Let’s keep it as real as these characters we’re about to break down: flawed characters are fun.
A series isn’t much fun if it doesn’t have a flawed character who somehow resonates with the audience, whether they lean more dark or are a burst of light. Characters who recognize and embrace their flaws are some of the most compelling to watch.
And we couldn’t resist breaking down some of the characters who fit the bill.
Rafe Cameron – Outer Banks
By now, we’ve discussed what went wrong in Outer Banks Season 4 and even mourned the loss of our comfort show. But moving on, the series is full of flawed characters who are somehow endearing.
No one fits the bill better than Kook King Rafe Cameron. He’s objectively a terrible person at times; his long list of crimes includes nearly killing his own sister, for starters. But this is Outer Banks, baby, where Rafe’s flaws somehow work within this series.
A self-professed killer, Rafe is, at times, mentally unstable, driven by traits like revenge and greed. Still, he’s also bound by values like legacy and family, culminating in him doing unspeakable things for oddly noble reasons.
Rafe knows who he is and he rarely apologizes for it. However, he does make the necessary adjustments and proves himself through actions. And that’s why there’s something strangely admirable about the character—how he knows himself so well and stands in who he is, good, bad, and ugly.
Rafe isn’t a perfect character or even a good person. Still, he’s authentic, which makes him click into place and resonate well amid the class lines that often revolve around superficiality and identity crises in Outer Banks.
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Morgan Gillory – High Potential
Who hasn’t fallen in love with Morgan Gillory and High Potential?
She’s witty, intelligent, messy, and prone to making mistakes in many aspects of her life, but she’s genuinely good-hearted. Her style, openness, and honesty make her stand out. She wears her working-class background on her brazenly bright, gaudy faux fur sleeve.
She is gifted intellectually but realistically stalled in life, making her a less glamorous and more realistic depiction of neurodivergence and genuinely relatable as a character.
She’s imperfect and will be the first to tell you that upfront. She readily accepts that she’s flawed but still strives to be a better mother, friend, and person.
Morgan always holds her own and is true to herself, even though she oversteps boundaries, is pushy, and lacks a filter. That’s what makes her so likable.
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Oliver Wolf – Brilliant Minds
Oliver is absolutely brilliant, as the Brilliant Minds‘ title implies, but he’s such a deliciously complex character, not without many flaws and imperfections. He’s a socially awkward, introverted gay luddite with face blindness! And damn if we don’t love him for it.
Oliver is a fantastic doctor who focuses as much on connecting with his patients as he is on fixing their health issues. His unique approach to practicing medicine is often rooted deeply in a traumatic past of dealing with an emotionally distant mother and a father who battled and died from mental illness.
Oliver’s flaws and experiences allow him to lead with genuine compassion and sympathy. He not only wholly embraces what makes him different and flawed and his own shortcomings, but he subsequently teaches and inspires other characters to do the same.
Oliver is a quietly inspiring character who continues to battle issues but learns how to step outside of them, and he’s a poster child for how to live one’s life, distancing oneself from shame, self-doubt, and second-guessing.
And we get to see his ongoing journey of unlearning these habits along the way.
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Beth Dutton – Yellowstone
Beth Dutton has a sharp tongue, quick wit, and the ability to destroy everything in her path, which is one of many reasons she’s one of Yellowstone‘s greatest characters.
She’s a deeply flawed woman hardened by many hurts and betrayals, turning her grief, pain, and previous trauma into a thick armor that makes her nearly indestructible.
She’s fearless, ruthless, intelligent, cunning, unafraid, and unapologetic about doing whatever it takes to get what she desires or handle something. Still, she’s fiercely loyal to most of her family and deceptively soft and vulnerable, particularly when she gets to bury herself in Rip’s arms.
Beth is a host of contradictions, a viper unafraid to strike first, hard, and fast if need be. She is most assuredly an acquired taste to many, but that makes her one of the most genuinely refreshing characters on the air and as real as it gets, baby.
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BoJack Horseman – Bojack Horseman
There’s a reason why this character tends to resonate with many viewers when they tune in.
Bojack Horseman is painfully himself throughout the series. He’s selfish, cynical, and totally self-destructive at almost all times. He’s one of the most toxic characters you’ll see, especially to those around him.
But in knowing that, and how openly he addresses his mental illnesses, addiction issues, and all the ways in which he fails in life, that raw honesty is endearing and refreshing, and in some ways, maybe even deeply inspiring.
He tries to improve, but not so earnestly and consistently that it feels inauthentic and forced. There are no delusions about him.
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Samantha Jones – SATC
Samantha Jones is a feminist icon of a television character for a reason.
She is sexually liberated in a way that we hadn’t seen, unapologetic about her sexual appetite and desires, brash, bold, and progressive in a way that challenges those around her.
Samantha rarely has a filter. She is blunt to a fault, incredibly vain, and materialistic.
But she is fiercely loyal, protective, and open-minded, and through her relationships, she learns how to be vulnerable, intimate, and committed.
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Robert Spearing – Industry
Oh, Robert, the sweet and, at times, pathetic soul that he is, it’s hard not to love every bit of him.
Robert is one of Industry‘s most flawed characters, which speaks volumes for a series that is essentially all about flaws. He’s often out of his depth, someone who tends to lack confidence, fumbles through the basics of his job and is gullible and easily manipulated.
The thing about Robert is that in the world Industry cultivates, he’s mostly a genuinely good person, but because he lacks the ambition, ruthlessness, and arrogance of the other characters, he tends to fall short and stand out.
But he offers a nice, albeit sad, at times, counterbalance to the other characters, and despite his hopeless love for a woman who’ll never properly love him back or his aspirations to climb up the social class ranks to no avail, you genuinely root for him.
And he holds fast in trying to navigate a world where he’s a guppy in shark-infested waters without sacrificing too much of what makes him. It’s quietly defiant.
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Ted Lasso – Ted Lasso
Truthfully, Ted Lasso is so aggressively positive, nice, and kind that it feels surreal and should be one of the most offputting things ever.
It’s a clear facade to some degree, masking deep pain and Ted’s depression, but how he pours himself into being a good person despite how awful he often feels aside is part of what makes the character so great.
Ted Lasso proves that you don’t have to be an asshole just because you’re hurting, and he inspires and often pulls out the best in those around him despite his shortcomings and how he behaves because of them.
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Gregory House – House M.D.
House is an arrogant doctor who completely disregards the feelings of those around him.
And yes, this disregard extends to a mostly abhorrent bedside manner that typically involves him offending everyone in the room.
He’s outspoken, snarky, blunt, and rude, and most of the time, he seems to get off on making people miserable. He also has a pretty bad painkiller addiction that only brings out the worst of his traits when he gets agitated.
But you can never accuse House of not keeping 100 at all times, and there’s something commendable about his willingness to embrace his worst traits without a second thought.
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Rose Nylund – The Golden Girls
How does the saying go? Oh, right, Rose Nylund is as dumb as a bag of rocks.
Her naivete and intellectual challenges make her a flawed character, but her innocence and moments of purity and clarity make up for it.
What’s great about Rose is that she’s conscious of how dumb she sounds often but is also not ashamed of what she doesn’t know.
She’s always open to learning more and growing and wholly accepts and embraces her shortcomings, even putting up with the ribbing and jokes in the interim.
Most people are too self-conscious to admit when they’re out of their depth, so there’s a bravery to Rose’s authenticity.
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Emily Cooper – Emily in Paris
Emily is easily one of the most annoying characters on the air, and yet, like a bad rash, Emily in Paris persists.
But that’s also what begrudgingly makes us appreciate the character so much. She’s often a walking, talking stereotype of American ignorance, brashness, and entitlement wrapped up in a bubbly package. But she knows who and what she is and how she affects people, and she carries on anyway.
If she can win a person over, she’ll find a way to do so, and her plucky persona and inability to stay down and out even when she should sit down, zip it, take things in, and assess are what make the series so interesting.
She’s bold and smiles in the face of Parisian snobbery, never even considering being anything other than herself.
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Michael Scott – The Office
On The Office, Michael is selfish, self-absorbed, and lacks social and self-awareness.
He’s often narcissistic, and no one sticks his foot in his mouth better. He spends much of the series struggling with these traits and trying to get outside them.
But he cares enough about his colleagues and makes some effort to right things, so his flaws, political incorrectness, and insensitivity work out.
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Maggie Bell – FBI
Maggie always takes risks and takes a walk on the dark side of things on FBI.
But she’s so incredibly stubborn that it often gets frustrating.
She always sticks her ground, is opinionated, rarely holds back, and is reckless, making her a genuinely stressful person to watch on cases.
But so many of Maggie’s most frustrating traits make her a great agent, loyal partner, and solid friend, and leaning into these traits rather than straying away from them works for the character.
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Parker – Leverage/Leverage Redemption
There are very few characters like Parker, especially women, making her Leverage‘s breath of fresh air.
Parker has nothing that resembles a filter. She is brutally honest and always speaks her mind while simultaneously displaying a whimsical and childlike innocence.
She’s whipsmart in an untraditional way, fierce, loyal, and badass. In two different series, she learned how to come to grips with who she is as a person and truly thrive within that.
Parker’s journey towards embracing who and what she is and making everyone around her and the world a better place is one of Leverage’s most lasting impacts.
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Quigley Smitty – The Rookie
Smitty is such a staple on The Rookie that it would be difficult to envision the series without him.
He’s an opportunistic and supremely lazy officer who doesn’t do much unless it’s self-serving and seemingly is riding out the gig until he can retire. On paper, he should be a truly loathsome character as he rarely lifts a finger.
But when he does, he’s shockingly badass and possesses a self-awareness that makes you appreciate rather than resent him. With Smitty, you almost always know who and what you’ll get; something is comforting about that.
He doesn’t mince any words about what he will and won’t do, and he doesn’t feel he has anything to prove, and you have to respect that!
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Will Trent – Will Trent
Will is constantly evolving as a character.
He battles various issues, from his dyslexia and OCD to his lack of social awareness and inability to get along with others easily.
He seems stuck in his ways, but with time and effort, he comes to grips with who he is and accepts it while making meaningful improvements along the way that enhance his life and those around him.
Of all the characters in Will Trent, he’s one of the most real, grounded, and unapologetic, and also one of the most inspiring.
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Kitty Song Covey – XO, Kitty
Kitty is such an endearing character, which is one of many reasons Netflix created XO, Kitty for her after the success of the To All the Boys movie franchise.
But Kitty is certainly a character with her fair share of issues, many of which are the catalyst behind her landing in South Korea in the first place.
Kitty is incredibly impulsive, in case moving halfway across the world didn’t already reach that natural conclusion. She is also naive about love and what her true love story should be like possessing some childlike, fairytale idealism far from reality.
Like many young people coming into their own, she’s often selfish and absorbed, at times lacking insight and awareness about those around her.
But even with all of these flaws, she’s an endearing enough character because she’s genuine about working her way through them and becoming a better person, as well as genuinely figuring out who she is and what she wants out of life.
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Louis Litt – Suits
By now, we all know that Suits has a treasure trove of fascinating and flawed characters who stayed true to themselves and stood in all they were.
But one of the most unexpectedly compelling from the bunch was Louis Litt. He was quick to anger, jealous, often whiny, lacked self-confidence, and desperate.
Louis was also devoted and loyal to those who mattered, smart, and adaptable. He wore his flaws on his sleeve, and despite the occasional moment of being treated like more antagonist and nuisance than ally at various points in the series, his multifaceted portrayal makes him such a great character.
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Somehow, falling somewhere between being an outcast and a mascot.
There are some of our favorite television characters who embrace their flaws, and now, we want to hear about some of yours.
Who would you place on this list? Sound off below!
