Love/Hate's Most Evil Character

HistoryMania

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

These are the qualities that makes Fran such a great character. He is a different person in all the three series he was in. In series two, he was introduced as a dark character who threatened captured enemies with his dogs and whose main story involved a gang war with John Boy which caused his girlfriend's death (with Nidge being the guy who pipebombed Fran's house, causing her injuries and her suicide: an issue to explode back on our screen very soon in the coming episode I'd say). In series three, he was a more laid back easygoing character summed up by the phrase 'coolaboola'. In series four so far, we see more exploration of the darker Fran and his emotional side comes out with his mistaken/drunken attack on Deano.

Agree 100%.

BuilderPlumber

Straight Talker wrote: »

I wasn't the slightest bit upset and disturbed by anything i saw in Love/Hate during it's 4 seasons but i found the whole Franno and the digging up the corpse thing to be very disturbing.

The Fran v Noelie Hughes is an interesting side story. The digging up the corpse was an unusual way of making him mad and it will be interesting to see how this story develops.

Love/Hate is excellent at having engaging side stories to accompany the main ones. Like the Luke storyline in season 2. Another interesting one is the stalker and the cops story. None this week but we saw the cops giving the stalker a good doing over in episode 3.

The main storyline in series 4 of course are the IRA/Nidge issue, the cops closing in on the gang, and Tommy's condition. With the first of these largely put to bed, there is room now development of these stories to become more important.

Noelie should be on the poll here but he was not in the series when I made it. He in his short scenes so far has shown himself as a very violent and nasty piece of work and someone who Fran is obviously serious about and worried about.

BuilderPlumber

Poll review: Clearly, after episode 4 last Sunday, Fran has taken a very comfortable lead followed by Hughie. Looking at the four seasons (bearing in mind, of course we cannot give the full lowdown on series 4 yet: more of that in 2-3 weeks), here are who I think are the most evil characters per series with runner up and sometimes third and fourth place given too (for series 4, I will give contenders rather than the actual one):

Series 1:

Without a doubt, Hughie comes first. Evil or just reckless, he is certainly dangerous and unhinged to say the least! Notable evil/reckless deeds: brutally slaying the poor traveller with a pool ball in a sock and burning the body and caravan; killing Robbie (Darren's brother); bullying the garage man; blowing his own brains out.

In number two position, I'd probably pick Stumpy for his violence towards Rosie.

Series 2:

A tricky series. We see the introduction of a new and essential character in Fran, we see Nidge carry out a pipe bomb attack and we see disturbing obsession from Luke. BUT I guess John Boy steals the show as first this time (he gave Nidge no choice but to throw the pipe bomb and also tries to have Fran killed by Tommy: John was paranoid and also extorted and threatened others to do his dirty work for him).

In second place, we have to put Luke for his very creepy stalking of Mary. Fran and Nidge (for their use of dogs to torture (admittedly No. 2 baddie Luke who probably deserved it!) and for throwing the pipe bomb respectively) probably are vying for 3rd and 4th position.

Series 3

A real tricky one here. We can rule out Fran this time around - as he is coola boola all the way! But all the others are contenders:

I'd have to place Darren in first position here for killing the innocent girlfriend of Elmo's cousin (notable mention to his brutal slaying of Git with a keg smashed into his face too even if he arguably deserved it). However, Git is a very close second this time with the rape of Siobhan. His son Dano could well be placed third for his brutal kneecapping of Ado, and Nidge comes in at number four for his brutal attack on Tommy. Tommy himself brutally assaulted Git but one cannot call this an act of evil as he was defending his girlfriend and was shocked at the brutal rape of her.

Series 4 so far

Definitely, I'd have to rule out one major character so far: we have only seen the kind side of Nidge. We can also rule out poor old Dano: you'd feel sorry for him in the end. And obviously poor Tommy is ruled out too. After that, there are numerous contenders.

First position this time, I'd have to choose Fran so far. He is full of vengeance and if Nidge was on the dark side towards the end of S3, it is Fran's turn now in S4. He has scared children, contemplated killing Tommy, has veered into a drunken rage/hit his friend by mistake (veering towards Hughie territory), etc. However, his issue with Noelie was initialised (in the series at least - Fran had an affair before) by Noelie not Fran so Fran was defending himself the two times they fought.

In second position, it has to be Lizzie. The hitting of the person whose car she crashed into was the most brutal beating in the series since Nidge clobbered Tommy (maybe not as bloody as the Fran v Noelie scene but more longterm damage done!).

Noelie comes third as he was shown himself so far to be very brutal and deranged. Likely to see more of his evil ways very soon.

But, over the next two episodes, our series 4 top 3/4 baddies may change radically!

Straight Talker

Straight Talker wrote: »

I wasn't the slightest bit upset and disturbed by anything i saw in Love/Hate during it's 4 seasons but i found the whole Franno and the digging up the corpse thing to be very disturbing.

Frano for me is the most psychotic of all time followed very closely by Hughie (Cue Ball) from Season 1.

Git probably third followed closely by Nidge and then Darren, Dano and Lizzie in any order. Probably Darren as he killed an innocent couple.

Elmo and Aido not so much evil but self serving junkies.

BuilderPlumber

Deleted User wrote: »

Frano for me is the most psychotic of all time followed very closely by Hughie (Cue Ball) from Season 1.

Git probably third followed closely by Nidge and then Darren, Dano and Lizzie in any order. Probably Darren as he killed an innocent couple.

Elmo and Aido not so much evil but self serving junkies.

We'd have to make room for Stumpy somewhere too. Luke then I am unsure what to make of him (he certainly was the most disturbing character in the second season). He was creepy but was he evil?

chopper6

Fran all day long.

A vengefull charcter who is almost feral in his outlook and seems to genuinely have no fear.

His increasing use of drugs plus his fondness for potin and firearms will do little to calm him down.

BuilderPlumber

chopper6 wrote: »

Fran all day long.

A vengefull charcter who is almost feral in his outlook and seems to genuinely have no fear.

His increasing use of drugs plus his fondness for potin and firearms will do little to calm him down.

That is very interesting too with Fran. Since Fran had his teeth knocked out, we have seen some important traits emerge that we never saw in the character before: he has now a very personal vendetta against Noelie (god help Nidge if Fran finds out about the Linda issues!!!!!); he has turned to strong drink and drugs to ease his tooth pain which results in angry, unpredictable behaviour. This is decidedly not the coola boola Fran from series 3 or even the menacing but always in control Fran of series 2!

chopper6

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

That is very interesting too with Fran. Since Fran had his teeth knocked out, we have seen some important traits emerge that we never saw in the character before: he has now a very personal vendetta against Noelie (god help Nidge if Fran finds out about the Linda issues!!!!!); he has turned to strong drink and drugs to ease his tooth pain which results in angry, unpredictable behaviour. This is decidedly not the coola boola Fran from series 3 or even the menacing but always in control Fran of series 2!

He's a lunatic and increasingly paranoid and prone to acts of vengeance.

Digging up that bloke's mother didnt cost him a thought and pissing on her corpse was quite shocking.

Even more disturbing is the fact that he seems to know his way around corpses...describing a fleshless dead body as still having white hair clinging to it or his aplomb in dealing with Git's corpse.

BuilderPlumber

chopper6 wrote: »

He's a lunatic and increasingly paranoid and prone to acts of vengeance.

Digging up that bloke's mother didnt cost him a thought and pissing on her corpse was quite shocking.

Even more disturbing is the fact that he seems to know his way around corpses...describing a fleshless dead body as still having white hair clinging to it or his aplomb in dealing with Git's corpse.

It will be interesting to see what Fran gets up to tonight. Fran indeed knows corpses and is the best man for doing jobs relating to them it would seem! When or if he finds out the truth about Linda, there will be hell to pay!

BuilderPlumber

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

We'd have to make room for Stumpy somewhere too. Luke then I am unsure what to make of him (he certainly was the most disturbing character in the second season). He was creepy but was he evil?

Neither were evil. Stumpy was evil when he was jealous alright but generally he had redeemable features such as the care he had for his ma. Luke was disturbed but probably just a lonely soul who had it tough in life. His obsession with Mary came about as part of a simple act of kindness which he had never experienced before.

The only 2 characters that dont have those features so far are Fran and Hughie. Hughie seemed to have some form of brotherly relationship with John Boy but Fran was drinking and having a flutter the day his wife was been buried and was seen a woman with the same name not so long after (though it could have been part of the grieving process which has manifested itself into psychosis)

BuilderPlumber

Deleted User wrote: »

Neither were evil. Stumpy was evil when he was jealous alright but generally he had redeemable features such as the care he had for his ma. Luke was disturbed but probably just a lonely soul who had it tough in life. His obsession with Mary came about as part of a simple act of kindness which he had never experienced before.

The only 2 characters that dont have those features so far are Fran and Hughie. Hughie seemed to have some form of brotherly relationship with John Boy but Fran was drinking and having a flutter the day his wife was been buried and was seen a woman with the same name not so long after (though it could have been part of the grieving process which has manifested itself into psychosis)

All the characters are a mix of bad and good (even Hughie!). The fact that all of them can at one minute be thinking of ordinary family life and then be involved in gruesome acts of violence shows us the fine line that divides their private life and what they do.

From hearing what their intentions are (Fran and Nidge anyway), they would like nothing better than to make a load of money and retire to Barbados or somewhere.

BuilderPlumber

So, with the end of Love/Hate's fourth season, we have once again seen all our favourite characters in scenes of both love and hate! Up until episode 5, Nidge was more love than hate but his hate side came to the fore with his attempt to clip the traveller and his setting up the killing of Wayne. Not to mention his anger with the cops!

Fran perhaps showed more hate than any character this season. Gone are the days of coola boola obviously and we see a darker side to him. Noelie Hughes came out the wrong side of him twice but lived to tell the tale (more on this next series no doubt) but the poor old silly dentist (whose phone was rang by the cops at the worst moment!) wasn't so lucky.

Dano was filled with hatred for Nidge but ended up dead on the receiving end of hatred from Tony. Lizzie I'm not so sure about.

Ado was getting soft at the end and Elmo seems to be on the rise up to being number 2. Tommy spent the entire series in poor health (caused by Nidge) and offered no hateful acts. The cops are obviously driven by a hatred of Nidge and his gang.

But who overall was the most evil character this season? Nidge, Fran, Dano? Maybe?

But then again none of them are evil for the sake of being so (like say real life sc*mbags like al qaeda are - you won't see Nidge telling some drugged up zombie to fly some plane into a building for some voodoo cult like Ayman al Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden did; in fact, the likes of Fran and Nidge won't harm you unless you cross them or let them down): Dano was motivated solely by his father's death, so he was not evil per say. It was Noelie who attacked Fran and initiated this substory. The dentist happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong person calling his phone. Fran had no option or felt he had no option. Nidge likewise had to eliminate the traveller and failed. Wayne was no regarded as very loyal for obvious reasons!

Hughie and Stumpy probably remain my choices of nastiest characters in the series. But even here, things were mixed. Hughie was more reckless and unhinged than evil. Stumpy was a nasty domestic abuser but too cowardly to be truly evil.