Crosses the Line Twice: JP dressing up as Adolf Hitler for Halloween. It's so inappropriate and offensive that it's hilarious, and the other housemates' stunned and/or horrified reactions only make it more so.
Heartwarming Moments: When Vod brings to everyone's attention that JP paid for the lavish party they're at.
Ho Yay: Usually pretty strong between JP and Kingsley. Goes up to eleven when JP tricks Kingsley into kissing him, and when the series ends, JP convinces Kingsley to live rent-free with him.
Informed Wrongness: JP's reaction to his mother's decision to sell the ancestral Pembersley home. We're meant to think that he's simply being a spoiled Manchild again, but although he could have expressed himself in a more mature way, he does have a valid reason to be upset: his mother went behind his back to make a major decision that directly affects him (as he doesn't own a home of his own yet), and she was only planning to tell him after the house had been sold.
Despite the fact that JP is utterly self-absorbed, he still ends up dealing with a lot of stress and hardship, be it from being exploited by his Stowe "friends" or the death of his father.
Vod too. After having to grow up with a mother who calls her daughter a millstone around her neck and says she wishes she had been aborted, to her face, who can blame Vod for her behaviour?
Sabine's unfriendly treatment by the other house members makes you feel sorry for her, even if she isn't a very nice person to begin with. She makes a Heel–Face Turn in Series 3.
Dave. He's a bit of a jerk, especially to Kingsley, but he did appear to genuinely care a lot about Josie and it's not hard to feel bad for him after he finds out that she cheated on him with two different guys.
Dan may have had every right to be angry about Kingsley issuing a formal complaint about the quality of his teaching, but he crossed this when, at the end of a field trip, he deliberately forced Kingsley to chase after his van, on a broken leg no less, then drove off without him, leaving him stranded in the Pennines, which is over 100 miles from Manchester.
Vod's mother, Chris, crossed it long ago, due to how she insults Vod to her face, blames her for ruining her life and wishes she was aborted, out loud, in Vod's presence, and she does this while laughing about it, not to mention her violent drunken rages and serious issues with drugs and alcohol that Vod got dragged into. She crosses this even further when she flies into a rage and rips the kitchen apart, even threatening the other housemates while doing so.
Nausea Fuel: Howard's bag of extremely questionable-looking abattoir scraps.
As funny as the scene is, being guilty of shagging someone who's in a serious relationship with someone else and said someone else being a very angry bloke who's had a few drinks is pretty terrifying, especially if you're a Non-Action Guy.
"The Beast". What happens to Chris when she drinks too much. She flies into a furious rage and starts throwing things around while screaming and swearing, no matter who is in the general vicinity, and there's no way to pacify her. Vod says the best thing to do when it happens is hide under your bed until she passes out. Truth in Television for anyone with Abusive Parents.
While JP getting stuck on a cliff in the Pennines is Played for Laughs, he's legitimately quite high up (around three to four storeys) and there's no way down other than to jump.
Suspiciously Similar Song: Because the Hulu version for America didn't license the songs, in episode 7 Vod listens to a generic Queens of the Stone Age knock-off rather than the actual band's "I Feel Like A Millionaire".
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Heather, Josie's friend and Kingsley's girlfriend in Series 2, is presented as being a likable oddball who occasionally says or does strange things. However, she enables Josie's drinking problem, gets mad at Kingsley for being concerned about said drinking problem, and ogles JP while he's showering even though he explicitly states that he's uncomfortable with her being in the bathroom with him. Although, in Series 3, it seems that all of this was completely intentional...
Values Dissonance: Having a private, out-of-the-way university house is an extremely coveted residence in many universities in the United States, and these kinds of houses are usually too expensive for freshmen to afford. Thus it can be hard for American viewers to sympathize when the protagonists in the pilot complain so much about having to live in the house instead of the more popular dorms, which quickly lose their appeal for many American freshmen.
The Woobie: Dylan Shales. The poor guy genuinely loves Oregon and is never anything but nice to her, and is completely crushed when he finds out that she was the one who broke his parents' marriage apart (and the fact that everyone else—including JP—knew about it before him)
Film
Complete Monster: Associate Professor Hemi Crane is a devotee of the supposed messiah and cultist Solomon. Adopting his creed of cannibalism, Hemi brainwashes his son into participating in the practice, killing numerous innocent people to serve at dinner. Trying to press his daughter to the practice and killing one of her friends, Hemi eventually reveals his rituals to achieve immortality involve murdering his own children, killing his wife when she tries to stop him.
