User blog:Corbierr/S1, S2 and S3 comparison part four- VILLAINS

Part 3.5

I know this is late, but hey, it’s time for the next installment of my wildly popular and clearly read by everyone analysis blogs. This time I’m covering...VILLAINS. *Cue dramatic music and lightning*

Yes, it’s time to discuss the characters we love to hate...or just hate...the villains. They’ll be graded based on how threatening they were, how well they succeeded and how much of a good character they were.

Let’s go!

Points

S1- 33

S2- 35.5

S3- 39



S1-
Okay, this season brought us Rufus Zeno...and the Secret Society.

I’ll start with the SS. While these guys did some...not too good things...like kidnapping Joy and almost leaving Patricia, and then all of Sibuna + Jerome, with Rufus, despite knowing he was insane. But...in all honesty, looking back, these guys aren’t really villains. Not exactly. I mean, okay, they are the textbook definition of antagonists. They oppose the good guys, do bad and sneaky things, and just look at their stinking ceremonies! But...think about it. They were never really...malicious. They had humanity and emotions. Jason was...freaking Jason, so that’s a positive. Mrs. Andrews really did care for the students, enough to disobey Victor. Mr. Sweet, well, while he never questioned Victor he was still not a bad person. He cared when he found out the students were in trouble, just like Mrs. Andrews and Jason. (Off topic, but imagine if it was Jason who tried to help Patricia escape Rufus instead of Mrs. Andrews? Seriously, all those Pason feels...God, someone make this a fanfic please.) Back on topic...Over all, I just don’t see the SS as real deal villains. They were a good and interesting opposition, but when worse came to worse, they were on the side of Sibuna...which is fine, because it showed that these teachers were more than just evil teachers. They had feelings and morals and wants and needs, they were just put on the antagonist side instead. As for Victor himself, he was in the more morally gray area. He was certainly not a nice guy this season, but he had his moments. He had a backstory.

The SS gives S1 a 3/5

Rufus, in all, was a more effective villain. He was ruthless, insane, and manipulative, everything the Society really was not. I’ll try to avoid bias because he was my favorite. But really, not only was he more effective, he was more interesting. Rufus was unpredictable and evil to the bone, and though he’s not the best villain ever, he was certainly the characters should have been worried about. At first I wasn’t sure, but the minute he kidnapped Patricia...It was clear that this guy was the true baddie of the show, and considering the SS wouldn’t dare kill the teens...he was the closest thing we got to evil in season 1. I also loved his interactions with both Patricia and Jerome, it made me enjoy him even more. But I do wish he was a little rounder. He had backstory, but I’d have liked if they went into detail, so we knew exactly who Rufus was. But maybe that would have watered him down, and made him a lesser villain as a result. The SS were weighted down by their morals and motives, but he was a, well, mystery. And this is probably why he was so scary. Sure, he was psychotic, but if they gave him humanity he’d have been less credible as a threat, because we’d have gained the ability to sympathize or understand him a little. Over all, Rufus was a pretty good bad guy for this season’s standards.

4 points.

Season 1 has 40 points.

Season 2-
Victor became a much better villain come season 2, as this was when he became competent and actually got to beat Sibuna at stuff. I didn’t like that, but it made him a good antagonist. I like that they kept his humanity despite him gaining more competence, because continuing the father thing was a great idea and rounded him out. The tricks he played this time were...well, bad. He made Patricia go blind, allowed Fabian to be framed...sure, he did bad stuff last time, but he still never succeeded until the end. This time, he gained a clue and was right on top of Sibuna until the very end. It lead to a lot of tension and drama and unpredictability. Last time, you knew Sibuna would beat him, but this time...you weren’t always completely sure he’d lose. But yet, despite his growth as a threat, he also developed as a character. You were able to tell he was not completely bad, despite his actions, and that was proven when he kicked Vera out, and helped Sibuna in the end. Yeah, he was never perfect, but I liked his arc. Last season he didn’t develop, he just proved he had hidden depths, and was restrained by the SS. This time, he changed. I could tell he was starting to re-think his actions when Sibuna warned him about Rufus. Even though he took Vera’s side...he was slowly changing. And that was a good thing. He stopped listening to Vera and started realizing what he was doing, and in the end he redeemed himself once again. Over all, Victor had an actual arc this time and proved that he could actually be a competent, and dare I say, threatening, bad guy. Yet he also proved that deep down he was still a good person, just...terribly misguided and a little bit nuts.

<p class="MsoNormal">4 points.

<p class="MsoNormal">Vera...ugh, Vera. Where do I begin? As a villainous, she was fine, as a character she did not have one shred of likability. And that’s the problem. Sure, she was competent and threatening and succeeded in her goals, but she was two dimensional. She had some moments, like with Rufus in the end, but it didn’t do much except give a little mystery behind her motives. There’s not much to say, except that she was a good villain, but a poor character, because even villains should be...uh...likable, even if just because they’re so evil. Vera didn’t even really have that, because she was just a bad person but did not even get the distinction of being an awesome villain like Rufus and Senkhara, who were just as bad but were at least badass. I believe that if she even tried to seem likeable in her first appearance, it would have made her a better character.

<p class="MsoNormal">2 points.

<p class="MsoNormal">Senkhara. Where do I start? In terms of being a villain...well, she was freaking awesome. Unlike the other villains, who were just intimidating, she had actual power over Sibuna, which made her...a very credible threat. She was also more creative, being ya know...an evil Egyptian ghost queen. Just the fact that she could show up anytime, anywhere, and do anything...And Sibuna, for once, were powerless to stop her. I also like that she had a bit of backstory, and actually had some moments where she was easy to like- she did help out Sibuna on occasion, and unlike the other villains, Sibuna managed to reason with her sometimes and get her to listen to them, and despite the fact that she was a total witch through and through, she remained really interesting. As a character, she lacked humanity, but that was okay, because she was interesting and mysterious and insane and coupled with her occasional awesome moment, I thought she was a good character. Maybe they could have toned her down, because making her so strong got annoying after a bit, but it kept up the tension and it helped that she was a total enigma until the very end.

<p class="MsoNormal">4 points.

<p class="MsoNormal">Rufus is back, biches. I loved him as the collector, because even though half of us knew it was him, it still added tension and he proved to be even worse than we thought he could be. As the collector, he was intimidating just by virtue of being an utter mystery. It had been less interesting if it was just plain old Rufus from the start, but giving him the secret identity really added to the drama and made him a better villain as a result. He, like the other villains, was incredibly successful this season, and I like how he literally controlled half of what happened this time, the other person being Senkhara. His fate was well deserved, and I was both happy to see him get taken to the underworld, and sad because Rufus was gone. However, as a character, he still could have been more rounded. He was made more interesting and dramatic, but he was still the same character in the end, just a little crazier. Even villains need development, but unfortunately he stayed flat. I was also disappointed by his lack of interaction with Sibuna. One reason I like him so much is because of his relationship with the students, but unfortunately it was only Jerome and Eddie this time (until the last scene) which was sad, because a scene with Patricia or anyone (but mostly Trix, I wanted them to prove that they remembered she worked with him too, not just Jerome) would have helped. So overall, he gets points for being an awesome villain, but as a character he fell short, especially comparing season 1.

<p class="MsoNormal">3 points.

<p class="MsoNormal">Season 2 has 48.5 points.

Season 3-
<p class="MsoNormal">This was definitely the highpoint for villains. Victor, for example, was even more competent than in the second season, but unfortunately also lost his good side that kept him an interesting character. He drove me nuts in the beginning because he was doing too well and it wasn’t fair. What he did to Amber was...horrible, and we know not even he’d have done that in another season. So, in the beginning of the season, I was really upset. Not because he was a good villain...but he was suddenly a terrible person, contrasting his previous characterization. As a Sinner, he was still terrible, but at least he had a reason. And this made him...well, okay, he barely changed as a sinner. He was still Victor, he was just a worse person. And that’s the problem, making him a sinner was fine but he didn’t seem any different without a soul. He was less tied down by certain things, but it’d have been more effective, if we’d seen him be a good person earlier in the season. Overall, he made a great bad guy, but was a poor character.

<p class="MsoNormal">2.5 points.

<p class="MsoNormal">Denby. Well, she was basically Vera...only a much better version of Vera. Because she actually had character. When she first showed up, she was awesome. And I only stopped when they entered the gatehouse...because it was creepy... But even then, I still found myself interested in her as a character and villain. She did some really bad things, (SHE MADE TRIXIE CRY!!!!!!) and I stopped finding her likeable as a person really fast, but she was still entertaining and got what she deserved. Also, she did have moments of humanity, involving Harriet. It also gave her some mystery as to whether or not she really did care for her sister, which should have been resolved damn it. Oh well, in all, even though I personally wanted her dead, she was a good character and villain, but I do wish they did act more on her relationship with her sister because that would have sealed the deal.

<p class="MsoNormal">3.5 points.

<p class="MsoNormal">Sweetie...It’s a sad day when I have to mark him a villain...but dang, this season he was suddenly scary. Just the way he was more interested in the ceremony than Eddie was...chilling. Seriously, I always liked Mr. Sweet but Horus, he makes a competent and badass villain when it counts. Unfortunately, when he was turned Sinner, his epicness was reduced to him just rampaging around school and being hammy and failing people. Which stunk, because I honestly liked him a lot more when he was just being a bad person and wasn’t soulless. Strange, I know, even though he was worse when he wasn’t soulless...but the first part actually made him competent, scary and respectable as a villain. As a sinner he was just...too ridiculous to be true. I’m also annoyed that he and Eddie never made up, because that makes me feel like they still have a bad relationship and it’s depressing. Over all, he proved he could be a wonderful villain, but like Victor and Denby, he was dragged down by being a less rounded and likeable character than before, and also just not being that great as a sinner.

<p class="MsoNormal">3 points.

<p class="MsoNormal">Robert Frobisher-Smythe. OMA. I knew that having such a genius as a villain would be a good idea, and I was right. He was hammy, but unlike with Mr. Sweet, that just made him enjoyable. He was also pretty competent, and probably the best in terms of overall villainy, because dude was not only RFS, he was also the Sinner King, the Fromby...it was scary and entertaining at the same time. My only real problem is that...well...he tended to get a little too hammy sometimes, and he was creepy, and was pretty one dimensional...which honestly, is fine, because well he was Fromby. He was cursed, so he was evil, and that’s all he was. In the end, when and KT spoke, it just made me like him even more, as a person and not just a good villain. As a villain he was also one of the more proactive. He didn’t need to really manipulate or blackmail, he captured Victor, Fabian, and Alfie on his own, which is more than most villains really do all season when working on their own agenda. Over all, he was an epic villain.

<p class="MsoNormal">4.5 points.

<p class="MsoNormal">Last but not least, SINNER!SIBUNA. First, we have Sinner!Patricia. She was...fun. Just...so dang fun. I swear, even though she was horrible to KT and got on my nerves, she was really entertaining. Patricia is always interesting to watch IMO, so seeing her evil was just...awesome. Besides, she was subtle and manipulative. Which...Patricia had never been before. She was being the opposite of herself while still being Patricia. Plus there was the Peddie kiss, which proved that deep down, she was still the real Patricia, which was nice, because it proved that Sinners do have some humanity left. Sinner!Fabian, now, as the sinner I’m sure we were all waiting for. He was epic as a villain, and he looked hot okay? However, unlike Patricia, Fabes was not subtle and went around doing terrible things to people just for the sadistic glee of doing so. (Joy’s reaction meant nothing to him for example, as he didn’t want to make her a sinner.) So yeah, he was freaking hot and a really fun villain, but also...he really got on my nerves, because well, he was being needlessly cruel. Alfie, though, was even worse, because while he too was fun as a Sinner (and kind of hilarious and also hot), he was just a downright jerk. Dumping Willow was...utterly pointless, and was just a way for him hurt someone. At least Fabian didn’t make his evilness utterly obvious to everyone, unlike Alfie. So, in all, Sinner!Sibuna was entertaining and beautiful and a really good idea, but also disappointed me because in the end it wasn’t even resolved for one (Besides them just snapping out of it...really, writers?) and their cruelty, while fun at first, eventually just ticked me off. All together, they scored...

<p class="MsoNormal">3.5 points.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">Season 3 has 56 points.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">Okay, so...

<p class="MsoNormal">S1- 40.5

<p class="MsoNormal">S2- 48.5

<p class="MsoNormal">S3- 56

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">Stay tuned for the next and final analysis of...the endings.