Dr. Karen Wilson[3] is the wife of Henrietta Wilson and together, they have a son named Denny and a daughter named Mara.
History[]
Early Life[]
Karen grew up in a fairly chaotic household with multiple brothers. She professes in “Pay It Forward” that she likes the way she grew up and “thrives on the chaos.”
Karen has had a fascination with outer space since she was a child, when her parents woke her up before sunrise so that she could watch Sally Ride become the first American woman to fly in space. Her dream was to become an astronaut, but being an open lesbian barred her from such a career. That did not dissuade her from working in the industry, though, as she completed a PhD and became an aerospace engineer.[4]
Career-drivenness dominated much of Karen’s early life, to the point where she admits in “FOMO” that she feels she missed out on the fun side of her youth.
Meeting Hen[]
In 2010, Karen’s next-door neighbor, Howard Han, set her up on a blind date with his coworker, Hen Wilson. Hen was not privy to the fact she was on a blind date, Howie having misled her into believing that she was going to be hanging out with Howie himself. Still, when Karen self-assuredly sits down across from her and begins their date, Hen rolls along with it. The two end up having a good time and set up a second date.
Adopting Denny[]
Karen and Hen’s relationship progresses to the point where they buy a house together a few months later and begin to discuss having children.[5] Family expansion comes to them sooner than expected, though, as Hen’s ex-girlfriend Eva Mathis calls Hen to inform her that she’s pregnant and wishes for Hen to take the baby. Karen initially feels betrayed by Hen’s communication with Eva and willingness to take in the baby. The two break up briefly over the matter, but Howie convinces Karen to go back to Hen. The pair adopt Eva’s baby, a boy named Denny.
Hen and Karen take Denny home the same day that DADT is repealed toward the end of 2010. Hen, upon learning the news, excitedly tells Karen she can finally become an astronaut. Karen, however, insists that becoming an astronaut entails too much work, which would take away from her role as Denny’s mother and Hen’s partner. She decides that she’d rather focus on building their family than pursuing her old dream.[4]
Eva Returning[]
Eva was a drug addict, dealer, and Hen's "first love" whose arrest ended her and Hen's relationship.[4] She went to prison for several years until she went up for parole in "Point of Origin." Eva asks Hen to testify to Eva’s character in front of the parole board. Karen is upset that Hen visited Eva in prison and feels betrayed by Hen’s claims that Eva has improved. Hen ultimately does not testify on Eva’s behalf.[6]
In “Full Moon (Creepy AF),” it’s revealed Eva was released on parole. She contacts Hen again and attempts, successfully, to seduce her. Karen discovers Hen’s cheating when Eva sues Hen and Karen for custody over Denny on the grounds that the Wilson home is unstable, as evidenced by Hen’s infidelity. In “Karma’s a Bitch,” Karen leaves Hen amidst the legal troubles with Eva, taking Denny with her to stay at her parents' house. Hen gets Eva to back off, but is still left to make amends with Karen. Hen pleads with her, expressing her remorse and love for Karen, and Karen ultimately gives in.[7]
Suing for custody was ultimately a ploy for Eva to get Hen back, a plot she backs off of momentarily after Hen coarsely rejects her in "Trapped." She returns again, though, in “Awful People” with a new angle. She reveals that she knows who Denny’s birth father is–a fact she’d previously concealed from the father, the courts, and Hen–and tries to compel him to take Hen and Karen to court over Denny. The father, Nathaniel Greene, however, is convinced that Hen and Karen are Denny’s true parents and refuses to intrude in their lives. With Nathaniel sympathetic, and Eva re-arrested for drug-related parole violations, Hen and Karen’s troubles with Eva end.
Parenthood[]
Karen expresses to Hen that she wishes to further expand their family in “This Life We Choose.” Hen and Karen had discussed pregnancy earlier in their relationship, but the unprecedented arrival of Denny in their lives threw off any plans they had. With Denny older and Hen and Karen’s relationship settled, though, Karen decides that it’s a good time to have another child, especially since she’s getting older.
IVF Treatment[]
Hen and Karen choose a sperm donor and begin the IVF process, only to discover in “Rage” that Karen is unable to produce viable embryos. This devastates Karen, and she spends several weeks depressed. In "Malfunction,” Hen confesses that she is frustrated by Karen’s grief-induced detachment from her family.
Amidst Karen’s grieving, Hen gets into a car crash that kills a young woman.[8] Although Hen is not at any legal fault, the accident having been caused by a malfunction, she still feels overcome by guilt. Karen supports her through this time, and in “Fallout” the pair go to a wellness spa to recover together from the devastating events of the past month. Karen walks away from the experience emotionally better off, no longer bereaved by the failed IVF.
Fostering Nia[]
Although the IVF fails, Hen and Karen continue to pursue family expansion after Karen gets the idea to become foster parents.[9] The pair begin fostering a toddler named Nia Gonzalez in “Seize the Day.” Nia fits into the family well, getting along with Denny. Hen and Karen develop a strong attachment to her, and Nia to them; she calls Karen “mommy” and Hen “Mama Hen.”[10] Nia ultimately spends around a year with Hen and Karen, leading the pair to believe that they may even end up adopting Nia permanently. However, they are instead hit in “Breaking Point” with the news that Nia’s birth mother was deemed suitable to begin the reunification process.
Hen and Karen have a difficult time giving up Nia. Hen wishes to fight to keep Nia, but Karen understands that resisting is futile. She painfully accepts that Nia must return to her birth mother.[11] She does, however, fret over Nia’s well-being enough to hire a private investigator to make sure Nia’s mother, Evangeline Gonzalez, is in fact suitable to take care of Nia. The investigation assures Karen (and Hen) that Nia will be safe and happy with Evangeline, and the two are able to move on and begin fostering other children by the end of “Parenthood.” They end up fostering a number of children over the course of the next few years.
Eva Returning Again[]
In “Ghost Stories,” Eva re-enters Hen and Karen’s lives when she visits Hen at the firehouse. Released from prison, in recovery from her addiction, and preparing to move to Oregon, Eva tries to make amends with Hen, apologizing for the pain she caused her and her wife. Hen informs Karen of the conversation, and Karen–still affected by Hen’s infidelity years ago–feels betrayed that Hen believes Eva’s apology to be sincere. Karen confronts Eva personally, revealing in the confrontation that every time Eva had cropped up in their lives, Karen feared Hen would go back to her. Karen admits to her insecurity over the fact that Eva was Hen’s first love and that Denny is Eva’s biological child, meaning to Karen that “all the people I love the most belonged to [Eva] first.”
Eva manages to persuade Karen that Hen does, in fact, love Karen more. Karen apologizes to Hen for feeling betrayed and doubting Hen’s love for her.[12]
Lab Explosion[]
In “Tomorrow,” Karen goes to work at the Polytechnic Applied Astrophysics Laboratory, taking Denny along for a visit. While there, a mishap in the lab causes an explosion. Denny gets out safely, but Karen is injured. Still, she helps rescue one of her coworkers and gives the 118 guidance on how to safely navigate the lab fire. Karen emerges from the lab harmed, seemingly out of life-threatening danger. However, she collapses due to an abdominal injury and goes into cardiac arrest. Hen manages to successfully revive her. She ends up undergoing a splenectomy and recovering under the care of her wife. Prior to the explosion, Hen was planning to start her third year of medical school, but Karen’s near-death experience shows Hen that she’d rather focus on building her family with Karen.[4]
Troubles With Denny[]
In “Red Flag” Denny asks Hen and Karen about his birth mother, but assures them that he’s only curious and doesn’t question that Hen and Karen are his true mothers. He does, however, end up seeking out his birth father behind their backs. He begins acting strangely to Hen and Karen, picking up new hobbies and asking his mothers to call him “D.”[13] When Denny gets into a car accident with Nathaniel, Hen and Karen learn what he had been up to.
Nathaniel apologizes to Hen and Karen, and the pair tentatively agree to let Denny and Nathaniel have a relationship under their supervision.[14]
Fostering Mara[]
In “Pay It Forward,” Hen and Karen are contacted by the foster agency about potentially adopting a baby girl. They readily agree, but in “You Don’t Know Me” they learn that the baby would not be needing adoptive parents, after all. However, Hen and Karen are introduced to another girl, 9-year-old Mara Driskell, who is in need of an adoptive home.
Hen and Karen agree to foster her, but they discover Mara is deeply traumatized in ways that the couple have difficulty addressing. Karen is frightened by her troubled behavior and she and Hen agree they can’t proceed with fostering her. They change their minds, however, upon learning Mara’s history. Since Mara had personally discovered her parents dead in their sleep, Karen provides Mara with a live video feed of Hen and Karen’s bed so that Mara can be assured of their safety while they sleep.[15]
Mara warms up to Hen and Karen and by “Ashes, Ashes,” Hen and Karen’s plans to adopt her are confirmed. However, Olivia Ortiz, a vindictive politician with a grudge against Hen, pulls strings to have Mara removed from Hen and Karen’s home. Karen is devastated by the separation and worried over Mara’s well-being, but her fears are assuaged when Maddie and Howard Han get their own foster license and begin fostering Mara until Hen and Karen can get their license back.[16]
They finally do get their license back when Hen exposes Councilwoman Ortiz’s corruption in “No Place Like Home.”
Denny’s Near-Death[]
In “Masks,” the Han and Wilson families celebrate Halloween together. Due to Maddie, Hen, and Chimney’s work schedules, Karen is the sole adult left to take Denny, Mara, and Jee trick-or-treating. She expresses feeling overwhelmed by the responsibility and disappointment on Mara’s behalf that Hen would be missing Mara’s first Halloween with them. Karen tries to get Hen to take Halloween off, but Hen chooses work.
While trick-or-treating, a car crashes into Denny and pins him to a house. He sustains a broken leg and internal trauma, leading to cardiac arrest. To save his life, Hen comes up with the idea to do a field blood transfusion. Since Karen and Denny have the same blood type (A-negative), Karen’s blood is able to save Denny. While Denny recovers, Karen forgives Hen for choosing work over the holiday, as she understands that Hen's work saves lives–including their son's.
Trivia[]
- In “Ocean’s 9-1-1,” it is revealed that Karen was let go from her job at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the institution unwilling to continue funding her Mars mission. She gets a new job working part-time as a project manager at the California Institute of Technology.[5] It’s unclear whether this is the same job as she has in “Tomorrow” at P.A.A.L.
- In “Fallout,” Karen references the fact that Denny spent three days with “Uncle Trey,” implied to be a lawyer. As Hen is an only child, it’s most likely that Trey is one of Karen’s brothers.
Appearances[]
| Season One | ||||
| "Pilot" | "Let Go" | "Next of Kin" | "Worst Day Ever" | "Point of Origin" |
| "Heartbreaker" | "Full Moon (Creepy AF)" | "Karma's a Bitch" | "Trapped" | "A Whole New You" |
| Season Two | |||||
| "Under Pressure" | "7.1" | "Help Is Not Coming" | "Stuck" | "Awful People" | "Dosed" |
| "Haunted" | "Buck, Actually" | "Hen Begins" | "Merry Ex-Mas" | "New Beginnings" | "Chimney Begins" |
| "Fight or Flight" | "Broken" | "Ocean's 9-1-1" | "Bobby Begins Again" | "Careful What You Wish For" | "This Life We Choose" |
| Season Three | |||||
| "Kids Today" | "Sink or Swim" | "The Searchers" | "Triggers" | "Rage" | "Monsters" |
| "Athena Begins" | "Malfunction" | "Fallout" | "Christmas Spirit" | "Seize the Day" | "Fools" |
| "Pinned" | "The Taking of Dispatch 9-1-1" | "Eddie Begins*" | "The One That Got Away" | "Powerless" | "What's Next?" |
Note:
* denotes archive footage only appearance.
| Season Four | |||||
| "The New Abnormal" | "Alone Together" | "Future Tense" | "9-1-1, What's Your Grievance?" | "Buck Begins*" | |
| "Jinx" | "There Goes the Neighborhood" | "Breaking Point" | "Blindsided" | "Parenthood" | |
| "First Responders" | "Treasure Hunt" | "Suspicion" | "Survivors" |
Note:
* denotes archive footage only appearance.
| Season Five | |||||
| "Panic" | "Desperate Times" | "Desperate Measures" | "Home and Away" | "Peer Pressure" | "Brawl in Cell Block 9-1-1" |
| "Ghost Stories" | "Defend in Place*" | "Past is Prologue" | "Wrapped in Red" | "Outside Looking In" | "Boston" |
| "Fear-O-Phobia" | "Dumb Luck" | "FOMO" | "May Day" | "Hero Complex" | "Starting Over" |
Note:
* denotes archive footage only appearance.
| Season Six | |||||
| "Let the Games Begin" | "Crash & Learn" | "The Devil You Know" | "Animal Instincts" | "Home Invasion" | "Tomorrow" |
| "Cursed" | "What's Your Fantasy?" | "Red Flag" | "In a Flash" | "In Another Life" | "Recovery" |
| "Mixed Feelings" | "Performance Anxiety" | "Death and Taxes" | "Lost & Found" | "Love Is in the Air" | "Pay It Forward" |
| Season Seven | ||||
| "Abandon ‘Ships" | "Rock the Boat" | "Capsized" | "Buck, Bothered and Bewildered" | "You Don't Know Me" |
| "There Goes the Groom" | "Ghost of a Second Chance" | "Step Nine" | "Ashes, Ashes" | "All Fall Down" |
| Season Eight | |||||
| "Buzzkill" | "When the Boeing Gets Tough..." | "Final Approach" | "No Place Like Home" | "Masks" | "Confessions" |
| "Hotshots" | "Wannabes" | "Sob Stories" | "Voices" | "Holy Mother of God" | "Disconnected" |
| "Invisible" | "Sick Day" | "Lab Rats" | "The Last Alarm" | "Don't Drink The Water" | "Seismic Shifts" |