YMMV / Early Edition

• Complete Monster:
  • "Blowing Up Is Hard To Do": The unnamed terrorist duo are the representatives of an anti-governmental militia called the Brotherhood who try and blow up a newscaster with a car bomb when he refuses to read out their manifesto on air. Undeterred by the foiled plot, the terrorist duo up their scheme by attempting to blow up the Chicago Sun Times building and all the innocent people there, with one of them gleefully musing on how tame the 1861 Chicago Fire will seem in comparison to the devastation, being willing to murder anyone who impedes them.
  • "Fatal Edition" two-parter: Detective Savales is a seemingly good cop who is actually deeply corrupt. Savales is actually a hitman who has murdered 6 people in the last 2 years, making the deaths look like accidents so his clients can collect on life insurance policies and give him a cut. Savales uses blackmail to force the police coroner to help cover up these murders. When a reporter investigates this murder-for-hire scheme, Savales murders him and frames Gary Hobson for his crimes. Savales also tries to murder the informant the reporter used to research this story. When Armstrong and Brigatti, two other cops on the force, start to uncover Savales's corrupt dealings, Savales plans to murder them and frame Gary for their deaths.
• Iron Woobie: Again, Gary, for the same reasons as The Determinator.
• Narm: When the homeless man falls to his death in "Fate", particularly the awkward bluescreen effect where it just looks like a picture of the homeless man getting smaller. This was sadly cut in syndication.
• The Scrappy: Patrick. Made worse that he's named after one of the creators, Patrick Q. Page.
  • Also Henry (and to a lesser extent his mother) for basically meeting every qualification for the Cousin Oliver trope including being forced into the plot of every episode he was even including a discussion between two countries. In fact, he was so hated that he and his mother were dropped from Season 4 altogether
• Strangled by the Red String: Gary and Erica's relationship manages to play it straight at first and later invert it.
  • It's clear the plan all along was for them to be a couple, but getting there was a forced effort. Erica was arguably just a Satellite Love Interest; many appearances during this period merely played up their feelings for each other, creating the sense of a Romantic Plot Tumor. They don't become a couple until halfway through the season, but it still feels rushed because the two are immediately pining for each other, with Will They or Won't They? in full force instead of being gradual. "Saint Nick" is the most notable example; Gary is intensely jealous of Erica dating Nick Sterling and admits to some very deep feelings, but it's the season's fifth episode (very shortly after meeting her). She breaks it off with Nick because she overheard this confession of deep feelings; the paper suggests she would've otherwise accepted Nick's marriage proposal. ^note And Nick was someone she had known for years, so her rushing into marriage with him wasn't that far-fetched by comparison. Some may question why Gary is even interested in someone who is often dismissive of him. At the same time, they may ask why Erica is interested in someone who comes across as unreliable, due to abruptly breaking engagements, disappearing for long periods of time, and often coming back looking like a disheveled mess; on one occasion shortly before learning about the paper, Erica herself points this out.
  • The inversion occurs at the very end of the season. After being together for a while, "Blowing Up is Hard to Do" sees Erica suddenly break up with Gary and decide to leave town. Gary is stunned and says he never noticed any problems, but Erica simply says he wasn't looking hard enough and that she's been unhappy for a while. Marissa even adds that everyone else could see the relationship's problems, but the audience sure didn't. Gary and Erica were consistently depicted as a stable couple; only "Funny Valentine" had any strife (due to Erica expressing dislike for Gary constantly running off because of the paper), but she came to terms with that at the end of that episode and fully supported afterwards. This abrupt change was likely due to poor audience reception of both Erica and her son, with the writers seeking to respond before the season was over.
• Tear Jerker:
  • "Thief Swipes Mayor's Dog", even if you're not a dog lover. Phil losing his beloved dog Bugle can hit anyone who's had a dog, and lost one.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Patrick, Erica, and Henry are unpopular with most of the fans, but the early episodes of season 3 make it clear that they didn't have to be, and that they could have been well-utilized if Gary relied on them more to help avert bad future events. Erica is resourceful and caring about that and Patrick has some genuinely funny moments the few times they help Gary in those early episodes, but later on they barely do anything but hang around the bar and provide distractions from the plot.