Inventing Anna: Vivian's 10 Best Quotes | Screen Rant
Content Warning: The following article contains spoilers for the series Inventing Anna.
The persistent, intelligent, and sometimes humorous journalist in Inventing Anna has unsurprisingly said unforgettable lines in the miniseries. Fans may not always agree with Vivian Kent’s actions or understand her more controversial decisions, but there’s no denying that she is one of the best characters in the show.
From her gut-busting realization about not being special to her dramatic insistence on finishing her story, the best quotes from Vivian often perfectly capture her strong personality and motivations. They reveal a lot about how tremendously difficult it is for her to deal with the tumultuous period in her life depicted in the series.
After Vivian makes a horrible mistake by skipping out on a scheduled visit with Anna, the protagonist angrily tells her that “being pregnant” is a terrible excuse to not see her, as “people have babies everyday” and “they squat in fields.” She ends the reprimand by reminding Vivian that she is “not special.”
Fast forward to Vivian’s challenging delivery, and that funny quote is what Todd paraphrases when she needs extra support. It’s a weird choice to motivate someone who’s giving birth, but it does result in a gut-busting scene where Vivian screams that she’s “not special” as she pushes harder to safely deliver her child.
One of the most contentious parts of Vivian’s story arc is how she arguably endangers herself and her unborn child by pushing her limits to publish the story about Anna. When Jack reminds her about how they’re at “zero dark baby” – just two days before the delivery – Vivian isn’t bothered by the fact that they’re “not ready.”
She needs “to finish” the story to feel like she won. Fans know at that point that she likely means it’s her way of winning over a problem that’s out of her control, and the controversial news story about her bad journalistic practices continues to spread in the industry.
Fans get their first glimpse at Vivian’s rocky relationship with her editor, Paul, when they have a heated confrontation in Landon’s office about which story the journalist should be focusing on. Vivian wants to pursue the Anna Delvey feature, but Paul insists on her writing a #MeToo story.
Things escalate and he asks her what she could “possibly have against the women of Wall Street proclaiming #MeToo.” Her clever response highlights her priorities as a journalist, as she understands that her editor is masking his goal of maximizing readership by making his idea sound nobler than hers.
Vivian decides that the easy way isn’t working during her attempts to convince Anna to give her an exclusive interview. After finding out what the protagonist wants from her closest friend, Neff, the journalist doesn’t mince words during their next meeting.
She reminds Anna that everyone will be calling her a “dumb socialite forever” if she doesn’t speak out from her perspective. It’s the determination and sternness in her voice as she says she’s not Anna’s friend and that she can give her what she wants that likely convinces the fraudster soon after.
An emotional scene in the hospital reveals just how scared Vivian is about all the chaotic things that are happening in her life. Viewers don’t really know what she’s talking about specifically at that moment, although it’s obviously related to her career.
Jack is understandably distressed by his wife’s reaction to what is supposed to be “one of the best moments” of his life, but once he sees how upset she is, he quickly backtracks and lets her vent. It’s a heartbreaking quote that represents the central issue Vivian has to deal with while working on Anna’s story.
Since it’s Vivian’s first pregnancy, she’s still discovering both the joys and pains that come with it. Jack is also just as clueless as she is, and nothing he does seems to help ease the sudden pangs that occasionally torment the journalist.
At one point, Vivian details in a comical way how the pain of the child kicking is like someone is climbing “to the top” of her organs and using a “little machete” to hack away at her “will to live.” It’s certainly a creative way of describing the experience, and Jack’s weak response only gets him in trouble.
The worst thing to happen in Vivian’s life occurs before the events in the miniseries take place. Fans get a vague idea about what it is when she becomes stressed out about a fight with her editor, Paul.
Later in bed, Jack suggests that she “take the year off, have a baby, and then get back out there and look for a job.” Vivian reminds her husband that “Google never forgets,” a statement which, judging by how he quickly repeats it, she has said several times before. It’s a significant line that hints at the possibility that whatever occurred was major enough to be recorded on the search engine.
It becomes apparent that Anna’s words are rubbing off on Vivian when she reacts to Jack’s comment about Alan being a “poor fool” with hostility. She echoes the fraudster’s words by saying that “they basically promoted him” and that there are “zero consequences for these men.”
It’s a loaded statement that could also be referring to how Paul never paid for his role in the downfall of Vivian’s career. Anna’s explanation of why he deserved what he got arguably inspired Vivian to eventually confront her editor about what went down between them.
One of the best parts of Vivian’s story arc happens when she finally musters up enough courage to stand up to Paul. The scene sheds more light on the editor’s role in the controversy surrounding Vivian’s career as a journalist.
Since Paul has been convincing Vivian to appear in an interview to “set the record straight,” she brilliantly uses his own words against him by telling him to do it himself and explain how he threw her “under the bus.” Paul barely manages to mutter how he “never meant to” before Vivian boldly interrupts by reminding him that he “made a choice to hurt” her. It’s likely the first time she has confronted him about it, and she does it in an admirable and brave way.
Vivian’s last desperate attempt at convincing Anna to take a plea deal fails miserably, even though she reveals how she knows the truth about her parents. When she tells the con artist that she can “do something new,” Anna (at least for a moment) looks like she’s seriously considering – she even asks the journalist what she means.
“Kill Anna Delvey” are the powerful words Vivian utters, which takes the protagonist by surprise. She soon regains her composure and decides to go right back to pretending and fighting her losing battle in court. It’s a deeply emotional conversation that underscores just how lost Anna has become in her own pretense.