Villainess Review: Nina Ellis (Law & Order)

One of the main things that upset me about NBC was the way they axed the original Law & Order back in 2010. The series aired for 20 seasons beginning in 1990, and while I wasn't a religious week-by-week viewer, I had seen enough of the show to know that it's legendary. So for a series that acclaimed to get the boot so unceremoniously after 20 years is just unacceptable. Then a miracle happened: the original L&O was returning! So I promised that I would watch the returning series week-by-week this time, and it's been impressive so far.

The featured episode in this review, "Impossible Dream," began with a couple finding a man's body while jogging, with the victim being revealed as Kyle Morrison, the COO of Hythena, a healthcare company. Kyle co-owned the company with his fiancee, the company's CEO, Nina Ellis, who spoke somberly about Kyle. Regarding suspects, there was a glaring one in Derek Seaver, who Nina described as an irascible and bitter ex-employee. He was even taken into custody when a call was made to police regarding Derek's car being at the scene of the murder, but during Derek's interrogation, he not only denies killing Kyle, he makes some stunning revelations.

For one, Derek and Kyle were close friends, and Derek also revealed that Nina's claim about the accuracy of the company cancer trials was false. Half of the test results were inaccurate, and regarding Derek, he found that out and informed Kyle that Nina had falsified the reports. Derek voiced his assurance that Nina killed Kyle, mainly to cover up her actions, and after blood evidence was found on Nina's clothing, Nina was arrested just as she was headed on a flight to London to attend an IPO (initial public offering) for the company. Nina didn't waste time portraying herself as an attempted victim of sexism, but as we would later learn, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Prosecutors Dylan Price and Samantha Maroun would learn something very stunning regarding Nina: she had changed her defense and was claiming to be a victim of abuse. Nina's story was that she was on the receiving end of abuse and sexual assault from Kyle for several weeks, and while she admits to killing Kyle, she claimed that she shot Kyle in self-defense and out of fear for her life. Dylan knew Nina was lying, but with the #MeToo movement affecting how victims are viewed and believed (for the better), there was no way he could flat out call Nina a liar, but he takes the risk and does so anyway after Nina repeats her claim when she takes the stand a second time.

It was during Nina's second time on the stand that she claimed that Kyle broke her arm simply because she looked at another man. I'm serious, when Nina said that, I literally went, "She screwed up" (I used another word for "screwed"). Why did I say that? Because claims like that one will be looked into with a lot of depth, and sure enough, it was. That broken arm Nina suffered? She got that playing polo. Nina's own polo instructor revealed all of the details of that injury on the stand, and even added that Kyle was nowhere at the scene when the injury happened. The only thing missing from the shot of Nina's expression during that moment, was the words, "TFW (That face when) you've been caught in a boldfaced lie." Unsurprisingly, Nina ended up convicted in Kyle's murder, and also unsurprisingly, the villainess voiced her defiance after the conviction, saying that "they got it wrong."

"Impossible Dream" was the 2nd episode of Law & Order's 21st season, and aired on March 3, 2022. The #1 reason why I spent a week after the premiere being anxious for this episode was simple: Rachelle Lefevre appeared as the main villainess, Nina Ellis. I've been a fan of Rachelle Lefevre since I first saw her as Stacey Hanson on Big Wolf on Campus, and I'm also a fan of seeing evil and ruthless businesswomen on TV, so when I saw the promo for this and learned that Lefevre was playing this villainous CEO, I was on Cloud Nine! Nina was viciously ruthless, deceptive, and even murderous; it truly didn't matter what immoral length she felt she had to resort to, she just simply resorted to committing them. Lefevre's performance was absolutely brilliant; she acted out Nina's calculating and deceptive demeanor to perfection, and truly shined when she acted out Nina's defiance to her conviction.

I have to mention this: I have known for years that the Law & Order franchise borrows from the headlines a lot, and what I couldn't help but be fascinated by is that Nina Ellis was their version of Elizabeth Holmes, the notorious entrepreneur who was revealed to have been repeatedly defrauding her investors, mainly with false claims about her company's blood-testing technology. It makes the timing of this episode very fitting; as Hulu also has The Dropout; the miniseries centering on Holmes. With the false claims of assault, there's also a bit of Amber Heard in Nina Ellis as well.

As for Rachelle Lefevre, she also played a regular villainess on the Canadian series, Mary Kills People, portraying Olivia Bloom. She was also part of the main cast of CBS' Under the Dome, where she played Julia Shumway, and she also starred as Madeline Scott on FOX's short-lived series, Proven Innocent.

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Check out Nina Ellis' profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!