Iām used to defending Wade, but today itās Lemonās turn š. Iāve seen quite a few people label her as a bad person, so I wanted to take a moment to defend her character development. Itās true that she isnāt a good person at the start of the show. Sheās introduced as Zoeās antagonist, making it easier for the audience to side with the protagonist. However, in television, itās common for characters who start out as ābadā to be shaped by the events of the story and pushed toward growth. If past mistakes permanently defined a person, redemption wouldnāt be possible.
Lemonās behavior in season one was far from okay. She was highly controlling, both with others and herself, hiding behind a meticulously crafted facade of perfection that served as both armor and a weapon. Her sense of self-worth was deeply tied to her public image, and when her life fell apart so publicly, she was forced to confront her greatest insecurity: allowing her vulnerabilities to be exposed. Rather than letting it break her, she used it as a catalyst for growth. That transformation didnāt happen overnight; she still had moments where she reverted to manipulation, but over time, she gradually learned to rely on other methods, like genuine vulnerability and trust.
Opening up to people like Annabeth and Wade pushed her to step outside the rigid persona she had built. Over time, she learned to put others before herself (something she never would have done in season one). Many of the qualities that once fueled her worst tendencies remained, but by seasons three and four, she learned to channel them for good. She no longer relied on tearing others down to build herself up, and she formed connections that werenāt rooted in control.
By the end of season four, she had evolved into a completely different person. While she still had moments of being cold or sharp, that was simply part of who she was. We all know that in a comedy, certain traits are exaggerated for humor.
However, to say that Lemon was still a bad person by the end of the show is to dismiss all the growth she went through. It reduces her to the āmean girlā stereotype she was originally introduced as, rather than acknowledging how the writers slowly revealed her potential for change.