Luna makes a very compelling and entertaining villain on The Bold and the Beautiful. Lisa Yamada is fantastic when it comes to bringing the character to life, but in my opinion, it’s Luna’s motivation for her crimes that makes her such a great modern-day villain.
In a world where TV series are created about real-life serial killers — and in some cases the shows are able to turn a sympathetic eye toward the accused (I'm looking at you, Monsters: The Erik and Lyle Menendez Story) — Luna stands out as a great fictional killer because she always manages to make everything about her.
Luna’s motivation stems from the belief that she was wronged by her mother, Poppy (Romy Park), whose free-wheeling and free-loving lifestyle kept little Luna from being able to have a stable childhood. Poppy also kept Luna from getting to know her father, Finn (Tanner Novlan), and in Luna’s damaged mind, that’s the whole reason her life was turned upside down. If Luna had been able to have a relationship with him, she insists she’d never have turned to a life of crime.
Therein lies Luna’s great strength as a TV villain. She doesn’t see herself as a villain at all. She’s always the victim. Always.
Part of the fun of watching Yamada in action is seeing her move through Luna’s phases (pun intended) as she goes from sweet and innocent (with Bill) to playfully wicked (with Remy) to seductive (with Will) to vengeful (with Steffy) to being misunderstood (with Sheila) to being set up and wronged by the world because she needed her dad (with Finn), and at the end of the day, it’s all Steffy’s fault. Yamada often works a combination of these moods into a single scene.
And who can forget her delightfully flippant suggestion to her grandmother that they should just get rid of Steffy entirely? She said it like she was proposing a trip to the mall to buy shoes. Luna’s personality can turn on a dime, making her an even more dangerous killer.
Luna isn’t capable of seeing that killing people as a result of perceived childhood trauma is wrong. She firmly believes that Tom and Hollis were collateral damage in her battle to obtain the family life she’s dreamed of. She’s constantly seeing herself as the victim, no matter what the scenario, and her victim mentality also serves as her prime justification for the horrible things she’s done and whatever horrible things she’s going to do in the future.
Unlike the serial killers who kill because they enjoy it, Luna believes she’s entitled to a better life because everyone around her had a better life, and she deserves one, too, even if she has to kill to get what she wants. I noted earlier that she’s like a child in that sense, stomping her foot because she wants to get her way, and that not only makes her entertaining to watch, but it also makes her a compelling villain.
The Bold and the Beautiful airs weekdays on CBS and the following day on Paramount Plus. Check your local listings to see when it comes on where you are.
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