adding what i contributed to this in a reddit comment:
Charlie’s a heavily neurodiverse-coded woman who’s been sheltered and isolated for much of her life. She has an abandonment complex over her parents split, her mother leaving, and her father pushing her away. She wants to prove herself to a Hell that ridicules her for being pacifistic and optimistic, and feels the weight of living up to expectations her mother put on her. She craves connection but her ND-coded struggles with empathy can throw a spanner in the works. Repressing her own mental health and traumas while trying to push through with being a therapist, redeeming any of the sinners in her care, and proving herself to her naysayers means she unintentionally overlooks others or hyperfixates on the “priority” issue. Having been entirely alone and unsupported for around 4 years, it’s no wonder she’s used to trying to go it alone when she does things, and why she reacts so badly when Vaggi pushes back against her way of doing things for the first time. As of the end of Season 2, a lot of her mental health stuff is left unaddressed (likely for Lilith’s return to unravel), but Charlie has learned some humility, to be more open to letting her trusted found fam handle things, and ceded some of the Hotel-running responsibilities to her girlfriend
Vaggi‘s a former soldier, and it’s heavily insinuated she was created (as an adult) for the sole purpose of being an exorcist no more than 7 years ago, which is obviously going to mess someone up if they literally don’t have a childhood. Yet she had an innate sense of empathy and morality. She realised she was taking part in a genocide with no one else prompting her, and chose to stop of her own accord. With her military indoctrination and the trauma of being mutilated and cast out, it’s no wonder she imprints on and latches onto Charlie for being maybe the first person to show her unconditional empathy and care. Her self-loathing over her past as an Exorcist, and shame for lying to Charlie about her past, prompts her to put her entire self-worth into her ability to serve and protect Charlie, particularly with making redemption happen which she sees as making up for all the sinners she killed. Her codependency has also made her passive when she critiques Charlie‘s ideas and strategies – and the first time she does actually stand up and call her girlfriend out, Charlie’s bitterly shunning response causes Vaggi to throw herself even harder into proving herself by running the Hotel. Embracing her love for Charlie instead of stewing in hating herself has helped Vaggi heal from some of her trauma and given her her wings back, reclaiming how her name is both pronounced and spelt has given her a stronger sense of identity, and Charlie trusting her with the duties of managing the Hotel is indicative of her improved self worth.
Millie is an overlooked elder child who seems to have been treated as either “too much” (her neighbourhood kill count) or “not enough“ (her leaving home to do ‘freelance’ assassination work). She internalised the prejudices against imps owning businesses or being successful in work “above their station”. But meeting Blitzø and becoming part of I.M.P. showed her those prejudices were wrong, and gave her a much better sense of self esteem + did good things for her emotional and mental health. Meeting Moxxie, someone who loves her for who she is, is also incredibly important to her, and we see that it troubles her when he doesn’t tell her about his abusive family past, and especially when he prioritises his own self esteem over hers in Unhappy Campers. She is liable to get lost in her emotions (bloodlust, regular lust, and anger), and being the most detached about killing clients while Blitzø, Moxxie, and Loona have had moral epiphanies is gonna cause conflict in the future. With her pregnancy, it throws into jeopardy the very physically demanding job she’s had and considers so important to her self esteem – will she have to go back to her family and face ‘i told you so‘s or more criticism for her choice of husband and job, plus more pressure to conform to traditions that she felt stifled by or unable to live up to? will she confront her flippancy about killing kids and families? there’s a lot going for her.
Loona shares a lot of traumas with Blitzø – abandonment at the Hellhound adoption centre; being overlooked, ignored, and blamed for things that were others’ faults (e.g. her attacking other hellhounds who were already being aggressive towards her); being told she was a lost cause. While Blitzø does try to give her the care and attention his inner child would‘ve wanted, Loona does grate under how just how overbearing Blitz can be when he treats her like she isn’t a capable adult in her 20s. Like with Vaggi, she reacts badly to Blitzø’s attempt to criticise her/discipline her in Seeing Stars, and like Charlie she is isolated and a social pariah. However she has very high emotional intelligence, builds a secure circle of friends outside of work, is capable of caring when she considers it safe to be vulnerable (e.g. with Octavia in Seeing Stars, or taking care of Blitz at the end of Queen Bee), and when she’s confronted with nearly losing her adoptive father, suddenly is much more willing to show that vulnerability and open care and love. Her repeated calling Moxxie ‘fat’ seems to be symbolic of other traumas that haven’t been explored yet, and the mission in It’s Orphan Time shows she still has issues around the circumstances of her adoption and seeking care and validation from parental-ish figures
These characters are as deep as their male counterparts. People just don’t look for the depth in the same way they do for male characters.
and I think that says a lot about how widespread and engrained systemic misogyny is, and how these people project and/or scapegoat to avoid self-reflection.
