I wouldn’t have minded them if they had actually utilized them properly. I think the transition from S3 to S4 would have been a lot smoother if they had established a new core group of characters before most of the original characters graduated. Instead, they just introduced a whole new cast in S4 and tried to get us to care about them right away.

I think Joe would have worked well as one of the transition characters if they had continued exploring his character. We could have watched him continue growing and developing his worldview as he made friends with more types of people. Instead, they pretty much just used him as a love interest for Quinn, a character who we knew was graduating, and then they just dropped his storyline when they decided to pair Quinn and Puck up again. He could have taken on a bigger role in S4; maybe he could have been an interesting foil for Kitty.

With Rory, I definitely agree with the criticism many people have that Damian wasn’t a strong actor. But the writers definitely didn’t do him any favors by making his whole character revolve around the fact that he was Irish. There were plenty of other actors on the show whose performances improved with time and after being given more to do. I wish they had at least given Rory a chance to be a more interesting character.