Is John Sugden capable of dethroning Meena Jutla as darkest Dales villain? We investigate
John vs Meena – who would win?
In Emmerdale currently, John Sugden appears to be quite the villain but does he have a patch on killer Meena Jutla?
He’s a guy with many dark secrets, with those secrets being revealed to viewers in a series of flashbacks yesterday evening (Thursday, April 10).
But, is he about to claim the throne as ‘darkest Dales villain’ of all time? Possibly…
He doesn’t realise how sinister he is
The thing with John is… he genuinely gets a buzz out of playing the ‘hero.’ And, all of the praise he gets for ‘saving lives’ is bound to go to his head and fill his ego.
Meena embraced her sinister side, she knew exactly how ‘crazy’ she was. But, John’s not quite come to terms with what he’s done yet.
Inside, he believes that he’s doing some good and helping others in his own way. And, this makes him have the potential to be way more dangerous than Meena.
The way he remains cool, calm and collected when putting somebody else’s life in danger makes him a huge threat, with little signs for other villagers to pick up on that something’s not right.
We don’t yet know his true motive
So, we know John likes to act ‘heroic.’ And, this might be down to hero syndrome. But, where did this all stem from? And, what could stop John from this constant cycle of putting people in danger just to save them?
Meena’s motives were usually very clear. Viewers could predict her next move, despite villagers somehow not being able to recognise her true colours until it was too late. But, John’s keeping us all on our toes. And, we still reckon he’s holding a fair few secrets back.
He’ll target anyone
Meena and John are alike in the sense that they are desperate to be loved by others. John’s desperate for validation, where Meena longed to be ‘the one that got the guy’ or ‘the girl who was chosen as the best friend.’
But, Meena started off by targeting those who rejected her in some sense or got in the way of her connections, before stemming to other villagers who sussed out her crimes.
John, however, seems like he’ll put anyone’s life in danger should he see the opportunity to. We only have to look at how many ‘heroic’ cases he’s been involved in to know that he’s always the first on the scene no matter who is in trouble. Whether that be the late Nate (who fell victim to John’s backfired plan), or the more fortunate Jacob. Dangerous.
This is just the start
John’s already covered up more than one death in the Dales (Anthony and Nate), also drugging Chas, framing Ella, and putting Jacob’s life on the line.
And, we sense that there’s a long way to go in his story yet. Meena’s crimes were spaced out, but we’ve been given many of John’s secrets in one go. So, how many more crimes can he commit during the rest of his time in the Dales? And, how many more villagers’ lives can he endanger?
He’s on his way to dethrone Meena Jutla. It’s only a matter of time…
Emmerdale usually airs weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV, with an early release at 7am on ITVX.
Classic Emmerdale usually airs weekdays at 6am and 6.30am, plus 1.40pm and 2.10pm on ITV3.
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