I’ve never thrown a punch, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t fantasize about it countless times while watching TV over the past year. Not since the early 2000s, when Ryan Atwood was giving his knuckles regular workouts on The O.C., have I thought so frequently about fist fights. But in 2022, TV embraced its punchable asshole era and brought characters so detestable to screen that I just wanted to deck them.
Before we review some of the most manipulative, vile, narcissistic, irritating, straight-up abusive TV characters of the year (fun!), it’s important to note that not every on-screen antagonist is jaw-clenchingly insufferable. As Better Call Saul‘s Lalo Salamanca taught us, even the most ruthless villains can be charming. So for the sake of this piece, a punchable asshole is any character whose sheer presence makes you roll your eyes, who inspires rage-filled screams at your TV screen, and whose comeuppance you welcome with open arms.
As the show’s title foreshadows, Kevin Can F*** Himself’s Kevin McRoberts (Eric Petersen) fits that description perfectly. I already wanted to kill Kevin in Season 1 of AMC’s genre-bending multi-cam sitcom/single-cam drama hybrid. But the abusive, immature schlub grows even more loathsome in the show’s second and final season. He joins the growing list of unqualified candidate to run for office, continues to plow through life with a harmful lack of self-awareness, and consistently demeans and drags down his wife Allison (Annie Murphy). The more she escapes their obnoxious laugh track living room, the less charming his buffoonery becomes. And the show establishes his offensive, infuriating character so effectively that you’ll be yelling, “Go f*** yourself, Kevin!” on sight in no time.
With a title so obvious, I wasn’t surprised I wanted to punch Kevin. But a character whose awfulness I never saw coming is Stephen DeMarco (Jackson White) from Hulu’s Tell Me Lies. At the start of the series, based on Carola Lovering’s best-selling 2018 novel, Stephen seems like a promising crush for Lucy Albright (Grace Van Patten), a quiet college freshman whose roommate unexpectedly dies during Welcome Week. But with each passing scene, Stephen reveals himself as a toxic, self-important man who compulsively lies, manipulates, and cheats. “Stephen’s arc was definitely the biggest challenge in the writers’ room from the beginning, and in filming, and the edit,” Tell Me Lies showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer told Decider. “Just making sure you found that balance between really fucked up person and complete monster.” You’ll regularly want to knock this stealth puppet master’s lights out for major offenses, but a small moment in Episode 7 — when he intentionally dunks the sweetest character’s camera into the pool, then later acts oblivious when she realizes it’s ruined — made me pause to curse him out on my couch, and still haunts me to this day.
As much as the above characters made my blood boil this year, they still don’t compare to my biggest punchable asshole of 2022: John Paul from Bad Sisters. Apple TV+’s still underrated dark comedic thriller — an adaptation of Malin-Sarah Gozin’s Flemish series, Clan — follows Eva (Horgan), Bibi (Sarah Greene), Ursula (Eva Birthistle), and Becka (Eve Hewson) on a quest to murder their brother-in-law JP (Claes Bang) and save their sister Grace (Anne-Marie Duff) from her abusive marriage. JP spends Season 1 gaslighting his wife at every opportunity and trying to destroy and isolate anyone who tries to lift her up. With a smug grin and a grating voice, JP unleashes fresh reprehensible hell each episode. He quickly becomes one of the most detestable pricks you’ve ever seen on TV, but the promise Bad Sisters makes to viewers in its opening minutes — that this man does, in fact, die by the end of the season — is the silver lining.
From She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’s Dennis Bukowski (Drew Matthews) and Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) of House of the Dragon to Euphoria‘s Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi) and Peaky Blinders’ (Sam Claflin) and Diana Mitford (Amber Anderson), the list of punchable assholes in 2022 TV goes on and on. In FX’s The Patient, the painfully passive Candace Fortner (Linda Emond) irked me the most, which speaks volumes, considering the thriller focuses on a literal serial killer named Sam Fortner (Domhnall Gleeson) who kidnaps his therapist Alan Strauss (Steve Carell). Though I delighted in Manifest‘s triumphant Season 4 return, I have absolutely zero patience for its eccentric kidnapper, Angelina Meyer (Holly Taylor), who continues to lead some of the series’ most laughable storylines. And while Theo James is smoking hot on The White Lotus Season 2, his entitled, adulterous, power-hungry character Cameron holds the top spot for punchable asshole of the moment. Congrats, sir!
People don’t root for punchable assholes to fare well on-screen, but their presence plays a crucial role in crafting compelling conflict and enhancing our favorite shows. The fact that 2022 featured so many odious characters is truly a testament to successful script writing and razor-sharp acting. So as much as it pains me to say, here’s hoping 2023 TV features some quality unlikeable characters.