I don't think that's relevant here. MILF fans want to fuck the MILF. I don't think Ename ever said he wanted to fuck Kathleen; he said he appreciates her characterization. As in, he likes how well she's written.
Same with me. I don't want to fuck her, I want to kill her. Or at least get her sent to prison for life. She's doing her job as a villain, which is to make me feel angry and hostile toward her.
So, all that said, how do you feel about Kathleen? Do you want to see her get her just desserts? Or do you think the game would have been better had she never been written?
Precisely. To me, it's the mark of a well written villain when the audience hates them, whereas a poorly written villain makes the audience hate the
author.
I hate Kathleen and love TD, 'nuff said.
Lowkey, i think Kathleen is far more desperate and simpleminded than Rosalind. Obviously she is an actual human being and not some sadistic psychopath, but when i look at the subtle differences between low/high affection and deal/no-deal i think it could be argued that as far as mindgames go she's lightyears ahead. Afterall there's a reason why she won't try as hard to win over an Edwin who didn't agree to her deal (despite arguably being a better person, just of less use to her), while 3 weeks in Kath is stll trying hard as ever to win over some random kid who may or may not want nothing to do with her.
Although on the flip side, i guess if Kath's endgoal is just to make things as miserable as possible for as many people as possible, then her approach makes a degree of sense. Still think she'd accomplish more if she were half as subtle as Rose, but even Palpatine crossed over to chaotic evil in his old age so who knows.
I agree Rosalind is underappreciated as a manipulator, but I don't think Kathleen necessarily comes off worse by comparison. They're trying to accomplish very different things. First, as you note, Kathleen
wants to make people suffer. Lording her victims' helplessness over them is a big part of the fun; a more subtle approach would be counterproductive. Rosalind, on the other hand, just wants her problem solved; the fewer additional enemies she makes in the process the better, hence subtlety is ideal for her.
But second and more importantly, Rosalind is operating from a position of weakness whereas Kathleen is operating from a position of strength (though like Palpatine, Kat can be prone to overconfidence). Rosalind has no stick to bring people round, she can only try to convince them that helping her is a good idea. That requires a healthy dose of tact and discretion because no one likes being told what to do. Her attempt to seduce the MC, for example, isn't remotely subtle but is clearly calibrated to appeal to what she believes to be his sensibilities: compassionate and horny.
Kathleen, on the other hand, has plenty of tools in her arsenal so she can pick whichever will give the best results. When expedience is the order of the day, she goes straight for the jugular. When she needs something done carefully or wishes to minimize risk, she's quite capable of discretion. Just look at how she handled the punishment game after Week 2. Sure, the warm up with the cattle prod was pretty blatant, but when it comes time for the actual punishment she's quite hands-off because she wants to keep her direct fingerprints off it. She's already ensured the girls will respond the way she desires.
