Simpson — who appears in a black-and-white striped jail uniform, a World Star Hip-Hop logo hanging over her image — is a far cry from Villanelle’s glamorous psycho. But as she watched Simpson’s story of how she locked a man in her basement, tortured and killed him, Waller-Bridge spied “gold dust.”

Waller-Bridge had been trying to access the inner workings of Villanelle’s mind, and she found a key in Simpson. When Simpson boasts about the murder, “she sounds more like a psycho than anyone has ever sounded,” Waller-Bridge said.

But when she thinks the camera is off, she erupts exuberantly at her performance. Simpson beams at the camera crew and says: “That’s going to be wicked! Make it look good, please!” All of a sudden, as Waller-Bridge put it, “she sounds so girlie.” The look of the affectless psychopath is just one costume Simpson assumes, and she becomes giddy with pride when she wears it well.

The ‘My Favorite Murder’ Podcast