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Transparent Evil
When the baddies no longer need to lie
You know that part of the film where the arch-villain gives up all pretence and reveals to the protagonist the entirety of the plot, including what comes next. Its an often used device that takes away your last remnant of hope leaving your emotions at the mercy of the director. In real life, of course, the realisation you are doomed rarely has an upside.
The main purpose of that device is to provide an opportunity to explain the plot that you’ve hopefully not figured out yet by using the villain as narrator without breaking the fourth wall. The inference is that the villain has nothing to lose by exposing his or her scheme (as it can’t conceivably be thwarted by the protagonist) with the added delight of narrating the protagonist’s forthcoming demise as a sadistic form of mental torture.
Its at this point that lies have no purpose because there is nothing to be gained by hiding the truth. Even an evil genius loves the truth, especially the truth as he sees it. Truth has no virtue, its simply a domain where lies have no currency. In the case of the arch-villain there are really only two options that make any sense: to leave the victim ignorant or spell out the truth. He may as well lie to the wall.
