Felt like the deaths were real but the “asshole” side of things was made up so the audience wouldn’t feel so bad. Like a bully getting hit by a random tire passing by. You wouldn’t feel as bad about the death because the guy was being a douche to someone moments before he got hit but in actuality, it was just a random person getting hit by a tire and they weren’t being douchey moments before the hit.
Was that the case for your friends? Did the show embellish on the details to make them look worse than they actually were?