Villainess Review: Dr. Sepi Chamanara (Elementary)

I've been a diehard fan of the CBS series, Elementary, since the beginning; having watched all seven seasons religiously. I really loved the modern take on Sherlock Holmes, and it has immensely pleased me as a fan of villainesses. Season Six, IMO, had some of the best female baddies, with one example being shown in the season's 17th episode, "The Worms Crawl In, The Worms Crawl Out."

The episode centered on the murder of zoology professor William Velnik, who was found shot three times, though the actual cause of his death: stabbing. After many suspects were interviewed, scientist Sepi Chamanara was approached, with that encounter revealing that she had a sexual tryst with Velnik, who was a known ladies' man. In addition, Sepi was the inventor of a bulletproof hoodie, having used silkworms to create the prototype and several copies. The same hoodie was shown on Velnik via a photograph, and it led to the belief that Velnik stole the invention and Sepi had killed him for that very reason.

Sepi was interviewed again, this time as a suspect; though she denied killing Velnik, adding that she had no motive to do so. Another potential suspect was businessman John Hoyt, but that interrogation resulted in a shocking reveal: Velnik had been enlisted by Hoyt to sabotage Sepi's work. As Hoyt revealed, he was up for a lucrative contract, and he paid Hoyt to have Sepi's trees (which the silkworms were feeding on) killed. However, Sepi did end up getting the contract, but that only resulted in Sepi being interrogated for the third and last time, as she was revealed as Velnik's killer.

So Sepi did have a motive for killing Velnik, but it was not the hoodie. She had actually given the hoodie to Velnik, and it ended up saving his life when he was shot inside his lab. Sepi rushed to Velnik and was relieved that her invention saved him, and she later grabbed a screwdriver to use as a potential weapon to protect herself. As Sepi was set to call 911, she later walked towards a microscope and saw was Velnik was working on: root-knot roundworms. Having recognized them as the very thing that killed her own trees, Sepi realized that Velnik had intentionally sabotaged her, and later turned from protector to villainess by using the aforementioned screwdriver to kill Velnik. Sepi later used Velnik's roundworms to kill her competitors' mulberry trees, which resulted in her getting the contract, and when her role was revealed, Sepi uttered the following:

"Rage is a biological impulse, just like lust. It all comes from the same place. We have this drive to survive and to destroy anything that gets in our way."

"The Worms Crawl In, The Worms Crawl Out" aired on August 20, 2018, and featured Azita Ghanizada as the villainous Dr. Sepi Chamanara. IMO, Sepi was the best villainess from Elementary's sixth and penultimate season, and the reason for that was her transformation from a dedicated scientist to a ruthless and greedy villainess, which was shown in the flashback scenes. As we saw, Sepi began as a woman who was grateful over Velnik's survival due to her invention, but once she saw the Velnik was responsible for sabotaging her, Sepi turned heel and murdered the very person she had saved, and continued her heel persona for lucrative reasons. The shot of Sepi clutching the screwdriver in a fit of rage was the shining moment of Sepi's heel turn, as it showed cruel irony from her part: killing the person she saved with the very weapon she had intended to use for protection.

Ghanizada performed wonderfully in this episode; she acted out Sepi's concern very well, but she truly shined in the flashback and reveal, as we saw a truly dark side to Sepi, with her defense of her actions being a sign of her ruthless nature. Recently, I watched Ghanizada on an episode of one of CBS' newest sitcoms, United States of Al, and it was while watching the episode that I was thinking about her villainous Elementary appearance. Ghanizada also appeared in episodes of 9-1-1, Ballers, and Magnum, P.I., just to name a few shows.

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Click here for Dr. Sepi Chamanara's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!