10 TV Characters Who Deserved Better Than Their Shows Gave Them

Just like people in real life, some characters in the world of television are dealt better cards than others. There are some who are obviously the favorites of the creators, and there are others who stand out for the horrible storylines they got after being a great part of the show.

These were the characters that fans loved and enjoyed watching grow through the seasons only for the writers to put them through an impossible amount of trauma or simply ruin them completely before writing them off the show.

Callie Torres (Grey’s Anatomy)

Callie has been a beloved character on Grey’s Anatomy for years, before deciding to leave Seattle and start over in New York. But despite the welcome representation she brought to the small screens, Callie’s journey hasn’t been the easiest.

Of course, it can be argued that every single character on Grey’s has been through hell and back, but Callie’s storyline before they wrote her off was so horrible it left a bitter taste behind. Despite the fact that she and Arizona separated, one could never imagine she would try to take their daughter away from Arizona without giving it a second thought. It was simply not in character for Callie, and they did her character a huge disservice with the whole court proceedings storyline.

Lane Kim (Gilmore Girls)

Lane was another one of those characters loved by many. She was a loyal friend to Rory throughout the show, even when Rory didn’t always deserve it. Due to a strict upbringing, she was forced to live a double life – a devoted god-loving daughter at home and a musical rebel outside.

So it was so disappointing to fans when Lane didn’t get the storyline she deserved on Gilmore Girls. She didn’t make it big with her music, having all the adventures she always wanted. She settled down, married Zack, got pregnant right after getting married, and was forced to stay at home. She never got to do any of the things she wanted in life and it was not the treatment her character deserved.

Stiles Stilinski (Teen Wolf)

A loyal friend to the show lead of Teen Wolf, Stiles Stilinski was the best friend Scott ever could have asked for, risking his life and more to help him out. So seeing Stiles villainized not once but twice on the show was awful, and he deserved better.

Most fans would agree that his Void Stiles storyline was actually interesting, and Dylan O’Brien’s performance knocked it out of the park, but the storyline in a later season when Stiles kills someone in self-defense and is not believed by Scott was completely unnecessary and too heartbreaking to watch. After everything he’s been through because of the supernatural, Stiles deserved better from his friend and his TV-writing creators.

Mary, Queen Of Scots (Reign)

The lead of Reign, Mary, Queen of Scots, deserved better. Despite this show being rooted in historic events, which is understandable, it took some liberties with the storyline, and Mary’s journey was not the happiest one.

Being thrust into the world of royalty, she was constantly manipulated by the people she loved, was forced to endure trauma after trauma, and could never quite catch a break. The small number of happy scenes she got did nothing to compensate for all the trauma.

Michael Cordero (Jane The Virgin)

Though most fans were rooting for Jane to end up with Michael, that storyline was brought to an abrupt ending when the writers unnecessarily killed him off the show only to bring him back a season later. The plot twist? He was now a cowboy and didn’t remember anything, including Jane.

If the writers were intent on making Jane and Rafael the endgame of the show, Michael still didn’t deserve to be treated like this. The only reason they brought him back was to solidify Jane choosing Rafael over Michael because he was alive and Rafael was no longer the second choice.

Bonnie Bennett (The Vampire Diaries)

Bonnie Bennett from The Vampire Diaries was mistreated and used as a device by everyone around her for several seasons, forced to sacrifice herself and her well-being over and over. Not to mention that nobody even noticed she was dead for an entire summer.

When she finally found her happiness and everything she yearned for in Enzo, it was taken away for a dramatic effect to serve one of the main characters (again). Bonnie Bennett and the actress who portrayed her, Kat Graham, both deserved better by creators and everyone who mistreated them.

Logan Echolls (Veronica Mars)

After seasons of character development, Logan was finally left in a good place in the fan-funded movie they did after the series. He was in the army, he reconciled with the love of his life Veronica and life were mostly good after he managed to avoid murder charges.

But the revival of the show took all that away from Logan. So all the hard work he did, all the positive changes he made – none of it mattered. Because they killed him off for seemingly no good reason. They killed him off in the last episode of the revival, soon after he got married to Veronica, so they couldn’t even say the actor wanted to leave and they were forced to do that. A happy ending was something Logan deserved, and they couldn’t even give him that.

Buffy Summers (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)

The lead character who in the end, got abandoned by almost every single friend she had. Though Buffy’s storyline was somewhat realistic and her working at the fast-food restaurant to earn money was a nice touch — it was wild that she wasn’t paid anything for fighting evil — her life felt significantly miserable.

She had to take care of everyone, she couldn’t be with the man she loved, she had to sacrifice her entire life to fight demons, was painfully resurrected from the dead, and in the end they didn’t trust her. It felt like she deserved so much more from life, from her friends and her writers.

Spencer Reid (Criminal Minds)

For someone as gentle as Spencer Reid, he sure has been put through the wringer. He was kidnapped, tortured, dealt with PTSD and drug addiction, fell in love with someone who got murdered, his mother had schizophrenia and he constantly battled with the thought that he’d eventually develop it as well. And then he got kidnapped again by a cult.

Throughout Criminal Minds, fans could see most of the team find some sort of joy in their life, but Spencer couldn’t seem to. His happy moments were very disproportionate to his tragic ones, and one can’t help but think he deserved a little more. Not necessarily a partner, but some sort of accomplishment outside of his work that could make him happy after seeing the worst of humanity every day.

Meredith Grey (Grey’s Anatomy)

There are few characters on television who have gone through as many traumatic events as she has: the bomb incident, almost drowning, surviving a mass shooting, plane crash, death of her sister Lexi, just to name a few. She also had to go through the death of the love of her life, while being pregnant with his child.

It just seems that every time Meredith appears to have her feet on solid ground, something happens and knocks her over. Watching a lead character go through things is obviously the point of the show, but is there a point where it just becomes unrealistic? Meredith has been carrying this show for 18 seasons. Her shoulders must be tired and she deserves to sail away to some deserted island and never go through a trauma again.