5 TV Villains Whose Motives Made Absolutely No Sense

Villains are an essential part of any TV show, but some have motives that simply don’t make sense. The best TV villains provide an antagonistic force, blocking characters from achieving their goals, and often have an interesting back story that gives more context on why they are the way that they are. However, there will occasionally be a villain whose motivation for their evilness is purely ridiculous or can’t be justified.

Of course, it’s important that TV writers ensure their characters are complex and developed. But sometimes, this can result in a character’s motives being so complicated they either start to lack logic or are simply not thought out at all. While it’s easy for a villain to be evil for the sake of it, motives help audiences understand the reason behind these characters’ ways. Despite many having justified grounds for their scheming, there are some TV villains whose motives aren’t justifiable.

5
Ben Chang

Community

Spanish professor turned security guard turned student Ben Chang (Ken Jeong) was a primary villain in Community for the majority of the show. Although later seasons saw him and the study group start to get on, it’s hard to forget the torture he subjected them to. One notable storyline saw Chang’s dictatorship take over Greendale and, in one absurd instance, hire a fake psychiatrist to convince the study group they were all crazy.

From the pilot, he was prone to outbursts of abuse toward his students. However, Chang’s obsession with trying to ruin the study group never really had an origin, and he seemed to enjoy tormenting them for fun more than anything else. Although he argued that his anger toward them was because Annie (Alison Brie) told Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) that he wasn’t actually qualified to teach, this was because of his own doing and still doesn’t explain why he treated them so badly before this happened.

4
Misty Quigley

Yellowjackets

While Yellowjackets’ Misty Quigley (Sammi Hanratty and Christina Ricci) started off with pure intentions, it’s also what caused her to become a villain. It’s quickly established that Misty desires validation from her peers, being the odd one out of the group. But when she does finally get the validation she seeks, proving herself with her first aid skills after the crash, Misty chases the high of feeling needed.

To keep everyone reliant on her, she destroys the flight recorder rather than using it to try and get help. To Misty, she thinks that keeping everyone close to the crash and stranded means that her help will be required again, clearly not thinking through the logic of if they’re all dead, then there’s nobody to need her. As motives go, Misty’s lacked any rational thought, which makes sense for a teenager but not for a TV villain.

3
Michael Tritter

House

Although Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) wasn’t always the most pleasant physician, it doesn’t justify the ridiculous problem that Michael Tritter (David Morse) had with him. Tritter became the main villain of House season 3 after being treated by House but was dissatisfied with the service, mainly because House didn’t feel the need to investigate his possible STD, instead diagnosing him with dry skin, a side effect of the nicotine gum he was chewing. In fact, he was so upset with this that he tripped the Doctor up in retaliation, which resulted in Tritter having his temperature taken rectally.

While there’s no doubt that the interaction was handled badly by both parties, Tritter acts immaturely and arrests House on his way home. From there, a list of incredible criminal charges racks up, and Tritter starts to pressure House’s team of doctors into testifying against him. Of course, from Tritter’s point of view as a police officer, he was doing the right thing, but it doesn’t justify what initially made him go after House, and was childish and petty. From time to time, people will encounter someone who they naturally clash with, but Tritter did technically make the first move.

2
Jim Moriarty

Sherlock

BBC Sherlock‘s Moriarty (Andrew Scott) is considered to be a TV villain who’s more interesting than its hero, but that doesn’t mean that some of his logic wasn’t flawed. Jim Moriarty’s priority was always to destroy Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch), but at the same time, enjoyed playing games with him. There’s no doubt that on an intellectual scale, Sherlock was Moriarty’s equal, which is why it makes no sense that Moriarty would go through with destroying him. Moriarty’s boredom also played a big part in his villainous ways.

However, when he finally manages to get Sherlock under his thumb in “The Reichenbach Fall,” he doesn’t stick around to watch it play out and kills himself, effectively ending their game. He does this to ensure Sherlock does jump off the roof of St. Barts, but in doing so, Moriarty is getting rid of the only person who can match him. Although it could be argued that Moriarty killed himself because he knew his game with Sherlock wouldn’t progress any further, it would have made more sense to keep them both alive for more years of torture and scheming.

1
Maryanne Smith

The Powerpuff Girls

Although The Powerpuff Girls featured quite a few villains, one whose motives were plain odd was Maryanne Smith (Kath Soucie), the wife of Harold (Jeff Bennett), and the girls’ next-door neighbor. In “Supper Villain,” the Smiths invite the girls and Professor Utonium (Tom Kane) over for dinner, but chaos ensues, and Harold ends up threatening Utonium. The girls don’t take these threats lightly, though, and cause a food fight in response before the police take away Harold.

However, when the Smiths return in “Just Desserts,” Maryanne becomes determined to destroy them all, claiming that they need to pay for causing her husband’s arrest, which makes a lot more sense as a motive than the reality. It’s quickly revealed that Maryanne’s anger toward them is because they ruined her dinner party. While The Powerpuff Girls is primarily aimed at kids, it didn’t make sense that Maryanne would be that upset at literal children, especially as she and Harold had a son and daughter of their own and should have been used to such behavior.