So I just finished a first-time series rewatch, and came to a few main takeaways that I felt I needed to yap about.

First, while I remember this a bit on my first watch, the binge definitely confirmed that the side characters are often my favorite to watch on screen. Imo, characters like Ethan and Blythe from S1, Forty, Candace, Will & Ellie from S2, Sherry & Cary from S3 have some of the strongest performances on the show, and really make the show worth watching. I also don’t think it’s any coincidence that a lot of those folks who stood out on the show have gone on to land huge roles/opportunities afterwards. (Excluding Victoria Pedretti here bc she was great enough to be upgraded to a main character by S3!)

Second, after watching all seasons back to back, S4 really sticks out like a sore thumb to me. And I think that comes from, among other things, a lack of compelling side characters. I literally just finished watching & can only recall the names of like 2 characters from this season lmao. And just a personal gripe, god I hated the whole amnesia storyline— just felt like lazy writing and also really detached from the other seasons in terms of tone & artistic style imo.

Anyways, really hoping that S5 brings some more of those subversive, well-acted, hilarious side characters that I just love to watch in this universe. Also hoping that the PI from season 1 comes back bc they I think completely dropped that storyline lmao ?