Who is the best TV psychopath?

Submitted by EngineeringOk3975 t3_11ynjv8 in television

I’ve watched shows like Heroes, Dexter, You, Lost, shows that all feature psychopathic characters of sorts.

I’ve heard of other psychopathic characters (Villanelle, Nina Meyers, Bryce Walker), but haven’t seen them nor their shows.

In your opinion, and from the shows you’ve watched, who is the best TV psychopath?

Basically any character who is a textbook example of a real psychopath.

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visitorzeta t1_jd8hbu9 wrote

Ramsay Bolton - Flays people alive, hunts women with dogs for fun, enjoys inflicting mental and physical torture.

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Mezzwayt t1_jd8ike3 wrote

The Yellow King/William Childress is a decent shout

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stumpcity t1_jd8kx0v wrote

Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen)

Dennis Reynolds (Glenn Howerton) is a good runner-up tho.

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Jakabov t1_jd8ltsu wrote

Depends if you just mean the best evil villain, or the most accurate portrayal of the mental disorder of psycopathy. Many of the most iconic evil villains don't even come close to a realistic depiction of psychopathy/sociopathy. Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men is often cited as the best representation of an actual psychopath.

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iichoris t1_jd8uxcg wrote

psychopath are not all “villains”, although they are mainly portrayed as such in movies due to their lack of empathy. This makes them successful in business since they have no issues in throwing someone under the proverbial bus. For them, it’s all about winning, and their ego. They are often charming and intelligent. Lying comes naturally to them, and won’t be bothered by guilt or remorse.

Frank Underwood in House of Cards

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likejanegoodall t1_jd8v3yy wrote

Alice Morgan (Luther)

Brilliant, high functioning psychopaths are very, very rarely female characters. She was detached and surgical about it too. Torture and big bloody displays were never her bag.

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CMelody t1_jd8y7cs wrote

Kilgrave from Jessica Jones.

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dasheeshblahzen t1_jd8z753 wrote

Dr. Kimberly Shaw from seasons 2 and 3 of Melrose Place when she was more dangerous.

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sweetpeapickle t1_jd8zfg0 wrote

Entire series-Hannibal in Hannibal. For an episode Law & Order-Killerz-Jennie played by Hallee Hirsch. That one pitted Olivet against Skoda. And the ending still is kind of creepy. Makes you look at kids in a whole nother light....

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johngie t1_jd8zfpv wrote

Shaw from Person of Interest.

Her psychopathy kind of came and went as the story demanded it, but I was particularly fond of the flashback to her time as a surgeon, where she's reprimanded for eating a snack and emotionlessly telling a family their relative died on the operating table. At the end it's revealed she actually worked desperately hard to save their life.

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madmadaa t1_jd967lf wrote

I wouldn't call Nina Myers a psychopath.

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bros402 t1_jd96ufp wrote

Mads Mikkelsen's Hannibal Lecter was a good one

Shaw from Person of Interest was fun, but not a super accurate psychopath

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Lost_Hunter3601 t1_jd99ktc wrote

Aside from TV documentaries or biographical shows like dahmer, I don’t think we’ve seen a actual psychopath original character in a while. I mean like dexter and homelander or killing eve lezzie they’re suppose to be portrayed like psychopaths, but they clearly have feelings that can be hurt/also care about others.

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TheSaltbird t1_jd9ceea wrote

Todd as protrayed by Jesse Plemons in Breaking Bad.

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SnooDingos316 t1_jd9d725 wrote

Gus Fring !

Hope Davis who play the wife of Jimmy Baxter in your honor (recency bias for sure)

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falderol t1_jd9e86d wrote

  • Kai Parker on the Vampire Diaries was relentlessly evil
  • There were many in Sherlock. Chock full of nuts.
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anasui1 t1_jd9ezi1 wrote

Francis Urquhart, the OG House of Cards. Genuinely scared the hell out of me

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Ancient-Shape9086 t1_jd9gtfo wrote

As others have mentioned, Mads Mikkelsen’s Hannibal Lecter was the best TV psychopath I’ve seen.

Ramsey Bolton (Iwan Rheon) from GoT is a good one as well. Oh and Joffrey as well.

Norman Bates (Freddy Highmore) in Bates Motel

Edit: forgot to mention Evan Peters, who has played a lot of (fictional) psychopaths, like Kai Anderson, Tate Langdon and James Patrick March.

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johnydarko t1_jd9imbz wrote

Jack Gleeson as Joffrey from GoT, no contest.

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unitedfan6191 t1_jd9lp1j wrote

Replying to EngineeringOk3975 (#2,306,122)

Yes.

I mean, to elaborate:

  1. He avoided interacting with people as much as he could and it was a major part of his character to generally avoid talking to patients unless it was absolutely necessary. If that was the extent of it, it would be fine as some people are introverted, but he savagely insults and humiliates people when he does interact.

  2. He had a lack of empathy and was willing to put people through immense amounts of suffering (including willingly trying to forge and coerce patient signatures for extremely risky experimental procedures) if it meant the puzzle was solved at the end (ends justify the means).

  3. He was willing to potentially ruin his colleagues’ lives by threatening to discredit them when they attempt to find new employment elsewhere in the medical field when they overly questioned his methods when they believed he went too far and threatened to quit.

  4. He drove a car into Cuddy’s house. Not to mention his prank around this time also nearly destroyed the hospital and he would have had to serve another prison sentence (a far longer one) and the main reason he faked his death was to avoid this prison sentence.

  5. He snooped in on his colleagues’ personal lives constantly even during extremely inappropriate moments when family members died and therefore refused to respect boundaries.

I’m not necessarily calling him a psychopath because he made mistakes and there are reasons for his behavior, but I think he could plausibly fit the definition.

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res30stupid t1_jd9lxs0 wrote

It's a one-shot character but in the ITV-produced series Agatha Christie's Marple, the killer in "Towards Zero" is a fantastic depiction of a psychopath.

Superficially charming so that those who don't know them, but those who are intimately familiar with them are aware that they are deeply disturbed and would prefer to stay as far away as humany possible if they could. They are very good at looking civilised and cultured, but when they are exposed as the killer, that illusion instantly gives away and it is outright terrifying. And the true motive for the murder is so petty that the only person who knew them truly was also the only one not surprised by it - everyone else couldn't believe it

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saul2015 t1_jd9sp8x wrote

Barack Obama in Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union

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CarltonSagot t1_jd9suac wrote

Tony Shalhoub in Monk always gave me psychopath vibes.

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[deleted] t1_jd9swju wrote

Replying to unitedfan6191 (#2,308,521)

> If that was the extent of it, it would be fine as some people are introverted, but he savagely insults and humiliates people when he does interact.

To be fair, usually, he'd only mock the dumb or unscrupulous ones. There were many clips, especially early on, where he was perfectly fine toward people who legitimately needed help. He had no patience for fools, but wasn't malicious.

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The_Vampire_Barlow t1_jd9tx7g wrote

Replying to slumpadoochous (#2,305,769)

Gul Dukat is one of my favorite villains if all time, because he's utterly convinced that everything he did was fine. He genuinely thinks it shouldn't be a problem, and that they should all be friends now because it's in the past.

The genocide he oversaw just isn't a big deal to him, because if someone else did it then it would have been so much worse.

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tlk2mch t1_jd9zwd3 wrote

Leland on Evil. He is possibly an actual demon.

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safetyscotchegg t1_jdabjek wrote

Replying to pp21 (#2,309,222)

I feel he's worse than a lot of others mentioned in this thread as he is more grounded in reality. The Strike Team's behaviour was inspired by that of a real LAPD anti-gang taskforce exposed in the Rampart scandal.

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Fanfootie t1_jdackgg wrote

1996: Jim Profit from Fox show Profit. Sleeps in a box. Promotes himself by eliminating those above him.

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glory87 t1_jdarikl wrote

Arthur Mitchell - The Trinity Killer, season 4 Dexter

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unitedfan6191 t1_jdbjvk8 wrote

Replying to TiredMisanthrope (#2,313,415)

Actually, according to healthline.com, the signs of “psychopathy” are:

  1. Inability to distinguish between right and wrong

  2. Lack of empathy and remorse

  3. Behavior that conflicts with social norms

  4. Manipulating and hurting others

  5. Disregard for safety and responsibility

  6. Disregarding or violating the rights of others

  7. Tendency to lie often

  8. Recurring problems with the law

  9. Expressing anger and arrogance on a regular basis

House pretty much was and did all these things at some point/regularly on the show.

https://www.healthline.com/health/psychopath#signs

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TiredMisanthrope t1_jdbmv9a wrote

Replying to unitedfan6191 (#2,313,993)

He displayed them at times yes, but there are behaviours of his that contradict those. He is able to distinguish right from wrong, he is just miserable and doesn’t give a shit most of the time. He showed empathy when Amber died, when Wilson was sick, when he was with Cuddy, when he was with Stacey and cared for his mother but not his father.

He suffered for years with that pain and became an ass and an addict.

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divineshadow666 t1_jdbz9i4 wrote

Replying to Fanfootie (#2,310,480)

This was going to be my response, as well. It saddens me that I had to scroll down so far to see it. It must be the combination of being a nearly 30 year old show, that was cancelled after 8 episodes, and the fact that it's not streaming anywhere (legally, anyway, but it appears some episodes are on Youtube).

Fun fact, apparently Profit co-creator and Angel producer, David Greenwalt, wanted to bring the character onto Angel, having him join evil law firm Wolfram and Hart. Unfortunately, they ran into problems securing the rights to the character, and Adrian Pasdar was on a different show at the time.

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oldscotch t1_jde7pxw wrote

How did a whole list get made without Amos from The Expanse on it?

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AjvarAndVodka t1_jdf5fss wrote

Replying to ahhhhhsally (#2,309,831)

Fuck that show was good. Need a rewatch when I make my roommate go at it.

I’m making her watch all the good shows like Breaking Bad and such and I’m having a blast as well so we can discuss stuff.

Also I can’t believe I stopped Mr. Robot the first time around at midpoint of S1. After years I decided to give it another chance and it’s one of my favorite shows ever.

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scienceofsin t1_jdfnuxv wrote

Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal

Terrence Mann as Whispers

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