…to hate.
So, this blog was GOING to be about some of my favorite TV villains, but then I shifted it a bit to be some of my favorite TV villain ACTORS.. and that was when I came to a realization and had to make this about one man, and one man alone.
The man I love to hate.
The man who.. even when he plays ‘one of the good guys’, your brain keeps asking you..”But… is he?”
One man holds that distinction. Regardless of if you know him as Harold Finch, Morton Norton, Leyland Townsend, or Benjamin Linus… Michael Emerson will ALWAYS be someone who, when he shows up on my screen, I’m expecting him to be the worst of humanity.
Other actors do very well at playing ‘both sides’. I loved watching “Oz”, and J.K Simmons and Christopher Meloni play some iconic villains there that defined their careers at that time, but they’ve also moved on to play some great non-villain characters as well. Sure, J. Jonah Jameson may be a douchebag.. but no one sees him come on screen and think “Yeah… he’s definitely going to eat someone though”. With Emerson, that always seems to be on the table regardless of who he’s playing.
He’s a brilliant actor who has made playing smart and socially awkward terrifying, and I urge anyone who hasn’t yet seen him to watch something with him in it.. be it Lost or Person of Interest or EVIL or anything else he’s been in.
– PCR
