My favourite movie of all time is Groundhog Day. I watch it every February second.

There's a lot to like about Groundhog Day, but one of the things I appreciate most about it is that as Phil Connors transitions into a bodhisattva, he notably doesn't lose his essential personality.

When we're first introduced to Phil in the TV studio in Pittsburgh, yes, he is a self-centered and self-obsessed asshole -and this he does lose- but he also demonstrates a very specific sort of flippant, sarcastic sense of humour. As he journeys through hedonism to depression to despair, yes, he becomes significantly more serious and less glib, but when he emerges from darkness into self-improvement and eventually altruism, we see that humour return. His jokes have lost their mean-spirited edge, but their essential nature, their feel, is still the same. Phil Connors is Good, but he is still Phil Connors.

Similarly, consider a slightly more recent movie - Wreck-It Ralph. Throughout the film, Ralph never learns a new moveset. He tries to pick up a gun and become a space marine, but in the end, as he embraces his true nature, his final self-sacrificing move consists of punching downwards and destroying a roof. Like Phil Connors, he embraces altruism, yet never becomes something other than himself.

I am not going to push a button and change the entirety of Lily's personality in an instant. In a moment of clarity, Lily has seen herself through her friends' eyes. She intends to change and reorient herself towards respecting her friends' adulthood and autonomy. But she is still Lily.

And y'know what? Good. Lily has many essential qualities, many virtues and strengths that it would suck to lose. She's precise. She's practical. She's creative. She's adaptable. Most importantly, she's proactive. No one ever told her to write fiction or start a business or run a D&D game. Lily doesn't wait for someone else to tell her what to do. She doesn't ask for forgiveness or permission. Lily goes out and does.

Perhaps that's just what Gina needs.