Beauty in Black has given us many things: beautiful people making terrible decisions, family members who would sell each other for considerably less than 30 pieces of silver, enough betrayal to make you question the concept of loyalty, and men and women who desperately need therapy but somehow keep choosing violence instead.

Since its debut, Tyler Perry’s Beauty in Black has mastered the art of making us stare at our screens and ask the same question over and over again: “What the hell is wrong with these people?”

And honestly? There is a lot wrong with these people.

So, in the interest of science, public safety and our collective sanity, here is our ranking of the most unhinged characters in Beauty in Black — from “girl, that was a questionable decision” to “someone needs to call the police immediately.”

10. Kimmie

Let’s start with the rarest species in the Beauty in Black universe: a sensible person.

Kimmie has her flaws. She has made questionable decisions, found herself in situations she absolutely should have avoided and has had to navigate a world where almost everyone around her seems to have a hidden agenda. But compared with the people around her? Kimmie is practically a saint.

She is loyal. She is intelligent. She has repeatedly shown that she genuinely cares about the people she loves, and despite everything thrown at her, she still manages to retain some semblance of common sense. Which, in this show, is basically a superpower.

The bar is so low that when Kimmie makes one reasonable decision, you almost want to throw a parade.

Unhinged rating: 2/10.

Mostly because being surrounded by lunatics is apparently exhausting enough.

9. Varney 

Varney might genuinely be the most sane person on this entire show. And that is saying something. All this man wants is to be a great lawyer and have a relationship with the man he loves. That’s it. No elaborate murder plot. No sex trafficking empire. No secret scheme to destroy an entire family. Just a career, some love and presumably a relatively peaceful existence.

Imagine being a lawyer in Beauty in Black and your biggest concern is whether you can successfully balance your professional ambitions with your romantic life.Bless him.

Varney is intelligent, kind and sensible, which means he is basically an endangered species in this series. Watching him navigate the chaos around him is almost funny because you can tell he is constantly surrounded by people making decisions that would have him updating his CV and looking for another city to live in.Yet, he stays with the Bellarie’s and chooses to even love one, which happens to be his only tragic flaw.

Unhinged rating: 2/10.

His only real offence is falling in love with Charles  and somehow believing the family will allow him peace.

8. Rain 

Ah, Rain. Can Tyler Perry please get Rain and her botched BBL out of our faces? She was especially annoying in Season 3 of the series. Rain is one of those characters who constantly has you oscillating between “I understand why you did that” and “Girl, are you actually serious?”

Her biggest villain moment has to be when she was hinting that Officer Alex should kill Kimmie’s sister. I couldn’t believe it. There is something particularly unhinged about casually entertaining the murder of your best friend’s sister as a solution to your problems.

But Rain is not completely evil. We have to give credit where credit is due: she freed the strippers at her club. That earns her some brownie points because, despite everything, she has shown that she is capable of recognizing when something is fundamentally wrong and doing something about it.

Which is why Rain is frustrating. There are glimpses of a woman who could genuinely be decent, immediately followed by behaviour that has you screaming at your television.

Unhinged rating: 5/10.

Points deducted for the murder-adjacent nonsense. Points restored for freeing the baddies. And, respectfully, the BBL has its own supporting role at this point.

7. Charles

Charles is fascinating because, for all the dysfunction surrounding him, his desires are almost hilariously simple. This man just wants to make love to do drugs and sleep with sexy men. That is basically the entire agenda.

And honestly? In a show where people are trafficking humans, committing murders, blackmailing their children and setting houses on fire, Charles wanting to live his truth almost feels wholesome. The problem is that nothing in Beauty in Black can remain wholesome for more than approximately seven minutes.

Charles’ sexuality and relationships become entangled in the larger web of secrets and dysfunction, and suddenly something that should be relatively straightforward becomes another source of family drama.

Still, compared with some of the other people on this list, Charles is practically an innocent.

Unhinged rating: 5/10.

Not because of who he loves. But because he is a toxic lover.

6. Sylvie

Sylvie is the kind of character who makes you want to pause the television just so you can personally ask her what exactly she is thinking. Your sister saved you from abuse. Your sister got you into a mansion. You are being taken care of. You have security, comfort and a completely different life. And your response is essentially: let me rat her out.

Girl. Be. For. Real.

There is something almost impressive about Sylvia’s ability to look at a situation where she has been given a second chance and somehow decide to make the worst possible choice. So when Jules shot her, part of the audience was probably sitting there thinking, “Well…”

Unhinged rating: 7/10.

The loyalty department called. They would like a word.

5. Roy

Roy is not just a red flag. Roy is an entire red flag factory. If useless was a human being, it would be Roy. He is a cheat. He is abusive. He is crass. He is battling drug addiction. And somehow, every time you think he cannot possibly get worse, the show finds another way to prove you wrong.

But one of the most memorable things about Roy is what Tyler Perry did with his physical appearance as his addiction and withdrawal became more apparent. Because why did this man start looking like withdrawal itself? You could practically see the consequences of his lifestyle written across his face.

Unhinged rating: 8/10.

The only reason he isn’t higher is because there are people on this show committing crimes that require considerably more paperwork.

4. Mallory 

Oh, I would hate to be an employee under Mallory. This woman has one of the nastiest tongues on television right now. And the frightening thing is that she is clearly brilliant.

Mallory isn’t stupid. Far from it. She is sharp, calculated and capable of holding her own in rooms where most people would fold. Unfortunately, intelligence and emotional stability are apparently two completely separate departments. Because crashing into her and her husband’s house and setting it on fire because he was cheating? Ma’am. There were other options. Therapy. Divorce. A lawyer. A strongly worded text. Literally anything.

But no. Mallory apparently looked at the situation and decided, “You know what this marriage needs? Arson.” And that is precisely what makes her so terrifying. She isn’t just angry. She is capable. That’s a dangerous combination.

She also has her redeeming moments, which somehow makes her even more interesting. You can understand some of her motivations even when you absolutely cannot defend her methods.

Mallory is the kind of woman you never want as an enemy because she won’t just dislike you. She will strategically dismantle your life.

Unhinged rating: 9/10.

Would I like her? Maybe. Would I work for her? Absolutely not. Would I ever cheat on her? I would rather move to another continent.

3. Norman 

Now, Norman is obviously not a good man. Let’s establish that first. He is one of the co-owners of a sex trafficking operation and was involved in killing a judge who could potentially expose them. That alone should qualify you for several decades of reflection. But here’s the thing:

Is Norman really as unhinged as everybody else? Because in the Beauty in Black universe, the competition is fierce. Norman is evil, yes. But compared with some of the people around him, his villainy can sometimes feel almost… corporate. He is not necessarily the person screaming, threatening or setting things on fire every five minutes. He’s more of a “sit quietly in a room and participate in horrifying criminal enterprises” kind of evil. Which is arguably worse in some ways. But from a pure unhingedness standpoint? There are people doing considerably more. He only comes for you when you come for him.

Unhinged rating: 8.5/10.

Terrible person. Definitely. Most chaotic person? Not really..

2. Horace

And now we arrive at the man who deserves special recognition simply because so much of this chaos exists under his watch. Horace is the head of the dysfunction. The patriarch.

The man sitting at the centre of a family and business situation that feels like it was designed by someone who had absolutely no interest in peace. And then there is his behaviour in Season 3. Why is he suddenly so cold? Can somebody explain? Because one minute you think you understand Horace, and the next minute he is behaving like an entirely different man.

And then there is the Charles and Varney situation. Why is Horace so against them when he himself apparently cannot resist Angel’s little dances? The same man who shot a whole club up because his concubine was busy partying instead of picking his calls? Sir. Please. The hypocrisy is doing Olympic-level gymnastics.

And then Tyler Perry gave us the whole plot about Horace being injected with cancer cells.Cancer cells. At that point, I had to stare into the middle distance. Tyler Perry, please.What meeting happened in that writers’ room where everyone looked at that storyline and collectively said, “Yes. This is the one”?

Unhinged rating: 9.5/10.

The man is simultaneously a patriarch, businessman, hypocrite, control freak and walking source of family trauma.

1. Jules 

And finally, we arrive at Jules. There is unhinged. There is evil. And then there is Jules. Jules is the head of security. Jules is a cop. Jules is a pimp. Jules is basically the head of a mafia operation. At this point, the only question is: What monstrous thing is Jules NOT?

Jules is one of the most disturbing characters because his evil isn’t simply impulsive. It is organized. He runs a sex trafficking ring. He is responsible for some of the most brutal acts in the series. He was involved in covertly breaking Olivia’s legs. And when it comes to Kimmie’s family, his violence reaches an entirely different level. He kills an entire family because, essentially, he has had enough. An entire family.

And then, somehow, this man goes home and lives another life where he is a husband and a girl dad. That might be the most terrifying thing about him. The idea that someone can compartmentalize their life so completely that they can participate in horrific acts and then return home to play loving family man is genuinely chilling.

And unlike characters whose bad decisions are driven by emotion, Jules often feels deliberate. He knows what he is doing.

Unhinged rating: 10/10.

No notes. Actually, one note: Someone please call the police. Oh wait. He is the police.

Honourable Mention: Olivia 

Olivia deserves her own category because she exists in that fascinating space between calculated villain and woman who has simply decided that normal human behaviour is beneath her. The moment I knew Olivia was not okay was when she asked her lover to step into a body bag so he wouldn’t make a mess when she killed him. The fact that she had already thought through the cleanup process is what really sends it over the edge.

And then there is the fact that she blackmailed her own son after he confessed to killing people in secret. Your own son!

And then there are the questions surrounding the paternity of her children, which only adds another layer to an already spectacularly dysfunctional family tree.

Unhinged rating: 9.5/10.

She has never met a situation she couldn’t make significantly worse.

So, Who Is Actually the Most Unhinged?

After all the murders, betrayals, blackmail, cheating, abuse, trafficking, arson, secret relationships, family secrets and whatever exactly was going on with those cancer cells, one thing has become clear: Nobody in Beauty in Black needs to be left alone with their thoughts..

Nobody is simply good or bad. Everybody is hiding something. Everybody has an agenda. Everybody is one argument away from making a decision that will completely derail somebody else’s life. The show has essentially created a universe where therapy would be more useful than another season, but since we clearly aren’t getting that, we’ll be right  here watching these people make progressively worse decisions.