Third formality post, this time on a villain I'm surprised we've not talked about yet, Dr. John T. Foster from Skins.
What's the work?[]
Skins was a drama series airing on E4 from 2007 until 2013 following the lives of several college students in Bristol. The show itself was no stranger to dark and mature content, especially with its villains. Foster however takes the cake.
Who is he?[]
Foster was the main antagonist in the show's fourth season, although he only appeared in the final two episodes and is a posthumous villain in the finale Skins: Rise. He was a psychiatrist assigned to support Effy Stonem after the latter's failed suicide attempt, he soon finds himself infatuated with her however and does everything in his power to make her fall under his wing.
Heinous Standard[]
Foster has much less resources than most villains from this series however he puts his knowledge of psychology and medication to good use in committing his crimes.
Motivated through lust Foster makes deliberate medical mistakes in his work with Effy, in an attempt to make her go completely insane and have nobody to fall back on but himself. In doing so he damaged her mind to the extent of her forgetting large chunks of her recent past including memories of her elder brother, closest friends such as James Cook and her lover Freddie. In doing so he actually endangered Effy's life moreso than it already was and in spite of knowing what making such errors purposefully could do to someone in Effy's fragile position Foster showed no care or remorse at all for any of his actions and simply wanted Effy for himself in spite of her being his patient and him having a duty of care over her.
Aside from this Foster's most horrendous crime was that of beating Freddie a 17 year old boy to death with a baseball bat before forging a suicide note in his name, all because he knew Effy loved him. He also attempted to do the same to James Cook when the latter found out the truth about his friend's death although failed thanks to Cook's rage induced adrenaline kicking in resulting in Foster getting killed himself. This shows his ruthlessness and apathy towards killing anybody even teenagers in order to get what he wants. His actions towards Effy actually caused even further significant mental health issues as well as she ended up having severe attachment issues following Freddie's death.
Foster has no villains with similar resources to him in the series, however he manages to be more heinous than characters such as Louie, Josh Stock and James Cook Sr. with the former two having limits to how far they'll go with their crimes in spite of their more vile nature and with the latter having only reserved his cruelty for his son and showing his peers more annoyance and pestering behaviour than anything else.
Freudian Excuse[]
None
Moral Agency[]
Foster has moral agency and has full control over his actions.
Migating Factors[]
None
Sympathy?[]
None
Verdict[]
Psychologically torments and emotionally destroys a PATIENT who he had a duty of care over to the point of nearly killing her before murdering her boyfriend and trying to murder another one of her friends (All parties involved other than Foster himself being teenagers btw).
YES