Villainess Review: Holly Gero (L.A.'s Finest)

Another show that lasted much shorter than it should have was L.A.'s Finest, which was the televised spinoff/continuation of the Bad Boys series. The show took Gabrielle Union's Bad Boys 2 character, Sydney Burnett (the sister of Martin Lawrence's Marcus Burnett) and paired her with fellow detective Nancy McKenna (Jessica Alba; who wasn't in any of the films) for this spinoff series, which aired as Spectrum On Demand's very first original series. I really enjoyed this show, and watched both seasons, but was very dismayed when I read that the show was canceled and wouldn't get a third season.

The show had its share of interesting villainesses and one just happened to appear in a two-episode arc (there were quite a few of these): "Farewell..." and "...My Lovely." The former half kicked off with a brutal murder of a trans woman, and already, Syd and Nancy suspect this as an act of transphobia due to the state of the deceased body. The woman's name was only revealed as Eve, and it was revealed that she was in a relationship with Karim Delgado, a famous boxer. Naturally, Karim became a suspect himself, but one thing changed that: Karim was found dead as well.

The latter half of the arc saw detectives Ben Walker and Ben Baines (known as "The Bens" for obvious reasons) on the case and interviewing Sam, a trans male, regarding Eve. Sam revealed that Eve was in an argument with a blonde woman prior to her murder, leading the Bens to look into Eve's social media. Once there, they found Eve's former identity, Sawyer Bellows, as well as the blonde woman: Holly Gero, who was Sawyer's fiancee. The pair went to Holly's home looking to interview her, and it was at the home that they found a pool of blood, which ended up revealing Holly as Eve's killer.

Holly was found at a nearby hotel, standing on a balcony, though everything ended up uncovered. After finding out that Sawyer planned to undergo gender reassignment surgery, a supportive Holly paid for the surgery, and maintained her love for the renamed Eve. However, after Eve left Holly for Karim, Holly became enraged and planned a murderous revenge, which began with brutally killing Eve in her home--with the appearance of "undoing" the surgery. The maniacal villainess also murdered Karim as part of her twisted vendetta, and as she stood on the balcony, Holly informed the Bens that she loved Eve and that they were supposed to be together, while voicing her heartbreak over being alone. Walker's statements about Holly not being alone were met with the response, "She's waiting for me," which was followed by Holly jumping to her death.

"Farewell..." and "...My Lovely" were the fifth and sixth episodes of L.A.'s Finest's first season, and aired on May 20 and 27 of 2019, respectively. The villainess of the two-parter, Holly Gero, only appeared briefly in the latter half, and was played wonderfully by Karissa Lee Staples. Despite Holly's appearance being brief, it told the character's whole story. Holly Gero was a passionate woman who truly believed in love, but when that love stopped being reciprocated, she descended into outright madness. Ironically, it was Holly's passion that led her down this terrible path to commit not one, but two grisly murders, and as we saw in her brief scene, Holly was quite a maniacal (yet heartbroken) villainess. Staples' brief appearance saw her act out every facet of Holly's twisted and semi-tragic demeanor brilliantly. This is why she is in a lot of projects.

Karissa Lee Staples has also done a few Lifetime films, one of them being 2016's Inspired to Kill as villainess Kara. She also played another villainess in The CW's Walker series, appearing as Twyla Jean, a bank teller turned villainous bank robber, and in addition, Staples has recurred on shows such as Necessary Roughness and S.W.A.T.

If you like this story and review, feel free to click the heart below, and if you love this story and review, feel free to leave a tip (if you want)!

Click here for Holly Gero's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!