History

Jason was born on June 5, 1972, in Lakewood. The Murrays were a traditional Irish-Catholic family.

Blindsided

On October 18th, 2015, a video was uploaded to YouTube depicting Rachel making out with another girl. The video went locally viral, attracting reams of unwanted negative attention. Jason and Pamela were thrown by the video, and the realization of their daughter’s sexuality.

As had become an unfortunate trend in their marriage, things quickly became a blame game between Jason and Pam: Pamela accusing Jason of not being a more present father, and even alluding he was a poor model of masculinity for her.¹

There was no reasoning with Pamela and, though Jason sympathized with Rachel’s plight, he failed to get Pam to prioritize their daughter’s emotions over the white-hot pursuit of justice at any means for the embarrassment of the video itself. The next day, Jason attended a family sit down at St. Mary’s with the principal, Sr. Alice-Marie, and played a passive role as Pam berated the school administration for not catching the person responsible for the video yet. When Alice-Marie indicated the video was likely uploaded by a student at Rachel’s “friend’s” school, George Washington High, Pam sought and obtained confirmation that the two schools would work together to find the person responsible and see them punished.²

Pamela sought and obtained a sit-down meeting at St. Mary’s for the next day. After school, she and Jason joined Rachel in the office of Sr. Alice-Marie, the principal. Pamela was vociferous in her denunciation of the school for taking so long to find the people responsible for uploading the video and, once Alice-Marie alluded to her theory that the culprit attended the local “public option”, where Rachel’s “friend” was a student, sought confirmation that the two schools would work together to find and punish the person or persons responsible. Rachel feebly protested, saying that it wasn’t necessary, but Pamela wasn’t hear of it and silenced Rachel with a sharp pinch

Appearance

As an adult, Jason’s boyish features coarsened into a pleasant, if unremarkable face. He had blond hair and blue eyes.

Wardrobe

Jason wore a clamshell-gray suit with a pale blue shirt to the Murray family meeting with Sister Alice-Marie at St. Mary’s. He accessorized with a watch.³

Personality

Jason’s was not an assertive personality. Well-intentioned, he was ultimately a doormat, easily dominated by his wife. He had a diplomatic nature and was conflict averse, but lacked the force of will to effect legitimate diplomatic solutions.

He was fond of noting things could always be worse, even if “worse” just meant “dead”.⁴

Origins and Development

Jason was first attested in the 2015 Season 1 AU, as Rachel’s unnamed and ineffectual father, presumably paling in comparison to his more formidable…but also off-page…wife. Like Pamela, Jason made his SRU debut in the later chapters of Volume I of The Story so Far, after Rachel’s death.

Jason went on to have a more significant role in Lakewood’s past, featuring in Big Trouble in Little Lakewood, where he is encountered first through a primary source from his youth, and then in person by Jamie Teague when she travels to 1988 and meets his teenage self.

Trivia

Jason is one of several SRU characters whose faceclaim is a soap opera veteran. Like his wife, in Jason’s case it’s a twofer: Daniel Cosgrove (All My Children, Guiding Light, As the World Turns, and Days of Our Lives) as an adult, and William Lipton (General Hospital) as a teen.

Quotes

She’s a human girl, Pam, not a houseplant!

Jason, to Pamela about Rachel

Gallery

1. The Story so Far, Vol. I: Chapter 1, Scene 10 ↩︎
2. The Story so Far, Vol. I: Chapter 1, Scene 27 ↩︎
3. The Story so Far, Vol. I: Chapter 1, Scene 27 ↩︎
4. The Story so Far, Vol. I: Chapter 1, Scene 27 ↩︎