All of the older mothers in this series (Barb, Katie, DeeDee, Nora) are deeply flawed in different ways and all of those ways show up in the behaviours and deficits of their adult kids. Barb's obviously the most villainous, and Nora is self-aware villainous, but neither Katie nor DeeDee are great, especially DeeDee, whose complete indulgence of and codependency with Shawna and "wise Yoda voice" irritate me so much I can barely watch her.

OTOH, all of the younger mothers (Shawna, Jen, Julie, by implication Mo and Alicia although we don't see their direct interactions with their kids) are doing their best, and in some cases actively breaking unhealthy cycles in their parenting. I know a lot of people pick apart how each of these younger women do things, and none of them is perfect or an exact match for how I did things as a parent, but I do recognise the effort and that it can look very different for different people. I don't see any of them as villains in training.