'A certain type of woman is dominating our screens right now. And she's a win for all of us.'

There are so many good bad women on our screens right now.

Good bad women. It’s not a typo.

I’m talking about the Jessica Jones of this world, the Yvonne “Vee” Parkers, the Harley Quinns, the Maleficents, the – and stay with me – the Cersei Lannisters.

We’ve finally allowed our female screen villains to be as complicated and conflicted as the men we’ve been staring at for years.

Tragic circumstances, sad childhoods and situations that make the audience experience that “well, she did suffer from …” moment.

Love TV so much you can’t help but talk about it? Us too. Listen to Laura Brodnik and Rosie Waterland talk TV on The Binge. 

There are the typical “baddies” like Orange Is The New Black‘s murderous matriarch Yvonne “Vee” Parker and then there are those like Suicide Squad‘s Harley Quinn, whose darkness is much more complex.

Harley was introduced as the classic comic book criminal but soon revealed her intentions to extend beyond her own well-being. Her love for the joker, her loyalty to the squad and her troubled past were all expressed in a way that earned audience sympathy.

Vee, in contrast, entered Litchfield Penitentiary with one enemy and left with an entire cast. The beauty of her character was her absolute lack of redeeming qualities.  She earned little love from the audience and nor did she deserve it.

via GIPHY

So why celebrate?

The development of the arguably well-rounded villain doesn’t just represent an advancement in characterisation but it represents a step forward for women too.

The good bad men of this world have sat on our screens for decades: the sexually promiscuous James Bonds, the James Deans and the smooth-talking, leather-wearing “bad boys” who meet that one girl who changes them.

(PSA: You cannot change somebody. I have tried… repeatedly.)

It's about time we started to see the bad girls in our lives reflected on our screens.

It's about time we saw a woman like Jessica Jones chug whiskey, sleep with men for pleasure (god forbid) and generally behave in a way that put her needs first.

But these "bad girls" aren't inherently evil. Modern directors allow for characters to demonstrate the complexity that underpins their actions.

The cruel Maleficent who poisoned Sleeping Beauty was given an entire film to explain the seed the sprouted her great evil.

Modern viewers are now offered a look in, a fly-on-the-wall view of the moment that changed it all. This is truer than ever with the newest series to hit Aussie shores. Good Behaviour.

Good Behaviour, which is currently offered on Stan (download a free trial and thank me in 30 days), follows the story of charismatic con-artist, Letty Dobesh.

Dobesh is presented as the kind of anti-hero whose good and bad deeds only deepen the further you follow her story. She is good, she is bad but most of all: she is realistic.

It was about time television began portraying the often murky waters that surround our behaviour. And it was about time they began portraying us.

Because women, like men, can be good, they can be bad and they can be bloody good bad too.