Girls, Girls, Girls!

Better late than never, eh? Okay, off we go.

Definitely Sara Pezzini. Not comic Pez, but TV Pez. Sara falls in my formidable female category for several reasons. Gotta disagree with my darling's assesment of her as a cop with a rock on her wrist. Sara rose to every occasion extraordinarily. She took hit after hit after hit, had her life turned upside down by the Witchblade, and did what she had to anyway. In spite of fear, anger, pain, and loss of so many dear to her, (beautifully portrayed by Yancy Butler, by the way), she did what she had to to fulfill the calling given to her. She made mistakes along the way, yes, but never gave up or lost herself. A true hero.

Lilah Morgan. Femme Fatale. Extraordinarily sexy, charming, evil, and juuust human enough to make you adore her. Her additude was: "This is me, warts and all. Love me." And we did. The vulnerability that was always just under the surface made her even better. She knew what she wanted, she knew what she had to do to get it, and she did it unhesitatingly, shoving aside any and all doubts.

Darla. Formidable Female. Watching the evolution of Darla's character over the years made her one of Joss' best characters. Finding out that Darla was a nice girl with a bad lot in life as a human added wonderful dimension to the character, because you knew that that girl was still lurking in there somewhere. That girl peeked through here and there from the very beginning. When she said "Loving someone who used to love you.", the pain was there, behind the mockery and confidence. Watching that girl emerge over time: when W and H brought her back as a terminally ill human, when she was unwillingly returned to her vampire self, during her pregnancy, and appearing to a conflicted teenage Connor, made her one of the greatest Whedonverse ladies.

Aaaand the Buffster. Of course. If you know my Buffy obsession, you knew she was going to be here. But honestly, I debated putting her in as a formidable female. But you know, I really think she deserves it. Buffy was flawed. She screwed up, she got overwhelmed, she was nearly broken at times. But she never failed to shoulder her burden and keep on. I know many people didn't like her in the later seasons. Heck, I wasn't too fond of her at times. But I could usually see where she was coming from. Take the travesty that was season six. She was in a horrible emotional place - mired in the most destructive relationship ever, working a rotten job to keep a roof over her head, suddenly a twenty year old mother to a teenager, watching her best friend spiral out of control, and every moment of her existence sheer physical torture. (She said it herself: this is hell.) Any one of those things would have been terribly difficult alone. But top those with the wrenching loss of the peace and rest she had earned, combined with the burden of being the one girl in all the world, and you've got a recipe for bridge-jumping. But she toiled on, dealing as best she was able. Like I said, she didn't always get it right. But she didn't quit. Formidable. And heroic. She deserves a place on the list.

Girls, Girls, Girls!