Darbie O'Brien is one of the two deuteragonists (alongside Hannah Parker-Kent) of the Prime Video original series Just Add Magic and one of the overarching protagonists of its limited spin-off series Just Add Magic: Mystery City. She's one of Kelly Quinn's closest friends, who serves as the cheerful optimist and most approachable member of the trio.
She was portrayed by Abby Donnelly.
Her Good Ranking[]
What Makes Her Close to Being Pure Good?[]
In General[]
- She's easily the nicest and most optimistic member of the girl trio, as well as the most approachable and social of the girls, and is typically the least likely to be obsessed with a magic mystery, often talking Kelly and Hannah out of being so serious and convincing them to have fun once in a while. In a way, she can basically be considered the heart of the group.
- She got lots of personal interests outside of magic and cooking, such as theater, indie music and shopping at thrift stores.
- Back in third grade, Hannah would break her arm and Darbie got everyone in school to sign Hannah's cast.
- Once during a school trip to the pluot farm, Kelly lost her lunch money, and Darbie shared her PB&J sandwich with Kelly, despite Darbie usually being protective over her PB&Js.
- While she begins the series as an ineffective and partially-incompetent protector who messed up a lot, didn't contribute much to the mysteries, and was a huge pushover, she would gradually become more effective, authoritative, and play a more prominent role in the mystery solving as the show goes on.
- Despite her and Hannah taking the magic seriously and putting a lot of effort into solving the mysteries and fighting threats, they're both more cautious about the magic's severe risks and harmful effects than Kelly typically is, and they both know when to step back and abandon a severe risk when necessary.
- In spite of her and Hannah being total opposites personality-wise who probably wouldn't even be friends without Kelly, they're typically able to put their differences aside and are simply happy they're friends in the present at all, even viewing each other as sisters.
Season 1[]
- Despite not even being as close to Becky Quinn (Kelly's grandmother) as Kelly herself, she spends the majority of the season trying to aid Kelly in finding a cure for Becky's "illness"/curse, taking the situation almost as seriously as her.
- In "Just Add Dogs", After Kelly agreed to look after the neighbor's dog 'Cowboy' as a way to earn money to help out her ill grandmother, and afford magic species for potential magic recipes they may need to use to try helping, and invited Hannah and Darbie over, she and Hannah would aid her looking after the dog, including tracking it down it goes missing.
- In "Just Add Mom", After Kelly's mother accidently places herself under a truth spell with a Bitter Truth Truffle, she and Hannah would discover that eating a second truffle would break the spell, and get Kelly's mother to eat a second truffle to break her truth spell before her brutal honestly got her in trouble.
- In "Just Add Jake", she recognizes that Kelly lashing out at everyone in fury during Hannah's speech wasn't like her at all, takes her out of the classroom, pieces together that Kelly was suffering the effects of spell, and gets Kelly to vent out her negative feelings, which would break the spell and bring Kelly back to normal.
- She'd also get Jake to vent out his own negative feelings, which would break his spell too.
- In "Just Add Birthdays", After Kelly, Hannah, and the former's parents accidently placed themselves under a spell that made them act half their ages (6 years old in Kelly and Hannah's case, and 19 years old for Kelly's parents), Darbie gets serious upon realizing what happened, looks for a different spell to reverse the effects, tries her best to keep Kelly and Hannah under control, and sneaks into Mama P's with Jake's help to get the white cocoa nibs needed to reverse the spell.
- In "Just Add Mama P", she learns that her father had gotten fired from his job after 10 years, and recognizing that her father loved to build things, she had Kelly and Hannah aid her in filming a video to recommend her father to become the school's new shop teacher, due to his passion and kindness. She also personally convinced to him to take the job, since he'd actually enjoy it over his previous job.
- In "Just Add Memories", Darbie would send most of the day assisting Jake in his work when he gets sick, by serving his food from his food bike to customers for him in the lunch rush and filling in for Jake during his shift at Mama P's. Eventually, she'd cave in to simply cure Jake's cold with a magic chicken noodle soup recipe.
- Despite Kelly being willing to pay a very severe price in order to use a powerful spell and save her grandma, she and Hannah are against Kelly recklessly endangering herself for Becky's sake.
- In "Just Add Pluots Part 1", upon learning of Mama P's true nature from Hannah, she tries to warn Kelly due to Kelly refusing to talk to Hannah.
- Neither her nor Hannah hold much of a grudge against Kelly when the latter realizes Mama P duped her, and shows great remorse for yelling at them, and almost ending their friendship. The two of them would even work with her to try making things right by creating a new magic recipe using what they knew so far about magic (Last Ditch Layer Cake). Said recipe would end up allowing the people of Saffron Falls to move again, but it would also break all of the curses present in the area, including Grandma Becky's curse, and allowing Ms. Silvers to play piano in public again.
Season 2A[]
- In "Just Add Halloween", upon traveling to a past Halloween and seeing that the other kids were scared of Ms. Silvers, thinking she was a witch (like the trio themselves once did) and nearly TPing her house, she, Kelly and Hannah would scare the kids off, and feel bad for Silvers' mistreatment as they now know she was just a misunderstood loner with a good heart.
- In "Just Add Summer", When Kelly's grandma Becky shows concern about the possibility of Chuck being back in Saffron Falls and intending to bring harm to others, She and Hannah aid Kelly in trying to help settle Becky fears by doing a "Settle the Beef Sandwich" recipe.
- She, Kelly and Hannah called out Becky, Ida and Gina for refusing to forgive each other (due to Chuck's disappearance among other things), stating none of them would ever be happy until they were able to make up.
- In "Just Add Chuck", upon actually meeting Chuck in person for the first time, finding out he had amnesia, and him explaining that he was poor and slept in the playground, She, Kelly and Hannah were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, and give up a makeover to help him adjust to the current era.
- When Kelly suffers the downside of the Trust Me Tabouli by becoming overly paranoid about everything, she and Hannah use double reverse psychology aware that Kelly would be unwilling to eat anything at risk of spelling her, so they'd use a spell involving Tamarian juice and trick her into drinking it, changing Kelly back to normal.
- In "Just Add 1965", Despite clearly not liking Mama P after finding out she had duped Kelly for her own goals, She, Kelly and Hannah still show sympathy for Mama P's father losing his job and the family falling apart due to him being unable to find work.
- In "Just Add Fixings", She, Kelly and Hannah would try to help out Jake with his broken-down food bike, using a spell (Chicken N-Fix-Its) that would make them expert repair-girls, and they'd quickly fix and even improve his food bike. Although, they'd also have to repair Mama P's reputation -- due to her massive rant in the Season 1 finale-- in order for Jake to officially be able to sell his food.
- In "Just Add Muscles", After being granted strong self-esteem courtesy of "Big Muscles and Spinach", Darbie would take advantage of her new found confidence to give Kelly pep talks, aid her in locating Chuck's invisible trailer with her detailed drawing, and help her escape, and send Becky to stall Chuck while she, Jake and Mama P cooked a recipe to aid Kelly. This is another example of Darbie showcasing that she can be a truly serious and valuable teammate when the time's right. Plus, as Kelly would point out near the end of the episode, the spell never gave Darbie the ideas, it simply made her believe in herself, meaning Darbie could have done all that with or without the spell, and her indecisiveness is the only thing holding her back.
- In "Just Add Meddling", while she does enjoy getting one-on-one time with her father without any distractions from him, she still immediately feels bad upon learning her dad missed out on a dinner date for his girlfriend Amy's birthday due to his undivided attention to Darbie all day, which in turn would lead to Amy politely breaking up with him. In response, she'd get upset with Kelly for playing an indirect role in Amy's breakup, and have Kelly aid her in making a non-magical birthday cake for Amy as a way to make things up to Amy. Darbie would even take the blame for the incident claiming she kept her dad distracted that day, leading to him forgetting to call, and that her dad still truly loved Amy, begging that Amy give Mr. O'Brien another chance. This showcases that Darbie's willing to put her differences with Amy aside, if it means making her dad happy, and that she truly loves her father.
- She and Hannah set up an intervention regarding Kelly's over-reliance on magic and lack of concern for the consequences, and temporarily confiscate the book from her as a means to force her to take a break and have her drop her addiction, claiming they did it because they loved Kelly and were worried about her.
- In "Just Add History", upon finding out Chuck had somehow possessed Jake and took over his life, she, Kelly, and Hannah were clearly upset at themselves for not thinking about how their best friend was under his control, with Darbie claiming they were so wrapped up in their own drama they neglected Jake. And they spent nearly the entire episode trying to find way to remove Chuck from Jake's body and bring Jake back to his normal self.
- She, Kelly and Hannah would come across the "Kick 'Em Out Chicken Soup" recipe, which they'd planned on using on Chuck in order to get him out of Jake's body and allow Jake to regain control.
- In "Just Add Rose", she and Kelly take care of Hannah when the latter isn't feeling well -- helping her lie down -- and was slowly ending up in the cookbook as a drawing. They also look into how Rose got into the cookbook in the first place and try to cook a spell that would counter the effects of Hannah's spell and save her.
- Upon learning the truth about Chuck's plan and how his sister Rose getting imprisoned in the book was an accident he was trying to resolve, she shows sympathy for Chuck's plight, but still refuses to allow Chuck to use Hannah as an attempted replacement for Rose.
Season 2B[]
- When she, Kelly and Hannah notice the book had mysteriously disappeared, and was in the possession of RJ White, they worry about him using the book for selfish purposes. (i.e.: buying the winning lottery ticket, winning the Trifecta).
- She, Kelly and Hannah and Jake would spy on RJ White to make sure he wasn't using the cookbook's magic for any harm, even intercepting a cupcake he made for his girlfriend. (Though they lose points for being a stalker to a stranger with very little proof he was actually harming anyone, and sending Jake to spy on him) Then when they find out about RJ's intentions, they would try to trick RJ into doing a spell to give the book back to them.
- In "Just Add Gumdrops", even she, Kelly and Hannah were clearly upset with RJ for misusing the book's power, they were still willing to listen to RJ's warning about how they were in danger, and were shown to be scared when he loses his knowledge and memories of magic mid-sentence.
- In "Just Add Telepathy", When Kelly personally offers to go undercover at Saphron (where Noelle Jasper worked) and get a job as a server to she could secretly look through her place and make sure she wasn't spelling anyone, Darbie would get a table and use a telepathy spell to communicate with Kelly, make sure she was okay and keep lookout.
- In "Just Add Beginnings", she encouraged Hannah not to over-study for an upcoming quiz or worry too much.
- In "Just Add Silvers", with Gina Silvers being the last OC with magic-related memories remaining, the trio tries try to keep her safe from the potential threat, by using a cloning spell so the culprit would spell the wrong Silvers.
- In "Just Add Caroline", upon discovering Caroline was the mastermind behind people losing magic and was in disguise, she uses a detective spell to find some clues to try figuring out who Caroline was posing as. Though, in spite of the spell wearing off, she's still able to figure out who the mastermind was on her own.
- In "Just Add Spices", Mr. O'Brien's girlfriend Amy got a job offer in Juniper Hills and when he needs help picking out a gift for her, Darbie advises her father to get her something showing her how he truly felt, convince him to abandon a bracelet he had planned for something more fancy. This showcases how Darbie has completely abandoned her distrust and dislike of Amy, and is willing to let to father be with her if it made him happy.
- She, Kelly and Darbie are able to restore the magic spice garden, and save magic from Caroline Palmer, despite knowing there would be a strong price to pay with the spell they were using.
Season 3[]
- In "Just Add Time Travel", when a young Becky (Kelly's future grandmother) time-travels from 1975 to 2014, finds out about her cooking partners Ida and Gina still being in Saffron Falls despite wanting to travel due to the magic tearing them apart and the two cursing each other, and goes back to her own time to fix things, only to alter the timeline and make things differently bad in the future... she, Kelly and Darbie would travel back to her time to inform young Becky about how her actions would lead to Silvers turning evil and Ida being terrified of her, and they'd get Becky to start a new fight in order to restore the timeline to normal. Though, they still understand that Becky had good intentions and didn't mean to mess up the future.
- In "Just Add Plants", when three assorted people accidentally spell themselves to be repelling with bitter kale smoothies, Hannah and Darbie would give them sweet smoothies to counter the previous spell's effects and then try to gather up and the various magic plants that popped up across town so nobody else could accidentally be spelled.
- She, Kelly and Darbie would slowly restore the damage done by Caroline Palmer restoring some of their allies' knowledge of magic via having them eat an enchanted quiche.
- In "Just Add Karma", While she and Kelly were secretly upset at Hannah's so-called "friend" Leah for being mean to her, with Darbie in particular being concerned for Hannah and wanting to spell Leah, Darbie genuinely had Hannah's best interests, and wanted to make sure the spell was only temporary and wouldn't seriously harm Leah. Then, after Hannah calls Darbie out on using a spell, Darbie's still willing to aid Hannah with her problems with Leah.
- After Kelly claims she found a recipe would help them catch the Night Bandit, Hannah and Darbie were willing to cook with, thinking they were catching the Night Bandit. Neither of them knew at the time they Kelly actually was the Night Bandit, and that she was using them to keep the book for herself, roping them into her scheme.
- In "Just Add Kelly", When Hannah and Darbie learn the truth about Kelly being the Night Bandit and her intentions for the cookbook, they'd tip off Gina Silvers about what they had learned and restore Becky Quinn's memories of magic to tell her as well.
- They'd also wait until Kelly's asleep to use "In Your Head Banana Bread" to get inside Kelly's head and find out why Kelly was acting so strange and manipulative.
- And when they learn that Kelly was suffering the downside of the same recipe that restored the magic spice garden by having her thoughts get poisoned, they also realize Night Bandit Kelly was insecure over their friendship potentially not lasting without the magic, so they'd alter the spell to make Kelly see the truth in their minds and how they really felt, which was just the push needed for Kelly's curse to be undone.
- After Kelly returns to normal, neither of them hold Kelly's actions up to that point against her, as they knew Kelly didn't commit those actions on her own accord and was under the effects of magic poisoning, even when Night Bandit Kelly successfully made them the permanent protectors.
- In "Just Add Goodbye", When Becky fades away as a effect of keeping the cookbook, Kelly, Hannah and Darbie would desperately try to use a recipe to end their protectorship and save Becky from disappearing forever, even creating a new magic spice for the recipe, which symbolized the trio's friendship.
Mystery City[]
- In "New Protectors", Kelly, Hannah and Darbie, would explain to Zoe that she was the next protector, alongside her two closest friends, Leo Sellitti and Ish Gupta. They'd also provide the trio with magic spices that would help the trio cook magic recipes, seeds from each of the families to grow new ones in Ish's rooftop garden, and a spice chart.
- And when Zoe uses the Make It Hot Dogs recipes to improve the weather and make a blizzard go away -- but also accidently made everyone in town super aggressive, including her mother and her boyfriend -- they try to instruct Zoe on a way to break the recipe, only for Kelly's phone to die midway. Then they'd rush to Zoe's place to be there in person, intending to help the new trio cook to reverse spell's effects, only to realize that Zoe, Ish and Leo already did.
- After K, H and D are tipped off by Chuck Hankins about the pocket watch from his time period and the Sourd'Au starter in Bay City that Ian Maddox hid, and the trio explains to him that Zoe, Ish and Leo were the new protectors, the three of them would travel to Bay City, give Zoe, Ish and Leo the watch, and aid them in solving the mystery by joining them in going to Unity Station.
- Both of the trios attempted to destroy the Sourd'Au starter in boiling water so nobody could use it harm or endanger anyone again, even though their attempt completely fails.
- After Pierce and Cody Hamilton attract some gold with the Sourd'Au recipe and accidently endanger Bay City by causing the power to go out, electronics to stop working, and buildings to collapse (due to gold being common in wires, pipes, microchips and even electronics and buildings), both protector trios would cook multiple spells to teleport into houses and buildings, freeze time to take back the starter, and telepathically move metal to fix damage caused by the starter, allowing Zoe, Ish and Leo to teleport their neighbors and the restaurant customers out of the buildings and subways to safety while time's frozen, and Leo to telepathically fix the damage from the collapsing buildings.
- After regaining the Sourd'Au starter, the six of them decided to repurpose it so that instead of stealing riches, it shared riches: in this case, it would share magic.
What Prevents Her From Being Pure Good?[]
- Upon learning from Adam Lever (Terri Quinn's opponent for the mayoral election) that Mama P was finding dirt on Terri for him, she would yell at Mama P for doing so, and accused her of betraying Terri willingly, without even bothering to listen to P's side of the story (Adam Lever was blackmailing her and threatening to shut down her restaurant with slander). And unlike with Kelly who gets a one-on-one with Mama P and willingly made amends with her, it's never made clear whether Darbie ever forgave her.
- She can be too free-spirited, mischievous, and doesn't always take the magic seriously enough, and may consider using it for personal interest, or petty reasons. This mostly goes away in the later seasons, where she becomes a more competent and valuable asset to the group, though signs can still remain here and there:
- In "Just Add Besties", she uses the BFF PBJ, in order to become close friends with reclusive renounced author Trudith Winters and get her to finish her book series and resolve a long cliffhanger.
- In "Just Add Saphron", she wanted to use a spell to get rid her dad's new girlfriend, and uses a Lemon-Liem Mint on Amy (her father's new girlfriend) in an attempt to make her dad break-up with him, just because she didn't like her at the time.
- In "Just Add Karma", she'd use a "karma" spell to get back at a girl who was bullying Hannah at Fox Canyon Magnet School.
Trivia[]
- Compared to both of her friends/partners, Darbie has the least amount of preventions from being Pure Good, especially since she's typically nicer, less serious, and more optimistic and approachable than Kelly or Hannah.
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 Near Pure Goods
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