Reviewing Bellamy Young's 3 Best Villainous Roles

The more I watch Bellamy Young in, well, anything, the more I just adore her. She is an amazing actress, and from what I've seen, she's quite wonderful as well. Bellamy Young has a lengthy acting résumé, though she is best known for playing First Lady (turned President) Mellie Grant on ABC's hit series, Scandal, and we recently saw her as Jessica Whitly on the (unfairly) short-lived Fox series, Prodigal Son. Fun fact: I had my many reasons for watching that show, but #1 on my list was Bellamy Young.

Among other things, Young has played an immense number of villainesses in her career. I've counted eleven that I know of; there may be a few more. I've enjoyed Young's sinister characters on her many shows and films, but out of all of them, three truly stand out the most to me, and this review centers on Bellamy Young's three best villainous characters.

3. Monica Jarrow

The 8th episode of the short-lived Law & Order: Los Angeles, "Playa Vista," centered on the murder of golfer Kristin Halstead, who was believed to be engaged in an affair with fellow golfer Chip Jarrow, who was married. As the episode revealed, Chip's wife, Monica, knows that he has a "wandering eye" and has been cashing in on it: a post-nuptial agreement where Monica receives $1 million every time Chip is caught cheating, in exchange for her silence. Chip had been accused of killing Kristin, and while the evidence pointed his way, it was revealed that the murder was actually committed by Chip and Monica's son, Luke Jarrow.

That's not all. Luke committed the murder under Monica's orders, and the episode also uncovered that Monica had been using her husband's dalliances and her son's violent nature to turn Luke against Chip, with Luke repeating his mother's comments about Chip's mistresses, and even smashing Chip's Ferrari because, as Monica told Luke, it was used in his dalliances. Monica sent Luke to kill Kristin because she was blackmailing Chip; as he was actually hooking up with Kristin's girlfriend, Carly Morris, and they worked together to frame Chip. After everything was revealed, Chip wanted to take the fall to protect Luke, only for Monica to confess, doing so to keep Chip from, in her words, "playing the hero."

Monica Jarrow wasn't your typical scorned wife. She was venomous, manipulative, and ruthlessly murderous, and Young played her very well. She fascinates me because, well, she has every right to be angry at Chip for his constant cheating, but manipulating her son to flat out despise his father, commit murder, and set up his father? That's a whole other level of scorn, that's just pure evil. That's why Monica Jarrow is on the list, because of the depths of her vengeful nature, and also because of Young's amazing performance as the villainess.

For Monica Jarrow's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki, click here.

2. Monica West

The fourth season of CSI: Miami gave us Young as Monica West, an Assistant State Attorney who was introduced as the fiancee of Treasury Agent Peter Elliott in the episode, "Urban Hellraisers." Season Four was a bit of a turbulent time for the Miami-Dade crime lab, as it was the subject of an FBI probe. Monica West appeared in six episodes during the fourth season, with the latter two episodes seeing Monica appear to undergo a heel turn and become antagonistic towards Horatio Caine and the rest of the lab's group.

The season finale, "One of Our Own," provided a few surprise reveals, one of them being that their newest hire, Natalia Boa Vista, was a planted mole for the FBI. Natalia revealed that she was planted by the true mastermind behind the probe: none other than Monica herself. Monica was desperate to uncover any semblance of corruption in the lab, but when Natalia only returned with positive results, the villainous attorney resorted to stealing money from the treasury, doing so after witnessing Peter count the money from a raid on the Mala Noche gang. Monica phoned the FBI after her theft, doing so as part of her plan to set up the lab as being either corrupt or incompetent; however, Monica received her comeuppance when she brashly admitted to her actions to Peter, who was secretly recording her.

This was another amazing performance from Young; Monica West was a very ambitious villainess, and after seeing Young play out Monica's warm nature at the start, we see her follow it up by acting out Monica's callousness as a criminal mastermind. Absolutely spectacular overall.

For Monica West's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki, click here.

1. Karen Pappas

It's been two years and I still hate that Whiskey Cavalier got canceled. I really enjoyed watching that show, mainly because it was mostly on during a very fun Stanley Cup Playoffs for me, and I still remember watching one episode of the show while watching and cheering as the Colorado Avalanche won Game 4 against the Calgary Flames in OT with this beauty. Anyway, Young appeared in "The Czech List," the show's second episode, as Karen Pappas, the wife of notorious smuggler Stavros Pappas--who was killed by assassin Hana Novak. The mission involved getting a ledger that had a list of Stavros' clients, and Karen's scan was needed, leading to Will Chase (played by Young's former Scandal co-star, Scott Foley) being sent as a "honeytrap."

We later see Will and the rest of the group take Karen to a hotel to obtain the ledger, only for Hana (who interrupted their "date" on the previous evening) to appear and order them to get the ledger for her. Will does and hands it to Karen, who was promised that Will would regain the ledger. However, Karen suddenly turned heel by revealing herself as the true criminal mastermind (as well as Hana's lover), and she needed the ledger to cover up her activities, after which Karen ordered her henchpersons to lock them up in the safe. The group escaped, and Karen was pursued by Will, who saved her from an oncoming train. Karen stated that she would be killed by her collaborators if she revealed the contents of the ledger, but after she was saved, she ended up being turned in by Will, with the reveal that she had given up the contents of the ledger.

Young's episode of Whiskey Cavalier aired on March 6, 2019, and regarding her villainous character, Karen Pappas was ruthless and very conniving. This was, IMO, Young's best evil role, and I still remember being surprised by Karen's heel turn, mainly because I was drinking in the Scandal reunion and not really looking for Karen to be a villainess. Unsurprisingly, Young's performance was stellar; she totally stole the entire episode, and it was months after this episode that Young's run on Prodigal Son began.

For Karen Pappas' profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki, click here.

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