Aubrey Plaza Is an Amazing Creep Who Deserves an Award

Ever since Aubrey Plaza made her debut in Donald Glover’s Mystery Team, she’s embraced the world of deadpan weirdos. It was a characterization Plaza, with her monotone voice and perpetually bored demeanor, was practically born to capture, and it was one that she perfected during her time on Parks and Recreation. But over the past few years, Plaza has quietly been broadening her arsenal of creeps. Anyone can be weird, but only Plaza can construct a hero who is unquestionably dangerous, unhinged, and yet so human and relatable, it’s impossible not to fall for her trap every time.

Plaza’s deep and creepy characters really started with 2014’s Life After Beth. The comedy saw Plaza playing the titular Beth, a young woman who dies and becomes a zombie, to her boyfriend’s horror. Life After Beth had all the gags one would expect from a zombie rom-com movie about a breakup. At one point her boyfriend tries to repair his relationship with Beth, only to find her eating a bystander. But Plaza’s Beth was more than a scary movie punchline. She was a manic monster whose flailing attacks against her boyfriend, parents, and strangers were really attacks against death itself. In between biting off fingers and being chained to a stove, Plaza’s Beth captured and expanded on the fleeting final moments of a person’s consciousness that are typically glossed over when it comes to narratives about zombies.

The actress dove into black comedy again with 2017’s Ingrid Goes West. Despite its sunny backdrops and love of Instagram, Ingrid Goes West plays out like a deeply disturbing modern day horror story. Plaza’s Ingrid embodies a threat that’s so realistic it’s uncomfortable to watch — an obsessive fan of a social media star. In the movie’s final moments, you completely understand why Elizabeth Olsen’s Taylor wants nothing to do with the woman who has stalked, tormented, and lied to her for weeks. Ingrid is a monster. But underneath her social media terrorism, Plaza channels Ingrid’s rasping scream for attention. Taylor knows better than to go back to the toxic fan who traveled across the country to lie to her, but if she went back to Ingrid, it would be understandable. There’s magnetism lurking beneath Ingrid’s pervasive insecurity, so much so that when Ingrid finally develops a social media following of her own, it feels ominous. Ingrid Goes West is one of the few movies that can have a satisfying conclusion that feels somewhere between a happy ending and the beginning of a cult movement.

And then there’s the role that should have already landed Plaza an Emmy nomination — Legion‘s Lenny. I could write a novel about the overwhelming beauty and emotional complexity of this underrated show, but the lack of recognition Plaza received after Season 1 feels like its biggest snub. Just executing this character feels like an acting feat in itself. Lenny was written to be a middle-aged man who’s best friends with David (Dan Stevens). Instead, show creator Noah Hawley gave this disturbing, nefarious, hulking role to Plaza, a tiny young woman. Lenny exists somewhere between reality, David’s inner turmoil, and under his mutant arch rival’s command. From minute to minute, you never really know whether she’s a friend or the backstabbing foe who’s going to destroy David’s universe. The fact that Plaza was able to makes sense of this role is impressive in and of itself. That she’s slowly turned Lenny into one of the most engaging and sickeningly addictive characters on television is awards worthy.

It’s the way Plaza plays Lenny that makes this character so remarkable. There’s a wide-eyed danger to her every move, but there are also layers of sensuality. Plaza’s Lenny makes blowing up the universe seem like a fun thing to do when you’re bored. Yet underneath her enticing destruction, there’s an insecure whimper: Lenny screams, because it’s too difficult for her to whisper. The second you feel that flicker, you’re yanked further into her trap.

The history of television and cinema has been filled with countless creeps with ill intentions — Norman Bates, Patrick Bateman, and Annie Wilkes all come to mind. But no actor can transform their disturbing weirdos into genuinely compelling and sympathetic honey pots quite like Aubrey Plaza.

Where to stream Legion