Madonna". And it was neat having her there in "MacGyver's Women"- I think she represented one of the many kids that MacGyver has befriended and helped throughout the series- MacGyver's little brother ("Pilot"), Yanna ("Thief of Budapest"), Lisa ("Nightmares"), Ahmed ("To Be A Man"), Paul Chan and Lisa Chan ("The Wish Child"), the kids in "Final Approach", Jenny ("Jenny's Chance"), Lisa Woodman, Breeze, Tommy Giordano, Amy ("Strictly Business") and tons of others really. It's not like MacGyver was interested in dating Jennifer- but she represented some of the young women (and men) in his life that he's invested his life in helping through The Challengers Club and others that he's met along the way. And of course, MacGyver is good friends with Kate Murphy and she represents the police he's worked with- and then Maria Romburg of course is the woman he's dating at the moment and she represents all those girlfriends over the years. But anyway, I think Jennifer Reiner was a sympathetic character when she first appeared and it was good to see some progression by "MacGyver's Women" and see her life getting turned around through the efforts of Cynthia Wilson, Kate Murphy and of course, MacGyver.   |
| Posted by: MacsChick 27 December 2007 - 05:10 PM |
| You are right--it could have been more about a poorly written episode that didn't service any of the former female characters well than the actresses. |
| Posted by: MacGyverGod 29 December 2007 - 08:17 AM |
| I voted good on a character that deserves 50% good and 50% OK. The Jennifer in Runners played it better. A girl who had to go through a big deal. Being slapped by her father and her pimp. In the end she seemed like an alright girl. She looked like... well Jennifer. In MacGyver's Women Jennifer was played by Traci Lords and guess from what industry she came from? She indeed looked like more confident of herself and indeed more flirty and sexual. And the problems at home didn't seem to bother her. I think I would go for the first Jennifer. She seemed more like the true Jennifer. You could clearly see it in the end that she was not who she said she was, but a girl with the right mind and the right abilities to make something of her life. |
| Posted by: jknnej 20 June 2008 - 03:03 PM |
| LOVED the Jennifer in Runners. Mac's Women, no. In fact, neither Kate nor Jennifer would have acted the way they did, in my opinion. Didn't like how that was written at all. Plus the actress who played Jennifer in Mac's Women didn't do the first actress justice at all-and her hair??? What's up with that? It was awful. I liked how Jennifer/Crystal got MacGyver to open up to him in Runners. It was really cool to see. I especially liked how he took her to the police station, then asked if she could go home with him. He was like, "What???!!" She said, "Not to party..." That was a great scene; almost comical. I liked how the episode addressed drugs, abuse, prostitution, and the loss of a loved one all at once. It didn't seem to me like Jennifer had ever been a prostitute before-like this was her first time. Did everyone else get the same sense? Obviously she wasn't a seasoned pro like the older woman, but it didn't seem to me like she'd ever done it before, period. I also thought this episode addressed those issues without being preachy. One of my favorite episodes, I think. |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 20 June 2008 - 04:28 PM |
I thought the story was that she had only just met up with snake.  |
| Posted by: jknnej 20 June 2008 - 07:52 PM |
| Yeah, she had just met up with him recently.... but, had she turned any tricks yet? It didn't seem like it. |
| Posted by: Liz1976 21 June 2008 - 11:47 AM |
| I thought they said she had been with Snakeskin for about a month, and while she was new, she had slept with men for money which she gave to the low-life pimp. |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 22 June 2008 - 11:19 PM |
| Hmm.. I'll have to watch it again. I actually enjoy that episode for reasons I can't quite fathom, so it certainly wont be a hardship to re-watch. |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 23 June 2008 - 03:01 AM |
| Ok I've just watched this episode again. The story goes that she's been missing, on the run, on the streets for about a month, but there's no indication as to how much of that time has been spent with Snake Skin. there was also no indication about if she had been working for him. I kinda got the feeling from the way Snake Skin was trying to boost her confidence that the convention center was her first job. It certainly seemed like her first time. She wasn't comfortable about it. But I think that was what the story was trying to convey. She was trapped and tricked by circumstances and a lying drug dealer. All she needed was someone to help her out of the hole. which reminds me of a great little http://www.macgyveronline.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4582 I heard a while back. |
| Posted by: Liz1976 23 June 2008 - 04:37 AM |
| Ok if she was a runaway for a month, which her dad tells Cynthia, how was she feeding herself? Where did she sleep? Did she swipe Daddy's wallet--no I think she got hooked with Snakeskin pretty quick and he took advantage of the situation--she had some experience--a few jobs--maybe a couple--or maybe it was her first time--but would he have waited that long? She had been given instructions and clothing, another question--how much time did she spend with the other prostitutes? |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 23 June 2008 - 04:04 PM |
| I don't know how drug dealing pimps work. Is it conceivable that he took he took her in for a couple of weeks to get her use to the surroundings etc and then said "right. now you have to start working if you want to stay here"? Another possibility is that we're mis-reading what the actress was trying to convey. Perhaps she was trying to show that Jennifer was just uncomfortable with what she had to do, maybe she new it was wrong, she didn't like it.. but she didn't know anyway out of it. She had to do it to stay with Snake. |
| Posted by: MacGirl 31 August 2008 - 05:36 PM |
| I really liked Jennifer as she was portrayed in Runners. I've never seen MacGyver's Women (you all know how much I hate the "alternative reality" eppys, with the exception of Passages), but if she was played by Traci Lords, I can imagine what her character was like! Oh dear. Anyway, I got the impression that this wasn't Jennifer's first job, but maybe one of her first half-dozen or so. She seemed like she'd done it before, but it was clear that she really hated it. She knew she had to keep it up, though, at least until she found a way out. I say if they were going to bring her back, they should have brought her back as closer to the original character. In fact, I seem to remember she DID have a cameo in one of the later Challenger Club eppys. Or am I hallucinating?  |
| Posted by: Beachbead 3 September 2009 - 01:43 PM |
| I liked her more in Runners we felt sorry for her because her dad was hitting her for his own reason, which doesn't give a reason to hit a girl like that. |
| Posted by: BrakeFluid 28 December 2010 - 03:22 PM |
| She could have supported herself by stealing up to the time we meet her. Remember she successfully pickpocketed MacGyver, which can't be easy. If I could offer up a semi-defense of "MacGyver's Women," it does take place in his dream. Ergo, out of character behavior is easily explicable. Admittedly, that's not one of my favorite episodes either. |
| Posted by: Scwilson 10 August 2013 - 06:30 PM |
| Another person that the majority of society would of written off but Mac sees the potential in people. |
| Posted by: John Litteral 30 January 2014 - 06:10 AM |
| My favorite part was when she was trying to hit Pete up for a trick! I loved his reaction! I agree with what someone pointed out, that MacGyver's Women was the actors in his dream, which would be an obvious distortion of anyone's character. I've dreamed of normal people doing wacky things, so I was not too taken back by her part in that episode. Though she was more flirty even at the beginning, calling him 'lover', which I didn't quite get that. |
| Posted by: Elizabeth MacGyver 3 May 2015 - 06:32 AM |
| I didn't know until now that I'm the in Jennifer in "runners" was the same in "MacGyvers woman." |
| Posted by: Jediferret 3 May 2015 - 07:27 AM |
| Same character, different actress. I actually prefer the actress in Runners. |
| Posted by: Elizabeth MacGyver 3 May 2015 - 07:29 AM |
Yeah me too.  |
| Posted by: jackie547 29 November 2015 - 06:27 PM |
| the first jennifer was holly fields and the second one was traci lords |
| Posted by: MacGyverGod 30 November 2015 - 01:52 AM |
| Traci Lords, that naughty girl. But Holly Fields, yeah, she looks more like the real Jennifer. Especially after she took that shower and got rid of the whore-look. |
| Posted by: RadiantRose 3 October 2016 - 12:33 PM | ||
Is there some kind of universal rule that porn actresses are incapable of actual acting-acting? |
| Posted by: MacGyverGod 3 October 2016 - 12:54 PM |
I think those actresses are chosen for something else besides their... 'acting' skills.  Seeing a porn actress in a mainstream movie is a rarity so I can't judge.  |
| Posted by: RadiantRose 3 October 2016 - 01:21 PM | ||
I thought her acting was okay for this character. |
| Posted by: RadiantRose 5 October 2016 - 12:19 AM |
People seem to be a bit  "OMG, Traci Lords was a porn actress before she was in this episode". But when it comes to the fact that G Gordon Liddy was an actual criminal before he appeared in the episode "Collision Course"?  People seem very, very unconcerned about that. |
| Posted by: MacGyverGod 5 October 2016 - 01:10 AM |
| Traci Lords got kicked out of the porn industry because she lied about her age, the industry felt betrayed about that. Gordon Liddy seemed to have done everything. He was involved in the Watergate Scandal, did time in jail and than he's an actor and appears on radio. I don't know how many people actually know that. I was pretty surprised when I found out. A man with history but when it comes to criminal life I think most of it he did while working for the government. Than again how many people know that Holly Fields, the original Jennifer was only twelve years old when she played a sixteen year old hooker? Check it out. She was born in 1976 and Runners aired in March 1989. That's a sixth or seventh grader playing a hooker completely dressed up. I don't know what made them decide it to cast a child to play a hooker but I think it's one of their most daring decisions. |
| Posted by: RadiantRose 5 October 2016 - 01:43 AM |
| I did not know that about Holly Fields' real age. The character would still be under-age, in California, wouldn't she? Am I right in thinking that the age of consent is 18 in California? I remember this being discussed (obviously not here) regarding Buffy and Angel. Of course, it doesn't make that much difference, plot-wise. Even if they'd had an 18 year old actress playing an 18 year old exploited runaway, the scriptwriter(s) only had one option. Pete or Mac saying yes to her would have got the series cancelled just as surely as if they'd kicked a puppy. I love the way  assessed the situation so clearly. The way he told Jennifer that her "boyfriend" seemed to love his car rather than her. Straight to the heart of the matter. |
