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Main Characters
Payton Hobart
Played By: Ben Platt
"I'm not about enjoyment. I'm about winning."
The Protagonist of the series, an ambitious high school student adopted into a rich family. He aspires to become President of the United States and runs for student body president in order to achieve this goal. In Season 2, he is running for State Senate.- Adventures in Comaland: Payton falls into a coma after developing sepsis and dreams of River while under.
- Adoption Diss: His brothers frequently point out that Payton isn't biologically related to the rest of the family.
- The Alcoholic: Payton develops this after the Time Skip and his Break the Haughty moment.
- Ambition Is Evil: Discussed. In his more vulnerable moments; he fears this about himself as ambition leads to some hard failures; but ultimately he's a good person.
- Anti-Hero: More or less a Type III: he's cunning and pragmatic but he doesn't go as far as to cheat in his quest for office as there are lines he won't cross.
- Break the Haughty: Throughout the season, Payton goes from a viable presidential candidate to the student body president to a disgraced president who loses his position after his supposed involvement in an attempted murder comes out. He also nearly dies from sepsis as the result of a shooting (from a BB gun), gets cut out of his adoptive father's will (along with his mother), loses his Harvard admittance, leaves school, and moves to New York, broken and alone. He develops alcoholism as a coping mechanism.
- Broken Ace: Payton possesses a 4.3 GPA and is politically and academically savvy, though he is also an Academic Alpha Bitch who is deeply affected by River's suicide.
- The Chessmaster: Starting at a young age, everything Payton does is part of a lifelong plan to get him in the Oval Office. He even plays chess!
- Disqualification-Induced Victory: Astrid withdraws from the race, causing Payton to become the student body president by default.
- Fatal Flaw:
- Ambition, but more deeply it's his need for validation.
- Interestingly, he thinks his fatal flaw is that, while he wants to do good things, he's not really a good person, something that causes him genuine pain.
- Forced Out of the Closet: An aborted attempt by one of Payton's rivals, in which he retaliates by calling them a bigot.
- Gender-Blender Name: "Payton" (and its variants) can be a girl's name.
- Guile Hero: Uses his incredible intelligence to reach his goals. Were he more villainous, he'd be a straight up
Magnificent Bastard. - Happily Adopted: Downplayed. He's ostracized by his older brothers and initially is The Unfavorite to his father. His mother, however, loves him and Payton has no desire to look for his birth mother.
- Heroic BSoD: Massively for 3 years following his resignation.
- He's Back!: In the last moments of Season 1, after his friends tells him You Are Better Than You Think You Are, he declares his campaign for State Senate.
- I Am What I Am: A large part of his arc is him grappling with his own moral failings, and eventually deciding to accept himself for what he is: a not-good person who aspires to greatness.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Payton can be ambitious with little regard to others' feelings, but he can be remorseful and kindhearted.
- The Leader: Of his devoted band of political operatives.
- Mama's Boy: Payton is openly adored by his mother, to whom he is the clear favorite.
- Preppy Name: Payton Hobart (and really, his whole family).
- Smart People Play Chess: Has a chessboard in his room and in the season 1 finale is seen playing chess in Central Park.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: Has a sharp-looking pair.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Payton's never really a good person, but he's much more bearable in the second season, having been severely humbled by the events of the first.
- The Sociopath: Discussed. One of his biggest fears is that he can't feel anything. Especially when he struggles to cry over River's death, but successfully does so to manipulate Infinity onto his campaign. However, it gradually becomes clear that, while he does have problems with empathy and a skewed moral compass, he's not a sociopath, and is in fact capable of very genuine compassion.
- The Unfavorite: He implicitly was this to his father Keaton before his brothers tried to suffocate him. His mother, however, is the inversion.
Infinity Jackson
Played By: Zoey Deutch
"I think that every day is a gift."
Payton's initial running mate, a cheerful student who is suffering from cancer.- Abusive Parents: Abusive Grandparent, Played for Laughs. It seems like Dusty is just milking her for her cancer – getting free things like front-row tickets to a Rascal Flatts concert because of it, but it turns out Dusty has actually been poisoning her her entire life. Infinity has no traces of cancer whatsoever.
- Ambiguous Disorder: She sometimes acts childish and naïve for a 17-year-old. Some examples include her grandmother describing her as having the IQ of a five-year-old and her believing that the restaurant in Ratatouille is run by actual rats. While these instances could be the result of being seriously sheltered by Dusty, it could probably also be the result of the amount of (unspecified) poison forced into her system since she was a young child stunting her cognitive development.
- Baldness Means Sickness: Not a sci-fi version. Infinity has no hair due to her illness, or so it appears. She actually has Münchausen's by Proxy and her head is being shaved by Dusty.
- Blackmail: Infinity accuses her grandmother Dusty of poisoning her deceased mother, and uses this as blackmail in order to get away from her.
- Genki Girl: Despite her tough life, she's an extremely positive and bubbly person.
- Granola Girl: Becomes this during the time skip from season one to two, aiming for a close to zero waste lifestyle.
- Grew a Spine: She's much more self-sufficient and willing to stand up for herself in the second season.
- Münchausen Syndrome: Infinity is at the receiving end of this.
- Nice Girl: Infinity is a soft-spoken girl who appears to be genuinely kind in a sea of alpha bitches and bitches in sheep's clothing. However, she can be manipulative when she needs to be.
- Obfuscating Disability: Andrew tells Payton that Infinity doesn't really have cancer, which is confirmed at the end of Episode 2. Played with in that Infinity didn't know, and is horrified when she finds out.
- Parental Abandonment: Infinity lives with her grandmother, after her mother died of kidney failure due to lead poisoning. Her father's fate is unknown.
- Raised by Grandparents: Infinity was raised by her grandmother Dusty.
- Speech Impediment: Has a slight lisp and a soft voice.
- Teen Pregnancy: She is the result of one.
Astrid Sloan
Played By: Lucy Boynton
"I'm gonna tell them everything. And then I'm gonna win."
Payton's rival and River's girlfriend. She becomes Payton's opponent after River's death.- Alpha Bitch: Astrid is this in spades, being the pretty and most popular girl at school who acts as she's teen royalty.
- Big Bad Ensemble: She's Payton's main opponent in Season 1, along with Dusty. Though she pulls a Hazy-Feel Turn in the back half of the season and becomes less interested in the race meanwhile Dusty proves a much more despicable character.
- Calling the Old Man Out: She calls out her father Theo's superficiality and lack of attention towards her. However, he doesn't care and views her in disgust. Astrid later calls the police on him for crimes he committed.
- Daughter of a Whore: Her mother is a former escort.
- Faking the Dead: She briefly disappears to New York with the help of Ricardo, but not without leaving a bloody scene behind.
- Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Averted. She has one, since she knows she doesn't want kids, and no one shames her for it. Alice even goes with her to support her emotionally.
- Heel–Face Turn: The first season finale has her work with Payton in his campaign against the State Senate Majority Leader of New York.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Season 2 sees her turn on Payton and begin passing information about his campaign to Senator Standish until she later returns to his side, only to threaten to use her pregnancy to derail his career, and convince Alice to leave him to run away. After getting an abortion, she returns to Payton and the team with Alice in tow.
- Lady Macbeth: Lampshaded by Payton when she gets River to run for office.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Astrid despises her life and doesn't have many friends. This leads to her faking her disappearance in order to skip out of town and stay in New York for several days.
- Manipulative Bitch: Just like Payton, Astrid isn't above using devious means to try and win the election.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Lucy Boynton's British accent occasionally shines through.
- Rich Boredom: She comes to resent her life of privilege, as she feels has given her no challenge or room to grow.Astrid: Money just makes the important stuff easy, so that we try to make the unimportant stuff hard just to make it feel like we're not coasting.
- The Rival: To Payton, as his main opponent for the school presidency.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: At least in second grade, when she called Payton a "fag". Otherwise, Astrid appears to be a subversion of this trope.
- Two First Names: Sloan can also be a first name.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Has this when her dad expresses pride at her calling the cops on him.
River Barkley
Played By: David Corenswet
"You don't have to be a good person, you just have to do good things."
Payton's tutor, ex-lover, and opponent in the presidential race. He is dating Astrid.- Ambiguously Bi: River appears to have romantic feelings for both Astrid and Payton. Like most of the show's characters, his sexuality is never mentioned.
- Ambiguous Disorder: River felt down about his life and many of his good moments were outweighed by the bad, which suggests he suffered from depression. However, much of these details come from what River tells Payton during his coma dream, so it may just be how Payton imagined his mental state.
- Driven to Suicide: In the first episode, River fatally shoots himself in front of Payton. He attempted suicide unsuccessfully a year prior to this.
- Hidden Depths: He can speak Mandarin, the result of living in China until age 10.
- The Lost Lenore: Payton insists he does not have romantic feelings for River, but River's death was deeply traumatic for him, and he still feels his presence years later. He's also this to Astrid, though her grief isn't explored in depth until Season 2.
- Nice Guy: River is a sweet and kindhearted guy, making him a desirable student body president.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Somewhat. His girlfriend Astrid replaces him as Payton's rival in the student body president election, and his ghost appears to Payton periodically after episode 1.
- Posthumous Character: He only appears in flashbacks and dream sequences after his death in the first episode.
- Private Tutor: River was a tutor in Mandarin to Payton.
- Walking Spoiler: Despite being set up to be one of the main characters, he dies by suicide halfway through the pilot episode.
Alice Charles
Played By: Julia Schalepfer
"I am your first lady today and always."
Payton's girlfriend and later wife, an integral member of his political team.- Girl Friday: She's Payton's most dutiful political ally, and works behind the scenes to further his career.
- Morality Pet: Even at his worst, Payton obviously genuinely cares about her. One of the best examples was when he was fuming over being put on the waitlist for Harvard, but showed no envy or anger when he found out Alice got in on her first try. When she tries to comment that it might be because Harvard has to admit a certain number of women, he immediately shuts that down, telling her not to downplay what an amazing accomplishment this is.
- Runaway Bride: When Alice learns that Payton is running for New York State Senate, she runs away from the altar to look for him.
- The Stoic: Alice rarely shows a lot of emotions. She even manages to pass a polygraph test by staying stoic.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She's normally very coldhearted and emotionless, but she is capable of deep empathy.
- Trophy Wife: Initially dreams of being this to Payton. She has a breakdown in the second season that gets resolved when she realizes she can't be this. She decides to follow her dream of attending medical school, and gains Payton's support.
- Two First Names: Alice Charles.
McAfee Westbrook
Played By: Laura Dreyfuss
"You're the pilot. James and I are your navigators."
One of the members of Payton's political team, a Childhood Friend of Payton and James.- Cincinnatus: She is offered the student body vice-presidency by Skye, but she refuses and turns Skye in, as she still believes in Payton.
- Lady in a Power Suit: Almost all of McAfee's clothes are trouser suits, but she also fits the character archetype to a tee, being a largely calm, aloof woman.
- The Lancer: Serves as this to Payton along with James.
- Nice Girl: Is arguably the kindest of Payton's political team. A downplayed moment of this is that, unlike James, she has the sense of referring to the exchange student Pierre by his first name rather than simply "the Haitian vote".
- The Only Believer: She believes in Payton's vision even when Alice and James don't later on.
- The Smart Girl: She shares this role as well with James on Payton's campaign. She later graduates from Columbia with a double major in only three years.
- The Stoic: Not to the extent of Alice, but McAfee is pretty impassive much of the time.
- Two First Names: Inverted, both her first and last name are traditionally surnames as lampshaded by Hadassah.
James Sullivan
Played By: Theo Germaine
"For the record, this is insane."
Payton's Best Friend, and another member of his political team.- Backstabbing the Alpha Bitch:
- He pulls this on Payton after the latter finds out about his affair with Alice. Subverted when it's revealed this was all an elaborate Batman Gambit to damage Astrid's campaign.
- Does this again in Season 2 when Payton isn't willing to get his hands dirty by releasing juicy information that could destroy the opposition.
- Deadpan Snarker: Frequently. For example, when Payton chastises him for being late (though technically he was on time - James just wasn't ten minutes early as per usual), James tells him that he will be looking for a catheter to use in order to stop his occasional wanting to go to the bathroom.
- Jerkass: James is blunt and rude and often dismisses other students as lesser.
- I Told You So: To Payton after the fallout from fake cancer-gate. Not that he's particularly happy about it.
- The Lancer: Serves as this to Payton along with McAfee.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Pulls this after Payton is forced to resign as student body president. But he does become roommates with Payton after the Time Skip.
- The Smart Guy: He and McAfee are the brains of Payton's campaign, though the candidate is no slouch himself.
- Sour Supporter: James can be a pretty cynical guy, but he certainly shows his loyalty to Payton.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Is fond of giving these to Payton.
Skye Leighton
Played By: Rahne Jones
- Backstabbing the Alpha Bitch: Skye joins Payton's ticket after Astrid's running off to New York costs them valuable time.
- Brutal Honesty: As she mentions in her first scene (and demonstrated in later episodes), Skye isn't afraid to give her honest opinion, no matter how blunt it is.
- Butch Lesbian: Skye's dress style leans towards this.
- Deadpan Snarker: Skye is a fan of throwing around snarky barbs, especially towards Astrid.
- The Dragon: As Astrid's running mate.
- Dragon Ascendant: First when she takes Astrid's spot at the top of the ticket after her disappearance. Second when she succeeds Payton after his resignation. Neither last long.
- Dragon with an Agenda: Like many VPs, she's clearly running for her own purposes and has little love for Astrid. No surprise when she changes sides and later tries to kill Payton.
- Easily Forgiven: Serves minimal jail-time for trying to kill Payton, who actually seems happy about her light sentence and becomes friends with her.
- Heel–Face Turn: She goes from being against Payton (even calling him a sociopath) to being a friend of his after several-months-in-jail-and-a-Time Skip-later.
- Hidden Depths: Skye is a fan of Guys and Dolls.
- Hyper Competent Side Kick: She is much better at playing the political game than Astrid and gets quite frustrated by this.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Skye can be sharp in her opinions and isn't afraid to call out people for their behavior. But she genuinely cares about trying to help the high school's marginalized students.
- Sixth Ranger: Joins Team Payton after jumping ship from Astrid's failing campaign. She betrays them not long after trying to assassinate Payton, but by the Season 1 finale she is Easily Forgiven and joins the team for good.
- The Starscream: She tries to assassinate and replace Payton.
- Straw Feminist: Of the Soapbox Sadie variety. She refuses to identify with any gender, is a lesbian, and often makes speeches regarding women's issues.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Skye is a lot kinder in Season 2 after the Time Skip.
Ricardo
Played By: Benjamin Barrett
- Bad "Bad Acting": His audition for the school musical. He discovers a passion for musical theatre, though.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: He is obsessed with Infinity, and his attempted assassination of Payton is based in this trope.
- The Ditz: Ricardo isn't the smartest tool in the shed. He admits to this.
- Hidden Depths: Twice in the same episode.
- First he shows immediate familiarity with Sondheim's Assassins when Infinity tells him about her casting. Then he auditions himself and treats it as Serious Business.
- While doing research for his role (which somehow includes learning about The Iliad), he gets the idea for Payton's assassination from Philoctetes' death. This would have worked perfectly and cleared him of any suspicion had he not told Infinity.
- Hollywood Tone-Deaf: He's not a good singer.
- Manchild: Ricardo has shades of this.
- Put on a Bus: Goes to jail after he tries to kill Payton.
- Spanner in the Works: Ricardo's attempt to get back at Astrid for destroying his relationship with Infinity leads to the two of them running off to New York in the middle of the presidential election. This causes Astrid to fall behind in the polls.
- The Bus Came Back: Makes an appearance (albeit behind prison walls) in 2x06, when Payton and the team seek him out for help.
Dusty Jackson
Played By: Jessica Lange
"I'm no saint. I'm just a little old country girl."
Infinity's grandmother.- Big Bad Ensemble: She serves as this for Payton in Season 1 along with Astrid, and is by far the evilest character on the show.
- Deep South: Originally from West Virginia.
- Establishing Character Moment: In episode 1, she uses her granddaughter's disability in order to get a table at a restaurant.
- Evil Matriarch: Of the Jackson family, and a Manipulative Bitch to boot. She poisoned Infinity and caused the death of Infinity's mother (her own daughter).
- Faux Affably Evil: Dusty originally appears like an old-fashioned Southern Belle who cares for her granddaughter. However, as the first season unfolds, the viewers learn that she has been poisoning Infinity to keep her at arm's length (while passing it off as cancer) and killed her own daughter by slowly poisoning her into kidney failure. Additionally, she's homophobic and attempts to have Payton assassinated.
- Gruesome Grandparent: Raised Infinity Jackson and was a terrible grandmother with Münchausen Syndrome. She's even an even worse mother].
- Hate Sink: She's an elitist, homophobic Rich Bitch who killed her daughter and poisoned her granddaughter into illness.
- Münchausen Syndrome: Pulls this on her granddaughter.
- Offing the Offspring: She killed her daughter by poisoning her until her kidneys failed.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: In the series trailer, she describes gay people as only "munching on butts and celebrating Halloween."
- Suspiciously Specific Denial:
Dusty: What are you saying? That I went down into the basement and peeled paint chips off the wall and fed them to your mother?
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Her main modus operandi.
Georgina Hobart
Played By: Gwyneth Paltrow
"Life isn't a train. It's a shit tornado full of gold."
Payton's adoptive mother.- Awful Wedded Life: Her marriage to Keaton is this. She married him when she gave up on love altogether and continuously has affairs with other people. Keaton is aware of all of this, but still wants her to "pretend" for him.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Has shades of this, shows it off far more in season two.
- Gold Digger: She certainly loves to reap the benefits of Keaton's wealth. Allison's too.
- Good Parents: Due to her own neglectul upbringing, she devoted herself to being an attentive and loving parent to her children.
- Good Stepmother: She loves Payton (her adopted son) more than she does her own biological children, and Payton himself says his relationship with her is one of the main reasons he never sought out his real mother, as that role was fulfilled.
- Journey to Find Oneself: After getting forced out of Keaton's will, she escapes to Bhutan in the penultimate episode of season 1.
- May–December Romance: She married to Keaton, who is significantly older than she is. However, the romance part has long died out.
- Parental Favoritism: It's clear that Georgina is closer to Payton than to Martin and Luther - the both of whom she calls "borderline psychopathic". She herself says her love for Payton 'goes on and on' while her love for the twins 'has edges'.
- Parental Neglect: Georgina was subjected to this during her childhood to the point where she barely knew her mother and had to learn details about her from her nanny.
- Proud Beauty: She's quite good-looking and is proud to point it out.
- Sex Goddess: She calls herself "spectacular in bed" in a press conference.
- Stacy's Mom: She is a mother of three and stunningly beautiful, leaving some students tongue-tied.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: She constantly had affairs while married to Keaton, but since she's a Trophy Wife and they have an Awful Wedded Life, she's portrayed as sympathetic.
- Trophy Wife: She's this to Keaton, having married him purely for money and they both don't feel any romantic feelings towards each other
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: The young hot Trophy Wife to the older Keaton's Ugly Guy.
Dede Standish
Played by: Judith Light
- Cool Old Lady: Dede is an older woman who has tirelessly worked for the state of New York, accomplished real, lasting change in the state's infrastructure and fought for progressive liberal rights for over three decades.
- Foil:
- To Astrid from season one. Both are popular candidates whose path pits them against Payton and co. Both are ruthless competitors who will look for the way to win. Where Astrid withdrew to delegitimise and demoralise Payton’s win Dede does so out of what appears to be her constituents' best interest.
- Her relationship with her husband and William, to Payton’s with Alice and Astrid. Where Dede's relationship is borne from love and genuine care, Payton’s relationship is all about power, control and mistrust. At the end of the second season, however, their relationships flip in opposite directions. Payton learns to respect Alice and support her as much she does him, starting a family with her while she attends medical school. Dede, on the other hand, discovers her husband Marcus was involved in an illegal scheme where he ghost-writes papers for his university students and their relationship falls apart.
- Hollywood Old: Lampshades this in her campaign video addressing her polyamorous relationship, pointing out people don't expect a woman over fifty to be sexually active.
- Polyamory: Is in a throuple (a three-way relationship) with her husband and a lover, William, where all three love each other equally.
- Silver Fox: An attractive older woman who owns her sexuality and not only has a loving husband, but a younger lover who is also very infatuated with her.
- Worthy Opponent: Dede initially despises Payton, and sees him as nothing more as a conniving, impertinent fetus who would lie and cheat his way to victory. As the election progresses, they come to see each other's value and end up as respectful rivals. This is enough to convince Dede to concede the State Senate election to Payton.
Hadassah Gold
Played by: Bette Midler
- Becoming the Mask: Hadassah pretends to be William's secret lover to deflect any potential rumors about Dede's polyamory. But they end up becoming genuinely attracted to one another, so much so that William dumps both Dede and Marcus to be with Hadassah.
- The Chessmaster: She is just as clever as Dede and Payton in her ability to spin events and situations in her favor.
- Married to the Job: She mentions to Dede that she's never had a stable love life, her love is being Dede's Chief of Staff.
- Number Two: Hadassah is this to Dede.
- Old Maid: Begins Season 2 as this, being over fifty and single.
- Technicolor Ninja: Is absolutely horrible at tailing people or being discreet in general because of her loud and colorful outfits and conspicuous behavior.
Recurring Characters
Keaton Hobart
Played By: Bob Balaban
Payton's adoptive father, Georgina's husband.- Abusive Parents: He's cold to Payton on a good day and while he does like him for a while, it seems only because he's not the son(s) who attempted to kill him when he was in a coma. He also plays favorites with his three sons, though Payton typically has the short end of the stick.
- Awful Wedded Life: Keaton is aware he's in a bad marriage to Georgina, but doesn't want her to divorce him.
- Convenient Coma: He throws himself out of a window after learning that Georgina wants a divorce, which leaves him in this state.
- Driven to Suicide: After learning his wife wants to leave him, he throws himself out of a window. He survives, however.
- Emasculated Cuckold: Once he learns his wife is cheating on him with the horse trainer, he has her written out of his will.
- Jerkass: He forces Georgina to stay in their failing marriage by threatening to cut her and their son Payton out of the will if she cheats again and eventually makes good on this promise. Additionally, he plays favorites with his three sons regularly.
- May–December Romance: Downplayed. He's decades older than his wife, though the romance part has long died out (if there was ever any romance to begin with, that is).note
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: He's very old and unattractive compared to his Trophy Wife Georgina.
Andrew Cashman
Played By: Ryan J Haddad
A guy who has a crush on Infinity.- Cassandra Truth: He tells the school principal and staff that Infinity is faking her disability, but is sent to detention for it.
- Disabled Snarker: Andrew's no less snarky than everyone else.
- Disability as an Excuse for Jerkassery: Subverted. While he has cerebral palsy, he never seems to use his disability as an excuse. He's just generally a jerk to everyone but Infinity.
- Stalker with a Crush: On Infinity.
- The Stoner: Andrew smokes marijuana.
Martin Hobart
Played By: Trevor Mahlon Eason
Payton's adoptive older twin brother.- Adoption Diss: Does this to Payton.
- Always Identical Twins: With his brother Luther.
- Big Brother Bully: To Payton.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Less of a jackass than Luther not that that's saying much.
- Jerkass: Between treating their younger brother as lesser because he was adopted, treating their mother like crap, and attempting to suffocate their comatose father to keep their brother and mother out of the will, Martin and Luther are pieces of work.
- Single-Minded Twins: Subverted. Martin appears to have more of a conscience than Luther does.
- Theme Twin Naming: Martin and Luther.
Luther Hobart
Played By: Trey Eason
Payton's other adoptive older twin brother.- Adoption Diss: Not above doing this to Payton.
- Always Identical Twins: With his brother Martin.
- Big Brother Bully: To Payton.
- Jerkass: Between treating their younger brother as lesser because he was adopted, treating their mother like crap, and attempting to suffocate their comatose father to keep their brother and mother out of the will, Martin and Luther are pieces of work.
- Theme Twin Naming: Martin and Luther.
Brigitte
Played By: Martina Navratilova
Georgina's ex-lover. Theo Sloan
Played By: Dylan McDermott
Astrid's father.- Abusive Parents: Of the emotional/verbal variety to Astrid.
- Awful Wedded Life: Theo is terrible to his wife, whom he nonchalantly mentions to the police officer tasked with searching for their daughter is an addicted former escort.
- Education Papa: He views his daughter Astrid as a disappointment because she didn't care about winning or losing the election (and subsequently dropped out), thinking that she isn't conforming to the image that Theo wants her to conform to.
- Freudian Excuse: His crushingly high expectations for his daughter shape her craving for power. He in turn has a Freudian Excuse in his own abusive father.
- Rich Bastard: Is loaded and also an extreme douchebag.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: His last words to his daughter after she called the FBI on him are how proud he is of her. Given his Manipulative Bastard tendencies, he could either be genuine, getting under Astrid's skin one last time, or possibly both.
Lizbeth Sloan
Played By: January Jones
Astrid's mother.- Addled Addict: Lizbeth is apparently on numerous drugs.
- Awful Wedded Life: Has a strained relationship with her husband.
- Parental Neglect: Ignores her daughter's loneliness and believes that her running away was inappropriate.
Marcus Standish
Played By:Joe Morton
Dede Standish's husband, and one third of her throuple.- Ambiguously Gay: It's implied by Hadassah that Dede may have been The Beard all along.
- Polyamory: Is in a throuple (a three way relationship) with his wife and a lover, William.
William Ward
Played By: Teddy Sears
The third person in the Standishs's throuple.- Becoming the Mask: When forced to pretend to be secret lovers with Hadassah, ends up falling in love with her.
- Journey to Find Oneself: Found working on a lobster boat after his breakup with the Standishs.
- Polyamory: Is in a throuple (a three way relationship) with Dede and Marcus.
