  |
This article's content is marked as Mature The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, strong drug use, extremely traumatic themes, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
| “ | Don't you hey Barbara-Me | „ |
| ~ Barbara's first words on the show, She shows up unexpectedly at Charlie's apartment to claim the things Frank stole from his house. |
Barbara Reynolds was the mother of Dennis Reynolds and Dee Reynolds, and the ex-wife of Frank Reynolds.
She is a classist, racist, neglectful, promiscuous, controlling, and ambitious woman who served as a semi-antagonist in Season 2. She was played by Anne Archer who has also played villains such as Eleanor Hooks in The Art of War.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Barbara was born in 1948.
Barbara tricked Frank into raising the twins because she thought he was wealthier than their biological father, Bruce Mathis.
Season 2[]
Frank announced to Dee and Dennis that he was divorcing Barbara, but because Barbara was on a cruise and already knew of Frank's intentions, she exchanged the keys to the mansion before leaving and filed a restraining order against Frank, claiming he was beating her so she couldn't get her things back. When Barbara returned, she discovered that Frank had broken into the house (with the help of the gang) and warned him that she would get her things back and make him pay.
She later found her furniture in her children's apartments and took it from them. Shortly afterward, when she was divorcing Frank, Barbara decided to sleep with Mac, not caring that he was Dennis's best friend, even if Dennis Is her favorite son, only to start torturing Frank (ironically, Frank never knew about this incident until The Gang Gives Frank an Intervention in Season 4, when Barbara was already dead).
When Dee and Dennis receive a message from a man named Bruce Mathis claiming to be their father, Barbara reveals that she slept with and impregnated Bruce and then tricked Frank into believing the pregnancy was his fault in order to obtain his fortune (since Barbara was unaware that Bruce was as rich as Frank), Frank has a mental breakdown and subsequently a minor stroke. Barbara saw it as an embarrassing scene and decided to leave the restaurant where she was.
Later, she is seen at the hospital where Bruce Mathis and his children are volunteering. His children tell her they're in love with Bruce, but Barbara doesn't care and begins stealing medication from a terminally ill child.
Season 3[]
Because during the dinner where she revealed the truth about Bruce Mathis to her children and Frank, Frank made fun of her turkey neck, Barbara underwent a neck lift surgery that ended up going wrong and ended her life. Despite his death, Barbara had already prepared her will, giving all her money to Bruce Mathis (who possibly planned to reveal that he was the real father of her children, as the will states). She gave absolutely nothing to Dee, citing it as a deception and a mistake. She left her mansion to Dennis on the condition that he never let Frank into it. Because Frank intruded on the mansion and the lawyer went to see Dennis to finalize some legal matters, he believed he had let Frank in and took the mansion away from him.
She was buried along with all her jewelry, as specified in her will. Although presumably after her burial, Dee and Frank went to dig her up to steal her jewelry.
Season 4[]
En The Gang Gives Frank an Intervention the gang attends the funeral of Barbara's Brother in Law, Max, with Frank intention to bang Barbara's Sister, Donna, as a revenge becouse Barbara's actions and also becouse Frank admit he hate Max too. Frank's fail on convince Donna to have sex with him, but Mac advice to bang Donna's daugther, Gail the snail as an even more deplorable act to ruin Barbara's family, and was no probleme becouse they aren't blood-relater, although Mac did this with the intention of trying to sleep with Donna since he believed she would be as good in bed as her sister Barbara. Donna rejects Mac and throws him out with Frank, after this they attend Frank's intervention where Mac reveals his intentions and that he slept with Barbara in the past, which a Frank very angry becomes indignant and tries to kill him (since Mac did not even bother to specify that it was after his divorce and only bothered to tell him that he did it when Barbara was alive), but in the end both along with the gang get drunk
Season 6[]
In the episode A Very Sunny Christmas we discover that during her children's entire childhood Barbara spent her time taking pills until she fell asleep, since Frank refers to her as a "pill-head mother".
Personality[]
Barbara is a self-centered, classist, racist, and narcissistic woman who doesn't mind crushing others, including her family members, to get what she wants. She is a social climber who married Frank solely for money and mentions that if she had known Bruce Mathis was equally rich, she would have married him instead because she had better sex with him. After their divorce, she looked for any way to hurt her ex-husband mentally.
Her narcissism reaches levels that surpass those of her children, since every time she has even the slightest physical flaw, she undergoes expensive plastic surgeries. For example, simply because Frank commented that she had a "beautiful turkey neck," she underwent a neck lift surgery that led to her death.
She also had a serious drug addiccion, as her nightstand was full of them. And despite her wealth, she would find any way to get new drugs; for example, she attended a charity event for terminally ill children at a hospital just to steal their medication. She would also reach the point of fainting, as seen in a childhood Christmas home video of Dee and Dennis where Frank orders them both to wake her up, referring to her as "Pill-Head Mother."
She was a terrible mother who for years belittled her daughter Dee, telling her she was worthless, that she wasn't beautiful, and, like Frank, despising any kind of success she had, calling her a disappointment and a mistake. Despite the fact that she and Dennis were born at the same time, being twin brothers, she held Dennis in a pedestal, considering him her favorite child. This didn't stop her from sleeping with Mac, her son's best friend, in an attempt to hurt Frank. These same actions helped their children become the terrible people they are today, with Dee looking for anything for the attention she didn't get from Barbara and Dennis having a narcissistic God complex.
The only living thing that Bárbara show real love Is his Chihuahua dog.
Trivia[]
- Despite being a recurring antagonist in the series during season 2, she only had 4 physical appearances.
- Despite his short appearance, many of his actions were vital in forming the definitive foundations for the Reynolds family's personalities throughout the rest of the series.
- Her separation from Frank was what caused Frank to join the gang and go live with Charlie, as it also made Frank detest living like the upper class.
- His constant disdain for Dee's beauty and actions was what caused Dee to want a lot of attention and admiration from others, seeking to be an actress so that everyone could see and admire her.
- His constant overestimation of Dennis, making him always feel good and that he was the most valued person in the world, created in Dennis a narcissistic God complex.
- The revelation that Frank is not the twins' real father caused Dennis and Dee to start treating Frank more like their friend and not their father.
- Despite his short appearance, many of his actions were vital in forming the definitive foundations for the Reynolds family's personalities throughout the rest of the series.
- Frank mentions in "The Gang Gets Analyzed" that she was originally pregnant with triplets but Dennis and Dee killed and ate them in Barbara's womb before the third brother born, who they would have named Donnie. If true, it would explain why Barbara treated Dee so badly as the only female triplet and overestimated Dennis as the only surviving male.
- Frank reveals in "Charlie's Mom Has Cancer" that no one of The Reynolds family go to Barbara's funeral, showing that his children did not care about his death, and who preferred to go only to the reading of the will to know what she inherited from them.
- Barbara's father, Heinrich "Pop-Pop" Landgraf, was a nazi, this could explain Bárbara's racist.