Who are TV's best villains now?

Who are the best villains on TV right now? —Trisha L.

Considering recent developments on 24, I’d be remiss not to lead with President Charles Logan (Gregory Itzin). Once, he was simply ineffectual, spineless, and wonderfully petulant — now he’s actually kinda ee-vil. Itzin — who should get an Emmy — is able to inject Logan with a tinge of ominousness that wasn’t there before, but is entirely believable — and unsettling. Another great recurring villain is Olivia d’Abo’s serial killer, Nicole Wallace, a heck of a creepy femme fatale Law & Order: Criminal Intent should really invest in more. Right now, her appearances and reappearances are feeling scattershot — and the writers were fools to kill off Nicole’s oily mentor (grand Michael York), who, with his den of beautiful murderesses, could have provided a year’s worth of storylines. But the best bad-seed of the season is, sadly, no longer with us. I’m talking about Invasion‘s fertile teen psychopath, Christina (Elisabeth Moss), a homicidal hybrid alien who was pregnant with a litter of lights when she was pre-emptively dispatched. It may have been right for the future of South Florida, but it was wrong for the show.

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