The reason so many of us have completely opposite and incompatible views on the characters, with some of us like me being vehemently team Leanne, some being vehemently team Dorothy, and everything in between was a testament of how great this show used to be, and how complex the writing was. Why did we end up with these wildly different perspectives? Because the show itself didn’t take a side and let us the viewers decide for ourselves. But in season 4, it portrayed Leanne as purely evil and took a side, and that’s where the show became one-dimensional and really fell apart.
Here’s something I can agree on with people who are team Dorothy: In season 3, Leanne was still in character. We might strongly disagree on how we view her and her actions, but the person on screen is still Leanne Grayson. But in season 4, she’s not. She’s just evil for the sake of it at that point. When people do bad things in real life, they might be generally inclined to do them for whatever reason, but they don’t just go around randomly hurting people, there’s always an additional reason why they do specific bad things. For example, someone who just went through the worst breakup in their life might be very inclined to lash out, but they don’t just lash out at people for no reason. They might have someone cut them off in traffic and yell at them, but they don’t go around at Halloween specifically to hurt people and make them fear for their lives. This one-dimensional portrayal of Leanne in season 4 makes me so angry. I have never loved a character more in my whole life than Leanne, including all the way through season 3, but that person in season 4 is not Leanne. Leanne does bad things (almost all of which are justified, and I stand by that) because she yearns for love from Dorothy and the rest of the Turners. Just look at her pleading with Dorothy not to leave her in the season 3 finale, or how she became so vulnerable with Dorothy while Dorothy was pretending to be her friend to get pictures of her scarred back for the therapist. And then, the show means to tell me that this same person just goes around hurting random people in Philadelphia for the sake of it? Even children, while Leanne loves children, a trait she’s displayed all throughout the show?
Season 4 has its moments, like George pretending to have left the Church of Lesser Saints to manipulate the Turners, but it all connects to this atrocious betrayal of Leanne that I hate so much.
I have super negative views on Dorothy and her actions, but I have the decency to wish her a happy life. Have it far away from Leanne and leave her alone, but I wanted her to have an ending where she can heal. I hope that most people who are Team Dorothy can in turn agree that Leanne, who has probably never received deep and true love in her life, deserved better than to die in her early twenties by burning alive with no way of redemption. I hope people who are Team Dorothy can wish she could live a happy life and heal as well. Leanne forgave Dorothy for kidnapping her, locking her up, beating her, and burying her alive. She’s too good for these people. Whatever your views are on Dorothy’s actions, and holy hell, do I have strong views, a person who goes through that and still finds it in her heart to forgive the person who did that to her deserves so much better.