10 Great Female TV Characters Who Deserved Better

A huge number of amazing female TV characters are mistreated either by the story or the audience And not getting the inheritance they deserved. Some TV characters who completely divide their audience fall into this category, being women who tell empowering or nuanced stories but are poorly received because of double standards or one bad storyline. Audiences tend to be less accepting of flawed female characters, who are often expected to be better, while a male counterpart is the anti-hero.

Female characters are also the victims of “freezing” More often than male characters; This trope refers to when a character is killed off only to further another character’s storyline, with little attention paid to the tragedy of their death. Some of these fictional women are among the best television characters of all time who inspired or prompted discussion in a spectacular manner. While some of them constitute TV deaths that leave fans reeling, they often shouldn’t be killed in the first place when they have great additional story potential.

10

Rita Bennett (Julie Benz)

Dexter (2006-2013)

Rita’s brutal death in Dexter is often used as an example of freezing, as she is slaughtered by the Trinity Killer only to send Dexter down an even darker path in future seasons. Rita is one of the most vital characters in Dexter Because of how she represents a sense of normality and safety. She has her own storyline separate from Dexter, as a survivor of domestic abuse and a mother of three. However, what happens to her children after her murder is only a minimal storyline.

Rita’s death happens off screen; Dexter revealed her body in one of the most shocking television moments ever. Even if the writers decided that Rita’s death was absolutely necessary for the show thematically, They could have spent more time on Rita’s death to give her the exit she deserves. Perhaps waiting to kill her off until later in the series and giving her more screen time towards her end would have made her death more of a tragedy than the next step in Dexter’s arc.

9

Dr. Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein)

House (2004-2012)

The protagonist of House Is a selfish person who takes a lot of the audience and supports the attention of the character, which makes it difficult for anyone to get a word in edges. on the other hand, Dr. Lisa Cuddy is the epitome of professionalism, Handling a lot of the house’s antics with grace while being a really nice doctor and co-worker. Part of the problem with Cuddy’s sudden departure was that Lisa Edelstein did not renew her contract, but they could have given her a better exit.

Kady gets a lot of hate for breaking up with House because of his drug addiction, What she knew about going into the relationship (by Reddit). However, realizing that this will always be a problem or that she cannot live in a relationship on those terms is still a valid reason to leave. What’s most unfair is that Cady, a talented doctor in her own right, quit her job and moved to get out of the house after he drove a car into her living room. She deserved to at least get an exciting promotion from her exit.

8

Betty Draper (January Jones)

Mad Men (2007-2015)

Like Walter White, Don Draper is a product of the anti-hero genre blowing up in movies and television, with a wife held to higher standards than he. While Don is a rampant womanizer and abuses his employees and family, Betty is often attacked by the fandom. This is true when she is terrible for her children. However, audiences seem more likely to see Don as a flawed character and a product of his time who represents good storytelling than Betty.

for example, Don is notorious for his constant affairs, while Betty has one dalliance Before trying to leave her clearly failing marriage. If Don’s arc is supposed to be a commentary on the behavior of men in the 1960s, Betty’s can be interpreted as the dark side of the stay-at-home life expected of women, especially wives. Despite these reasons Betty is a strong addition to the cast of Crazy peoplePeople don’t tend to read into her story as much as other (male) characters.

7

Mandy McAllister (Emily Osment)

Young Sheldon (2017-2024)

Mandy quickly became a fan-favorite character among them Big Bang Theory fandom, And it’s easy to see why: she’s witty, brave and finds herself in difficult and real situations. She rises to the challenge of becoming a mother and has heartwarming stories as she bonds with Connie, the grandmother of her father’s baby, and works on her relationship with her own mother. Her popularity is evident when she is now set to lead a Young Sheldon Spinoff alongside Georgie. however, Young Sheldon Mandy is not as good as some people think.

First, she gets pregnant because Georgie lied to her about his age, something that could be difficult for her in the future if no employer does the math about her child’s age. Georgie realizes his mistake and does everything for Mandy during her pregnancy. However, the rest of her storyline is mostly about slowly falling in love with Georgie for real, when the show implies that their marriage isn’t going to last. Mandy gets one episode about pursuing a career after giving birth, which is never followed up Another bad broadcast edition.

6

Tracy McConnell (Christine Milioti)

How I Met Your Mother (2005-2014)

Tracy’s story is very human, about grief and learning to accept love again. Tracy had the life Ted wanted, finding the love of her life until she was 21 – until he was killed in an unspecified accident. for all time How I Met Your Mother Spends building up to Ted meeting Tracy, she has so many surprising depths When she finally arrived as a real character. She is shown to be just as hectic and lost as Ted, which makes their inevitable meeting and healing each other even more meaningful.

Of course, this is all competently redundant. Not only does Tracy only gets 10 years from her happy ending, dying before her kids are grown; This was only written as her story to enable Ted to get back together with Robin. The infamous How I Met Your Mother Finale insulted a lot of people but was especially wronged by Tracy. After all she’d been through, she deserved to be the nine-years-in-the-making moment everyone expected her to be—not tossed aside for Robin.

5

Tara McClay (Amber Benson)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)

Tara is a great character and an amazing girlfriend to Willow, with more insight into Willow’s darkest tendencies than anyone else. Tara tries to prevent Dark Willow from happening years before the fact, adding nuance to the relationship. however, Tara and Willow’s romance is mostly beautiful and happy, in addition to being an extremely groundbreaking LGBTQ+ representation for the time being. Although Tara is one of the biggest milestones in LGBTQ+ television characters, she is also an archetypal example of the “Bury Your Gay” trope.

Tara is accidentally killed by a bullet intended for Buffy, Sends Willow spiraling down a path of villainy and destruction. Tara’s death was hurtful only because she was a meaningful character and one half of an important relationship, however Buffy the Vampire Slayer Has also established at this point that resurrection is possible in its setting. Dark Willow (successfully) resorting to bringing Tara back and exploring the consequences of that would have had the same effect and allowed another change to give Tara her due.

4

Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke)

Game of Thrones (2011-2019)

Daenerys is the poster child of the botched Game of Thrones Finale, one of the biggest problems of which is how it handles the end of her arc. There is an argument that Danny was always going to be the one “Mad Queen,” Or that slotting in another unelected monarch or savior-conqueror isn’t the solution to all of Westeros’ problems. however, Danny as a character deserves a better-developed storyline to bring you to one of these conclusions, While the show has seemingly set you up for an unconditional victory.

Unfortunately, the Game of Thrones Finale rushes the conclusion to one of the most iconic TV characters of all time. for years, The audience fully bought into the ideology of Dany returning to Westeros to overthrow the corrupt government And make a better life for everyone. If this was a false dream all along, the character and the audience deserves the dignity of the show stating this more elegantly.

3

Lexi Branson (Arielle Kebbel)

The Vampire Diaries (2009-2017)

Lexi is a great character, and everyone forgiving Damon for killing her completely undermines how important she is to Stefan. Lexi is one of the toughest yet kindest characters on the show. She pulled Stefan out of some of the darkest parts of his vampire existence when he was overwhelmed by his thirst for human blood. Lexi is also a romantic with the truest outlook on romance for vampires, Giving advice like loving is even better for them and that their life is so long, it can be more than one “The one.”

Lexi’s life is still a mystery, as nothing is known about her past before meeting Stefan. Her unceremonious death is also insulting to her own great love, who turns out for one episode before she was talked into also forgiving Damon through Elena. Every time Lexi shows up The Vampire DiariesIt’s amazing because of how she transforms the episode With a rare kind of magic. However, she is a victim of an even worse version of Fridging: not only is she less important than a male character’s story, she is less important than her killer’s story.

2

Maggie Greene Rhee (Lauren Cohan)

The Walking Dead (2010-2022)

The Walking Dead Season 6 finale is already controversial, followed by Abraham and Glenn’s brutal murder at the hands of Negan, while Maggie is pregnant with Glenn’s child. After years of taking her family members, this is the biggest tragedy yet for Maggie. However, the show continues to treat her poorly because of her storyline with Negan that went on way too long. Negan is a TV character who does not deserve his redemption, However The Walking Dead Spends a lot of time on him doing heroic things to counteract his past actions.

However, that doesn’t mean Maggie has to be happy with him around. She summarizes this well enough in the walking dead Series finale. The franchise then pairs her with Negan in The Walking Dead: Dead City and emphasizes how well they work together. Maggie is one of the strongest characters in the show and has been through so much that the story should now let her have some peace, Instead of insulting her by acting like she owes something to her husband’s killer.

1

Skyler White (Anna Gunn)

Breaking Bad (2008-2013)

Skyler White is undeservedly one of the most controversial characters of all time, criticized for being the nagging wife to the anti-hero protagonist. When Skyler first recognizes Walt’s double life, it may not yet be entirely clear that he is the definitive villain of the story. Skyler does everything in her power to keep Walt out of her house And after that, to get him to stop cooking and selling meth – both completely reasonable actions in this situation.

When Skyler can’t accomplish any of these things, she’s pulled into Walt’s business and starts laundering his money, giving her some sort of hypocrisy. However, all critics overlook the fact that Skyler’s life was ruined one day, and she did her best to deal with an impossible, deadly problem. She is a well-written character who got a lot that she didn’t deserve in the story, but also in the real world with how she was received by the audience.

Source: Reddit