[-CrazyBeautiful-]

I don't think I would have said either way if he was going to work or not. I would have just told him that whatever happens I would be there for him.

[Alyssac]

This girl needs a little more love.

[Alyssac]

Ok, I take that back, a lot more love.

[hintofaspark]

She has my support. She does need more love, taking a general survey of some forums out there, there's a distinct dislike/indifference to Lyla's character.
I think most people classify Lyla in the Marissa (The OC) or Lana (Smallville) archetype. The perfect cheerleader or popular girl who is dating the most popular guy and gets taken down a few notches. But I think that Lyla is more complex than that, as are most FNL characters who go beyond the stereotypical character tropes.

[clarevoyent]

Originally Posted by hintofaspark (View Post) She has my support. She does need more love, taking a general survey of some forums out there, there's a distinct dislike/indifference to Lyla's character. I think most people classify Lyla in the Marissa (The OC) or Lana (Smallville) archetype. The perfect cheerleader or popular girl who is dating the most popular guy and gets taken down a few notches. But I think that Lyla is more complex than that, as are most FNL characters who go beyond the stereotypical character tropes.

ITA, I think that Lyla is shaping into an incredibly complex character. As you noted, at the beginning of the show she was presented as the quintessential peppy, popular cheerleader. And from her POV her whole life was planned out and certain - there was no question that she'd marry her high school sweetheart, have 3.2 kids and live in a house with a white picket fence. With Jason's injury her whole world is crumbling, and her future is changed forever. That's a huge thing for anyone to deal with, so now all she can do is try to find her way forward. Even though it's not always easy to watch or even like some of her behavior (i.e. her adamant insistence in eps 2+3 that Jason would get better, her affair with Tim), I'm still interested in watching the character grow as she goes through the process of self-discovery.

[hintofaspark]

Good post, Laura. You expressed my views about Lyla very eloquently.

Lyla really seemed to have her life set around Jason with no contigency plan, I guess it never occurred to her that things could end up otherwise.

I think we'll see a lot more behavior from Lyla that may be unlikable (mainly her cheating with Tim), but I think some people may like her for it because it challenges her role of the typical good girl and brings out other aspects of her character. And if the Tim/Lyla ship gains more popularity, I'm sure more people will like her. Of course at the same time, that may turn off others who disapprove of her affair with Tim.

I'm just looking forward to seeing Lyla grow and become less stereotypical since the proverbial rug has been pulled from under her with Jason's injury. I'm hoping she somehow pisses off her dad in the process because he's really the most odious character on the show to me.

[clarevoyent]

Originally Posted by hintofaspark (View Post) I think we'll see a lot more behavior from Lyla that may be unlikable (mainly her cheating with Tim), but I think some people may like her for it because it challenges her role of the typical good girl and brings out other aspects of her character. And if the Tim/Lyla ship gains more popularity, I'm sure more people will like her. Of course at the same time, that may turn off others who disapprove of her affair with Tim. I'm just looking forward to seeing Lyla grow and become less stereotypical since the proverbial rug has been pulled from under her with Jason's injury. I'm hoping she somehow pisses off her dad in the process because he's really the most odious character on the show to me.

Great points. I enjoy Lyla 10x more now than I did during the pilot because, as you said, we're starting to see new dimensions to her personality. And IMO, I don't necessarily always have to like what a character is doing, as long as I understand the motivation behind their behavior, and I get why Lyla is cheating with Tim. So even though it will kill me to see Jason get hurt when he inevitably finds out about the affair, I'm looking forward to seeing how it propels her story.

And ITA, watching Buddy makes my skin crawl. In my dream he finds out about the T/L affair, yells at Lyla, and when Tim finds out he gets all glowery and intense, goes over to his fancy car dealership (does Buddy ever work?) and tackles that SOB to the ground. I know, I know, I agree that Lyla is a big girl who can stand up for herself, blah blah blah feminism, but the old school romantic in me can't help but love it when a guy defend his girl's honor .

I have clearly thought far too much about this .

[Callalily]

I have never seen Lyla as the Marissa or Lana cause she seems much more real than those two. As you can see I am not a fan of them. That's why I'll keep with my Brooke analogy. But she is really her own person and shouldn't be compared to any other character.

[candylover4eva]

I liked Lyla from the very beggining!! She's just so cute and positive and peppy. She's not the most perfect person, but who is? I was never really irratated with the way she tried to stay so positive about Jason's recovery. Even though it was a little unrealistic, I can't fault her that. As horrible as the injury is for Jason, Lyla is suffering from it to, because whenever you have two people who are as close as Jason and Lyla were, one person's misfortune carries over to the other. So in my opinion she's aloud to have moments of denial where she doesn't wanna think about how horrible the situation is. A lot of people don't like the typical cheerleader type, but I do. And Lyla never seemed stuck up or bitchy. It does seem like there's so many Lyla haters out there. But I love her, aside from Tim, she is my favorite chracter on the show!

[hintofaspark]

Originally Posted by Callalily (View Post) I have never seen Lyla as the Marissa or Lana cause she seems much more real than those two. As you can see I am not a fan of them. That's why I'll keep with my Brooke analogy. But she is really her own person and shouldn't be compared to any other character.

I see your point and I do agree that Lyla seems more real than Marissa or Lana. FNL's really good at extending characters beyond stereotypes. To clarify, it's not so much the character, although the three characters do share some similarities. I meant Lyla/Minka Kelly was alike to those actresses on those shows because I've read some negative comments about Minka and how her acting is the weakest out of the leads, which is kind of how Mischa Barton and Kristin Kreuk are/were viewed on their respective shows.

Just wondering, Callalily I don't watch OTH - is Lyla like Brooke? Sorry to keep on drawing on these character comparisons , I just want to know more about your view.

I really liked this week's scene b/w Lyla and Tami. I was a little surprised to learn Lyla had straight As, but I think that will factor well if Lyla continues to grow more independent of Jason and make decisions about her future. I'm assuming she tried to get good grades so she could get into a college near Jason's, yet it's good to know that she has something to fall back on now that her plans with Jason are in jeopardy.

candylover4eva, I like Lyla for similar reasons. I'm glad she's not uber-bitchy, although I do pick up that Lyla probably doesn't like Tyra. I'd like to see more of Lyla and Tyra interacting, especially now that Lyla's sneaking around with Tim .

[xstarsgoblue25x]

i'm not the biggest fan of Lyla's ... i hate what she's doing to Jason and Tim; i was watching What I Like About You today and Minka was on there. i found her character to be relatively annoying on there too. lol.

i hope that she does something to redeem herself on FNL.

[Enigma]

I really like Lyla so far. I know alot of people don't though and I guess I can see why as some people don't like the peppiness thing and then of course the Jason/Tim stuff. But, I find her very real and complex. I look forward to seeing more.

[-CrazyBeautiful-]

I'm watching some of Minka's episodes from What I Like About You! I didn't realize that she had so many episodes

[Enigma]

Cool. I'll have to check those out.

[Enigma]

I happened to catch Minka on Carson Daly's show tonight. She looked gorgeous. It was her first talk show so she was a bit nervous.

She mentioned in real life that people give her a hard time because of her character on the show.