17 Favorite Female TV Characters from 2016
7. Helena (Orphan Black)
Season after season the Project Leda clones on Orphan Black face some really difficult challenges, but Helena was a standout in Season 4.
Pregnant and living with one of her “sestras” Helena starts the season excited to be a mom and quickly realizes that she’s causing Alison pain, so she leaves.
We don’t hear from her again until later in the season, but when she returns, she saves Alison and her family from a home invasion of neolutionists.
This isn’t even the first time Helena has done this! In the second season she saved Sarah from what I can only imagine was a very unpleasant gutting.What is significant here, is that this is the first time she’s been recognized for it. Alison thanks Helena and even says that she would give her life for “that sweet girl.”
8. Hanna Marin (Pretty Little Liars)
Hanna Marin has some chops and it shows in the 2016 episodes of Pretty Little Liars.
In Season 6, Hanna shows remarkable courage when she offers herself up as bait to the new A and confesses to a murder she didn’t commit.
Let’s admit it, The Liars aren’t known for taking action. Seeing one of them make a plan and execute it showed strength on Hanna’s part, and we personally can’t wait to see what happens with Hanna in the final episodes.
9. Poussey (Orange is the New Black)
Perhaps the most heartbreaking character to put on this list is Poussey from Orange is the New Black.
While everyone else was fighting with each other during Season 4 Poussey and Brook were starting to imagine life after Litchfield. Poussey even went to Judy King to see about getting a job after she got out of prison.
Then the peaceful protest happened and she died because of an untrained guard. While a lot of characters showed growths and shifts in their narratives, Poussey’s absence is profound and it will probably be felt in the new season.
10. Patterson (Blindspot)
The Blindspot team would be in trouble without a certain blonde genius behind the curtain. Patterson has saved Team Weller’s bacon time and time again, from helping them land a plane, to finding a Harry Potter reference in a criminal’s death story. (Not cool dude! Not cool!)
Time and time again, she’s the reason the team has survived. No wonder we still don’t know her first name.
11. Meredith Grey (Grey’s Anatomy)
After over a decade Grey’s Anatomy is still teasing out bits of Meredith’s storyline. The dark and twisty main character is proving she still has a story in her own right after losing her husband in Season 11.
On the Season 13 episode, “The Room Where It Happens” we get to see a bit about what Meredith went through with her children at Dillard Medical Center.
We never got to see this moment when Derek died in Season 11, but it pays off now. Grey’s Anatomy still has most of Season 13 to go, but we’re looking forward to seeing the doctors work together and we’re particularly looking forward to seeing how Meredith grows.
12. Gretchen Cutler (You’re the Worst)
You know that things are getting great for female characters, when a female character can be completely awful and you still love her. Gretchen in You’re the Worst is one such character.
You’re the Worst has a history of taking the romantic sitcom into places it wouldn’t typically go. Gretchen is a character who suffers from depression and she’s been on an upswing this season.
Season 3 starts with her looking for a therapist, taking responsibility for herself, and realizing that there are other people she cares about.
For a character who sees being “normal” as a dirty word that’s a big step.
Lauren Busser
Lauren Busser is an Associate Editor at Tell-Tale TV. She is a writer of fiction and nonfiction whose work has appeared in Bitch Media, Popshot Quarterly, Brain Mill Press Voices, and The Hartford Courant.
10 comments
You mean Clarke”My people´s doormat” Griffin, Oh yeah she had such a development this year!, like they didn´t completly screw a character that showed so much potential on season 2, just so people wouldn´t judge the rest of the characters that were from Arkadia.
Even Stephen King complained about her apologizing to everyone all the time (even though it would be almost everyone else that should’ve been apologizing to her lol).
If with the “was under the control of an A.I.” you were referring to Lexa, you definitely didn’t watch the show I’m afraid. In case it wasn’t clear for some of the viewers, the show specified it TWICE, with the voice of two different characters (first Titus and then Lexa) that it was not like that. The chip only enhanced what was already inside of Lexa. It didn’t control her in any way. But anyone who watched the show would know this…
If you didn’t refer to Lexa, sorry, but if you did, please get your fact straight before writing an actual article, because otherwise you’re make the entire site look unprofessional ^_^
Umm, you do know that Lexa was not under the control of an AI, right? If you are going to write an article at least do your research before smearing a character that meant a lot to so many people.
Lexa was not under the control of an AI! You should do your research better or watch the show itself. It literally said in the show A COUPLE OF TIME THAT LEXA WASN’T UNDER THE CONTROL OF A.L.I.E. If you don’t like a character you can just say so and not make up a stupid excuse.
I’m sorry, but the article has nothing to do with Lexa. The character was dead long before Raven,Abby etc. were under the control of the AI. That’s the point Lauren is making. She is using “characters” in a broader sense of the word. She is not attacking Lexa or what she stood for. I find it funny that you are engaging in girl on girl hate, which is exactly what Marcia Clark faced. I applaud your enthusiasm for Lexa and her storyline; and while I am all for gay and bisexual storylines, I am not sure a plot driven show is the place for you.
Nonsense! How about Lexa?
She is the most favorite character in show!!!
And you forget about Commander!
It’s not fair!
Sclerosis?
Not everyone likes Lexa though. Myself included.
Love seeing Clarke Griffin on this list! She is such a great character.
The comments under this article show two things:
1. Clexa fans (or at least a good majority of them) don’t really care about Clarke, otherwise they would be happy that at least she made the list, not be mad that Lexa didn’t. Newsflash, whether you like it or not, Lexa was a side character, Clarke was the lead.
The writers put everyone else on the sidelines in 3A to squeeze Clexa in, and made Lexa the spotlight (even compared to Clarke), but that doesn’t change the fact that technically Lexa was never the main.
2. All they see (and care about) is Lexa, which connects to point 1. If you really watched the rest of the show, you’d know, that Raven was possessed by Alie. But of course you’d know that if you watched past 307.
Comments are closed.