I don't get what makes Lilah "difficult" and I notice that women who are good at their careers and have their own opinions are frequently labelled difficult. I will agree that it would difficult to be in a relationship (of any kind) with Lilah if you didn't understand/respect/like that she was evil and ambitious, but she herself seems actually not-difficult. Do your job well; don't fault her for doing her job well - what more could you want from someone? Maybe this is my over-valuation of competence and forthrightness, but she seems anti-difficult to me. Perhaps her relationship with Wesley was difficult to him, but as she said in STB, that's really his issue.
As to the woobification, I don't know where that line is. I like the character, but I try not to excuse the evil things she's done. I'm sure there is some amount of woobification whenever you like a character, whenever that character is your main POV, but I don't go around saying "Poor Lilah, she didn't mean to be evil!" because she absolutely did. It's hard for me to work this out. She intended to do evil but was at least honest about it. Angel and his gang meant to do good, but fucked it up all the time and sometimes did some evil stuff. Does that make them better than her? I know I *like* her better than most of them, but I can't claim that she doesn't deserve some kind of punishment for her sins (in the morality of that universe at least. Personally I don't buy the whole Hell thing at all). I can't stand the moral self-righteousness that Angel used with her (I mean, he did lock lawyers in a wine cellar after all), but she was working for W&H, she did some bad, bad things. Maybe she's "difficult" because there's no unambiguous victim history in canon. A woman who's evil because she wants to be? That's hard for some to take.
This came out kind of rambly, sorry. I'm still trying to work through the Lilah and Lilah vs Angel morality issues.
It's okay; I think "difficult" is the label we put on women who don't like traditional feminine behaviors or value structures. I kind of use it ironically, because I value the fact that Lilah is clever, ambitious, and has more interest in getting a fair and balanced grip on the situation than anyone else on the show. I think she's funny, bright, and very talented.
I also think she's a cold-blooded killer who didn't feel a bit bad that Linwood had to die, and probably felt good about shooting Billy. And I don't know what I think about that, except that in the same situation she's in, under the same rationale, I might have done the same. I don't have the same interest in ultimate power as Lilah clearly does, though. I sympathize, as I've mentioned, with her being very angry about the man's world she lives in, but I'm not sure if her ends are worth it.
Lilah vs. Angel is tough, because Angel...really has no justification for damning Lilah. At all.
As to the woobification, I don't know where that line is. I like the character, but I try not to excuse the evil things she's done. I'm sure there is some amount of woobification whenever you like a character, whenever that character is your main POV, but I don't go around saying "Poor Lilah, she didn't mean to be evil!" because she absolutely did. It's hard for me to work this out. She intended to do evil but was at least honest about it. Angel and his gang meant to do good, but fucked it up all the time and sometimes did some evil stuff. Does that make them better than her? I know I *like* her better than most of them, but I can't claim that she doesn't deserve some kind of punishment for her sins (in the morality of that universe at least. Personally I don't buy the whole Hell thing at all). I can't stand the moral self-righteousness that Angel used with her (I mean, he did lock lawyers in a wine cellar after all), but she was working for W&H, she did some bad, bad things. Maybe she's "difficult" because there's no unambiguous victim history in canon. A woman who's evil because she wants to be? That's hard for some to take.
This came out kind of rambly, sorry. I'm still trying to work through the Lilah and Lilah vs Angel morality issues.
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I also think she's a cold-blooded killer who didn't feel a bit bad that Linwood had to die, and probably felt good about shooting Billy. And I don't know what I think about that, except that in the same situation she's in, under the same rationale, I might have done the same. I don't have the same interest in ultimate power as Lilah clearly does, though. I sympathize, as I've mentioned, with her being very angry about the man's world she lives in, but I'm not sure if her ends are worth it.
Lilah vs. Angel is tough, because Angel...really has no justification for damning Lilah. At all.
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