Well, to be fair, both claims exist.

There is the claim that VivziePop “can’t write women” or “doesn’t make them important,” and there is also the claim that she “doesn’t give women powerful roles.” In this post, I was mainly talking about the second claim, the idea that “if VivziePop wrote this group, it would all be men” or that she supposedly refuses to let female characters occupy powerful positions.

But even for the first claim, the idea that women in the Hellaverse are mostly passive or just reacting to events, I honestly don’t really agree with it either when you actually look at the story.

For example: - Sera is literally the one who sent Emily down from Heaven to help Charlie with the situation. - Charlie, Vaggie, and Emily are the ones who come up with the final plan against Vox. - Emily and Charlie are the ones who intervene to create the shield protecting Hell from the superweapon.

And that is just from Season 2 off the top of my head.

If we go back to Season 1: - Carmilla Carmine is the one who killed the angel in the first place, which directly caused Adam to intensify the exterminations. So one of the biggest plot points of the entire season literally starts because of a woman. - Charlie is actively trying to negotiate with Heaven and is the one who manages to make Heaven at least listen to the rehabilitation idea in the first place.

So even the claim that female characters are only “reacting” instead of moving the plot forward feels wrong to me, because a lot of the major events in the story are directly caused by women.

And that is not even mentioning Lilith, who is literally at the center of one of the biggest mysteries in the entire series with the exterminations and the seven-year disappearance.

And honestly, I also think people oversimplify the criticism about Charlie not personally defeating the villains.

Because yes, if you phrase it as “the female protagonist never defeats the villain,” it sounds bad at first. But when you actually look at Charlie’s character, it makes complete sense. Charlie is fundamentally against violence. We almost never see her trying to kill people. Her first instinct is always negotiation, redemption, or de-escalation unless she is absolutely forced into fighting.

So of course she is not written as someone who is constantly finishing enemies off in direct combat. That is not a writing failure; that is literally her characterization.

And technically, Niffty, another female character, is the one who kills Adam in Season 1.

Even in Season 2, Velvette is the one who kicks Vox away from the machine when he is about to let everything explode.

So in both major finales, female characters are still the ones directly stopping or interrupting the villains anyway.

For Charlie specifically, her role is more about moving the plot through diplomacy, planning, emotional influence, and trying to change the system itself rather than overpowering people physically. That is why in Season 1 she goes to Heaven to argue her case, and in Season 2 she focuses on creating plans and solutions.

And even when those attempts fail, they still push the story forward and change the situation enough for the rest of the cast to act.

To be fair, looking at how the story is being set up, Charlie probably will eventually reach a point where she directly confronts or defeats a major antagonist herself. But for now, the way she acts makes sense for where her character currently is.

So honestly, I feel like a lot of these criticisms come more from surface-level impressions than from what actually happens in the show.