L could never win on his own
recently rewatched death note with the roommates cuz one of them hadn't seen it before and ended up in a bit of a debate over the second half of the show. (spoilers ahead)
essentially the sides boiled down to the fact that after a rewatch i really appreciate the second half of death note (even tho its rushed and got some holes) bc i don't think L could have beat Light. and this isnt out of hatred for L. i LOVE L. to an insane degree. my roommate did not agree with this idea of L not being able to win tho.
basically the way i see it is there's a couple things against L winning:
hes too close to the case and the criminal, to the point where he considers the perpetrator a friend
he doesnt have all the cards in hand to solve the case
Light holds all the power. all of it.
for point one you gotta understand that i believe L is a bit more emotional than Near ends up being (a different convo is the split of L's personality between Mello and Near). he's so unused to having someone next to him or on the same level that he's a bit emotionally affected (as much as he might tell himself he's not) by potentially accusing someone who is his friend. he actually says this in the show: "that is, it would be a problem if you WERE Kira, because i feel you're the first friend ive ever had". he also explicitly states that the case not going his way makes him depressed and sort of ruins his ability to do things. there are limits to how logical L is. Near ends up being able to cut himself off from emotion a bit more because he's grown up with Mello and had to compensate for Mello's extreme emotional outbursts, imo. that's strike one against L being able to effectively solve this case.
point 2: L doesnt have all the cards and he knows it. he's not playing with a full deck, whereas Light has pretty much all the cards and all the information since he's both an investigator AND the villain. this is an interesting callback to one of the first meetings of Light and L where L gives Light 3 photographs and asks him to interpret them (then later revealing there were actually 4 photographs and Light should have known). idk if this counts as irony or just dramatic irony and foreshadowing but its definitely interesting.
this lack of cards leads to L having to take risks during the investigation that are life-and-death for him, whereas for Kira, most of the risks he takes can be solved by killing someone if it goes wrong, or manipulating a shinigami into doing something for him.
point 3: because L doesnt have all the cards, and Light has all the power, he stands no chance. Light can control people in death, he's also a master manipulator who has wrapped around his finger: 1) all his classmates and community, 2) his family, specifically his father, 3) the entire task force, 4) an entire news station and a good portion of the internet, 5) a literal GOD OF DEATH. TWO OF THEM. (Rem moreso than Ryuk but Ryuk is still manipulated a few times via apples and the promise of seeing more human action). 6) the Japanese police, 7) the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 8) the second Kira/Misa, 9) another unhinged Kira in Mikami, 10) a news anchor/woman who loves him? and later 11) basically all of Japan/the world. he can afford to take risks as his power grows. (this power and cockiness is eventually his downfall but he's held in check by the mental chess game with L.)
with all of this, L didnt stand a chance. but a lot of it was because of his unique situation and proximity to Light. Near and Mello, on the other hand, had outside distance from the case. they were wild cards that eventually ended up causing Light to break (partially because he saw too much of L in them).
so L could never win on his own. but it still took two geniuses to match his power, which i think is a testament to how cool L is as a character.
i dont think this is enough to convince my roommate but i figured i'd write it down anyway and yall can judge me
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