Yeah. For me, at least, there's a difference between a Laira-level character and a main character. Some of the people in that kind of role I've warmed to quickly and liked them, or have otherwise made an impression... but I don't (usually!) want them to become main characters, and I don't necessarily feel bad if they die at the end of the episode (or at least, I don't feel TOO bad). I think that's partly because they ARE a one-shot character, or maybe a recurring character. I don't value their happiness above the happiness of a main character--it's not a visceral.

Or maybe it's me who is weird--I don't usually recognize the background characters like a lot of fandom does. It took me a while to even remember who this Siler guy was--and I think I did that partly in self-defense because fandom knew who he was and talked about him a lot. In Merlin I still couldn't tell you the majority of the other knights' names. Guest stars are actually often MORE memorable than these kinds of characters to me.