Soap Tropes: Baddest Bad Women Villains

International Women’s Day is a time to celebrate incredible women’s good deeds (and we did with some of daytime’s most independent women). But on soap operas, some of the most incredible women have been bad to the bone…bad women villains, if you will. Let’s face it, daytime drama wouldn’t have as much drama without these amazingly bad women!

International Women’s Day: Villain Style

Look at Sheila (Kimberlin Brown, who spoke about her character’s demise) on The Bold and the Beautiful, Jordan (Colleen Zenk) on The Young and the Restless, Selina Wu on General Hospital, and Ava on Days of our Lives. We don’t mean women who merely lie, manipulate, and deceive. We’re talking real villains. As in criminals. As in criminal masterminds. None of today’s bad girls would be where — or who — they are today if it hadn’t been for these OG villains of the female persuasion

I Fought the Law

Ava (Tamara Braun) may be a mafia princess, Theresa (Emily O’Brien) is conning Alex (Robert Scott Wilson) into thinking he’s a Kiriakis heir, and Sloan (Jessica Serfaty) dares to not make motherhood her entire personality, but have any of them ever buried a woman alive?

Yeah, stand back, dilettantes. We’re talking about Vivian Alamain (Louise Sorel). She hated Carly (Crystal Chappell), love of Vivian’s nephew, Lawrence (Michael Sabatino), and mother of Nicholas, the boy Vivian stole and raised as her own, so much that Vivian faked Carly’s death. She then had her buried alive. Just in time for Carly to wake up. Vivian didn’t want to miss a moment of her torment. So, she had a video and audio monitor installed for two-way chats. No woman — or man — will ever top that.

Mother Lode

Poor Brooke (Julia Barr) on All My Children. She was being blackmailed by the head of a drug operation named Cobra. Unless Brooke and husband Tom (Richard Shoberg) continued running drugs like Cobra claimed Brooke’s father had done, Brooke’s mother, Peg (Patricia Barry) would be murdered.

Brooke and Tom had no choice but to comply. But then, it turned out that Cobra was Peg herself! She took Brooke hostage, and revealed that she wasn’t her mother, after all. Now do you see why none of Erica’s (Susan Lucci, who may just return to daytime soon) threats ever really got to Brooke? She’d dealt with so much worse!

Baby Love

Nina (Tricia Cast) is being a bit of an overbearing mother to Chance (Conner Floyd) these days. But her son has already been declared dead and shot multiple times. It’s not like she’s overreacting.

However, there’s Nina’s other son. The one she had stolen from her at birth. by Rose DeVille (Darlene Conley), Genoa City’s most predatory baby broker. But before she was manipulating young, unmarried teens, drugging them to induce labor and then telling them their babies had died — before selling them to equally desperate adoptive parents.

Rose was a madam, who tricked another dumb young woman into prostitution. That dumb young woman was Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott, who recently celebrated 45 years). Yes, that Nikki. Dumb Nikki thought she was only being an “escort.” No worries. The “John” had a heart attack. Rose dumped the body and threatened Nikki to keep her quiet. Just to make sure, Rose also hired a hitman to take out Nikki’s then husband, Greg (Wings Hauser). Even Victor (Eric Braeden) would think twice before tangling with a bad ass like Rose. That Jordan (Colleen Zenk) is more his speed.

International Terrorist

Vivian, Peg, and Rose triggered local terror. GH’s Helena (Constance Towers) took her show on the road. She terrorized Luke (Anthony Geary) and Laura (Genie Francis) in Port Charles. She kidnapped Lucky (Jonathan Jackson) and Lulu (Emme Rylan) and Jake — and Laura. (Whew!) Cassadine evil stretched from Greece to Greenland and every place in between. Charlotte (Scarlett Fernandez) may think she’s smart and devious. But she’s got a long row to hoe before she’s even a fraction of the evil grand dame her grandmother was.