Joyce

"Wanna play Russian roulette?"

- Joyce's fatal proposal Joyce Dowing is a golden cocker spaniel and a minor yet pivotal character in Red Lights.

Personality
Joyce appears to be quite the validation seeker, as she becomes infatuated and later obsessed with Diesel after some casual party chatter. She is also quick to become jealous when Velvet merely approaches him.

She gives the impression that she is quite confident about her relationship with Diesel, but this might be a subtle display of delusion or insecurity. She doesn't take no for an answer, and in the end this becomes her undoing, as she challenges Diesel to Russian Roulette in spite of his pleas.

Before the Lights
Joyce is first seen at Diesel's reluctant "birthday" party. A panicking Diesel is consoled by Russell, who tells him that their friend Alexis "got a girl for him". Diesel spots Joyce in the other end of the room and walks over to chat with her. It can be assumed that is when their relationship began.

Their interactions are cut short, however, as the cops arrive and Joyce makes a run for it.

In Red Lights
Joyce reappears 4 years later when Velvet attends one of Diesel's many parties in All Locked Up and No Place to Go. Cooper and Alexis attempt to introduce Velvet to Diesel, but Joyce interjects, asserting her dominance by claiming him. Diesel then escorts her outside, planning to confront her about her repeated attempts at flirting when their relationship has ended. The rest of Diesel's friends explain the situation to Velvet in the meantime, saying Joyce and Diesel broke up "for obvious reasons". Outside, Joyce is inconsolable and refuses to listen to Diesel's imploring. She winds up snapping and suggests they play a game of Russian Roulette with a gun that she found in Diesel's closet. Diesel turns the idea down, stressing that the gun is in fact real, but Joyce stubbornly turns a deaf ear to his reasoning. She defiantly shoots herself, most likely not expecting that outcome. As she falls to the ground, dead, Diesel believes he will be arrested for murder and plans to escape, setting the events of the story into action.

Joyce makes her last physical appearance in episode 3, Hauntings From the Past, as a ghostly figure in Diesel's subconscious mind, guilting him for her death, and questioning how he could let such a terrible fate befall her. Near the end of the episode, her corpse is shown to her parents, who mourn for her death and vow revenge on whoever "did this".

Trivia

 * Interestingly, despite Joyce's death being the cataclysmic event that sets the gears in motion, the main cast seems to mention it less and less over the span of the series, which illustrates it is more about getting stuck in a vicious circle rather than the original crime.
 * Joyce is the first character to die in Red Lights.