Catharsis Factor: The resounding reaction to Boomer getting run over, killed, and dismembered was, "YES!" Admittedly, it does lose some of its kick when we find out Boomer actually survived, and the chopped up one is Mary Pat's husband.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Ben, Annie's son, is very well-liked for being one of the more levelheaded characters. His coming out as trans in Season Two was extremely well-received.
Realism-Induced Horror: Ruby's entire situation is a parent's nightmare: your child needs expensive medication, and the only way to get the money is to commit several felonies. Ruby, of course, does what she has to in order to save Sara, but is very aware of the danger she could bring to her family. It gets worse in a Season One episode where Sara ends up in the hospital, because she stopped taking her meds. When her parents ask why she would do that, she explains that she thought, since she was feeling better, she could stop taking it and "save" it, just in case. In other words, a twelve-year-old girl began to ration her medication. (This really does happen among patients who know they can't afford to pay their medical bills forever, and yes, people have died from this.) Ruby and Stan, who always do their best to keep their kids from hearing about their financial problems, are quietly devastated when they hear this.
Special Effects Failure: The "toy" guns Beth gets in the pilot (and paints over the orange muzzles) are clearly real guns with the muzzles painted orange.
Ruby. Anyone who's ever had a loved one with an illness that required treatment that insurance wouldn't cover (or had such an illness themselves) is probably tearing up throughout her story line, especially in Season One. The whole reason she gets into the criminal lifestyle is that if her daughter doesn't get medication for her kidney, she'll die. Ruby's stuck in a parent's worst nightmare, and is forced to take desperate measures to keep her daughter alive.
Nancy is the kind woman who doesn't deserve what happens to her. Like the spa she works in being robbed by Annie and her husband cheating on her with Annie.
Mary Pat is working to support three children, and her loving husband, whose pension checks from the military are the family's main source of income, had a heart attack and died on the front lawn. Then she gets embroiled with Beth, Annie, and Ruby's deeds and tries to take advantage of them only for it to blow up in her face. Then she finally thinks she's found another good man, except it's Boomer, and he traps her in an abusive relationship.
