I strongly disagree with this assessment of Victoria's character. I don't think that Victoria is especially smart. In fact, I'd say that she has about average intelligence. I don't think that Victoria is a brilliant strategist, or that she has outsmarted or outmaneuvered Monica, and certainly not Melanie. I do think that Victoria has a certain amount of animal cunning.
I would say that Monica and Victoria are probably fairly equal in terms of intelligence. I would say that they are both just average. Victoria is ambitious and ruthless and opportunistic, but those things are not the same as intelligence.
As for Melanie, I think that she's more intelligent than either Monica or Victoria. I think that she's also a better judge of character, and a better manipulator. She's probably just as opportunistic as Victoria, but she's not as ambitious or ruthless.
Victoria has only been able to get as far as she's gotten in this game because of her ambition, ruthlessness, and opportunism, combined with an incredible amount of luck.
Before Monica fell victim to Marcus and his allies, Victoria would never have tried to go against Monica. She knew perfectly well that Monica was completely out of her league, and she had no chance of changing that.
And I think that Melanie was right in her first evaluation of Victoria. She knew that she could easily outsmart and outmanipulate Victoria. She could play Dick (and most men) far better than Victoria could. Victoria also sensed this, and was rightly intimidated by Melanie.
But then Victoria's incredible luck came in - Marcus. If it weren't for Marcus, Victoria could never have gotten a hold over either Monica or Melanie. They would always have been out of her league. But she saw her opportunity, and she seized the moment. And she was ruthless about it.
If Marcus and his allies hadn't reduced Monica to a desperate fugitive struggling for survival and at pretty much everyone's mercy, Victoria couldn't have dominated her. If Melanie hadn't made the mistake of trying to manipulate Marcus, and then spent time at the farm, she wouldn't be so afraid of getting caught crossing Marcus' plans. And if Victoria hadn't lucked into that photo which could get Melanie in trouble with Marcus again, Melanie would have crushed Victoria.
But luck was on Victoria's side. She just happens to work for Monica's lawyer, so she gets to do whatever she wants with Monica. And she happened to get her hands on a photo which could send Melanie back to the farm, so she gets to do whatever she wants with Melanie, too. It's not brilliant strategy. It's just luck, fueled by ambition and strengthened by ruthlessness.
As for Victoria outsmarting Marcus, that's a joke. All of her influence is only because of him - just crumbs which fell from his table. She's not even a player in his game. She's just a pawn who was able to grab some power over the other pawns.
As I said at length above, I very much disagree. She could maybe manage regular chess, but not at a master's level. 4D chess is completely beyond her.
I don't know. I think that the only people who hate Victoria are the people who don't like the lesbian content. Maybe I'm wrong about that.
I like the lesbian content, and I like Victoria.
On this we agree. Victoria is ruthless, and she seizes her opportunity when she sees it. And she has ambition to climb higher. And she has a cruel delight in humiliating and degrading those who used to be above her.
As for that last point, I think that she especially delights in humiliating and degrading Monica and Melanie, because she knows in her heart that she never could have gotten the better of them by herself, and she resents that fact, and wants to take it out on them.
Here's what I'm hoping, with regard to Victoria and the end of the game. I would like to see two endings for her character.
- I would like to see a "good ending", in which both Monica and Melanie beat Victoria in the end, either together or separately. I want to see her pay a heavy price for the things she did to them, and I want them both to enjoy her punishment as much as she enjoyed tormenting them. I would also like it to be made clear to Victoria, either by events or by Monica and Melanie, that this is happening to her because she tried to play out of her league.
- I would like to see a "bad ending", in which both Monica and Melanie end up permanently enslaved by Victoria. I would like her to openly gloat and lord it over them that they both thought that they were better than her, and look at them now.
I want the good ending because I think that Monica's determination and hard work should be rewarded, and she should win in the end, and also because I do think that Victoria is playing out of her league, at least with Melanie.
I want the bad ending because I think that would be the opposite of the way things "should" work out, and I like to have "bad guy wins" alternate endings.