Bad Guys Gone Good: Our Favorite TV Villains Who Turned Over a New Leaf

Photo: HBO

Jessa Johansson – Girls

There’s an argument to be made that every character on this show was a villain at some point. Immature, entitled, and selfish, all the women on this show had a lot to learn about being a friend. However, at first Jessa was painted as the most disconnected of them all.

Couched in a free spirit and neo-hippie look, Jessa moved through life doing exactly as she pleased. She took what she wanted, did whatever she liked, and very rarely stopped to consider anybody’s else’s feelings or opinions on the matter. While this may seem like a perfectly fine way to live for a twenty-something millennial woman, it ruined a lot of really important relationships in her life.

Her decision to date her best friend’s ex, Adam, was possibly the last straw for her friends, yet she continued to see him. She invested far more into that relationship than that of her friends, so when he left her for Hannah, she was left devastated and alone.

Jessa is a victim of her own choices. Her self-destruction is far more harmful to her own fragile psyche than it is to those around her, and it took her until the very last season to see that. She shouldn’t be hated, she should be pitied.