Board Thread:Off-Topic Fun/@comment-3440938-20180427200508/@comment-25375217-20180427203434

Well, literally speaking, to recur is to appear more than once. So 2+ is the dictionary definition.

Outside of that, I think it depends on the show? Like, a lot of shows have a lot of multi-part episodes. In that case, a character who only appears in both parts of that two-parter probably shouldn't be counted as "recurring", even though they were in more than one episode, since they were only involved in the one plotline. Other shows have three-parters, which have the same problem.

But in shows like Once, where you have 11 episodes all as one "arc" which you could, theoretically, call an eleven-part "episode", it would be weird to say Felix isn't recurring even though he only appears in that plotline...

I'd say once you get to 4 or 5 appearances, it's basically undeniable that they are recurring. 2 or 3 should be determined on a case-by-case basis depending on their involvement in the plot, what episodes they appeared in, and how the show as a whole works.