15 Female Characters on The CW Who Deserve(d) Better

With the resurgence of women power and equality, it’s becoming more and more apparent for general audiences to notice when female characters are misused.

This post acts to highlight the women on some of our favorite TV shows from The CW who had the capacity for greatness and positive representation but were instead hindered by plot, a protagonist’s pain, or simple carelessness. I hope you enjoy the GIFs of each exceptional woman as you read how the writing for their characters eventually fell short. Let’s cut the niceties and get started, shall we?

1. Laurel Lance (Arrow)

I’m sure the first entry serves as no surprise to anyone who has watched Arrow and isn’t blinded by ship-fueled hatred. This character started out with amazing hand-to-hand skills, reasonably explained as self-defense her cop father put her through.

However, during Season 3, all of those skills completely vanished and she started from square one, she was constantly berated and insulted by everyone on the team (except Felicity), and after years of hard work and dedication, when she finally settled into herself and became an amazing fighter and ADA (almost DA), she was killed off in order to make Oliver cry.

Not only that, but she was killed… by a blood clot. To make matters worse, as she died, her last words were self-deprecating and propped the relationship between Felicity and Oliver to further a plot that presumably only her dying words could satisfy. I mean… really?

2. Lexa Commander of the Woods Clan (The 100)

Also, unsurprisingly, Lexa from The 100 is on this list. However, it’s not because her characterization was written badly or because she didn’t have enough screen time. Nope. Those were fine for her character — actually superb.

She was written to be a strong commander that united the 12 clans to fight against the feared Mount Weather. She was so important; her absence would have surely led to the end of the Coalition.

Yet, all of that greatness and strength was ended by accident for the protagonist’s woman-pain. Yes, she was temporarily brought back for an epic fight (illustrated in the gif above), but that still doesn’t take away the sting of not only losing a strong and smart female warrior but one that acted as the much-needed representation for the LGBTQIA community in television.

3. Bonnie Bennett (The Vampire Diaries)

The Bonnie Bennet, one of the strongest witches to ever harness magic, was used as nothing but a plot vehicle for most of The Vampire Diaries.

Her grams died so Damon could verify Katherine didn’t return his obsession. She died to bring Jeremy Gilbert back so Elena wouldn’t suffer. She was linked to Elena so she could go to sleep for a season or two.

She was banished to the prison world for Damon’s own character development (because Elena sure didn’t help in that department), and she let Kai attack her so Delena could be reestablished. Her mother became a vampire because we needed a reminder just how disgusting Damon is, and the love of her life was murdered because Stefan needed a reason to want to commit suicide.

This strong, incredibly caring, and powerful woman deserved to be more than a simple chess piece.

4. Cami O’Connell (The Originals)

Most of Cami’s negative treatment came during Season 3. She was murdered not once, but twice, for Klaus’s man-pain. Cami was never really a favorite character for me, but not even I could look past the callous treatment of her character in her last season.

She was led by “love” to be a part of a dangerous game, in which she had no way of surviving. So (of course) she was compelled to commit suicide when she believed Klaus loved her. This lead to the drawn out, fateful decision to become a vampire, but this only lead to getting bitten by Klaus’s sireling to piss the former off.

Cami was given a perceived sense of agency and choice in the last season, but she was reduced to a simple pawn. Although her last death scenes were sweet and heart-breaking, the events that lead to it were ugly.

5. Kara Danvers (Supergirl)

Supergirl’s mistreatment can all be tied to one person: Mon-El. It’s a common trope of female character misuse, but usually in shows led by males. It’s sad Kara is on this list because her show is supposed to be solely about her and her growth as a hero and woman. And yet, here we are.

This super woman has had to accept scraps of decency from Mon-El and call it love. She was deemed the fixer and Mon-El the fixer-upper. This trope is dangerous because it puts another person’s issues on Kara and makes it her job to fix him like he can’t just want to be a good person to be a good person.

It also sets up a toxic, parasitic relationship and presents it to young girls as something to look forward to. Supergirl deserved better in the last season; she deserved someone who recognized her worth and treated her as the amazing person that she is.

6. Kendra Saunders (Legends of Tomorrow)

Kendra started off promising in The Flash. The show gave her the nuance of being a simple barista, but also a thousand-year-old war goddess who was the only thing standing in between peace and Vandal Savage’s world domination.

Things were great in the cross-overs and we were beginning to see her grow. They even started well when she moved to Legends of Tomorrow, and her arc became fighting against the age-old reincarnation curse to figure out who she wanted to be.

Instead, her character arc twisted into some contrived love triangle that made her too dependent on both men to keep growing as an individual. Then at the end, she decides to be with the man the age-old reincarnation curse chose her to be with after randomly missing what an arrogant and oppressive person he was.

Although she wasn’t as prominent a character as Supergirl was on her show, this devalued character definitely deserved better.

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