12 Movie & TV Moms Who Deserved So Much Better

Pop culture has not always been kind to moms. The women we’ve seen on our screens have been depicted as everything from cold and controlling to too absent to too present to just... sort of annoying. But if we’re really being honest, a lot of these women were just doing what all moms do: their best. Through exhaustion. Through annoyance. Through partners who couldn’t be bothered to do a damn thing. These “bad mom” characters often carry the emotional weight of the entire household — and, sometimes, the whole plot.

So, let’s kick off the official apology tour. Here’s a tribute to some of the movie and TV moms who didn’t deserve to be misunderstood, dismissed, or downright villainized.

Joyce Byers & Karen Wheeler, Stranger Things

OK, we’re starting off with a two-fer, so sue me. Joyce was a single mom working hard to support her two sons when one of them went missing. And in trying to rescue Will from another dimension, she gets gaslit and bagged on by the whole town. Karen was considered a bored, perhaps even vapid, housewife — until she came through in a major way in Season 5 and earned the title of “Karen Fucking Wheeler.” These Hawkins’ moms didn’t get their flowers until the end of the series, and they *still* deserve more credit.

Queen Ramonda, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Angela Bassett, the woman that you are! Queen Ramonda was a fierce protector, grieving mother, devoted ruler of a nation... and got killed off mid-film. I understand her death served as a catalyst that moved the plot forward, but damn. She carried the emotional weight of the MCU for a minute there and didn’t live long enough to really get her due.

Miranda Hillard, Mrs. Doubtfire

Listen, this is a hill(ard?) I’ll die on: Miranda was not the problem in this marriage. Everyone villainized her for leaving Daniel and moving on... from a man who brought a f*cking petting zoo into her house and literally impersonated a nanny to secretly live with their family.

Jackie, Stepmom

Susan Sarandon’s character may have had a few petty moments in this 1998 tearjerker, but she was trying to accept that another woman would soon be raising her kids as she was dying of cancer. She gets a pass for a little pettiness! Besides, even typecast as the ex, she ultimately does give her blessing, and honestly, the emotional labor it must have taken to get there was saint-level.

Emily Byrne, Absentia

Oof, I recently binge-watched this series, and what do you mean this was the way she was treated?! This woman was kidnapped, tortured, presumed dead, then returned to a world in which her husband had moved on and her son was being raised by another woman — and she was treated like a threat instead of a victim. Did I mention she still has to solve a major conspiracy and basically save everyone, on top of all of that? I’ve never wanted to square up with a TV character like I did with her dufus husband.

June Osborne, The Handmaid’s Tale

I mean, nearly all the women in this dystopian series obviously deserved better. But June serves as such an extreme example of the weight of expectations mothers face. She becomes a revolutionary to save one daughter and, later, protect the other, and at times loses herself in the process. People got tired of her rage, but it was so very righteous. Everyone asked a ton of her, but then resented her for breaking under the weight.

Kerry Chu, Crazy Rich Asians

Please consider this my formal petition to see more Kerry Chu onscreen in Crazy Rich Asians 2. This character escaped a dangerous marriage and fought tooth and nail to raise a brilliant daughter on her own, instilling in her resilience, class, and kindness. She’s the embodiment of dismantling the Tiger Mom stereotype. And she barely gets any screen time for it.

Mrs. George, Mean Girls

Hear me out! There’s no denying she was a lot. If we zoom out a little, though, can we see that she showed up? She was interested in her daughter’s life (maybe a little too interested), tried to be supportive, and got clowned for it. Admittedly, we don’t know enough about her character to see if some of Regina’s toxic traits come directly from her. But isn’t it possible she’s just being portrayed through the lens of the teens? Being present and embarrassing shouldn’t be mutually exclusive. In fact, many millennial parents today wear “cringe” like a badge of honor.

Skyler White, Breaking Bad

I’m not saying she was perfect by any means. But let’s be real: Not being chill about your husband becoming a drug kingpin is not a character flaw. She’s lied to and manipulated by Walt into a situation she didn’t ask for and couldn’t easily extricate herself from. Ultimately, she was just trying to protect her family, and, hey-oh, she was right about how destructive a path her husband was on (even if, yes, she sometimes benefited from it). She was like the only sane adult in the room most of the time, and people hated her for it. Guess that’s what you get when you’re written as the female moral foil to the male anti-hero.

Sarah Connor, the Terminator franchise

Was she a complicated woman? Absolutely. She had a lot of demons to battle, in pretty much every sense of the expression. But she’s still one of the most badass moms in cinematic history... and still not appreciated enough for the emotional toll it would take to be both mother and military-grade protector.

Kate McCallister, Home Alone

Yes, Kate left her kid behind. But she wasn’t the only adult present (well, questionable), although she seemed to be the only one capable of action. She was running an entire household, coordinating international travel, literally willing to beg, steal, and borrow to get back to her son. Meanwhile, where the f*ck is Peter? Do something, man — you know, other than complaining to your clearly overwhelmed wife that she didn’t pack the right charger for you.

Peg Bundy, Married With Children

Growing up, the impression I had of Peggy Bundy was that she was seen as lazy or selfish. She was portrayed as a shopaholic who didn’t do “maternal” things like cook. She was an anti-housewife in a sea of ‘80s TV tradwives. Despite not being the quintessential homemaker, she was more checked in than Al! I mean, she was married to the grumbling, bumbling picture of weaponized incompetence; she needed that retail therapy.