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James
- Played by: Alex Lawther
- Creepy Monotone: He speaks in one most of the time, especially in his monologues. When he moves away from this later in the season, it's one of the clearest signs that he is actually in love with Alyssa.
- Crippling Castration: Downplayed. His member is still intact after getting shot near it, but apparently he hasn't been able to get it up between Season 1 and 2. Played for Drama briefly when James cries over the fear of not being able to make love with Alyssa.
- Groin Attack: Got shot near the groin at the end of the first season.
- In Love with the Mark: Initially, James wanted to kill a human being and choose Alyssa as his first target. However, he ends up falling in love with her on the course of the first season.
- Karma Houdini: No one, not even Alyssa, knows that James wants to kill her for a thrill at the beginning of the show. Not even his dad is angry at him for punching him and stealing his car.
- Mama's Boy: The death of his mother was his presumed Start of Darkness, but we later learn that his father is also very loving, it's just that James blames them both for his mother's death.
- Missing Mom: We find out that she was Driven to Suicide.
- Red Right Hand: Left, actually. Permanently scarred it by dipping it in his dad's deep fryer, "just to feel something" according to him.
- What Is This Feeling?: The longer James spends with Alyssa, the more he begins to develop romantic feelings towards her.
- Serial Killer: Subverted. He wants to be one, but it turns out that he has neither the stomach nor the psychopathy for it.
- Suddenly Shouting: It becomes instantly noticeable when the otherwise Creepy Monotone James starts shouting at Alyssa for acting like everything is about her.
- The Stoic: Despite that he's not actually a sociopath, James is still very rarely demonstrative or even overly expressive. Subverted in Season 2. James is a lot more emotive and frequently shows his vulnerable side to Alyssa as the result of his Character Development.
- The Sociopath: Subverted.
- Took a Level in Dumbass: Downplayed. Presumably due to the grief over the losing of his father and having to break up with Alyssa, James is not in the brightest state of mind during Season 2. He is far more prone to making mistakes and needs Alyssa's help a lot more.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Downplayed in Season 2. He is not kinder as much as he is more emotive and appreciative of those who love him. That being said, he has become more of a dick to strangers after getting influenced by pre-character development Alyssa. See Took a Level in Jerkass below.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Both this and kindness at the same time in Season 2. Back in Season 1, James tends to be more reluctant about doing dickish things, and Alyssa has to coax him into it on multiple occasions. Season 2 reverses the role, with James being the dickish one while Alyssa becomes the voice of reason. James is the one to suggest they skip out on paying a restaurant and suggest that they ignore a seemingly lost hiker. He is also the one who callously abandons Bonnie in spite of Alyssa's protest.
Alyssa
- Played by: Jessica Barden
- Abusive Parents: All three of Alyssa's parental figures are some form of abusive: her mother neglects her, preferring to focus on her new babies she has with her second husband, her father is a drug-dealing alcoholic burnout who uses the kids and rats them out to the police for a reward, and her stepfather is an abusive asshole who makes creepy come-ons to her.
- Character Development: Goes from an abrasive grade A jerk ass in Season 1 to a more thoughtful person in Season 2. She cares about the feelings of others more, and having to divorce her newly-wed husband because James still loves her, all this time weight heavily on her conscience.
- Daddy's Girl: She thinks she's one, but it's ultimately subverted when she learns what a JerkAss her biological father actually is, and that she only actually loved the fantasy of him.
- Fille Fatale: She's obsessed with losing her virginity, despite James's almost total lack of interest in her. But it gets played with when she is the victim of a brutal Attempted Rape, James ends up killing her rapist, and at the end, James wants to lose his virginity with her while Alyssa can't.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Alyssa is extremely rude to everyone, reckless, touchy and rebellious, but she is also deeply troubled and shows herself to be extremely loyal.
- Lady Swears Alot: Like, a lot. Even James comments on it.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Towards almost everyone except James in Season 2. Working as a waitress does wonder for her humility.
- Tsundere: Alyssa starts off as a big-time Type A, being generally rude and belligerent to everyone, including James, except for a few moments where she shows some vulnerability, but only to James.
Bonnie
- Played by: Naomi Ackie
- Abusive Parents: Her mother. She decapitated Bonnies stuffed animal and made her eat lipstick. Both to make up for her own failings.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: Rarely ever talks, but has a gun and a knife, and is willing to use them.
- Book Dumb: To the chagrin of her mother. Weirdly enough, she takes on a job at the university library and seems to enjoy reading the books, just retaining or using the information is the issue.
- Creepy Monotone: In several ways; she talks in a flat voice, walks slowly, and never wears colors.
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: Clive Koch died while she was in prison, which let to her breakdown.
- Serial Killer: She killed one person in her backstory, one in-show, and plans to kill two more.
- The Stoic: Just trucks on in her quest to kill James and Alyssa, not showing any emotions, ever.
