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Castaways
Leah
Leah Rilke
Played by: Sarah Pidgeon
A troubled girl who has just gone through a bad breakup; she comes from Berkeley, California and goes to the same high school as Fatin.- Ambiguously Bi: For the most part, Leah is portrayed as relatively straight, especially in season 1, with only the most marginal of subtext one might interpret as attraction towards girls. This mostly continues through season 2, however, towards the end of the season, she is hallucinating her first crush Ben Folds, who tells her he knows about all of her crushes. This includes a list of several men as well as "Amanda" and "Lana Del Rey," as well as some people with ambiguously gendered names.
- Anti-Hero: Leah can be difficult to like, especially in the first season. She has an obsessive personality which comes out in unhealthy ways, whether it's her pining over Jeffrey or forming conspiracy theories about the island, and can be cynical, mistrusting and abrasive. However, at her core she's a caring and resourceful person who manages to outwit her captors in the present day.
- Cassandra Truth: Though she doesn't get all the details right, some of her suspicions about the island and how they ended up there prove to be true, despite being dismissed by most of the other girls as crazy.
- The Chessmaster: It's revealed at the end of season 2 that she's played Gretchen and beaten her at her own game, forcing Gretchen to flee the island where she's keeping the teens and scrambling to continue her experiment.
- Conspiracy Theorist: She's the one to most consistently question the odd things happening on the island, and the first to point fingers. While she misses the mark on who the mole is, she's actually not wrong about everything.
- Fictional Fan, Real Celebrity: She mentions having a crush on Ben Folds when she was younger. Later on, she hallucinates him showing up on the beach, wearing a tux and singing to her.
- The Jailbait Wait: When she was getting close to Jeffrey Galantis and they both felt attracted to each other, she said that she was 17 and that her 18th birthday was coming up. Afterwards, their relationship became more physical. However, Jeffrey learned afterwards that she had lied and had turned 17, not 18, from an anonymous tip.
- Properly Paranoid: Zig-Zagged. While her paranoia about what's happening on the island makes her jump to some bad conclusions, she is right about there being more to the story.
- Took a Level in Badass: She undergoes quite a lot from the start of the story, from being pretty naïve and antagonistic to a Chessmaster capable of outsmarting Gretchen and her organization, though it only gets her and the others so far...
- Tragic Keepsake: She still has the copy of Jeffrey Galantis' book, filled with handwritten annotations, from when they were in a relationship, and sometimes reads parts of it on the island.
Rachel
Rachel Reid
Played by: Reign Edwards
A competitive diver from New York and Nora's fraternal twin sister.- An Arm and a Leg: In the post-island timeline, we see that she lost one of her hands. It's later revealed this was the result of a shark attack.
- Big Sister Instinct: She's protective of her twin sister Nora at times, although they also butt heads.
- Competition Freak: A competitive diver, Rachel is tough and driven, almost to the point of danger. Pitching the idea of building a shelter as a competition is enough to get her onboard.
- D-Cup Distress: Her coach tells her that the body type needed to succeed in competitive swimming are "short, compact bodies with itty-bitty pancake chests," and points out that Rachel grew up tall and curvy.
- I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Rachel blames herself for Nora’s death, unaware that she is not actually dead.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Rachel starts off as an insecure and abrasive athlete, though she is shown to have a good side to her. Part of her character development is realizing that she is more than her athleticism and gradually becomes kinder to her fellow group members.
- My Greatest Failure: When she believes that Nora died saving her, Rachel feels responsible and grieves her for several episodes.
- Weight Woe: When her diving coach told her that she had reached her peak as a competitive diver, in part because she wouldn't be able to compete with divers with smaller physiques better suited for it, Rachel developed an eating disorder, eating in front of a mirror and purging after eating.
Dot
Dorothy "Dot" Campbell
Played by: Shannon Berry
A tough but caring girl from Texas; she goes to the same high school as Shelby.- Book Dumb: She said she's never been able to get into books and is implied to have been a fairly average student in school but is very intelligent and savvy, demonstrating crucial knowledge of surviving on the island and basically taking the role of team leader.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Dot rarely showed much interest in school or for intellectual pursuits in general but she regularly shows herself to be very smart and capable, playing a crucial role in keeping the girls alive.
- Deadpan Snarker: Dot is easily the biggest source of snark among the girls. Pretty much every line she has is a dry remark or putdown.
- Hates Reading: She claims she's never liked reading due to poor concentration, not even able to read graphic novels.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She’s got a rough side but is shown to have a good heart and has pep talked Shelby in times of crisis, letting her know that she’s not The Friend Nobody Likes.
- The Leader: With her many skills picked up from watching survival shows with her dad, she not only adapts to the situation much quicker than the other girls but is also able to guide them.
- Missing Mom: Only her dad is shown in the flashbacks, and her mom's not mentioned.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Her real name is Dorothy—but she's rarely called that, except by Fatin.
- Only Sane Woman: She's not confrontational like Toni, Fatin, Rachel or Leah. She's also not overly idealistic like Martha. She also doesn't suffer Sanity Slippage like Shelby or Leah. She's usually trying to stop fights, stay realistic or help others stay sane much like Nora. But unlike Nora, she's not spying on the other girls. This gets deconstructed when being the "guiding light" and trying to keep the group from imploding causes her to burnout. Being the only sane woman isn't enough. Other people need to put in effort as well or they’ll eventually they'll drag the Only Sane Woman down with them.
- Red Herring: She is hinted to be working for Gretchen throughout the first season, and Jeanette/Linh suspected her of being the Dawn of Eve's other insider before she herself was sent out. However, Episode 9 reveals that Nora is the actual insider.
- The Stoner: She enjoys her hash, even lighting up as the plane was going down, and was her school's main drug dealer.
- Taught by Television: A lot of her knowledge about wilderness survival comes from watching TV shows like Survivor with her dad.
- Team Mom: She sort of falls into this role due to how capable she shows herself to be from the start.
Toni
Toni Shalifoe
Played by: Erana James
A hot-headed, lesbian Ojibwe Native American athlete from Minnesota; she goes to the same high school as Martha and is her best friend.- Belligerent Sexual Tension: She has this with Shelby at first. They butt heads due to Toni being openly lesbian, while Shelby is a conservative Christian who dislikes this. However, it then turns out Shelby is a repressed lesbian herself, who's attracted to Toni (and it's mutual). After it's revealed, they sleep together and get into a relationship.
- Butch Lesbian: She's a tough, aggressive lesbian and committed athlete who has long hair but mostly wears it back, while wearing fairly masculine clothes most of the time.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Not romantically, but she is very clingy over her best friend Martha and gets very jealous of her friendship with Shelby in the first half of the season, indicative of her probable abandonment issues.
- Erotic Eating: Toni performs cunnilingus on a clam, to Shelby's discomfort but the rest of the girls' laughter.
- Everyone Has Standards: Abrasive as she may be and as much as she seems to hate Shelby, she would never out the latter after she kissed her and is shocked at the very thought that she would.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Her establishing moment is flipping over a table at a restaurant she works at after reading a note on her attitude from a customer (who left her no tip, to boot).
- Hidden Depths: She reveals early in season 2 that she loves party planning materials and wedding planning and has dreamed about her own future wedding for years and has a vision for how she wants it to go, speaking about the topic with complete sincerity. Fatin is completely taken aback at the revelation.
- Hot-Blooded: Oh yes, she can barely keep her temper in check and sees perceived slights as attacks and reacts accordingly.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Toni is surly, abrasive and short-tempered but not a bad person at all and she cares very deeply for Martha and others who get close to her.
- The Lad-ette: Toni is aggressive, foul-mouthed, talks openly about sex and has a crude sense of humor.
- Lesbian Jock: She's gay, and was captain of the school basketball team.
- The Napoleon: The shortest of the girls with a considerable Hair-Trigger Temper.
- Parental Abandonment: She says that her dad has been "a no-show since day one." Her mom, meanwhile, has been in and out of rehab for years. Because of this, she lives with her friend Martha's family.
- Parental Substitute: Martha's mom is one for her, to at least some degree, after Toni starts staying at the Blackburn house.
- Pitbull Dates Puppy: She starts a relationship with the religious beauty pageant contestant Shelby.
- Tomboyish Name: Toni has a pretty boyish name, and is a mildly butch lesbian who's an athlete.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Toni is quite butch and tomboyish but also loves romance novels, decorations and weddings, dreaming about her own for years.
- Twofer Token Minority: Toni is a Native American (Ojibwe specifically) lesbian.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: She's shown as this in episode 4, when she fights a group of full-grown men who threaten her and her girlfriend.
Fatin
Fatin Jadmani
Played by: Sophia Ali
A promiscuous cellist who comes from a rich family; she goes to the same high school as Leah in Berkeley, California.- A-Cup Angst: It's downplayed by being an offhand remark, but Fatin expresses her desire for D-cups at one point.
- Ambiguously Bi: After Toni tells her how she'll always love Shelby, Fatin says she feels that way about another woman. Though she doesn't say who, it's implied to be Leah given how they've grown closer. It isn't explicitly said to be romantic or sexual attraction, but context implies it's this.
- Broken Pedestal: Fatin was very disappointed when her dad, whom she'd been close with, cheated on her mom by sending women dick pics. After this, she sent them out to everybody in his contacts list for revenge.
- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: A much more dramatic example than usual. After she and Leah overcome their initial animosity, Fatin becomes the most concerned with Leah's obsessive and paranoid tendencies. As such she tries to temper when Leah "goes dark" and it doesn't always go well.
- Cool Big Sis: Her Hidden Heart of Gold shines through when she's with her brothers, and she acts sisterly to Martha as well, reassuring her that she can find love.
- Daddy's Girl: Fatin was much closer to her dad in her flashbacks, since he was more like her and not pushing constantly for her to succeed like her mom.
- Deadpan Snarker: Will often make sarcastic jokes about the girls and their situation.
- Everyone Has Standards: After she drinks to every sex question asked of her while playing "Never Have I Ever", Fatin stops when it's "had a threesome on your period", dead-panning "I mean... I'm not a freak". It's Played for Laughs.
- The Fashionista: Nobody can argue she's not constantly concerned with her looks. She's always seen in the most flattering possible clothing, plus makeup.
- Hidden Depths: As shallow as she may seem, Fatin is the most empathetic of the girls, being the first to pick up on people's emotional needs. It allows her to help when Leah starts slipping, detect BST between Toni and Shelby and help Martha with her Paralyzing Fear of Sexuality. In Season 2 she also recites an Islamic prayer while with Shelby as well. Shelby's surprised because Fatin had never said anything about religion before, though it is established that she comes from a Muslim family. Fatin does say it's all she remembers, granted.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: Though she seems pretty aloof and snobby at first, Fatin is really quite kind at heart. This is first shown when she's with her brothers, and then later when she gives Martha support. She's very attuned to others' emotional needs, which helps this.
- Innocently Insensitive:
- In season one when Toni rants to Fatin, Fatin casually asks, "Are you an Aries?", making Toni even more irritated.
- In season two when things continue to go wrong for the girls, Fatin remarks to Martha that she feels like they've pissed off some gods and joking suggests sacrificing a virgin, before adding that she wouldn't be a candidate. Martha, who has been sexually abused and is often assumed to be the innocent one of the girls, gets offended and upset by the perceived implication that she would be a candidate.
- Lingerie Scene: She's seen wearing only her underwear in flashbacks after having sex with a guy.
- The Load: She's seen as this initially, especially by Rachel and Leah, but later proves her worth to the group by being the one to find fresh water.
- Modesty Bedsheet: In one flashback of her after having sex with a guy, she's got the bedclothes around her chest.
- Ms. Fanservice: She's one of, if not the prettiest among the girls, plus providing the only sex scenes (in her flashbacks) and the most with her scantily-clad.
- Really Gets Around: Her promiscuity is brought up a lot, mostly by Leah. Flashbacks reveal Fatin had casual sex with guys quite frequently, one simply being credited as "Latest Conquest". She also had at least one three-way with two guys.
- Shoulders-Up Nudity: She shows this in her sex scenes during the flashbacks.
- Shipper on Deck: She encourages Shelby to go talk to Toni if she wants to know how she feels, stating that she knows sexual tension when she sees it.
- Silk Hiding Steel: Her status as The Fashionista and haughty attitude makes it seem like she'll be useless at first, but she turns out to be extremely resilient and helpful throughout the girls' ordeal.
- A Threesome Is Hot: She admits during a "Never Have I Ever" game that she's had sex with two guys together.
- Tooka Level In Kindness: Fatin began the series uninterested in the other girls and primarily offering snarky comments with no interest in helping, but by season 2 she's taken on the role of Team Mom. She even remarks on this in season 2, and Martha tells her, "You just care is all" to which Fatin replies, "I know, it's disgusting."
- Toplessness from the Back: Fatin is seen naked from behind when having sex with a guy in a flashback.
- Twofer Token Minority: She's the sole main character of South Asian ancestry, who also comes from a Muslim family. (Fatin herself doesn't appear to be very religious, but there is one moment when she recites the Prayer for Light.)
Shelby
Shelby Goodkind
Played by: Mia Healy
A devoutly Christian beauty pageant queen from Texas; she goes to the same high school as Dot.- Armored Closet Gay: It's mostly a result of her father's religious views. She gets vocally uncomfortable when Toni talks about her sex life, stating homosexuality is sinful, and lashed out at her best friend after being caught kissing her. Later she kisses Toni, before they have sex offscreen.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Zig-Zagged. While her kind moments are genuine and she does mean well, she's haunted by her religious father's strict position on certain things as well as her resulting internalized homophobia, which when triggered causes her to act out and say things she doesn't mean. This has tragic results when she accidentally drives her best friend to suicide in a moment of weakness.
- Coming-Out Story: This is Shelby's character arc, admitting that she's attracted to women (specifically Toni) and embracing it rather than remaining in denial while opposing this. Everyone learns they're together and none of them care at all in Season 2.
- Covert Pervert: Her prudish Christian girl front slips a little when she drunkenly admits to masturbating with hot tub jets and proposes a toast to orgasm.
- Crisis of Faith: Shelby is a very devoted Christian at first, but begins to question her faith when she meets Toni, a proud, open lesbian whose sexuality she finds threatening, for she's repressed her attraction for girls, as it conflicts with the conservative teachings she'd been instilled with. It all does a number on her mentally. She seems to get over it after a time, but is far more subdued than prior, no longer talking about it so often. However, after Rachel's lost Nora and seeks religious comfort, Shelby shares a prayer she used as a mantra to deal with the suicide of her friend Becca.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Her father is homophobic and abusive. When he finds out that she and her best friend kissed, she's so afraid of what he might do that she turns on her friend and might've been the final trigger for the girl committing suicide.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Shelby begins the series with long, sleek perfect blonde hair. In the flash forwards, we see she has completely shaved her head. In the in-between, we see two different hairstyles. First she cuts some of her hair in a moment of Sanity Slippage at the end of season 1. Later she cuts it again, leaving it uneven and quite short although not to the extent of baldness yet in the end of season 2.
- False Teeth Tomfoolery: She has a genetic condition which causes her to have two of her front teeth missing and so wears a mouthguard with false teeth to fill in the gaps, a fact she is very sensitive about.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She has blonde hair and is a very sincere, sweet-natured person.
- Heroic BSoD: When the group thinks they'll be rescued thanks to a passing plane, Shelby doesn't react with joy like the rest of the girls. Instead, she just sits emotionless by herself until she moves from BSOD to a Sanity Slippage breakdown. Acknowledging her sexuality and then immediately being confronted with the idea of going back home to her father does a real number on her mentally.
- Heteronormative Crusader: Shelby is a conservative Christian, and voices her view that homosexuality is sinful after Toni imitates cunnilingus on a clam and makes her uncomfortable. She's rebuked by all of the girls. It later turns out she also likes girls, making this an internalized issue. She sheds her view later and gets involved with Toni.
- Important Haircut: While experiencing Sanity Slippage towards the end of season 1, Shelby does a bit of a hack job on her hair, though it's still there. By the time of the interviews, she's shaved her head nearly bald.
- Innocently Insensitive: Shelby pushes Toni’s buttons by saying some unintentionally offensive things (including asking Martha "How do you say 'thank you' in Native American?"), which drives their conflict for the first half of Season 1.
- Meaningful Name: Her last name, Goodkind, fits her very well. She really is good and kind, aside from a few darker moments caused by her issues.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After kissing her, Becca tells her parents about it and Shelby freaks out, afraid of her dad's reaction. She rejects Becca, later learning Becca's killed herself before her pageant performance, and is horrified.
- The Pollyanna: Shelby is described this way, and at first it fits her as she's aggressively upbeat, maintaining her optimism despite the circumstances. However, it turns out she's nursing some serious issues. After they come out, she gets depressed, before mellowing on resolving them somewhat.
- Sanity Slippage: When she really starts to question the religious views her father instilled in her she starts to lose it.
- Southern Belle: A beautiful pageant girl from Texas.
- Stepford Smiler: She definitely has shades of this at times. While she's genuinely cheerful and quite upbeat usually, this can come off as clearly forced when Shelby struggles with her anxieties over being a lesbian and the quite conservative Christian homophobia she had been instilled with. She breaks down over it briefly.
- Token Religious Teammate: Shelby is the only girl among the nine to be vocally religious, speaking about her Christian beliefs frequently early on. She noticeably maintains her devout beliefs even after accepting being a lesbian and openly getting involved in a relationship with Toni once she's overcome a Crisis of Faith.
- Trauma Button: It's implied that being confronted by Toni's open lesbian sexuality serves as one to her, since it turns out she'd been attracted to her friend Becca, but rejected her after fearing their families' reaction, which caused Becca's suicide.
Martha
Martha Blackburn
Played by: Jenna Clause
A kind-hearted, animal-loving Ojibwe Native American girl from Minnesota; she goes to the same school as Toni and is her best friend.- Affectionate Nickname: Martha is frequently called "Marty" by Toni.
- Animal Lover: She's a vegetarian, and the only one vocally against hunting for food when they run out. She later has to concede in Season One when the group runs out of food, killing a goat that wandered around the island so they could eat it. In the next seasons, she is trapping and killing small animals for food. However, the guilt about this eventually gets to Martha so much she's left catatonic.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: She goes to both Fatin and Leah for relationship advice.
- Nice Girl: She's the nicest of the 8.
- Paralyzing Fear of Sexuality: Martha admits having this trait to Fatin, which is the result of being molested as a child.
- Rape as Backstory: She was sexually abused by her physical therapist when she was young, something she repressed for years.
- Sanity Slippage: Martha suffers this during the second season due to a combination of her childhood trauma and having to kill animals for sustenance. Martha falls into a catatonic state as a result.
- Uncertain Doom: In the post-island timeline of Season One, she is one of the few girls who isn't seen in person and her fate isn't stated by any other character. In the episode focusing on her, Agent Young reads her files instead of talking to her. Later subverted when it is revealed that Martha is still alive and recovering from her injuries, though left the island in a catatonic state.
Nora
Nora Reid
Played by: Helena Howard
A quiet, timid bookworm and Rachel's fraternal twin sister.- Beware the Quiet Ones: Nora is generally amiable and quiet, though there are moments where it's clear that there's more to her than simply her social awkwardness. For example, Nora can prove herself a physical fighter when pushed to the edge, while also making occasional sex jokes and wry observations about the others. Additionally, she's the mole of the group.
- Black and Nerdy: Nora acts as The Smart Guy of the group as a result of her interests, which helps the girls on more than one occasion.
- Covert Pervert: She seems innocent but has a filthy sense of humor and is one of the five girls who admits to masturbating while on the island.
- Cute Bookworm: Nora loves to read, and is often seen with a book when she has free time. She's also a pretty young woman who's shy and socially awkward to the point of having implied autism.
- The Mole: She's revealed in episode 9 to be working with Gretchen, although the circumstances of their situation are explored in episode 10.
- Not Quite Dead: The first episode of season two implies that Nora died saving Rachel from the shark attack and the group Never Found the Body, only for it to be revealed a couple episodes later that Nora is still alive and with The Dawn of Eve.
- The Quiet One: Especially compared to her sister, Rachel. She doesn't speak that much, and when Nora does it's sometimes surprising (e.g. her telling dirty jokes with a straight face). It's possibly a result of her being autistic or in some other way neurodivergent, since she displays other typical autistic traits.
- Tough Love: She complains of her sister Rachel practicing this on her, saying it's the only kind she has, before the pair get into a physical fight.
- Twofer Token Minority: She's a Black girl who's implied to also be autistic.
- Uncertain Doom: Like Martha, she isn't seen in the post-island timeline and it's unclear what happened to her. Then subverted when it is revealed that Nora drowned saving Rachel—only for it to be revealed that she’s still alive and in the custody of the Dawn of Eve.
Jeanette
Jeanette Dao
Played by: Chi Nguyen
An extroverted, friendly and chatty girl.- A Day in the Limelight: "Day Fifteen" features several flashbacks exploring her backstory and how she came to join the Dawn of Eve before her death.
- Feminine Women Can Cook: She dresses in pink, feminine clothes and her backstory shows that she worked as a cook at her parents' restaurant.
- Motor Mouth: She's very chatty.
- No Social Skills: She suggests a drinking game when Shelby proposes an icebreaker and doesn't catch on to Shelby's comment on how it isn't very appropriate.
- Sacrificial Lamb: She dies from internal bleeding in the first episode.
- Twofer Token Minority: She's a woman who has East Asian ancestry, the single one in the cast (also an Australian, with the rest largely Americans.)
- We Hardly Knew Ye: As stated earlier, she dies in the first episode before we can get to know her much. However, a later episode devotes a fair amount of time to her real identity.
"The Control Group"
Rafael
Rafael Garcia
Played by: Zack Calderon
A quiet, sensitive teenager who straddles between two worlds and his personal identity and finds himself drawn to stronger personalities during his time on the island. Arrives with classmate Josh.- Conflicting Loyalty: To Seth, the first guy to befriend him on the island, versus the rest of the group.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: He arguably functions as one to Leah, the dominant POV character from the first season. Leah is a white woman while Raf is a Mexican man. Leah came from a fairly upper middle class home in Berkeley while Raf is from a more working class background in Mexico. Leah was caustic, short-tempered and paranoid, cynical and wasn't on very good terms with most of the girls at first while Raf is friendly, laid-back, quiet, trusting and idealistic, albeit to a fault, and gets along well with the other guys. Leah was the most emotionally unstable of the girls, to the point of outright hallucinations at times, while Raf is the most grounded of the boys.
- Grew a Spine: While not completely passive, his inability to see Seth beyond a friend who made mistakes clouds his judgment for much of the season. That is until the final episode when Seth suggests leaving Kirin to drown, causing Raf to beat Seth into unconsciousness when he realizes the person Seth actually is.
- Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: Kirin accuses Raf of this when the latter accidentally watches him walking out of the ocean naked.
- Nice Guy: Rafael is generally an affable guy who sees the good in people, albeit sometimes to the detriment of harsh reality.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Rafael is usually called "Raf" or "Rafe" (an Accidental Misnaming by Kirin that Raf seems fine with or at least doesn't say anything about).
- Only Sane Man: He tends to be the most grounded of the group, lacking Kirin's machismo, Ivan's abrasiveness and self-righteousness, Josh's neuroses and people pleasing tendencies, Henry's pessimism, Scotty's self-centeredness, Bo's timidness and anxiety and Seth's volatile temper and dark side.
- Twofer Token Minority: Rafael is Mexican, the only Latino of the main characters. Culturally he's also pretty American, frequently crossing over for school and speaking English fluently without an accent.
- Uptown Girl: His girlfriend Marisol is the daughter of a famous salsa company owner, which causes some tension between them after he is arrested.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Raf often sees the world with rose-colored glasses, both in terms of his girlfriend's relationship with him and Seth's actual personality and issues, and he doesn't realize it until later.
- Working-Class Hero: Raf grew up in a working-class Mexican family.
Henry
Henry Tanaka
Played by: Aidan Laprete Powell
An emo, sensitive type who often retreats into his own thoughts and dwell on the darkness of the world. Arrives on the island with his stepbrother Seth.- Asian and Nerdy: He's mixed race (white and Japanese) and is a bookish, unathletic guy who is clearly not comfortable in social settings.
- Brutal Honesty: Henry does not mince his words on anything, be it how much he doesn't want to do the retreat, his views on others, his belief that they are doomed and his unhappiness with things in general.
- The Cynic: Henry is in a perpetually sullen mood and has a dim view on just about everything.
- Deadpan Snarker: More emphasis on the deadpan, though Henry has a tendency to make sarcastic quips about the group’s current predicament.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Downplayed. Presents himself as an introverted, astute, but somewhat mean teenager with a cynical view of the world, though becomes more empathetic and helpful as the season progresses.
- Disappeared Dad: His mother has remarried to Seth's father, with his biological father out of the picture.
- The Eeyore: Henry has a mercurial, pessimistic personality that manifests in him making occasional speeches about death and the likely possibility that the group will face it.
- Emo Teen: From his fashion sense to general disposition, Henry absolutely personifies this trope.
- Hidden Depths: Henry was a Boy Scout (96 merit badges) until he hit high school, which means he has a lot more strengths as a survivalist than most of the cast and gives him a role similar to Dot in the girls' group in that regard.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: Under his Jerkass facade is a generally intuitive and empathetic soul.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Henry is in a perpetually downbeat mood and can be a real drag at times but he's a good person overall and does have a strong moral compass and kind side that becomes clearer as the show goes on.
- Jerkass Has a Point: As Henry himself realizes later, his observation that his mother pitied Seth was not wrong—even if the comment was made in the heat of the moment.
- The Quiet One: Henry generally occupies this role, being introverted and uncomfortable in social settings.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: In a heated argument, Henry says that his mother only likes Seth because she pities him for not having a biological mother. While his reasoning is slightly off, Henry’s belief that his mother pities Seth turns out to be (implicitly) right.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Henry is a passive introverted jerk with a Hidden Heart of Gold while his stepbrother Seth is an outgoing but secretly dangerous Bitch in Sheep's Clothing with a seriously dark side.
- The Smart Guy: As a former Boy Scout, he's the one most equipped to handle the outdoors and provide crucial advice.
- Soapbox Sadie: Has this in shades, making it clear that he is not a fan of social institutions.
- Sour Supporter: Henry never wanted to be part of the Twilight of Adam project to begin with and is equally annoyed at having to be on the desert island with people he doesn't know and with the possibility that any one of them can die without ever being rescued. Nevertheless, he tries to pull his weight, such as using his Boy Scout knowledge to help the group hide their food supply from animals.
Josh
Josh Herbert
Played by: Nicholas Coombe
A talkative, hypochondriac, awkward teenager from a wealthy San Diego family. Arrives with his classmate Raf.- Abusive Parents: His parents are described as cold and neglectful, showing him little affection. That's not even getting into how they knowingly signed him up for a life-threatening and traumatic experience in the hopes of making him tougher.
- Apologizes a Lot: Josh has a propensity to excessively apologize to everyone when he feels he had wronged them.
- Berserk Button: Josh really hates being thought of or referred to as a victim, especially after his assault by Seth.
- Broken Pedestal: He looked up to Seth when he found out he was the Instagram handle known as Spillz. It wasn't long before Seth gave him a good reason to change his mind.
- Crazy-Prepared: In terms of prescriptions, Josh is basically a small pharmacy.
- Grew a Spine: He becomes more confident during his time on the island.
- Hates Being Touched: Develops this after he is sexually assaulted.
- Hypochondria: Josh has multiple prescriptions for disorders that are outright described as being psychosomatic.
- Hypocritical Humor: Josh expresses consternation with white non-Mexican people appropriating Cinco de Mayo and watering down its cultural importance, then seconds later calls Dia de Los Muertos "Mexican Halloween" in all earnestness.
- Innocently Insensitive: As much as Josh wants to be socially progressive, it can often be performative. For example, Josh refers to the DÃa de Los Muertos note holiday as "Mexican Halloween", which Raf and Leah find cringe-inducing, even after getting the purpose of Cinco de Mayo right.
- Kick the Dog: At Kirin's prompting, Josh confronts Bo and Scotty for accepting fish from Seth and quickly starts taunting Bo over his weight. The two of them quickly reconcile, and it's clear that Josh's cruel behavior is a reaction to a reminder of his abuser.
- Lonely Rich Kid: He comes from a very wealthy family with his parents mentioned as being one of the few who paid and helped fund the project and he had few friends growing up and his two older siblings and parents largely ignored or just barely tolerated him.
- Motor Mouth: Has a tendency to talk a lot, which can lead to some annoyance within the group. Unfortunately, one drunken gaff resulted in Seth physically and sexually abusing him after accidentally hitting the latter's Berserk Button.
- Nice Guy: Josh is one of the nicest guys in the group, though sometimes he can cross the line into Innocently Insensitive territory.
- The Pollyanna: Josh is always the optimist, even after serious hardship.
- Practically Different Generations: While their exact ages aren't given, he has two siblings who are implied to be considerably older than him, meaning he has very little relationship with them.
- Rape as Drama: Seth sexually assaults Josh halfway through the second season, which drastically affects Josh emotionally and physically.
- Sanity Slippage: Downplayed. As a result of his rape, Josh initially tries to deny his assault happened and minimizes the emotional trauma of the assault. Additionally, Josh gets slightly meaner towards the others as a result of still having to be in the same vicinity of his abuser.
- Spoiled Sweet: He's a kindhearted soul whose familial wealth led to him being added to the Twilight of Adam project.
- Two First Names: Josh and Herbert are first names.
- The Unfavorite: He has two siblings who are very accomplished compared to him; he says his parents see him as a disappointment and sent him on the retreat with the hopes that he would toughen up.
Kirin
Kirin O'Conner
Played by: Charles Alexander
A short-tempered lacrosse player without any patience for weakness, self-appointed leader of the group. Arrives on the island with classmate/enemy Ivan.- Big Man on Campus: Kirin was this at his high school.
- Bully Turned Buddy: Downplayed. Despite initially being annoyed at and impatient with Josh, Kirin instantly believes and becomes protective of Josh after Josh confides in him that Seth sexually assaulted him. The two of them soon become closer friends, and Kirin starts encouraging Josh to be more assertive.
- Dark and Troubled Past: It is implied that Kirin comes from a rough background as he sees his lacrosse coach as the closest person he has in his life and is devastated when the man is fired.
- Disappeared Dad: His dad left when he was very young, leaving him without any kind of father figure until he met his coach.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Kirin is easily the angriest of the group when he learns that Seth sexually assaulted Josh, threatening to kill him several times and is extremely protective and caring towards Josh afterwards. Additionally, Kirin doesn't seem to have a personal problem with Ivan being gay—he's just annoyed at the latter’s It's All About Me tendencies.
- And while he encourages Josh to be more assertive and to stand up for himself, he thinks making fun of Bo's weight is going too far.
- Freudian Excuse: His father left when he was very young and he's been trying to find someone to fill that role since. His lacrosse coach gave him the guidance he needed and Kirin was devastated when he was fired due to Ivan's campaign, explaining the bad blood between them.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Kirin usually has shows signs of this around Ivan (though that slowly changes) and Seth (which turns out to be justified).
- Hidden Depths: Big time. At first glance, Kirin seems like nothing more than a dumb, swaggering jock with an overabundance of testosterone. But he gradually shows himself to be a lot more sensitive, compassionate and insightful than he appears and shows a softer side as time goes on, revealing himself as a good and protective friend.
- Heroic BSoD: Blames himself for the devolution of the group.
- Jerk Jock: Kirin has this in shades, though is shown to have some standards when it comes to morality. Unlike most examples, he isn't shown or implied to have been a bully and was popular due to his charismatic personality as well as his success at sports.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Kirin starts off as an obnoxious and angry Jerk Jock, but he later shows a softer and more sensitive side and can acknowledge the strengths of the others at times. Additionally, he is instantly protective of Josh when he learns about his sexual assault.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- Kirin is quick to suspect that Seth's Nice Guy personality is just a façade, and turns out to be right in the most horrific way.
- Kirin points out that Ivan's Holier Than Thou personality sometimes get in the way of other people's problems and that he is nowhere near as righteous as he thinks of himself as being. This makes sense since Kirin knows that Ivan can be a Nerdy Bully at times. Ivan's quiet response implies he knows Kirin isn't wrong.
- Large Ham: Tends to be the loudest and most vocal of the group.
- Last-Name Basis: Calls Ivan by his surname, which is only periodically reciprocated.
- The Leader: Self-appoints himself as one for the group.
- Leeroy Jenkins: As noted by the others, Kirin tends to barge ahead without a plan, damn the consequences.
- Lovable Jock: He reveals himself to be one beneath his macho personality, showing he was popular for his charisma and being a good friend as well as his athletic ability and there's never any indication that he was a bully.
- Mr. Fanservice: He's an athlete with the physique to match and loves showing it off as much as he can, with the tropical heat of the island just giving him an excuse to go without a shirt most of the time.
- Odd Friendship: He and Josh couldn't be more different but end up becoming close, especially after Josh's assault.
- STD Immunity: Averted. Kirin contracted gonorrhea before arriving on the island and has to use Josh's antibiotics to treat it.
Ivan
Ivan Taylor
Played by: Miles Gutierrez-Riley
An activist and aspiring writer with an impeccable fashion sense, razor-sharp wit, and tendency to cut others with words. Arrives with classmate/enemy Kirin.- "Angry Black Man" Stereotype: Downplayed. Given his own struggles with being abused for simply being Black and gay, Ivan does have justifiable reasons to be annoyed with the unfair society he lives in. But sometimes he sideswipes empathy in order to be the "better" person, which ends up having dire circumstances when it comes to his relationship with Luc.
- Attention Whore: Another small part in a big flaw of Ivan's. Everything has to be seen so he can get his admiration, such as a private picture with Luc he put up with out asking or his picking on Kirin.
- Camp Gay: He’s fashionable, socially conscious, witty, and an aspiring novelist.
- Deadpan Snarker: Ivan's usually this to Kirin, with whom he has a tumultuous relationship.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Chastises Kirin for making sex jokes in front of Josh, who had recently dealt with a sexual assault.
- Holier Than Thou: Ivan has a serious problem with this trope, tending to believe his status as a minority and concern over social justice issues means he is always in the right and can act however he wants, with no concern towards anyone he deems an acceptable target. Kirin calls him out on it and, since Ivan's boyfriend broke up with him over it prior to the island, it's implied Ivan knows he isn't wrong, either.
- It's All About Me: Arguably his major character flaw is his inability to realize other's feelings. Examples include posting an intimate photo of him and his boyfriend Luc without the latter's consent. Additionally, Ivan goads Kirin into denouncing him with homophobic slurs on video while the latter is in a particularly vulnerable state after his father figure, his football coach, is fired—to "prove" that Kirin always had it out for him.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ivan's abrasive and sometimes holier-than-thou, which can be off-putting to the other group members. Nevertheless, his heart is in the right place, even if he doesn't always see the consequences of his actions, and he makes a sincere effort to comfort Josh after he is sexually assaulted by Seth and even apologizes to Kirin about what happened.
- Kick the Dog: Ivan's backstory has him goading Kirin into saying homophobic slurs against him while recording him-after Kirin had lost the one parental figure in his life after the man was fired from the school they attended due to Ivan exposing old photos of him in blackface. Ivan's boyfriend Luc called him out on it (after Kirin was expelled) and broke up with him over the matter. This incident led to increased animosity between Ivan and Kirin, though it's implied that Ivan regrets what he did to Kirin.
- Lack of Empathy: He is very callous towards anyone he sees as more privileged, dismissing Kirin's sorrow at losing a parental figure as a sign of him being racist and later actively goading him into getting angry and responding in a way that got Kirin expelled. His boyfriend eventually breaks up with him over it, saying that while young men like them do have to be hard to survive, Ivan has forgotten how to be anything but hard.
- Nerdy Bully: A variation. Ivan is a Camp Gay boy that would be bullied the same way a nerd would, except he can be a bully himself. He's a shining example of how bullies in current days can come in different forms and sometimes use the "cancel culture" method as a loophole to be a bully in the guise of someone doing something just, such as when he caught Kirin Drowning His Sorrows after his coach was fired due to an old Blackface photo that Ivan justifiably exposed him for. Kirin was just sad that the closest thing he had to a father was now gone but Ivan was having none of it and started recording him, trying to get Kirin to call him a slur. Kirin, wanting to be left alone, gave him what he wanted on video which Ivan then released getting Kirin expelled. Since Kirin was just in a genuinely sad moment and Ivan was looking for a fight, Ivan was the bully in this situation. Ivan's own boyfriend calls him out for kicking Kirin while he's down and breaks up with him.
- Pet the Dog: Is very protective of Josh, after the latter is sexually assaulted by Seth. He also brings a torch to the recently exiled Raf, at the expense of being exiled himself.
- Soapbox Sadie: Ivan is very socially conscious and has a tendency to chastise the others for their insensitivity on various subjects.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Ivan goes from an abrasive and judgmental teenager whose own character flaws sometimes blind him to the suffering of other people, even those who have more social privilege than him, to someone who becomes more tender and empathetic to the needs of others. By the end of the second season, Ivan seems to have become Vitriolic Best Buds with Kirin, despite everything.
- Two First Names: "Ivan" and "Taylor" can both be first names.
- Twofer Token Minority: Ivan is a Black gay boy.
- What the Hell, Hero?: His boyfriend Luc calls him out for goading an emotionally vulnerable Kirin into calling him slurs and recording it, which leads to their break-up.
Scotty
Scotty Sims
Played by: Reed Shannon
A fast-talking wannabe entrepreneur with dreams of being part of the Forbes 500 one day. Arrives on the island with childhood best friend Bo.- Alliterative Name: Scotty Sims.
- Childhood Friends / Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Bo.
- Fat and Skinny: Bo and Scotty, respectively.
- Genre Savvy: He is wise to Gretchen's interrogation tactics due to having watched Law & Order: Criminal Intent with his grandmother.
- Motor Mouth: Especially compared to the soft-spoken Bo.
- Riches to Rags: Downplayed. Scotty apparently lived in an upscale neighborhood before the banks foreclosed on his family, forcing them to move into an crowded apartment building. As such, Scotty has equated wealth with security and wants to become an entrepreneur in order to get back what he lost.
- Social Climber: Scotty aspires to become wealthy by becoming an entrepreneur.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Scotty initially begins with an Us vs. Them mentality in regards to the group and wants to hide food away from everyone but Bo. However, he gradually starts to become a team player and becomes more mindful of his best friend.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Downplayed. Scotty is frequently a more extroverted force compared to Bo's introversion and convinces him to do things he’s not 100% comfortable with. Nevertheless, Scotty is never actively malicious towards him nor does he ever mean to be. Gradually, he's shown to be very protective of Bo because the two relate to each other in their backgrounds.
- Young Entrepreneur: Scotty has aspirations of wealth and often drags around Bo to help in his schemes.
Bo
Bo Leonard
Played by: Tanner Ray Rook
A soft-spoken and contemplative teenager with an optimistic life outlook.- Abusive Parents: His parents are described as being very obsessive when it comes to cleanliness and management and it is revealed in his episode that his father hit him in the face after their shed was flooded in a rainstorm and it's all but stated it wasn't the first time either. Bo lives in constant terror of provoking their wrath.
- Childhood Friends / Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Scotty.
- Fat and Skinny: Bo and Scotty, respectively.
- Gentle Giant: He's the tallest of the group, just after Kirin, and the heaviest but is gentle, soft-spoken and kind-hearted.
- The Idealist: Despite the difficulties of his life, Bo still believes in the goodness of most people and wants something better in the future.
- Likes Older Women: Has a big thing for Flo from Progressive.
- Neat Freak: The result of having abusive parents with obsessive compulsive traits, Bo is very obsessed with cleanliness.
- Nervous Wreck: As a result of his violently abusive upbringing, he's more anxious and prone to panic than Scotty.
- Nice Guy: One of the nicer members of the Control Group. Even when Josh of all people insults him, Bo doesn’t get angry (which makes sense since he has dealt with far worse people in his life).
- Spear Counterpart: To Martha. They are both the nicest and most well-meaning of their two groups and both dealt with horrible traumas in their lives, Bo with his violently abusive parents and Martha being sexually abused by her physical therapist. Both also have extremely protective friends in Scotty and Toni who are noticeably more savvy and cynical due to their similar experiences.
- The Quiet One: Along with Henry, though Bo has a more affable personality.
- Two First Names: "Bo" and "Leonard" can be first names.
Seth
Seth Novak
Played by: Alex Fitzalan
An intelligent, witty, and charismatic teenager with a tendency to want to be loved. Arrives with his stepbrother Henry.- Ax-Crazy: Despite seeming like a tame Nice Guy, Seth is incredibly dangerous and reacts to perceived slights in ways that makes Toni's outbursts look gentle in comparison.
- Berserk Button:
- As Henry finds out, pointing out that his mother left him will leave you in a really bad position.
- Seth really hates being humiliated or brought down to a "lower" level. Unfortunately, this leads to him sexually assaulting Josh when the latter tries to comfort him after being made a (not-really-malicious) joke on the beach.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Although Seth has a kind and friendly demeanour, it is revealed that he is deeply mentally disturbed.
- Depraved Bisexual: He had a girlfriend before the island and later sexually assaults Josh but it's unknown if Seth is attracted to men as well as women or just a sexual predator who goes after who he can.
- Domestic Abuse: He beat his girlfriend Julia after she dumped him and later stole and killed her cat.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: A drunk Josh tries to comfort Seth after the latter is pantsed, encouraging him to not let it get to him like Josh tries to not let bullying get to him. Seth is infuriated to be compared to Josh and responds by attacking and sexually assaulting him.
- Engineered Heroics: Uses his knowledge and access as an Operative to paint himself as useful to the group to ingratiate them to him.
- Face–Heel Turn: After spending much of the season dealing with his darker side, Seth seems to have fallen in with Dawn of Eve.
- Faux Affably Evil: It takes the rest of the boys a while to realize that Seth's Nice Guy persona is a cover. Even after this becomes known, though, Seth proves scarily adept at winning members of the group back to his side. At least until they learn more about how horrible he truly is. As Henry says, Seth hurts people.
- Gaslighting: Initially tries to deny his assault on Josh by first claiming that Josh is mistaken on what happened, and then claiming that Josh's bruises are the "result" of being a hypochondriac.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Seth is shown to have a severe one when his aforementioned Berserk Buttons are pushed, resulting in him nearly drowning Henry, sexually assaulting Josh, and almost abandoning Kirin to die in the ocean.
- Hoist by His Own Petard:
- After most of the boys are exiled along with him, Seth convinces Kirin and Josh that they should all be working together regardless of him having raped Josh because survival is their top priority. However, Seth continuously trying to befriend Josh despite what's he done results in a disgusted Kirin revealing to the rest of the group that Seth kidnapped his ex-girlfriend Julia's cat when she broke up with him, which Seth himself told to Kirin. This in turn causes Henry to realize that he did something similar to Julia what he did to Josh, and Seth is promptly exiled again, by himself this time.
- When suggesting to Raf that they leave Kirin to drown when he falls out of their boat, he tells Raf to hit Kirin with a paddle when he tries to board. Raf instead takes the opportunity to hit Seth with the paddle before beating him into unconsciousness with his bare hands.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: Seth has this trait similar to Martha, but unlike her, this is so pathological with him that it leads to him denying his horrific actions towards others (such as trying to drown Henry in a fit of rage and sexually assaulting Josh) in order to make himself look better.
- Manipulative Bastard: Seth is initially portrayed as a Nice Guy who is shown to be a team player until it turns out he lied about parts of his background and tried to minimize his sexual assault of Josh, all in order to make himself look better and be loved.
- Missing Mom: His biological mother left when he was a child, though he calls his stepmother "Mom."
- The Mole: Revealed to be one for the Control Group in the fifth episode.
- Nervous Tics: A late episode of Season 2 shows that he tends to grind his knuckles against surfaces so hard and fast that they start bleeding whenever he feels anxious or tries to suppress his explosive anger.
- Nice Guy: Seth presents himself as a relatable and kindhearted person, until it turns out he has a lot of psychological issues.
- No Sense of Personal Space: Even when trying to hide his abusive behavior behind a friendly facade, he doesn't show much respect towards other people's boundaries, something that Ivan calls him out on. This attitude has bitten him in the ass on a few occassions; initially Josh was unwilling to let any of the other boys know that Seth raped him and makes Kirin, who Josh confided in, promise not to say anything. Kirin agrees but makes it clear that he will make Seth pay if he so much as touches Josh which he makes good on when Seth puts a hand on Josh's shoulder while congratulating him for finding water. Later, after convincing the other boys that he should be let back into the group so they have better chances of survival, he continuously tries to befriend Josh despite having assaulted him and the other boys flat out telling Seth to just leave Josh alone, eventually putting a hand on his elbow. This leads to Josh slapping his hand away and Kirin revealing to the rest of the group that he kidnapped his ex-girlfriend's cat when she broke up with him. This revelation causes Henry to realize just how much Seth fakes remorse of his horrible actions to get into people's sympathies and Seth is exiled once again, by himself.
- Psycho Ex-Boyfriend: Reacts to Julia breaking up with him by hurting her and stealing her cat.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Seth's sexual assault of Josh is portrayed horrifically and is the main event that gradually results in the entire group turning against him by the conclusion of the season.
- Shadow Archetype: Seth has Leah's obsessive tendencies, Shelby's Bitch in Sheep's Clothing tendencies, and Toni's Hair-Trigger Temper all played straight and ramped up to dark extremes.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Seth attempts this for a while on the island after his actions against Josh are revealed since they don't have a lot of options, only for more of his manipulative behavior to come to light and him splintering off from the group once more.
DJ
DJ Keating / Devon Klein
Played by: Elliott Giarola
Gretchen's son and the other mole in the Twilight of Adam Experiment.- At Least I Admit It: In his "The Reason You Suck" Speech to his mother, points out that what he did was horrible but at the very least he regretted his actions unlike his mother, who is very willing to ruin the lives of teenagers to prove her Women Are Wiser hypothesis and never shows any regret about the damage she leaves in her wake.
- The Atoner: He's wracked with guilt about his participation in a hazing prank that led to Quinn's death.
- Death Faked for You / Faking the Dead: Initially appears to be one of the boys selected for the control group, then abruptly killed off in the first episode of the second season. Except, Devon was one of the moles in the group and had his death faked to replicate the actual death of Lihn/"Jeanette" in the girls' group.
- Hates Their Parent: Boy does he, and with good reason. He's the frat bro who accidentally got Nora's ex Quinn killed in a Deadly Prank and feels immense guilt for it. Then he looks at his mother, an adult who willingly and remorselessly puts kids at risk, traumatizing them and ruining their lives all to prove Women Are Wiser, which horrifies him.
- Like Mother, Unlike Son: For all his flaws, DJ is willing to admit that he did awful stuff and is wracked with guilt over it as well as willing to take responsibility in sharp contrast to Gretchen who has deluded herself into thinking she's doing the world and the teens a great service and never expresses any remorse for all the damage she's done.
The Dawn of Eve
The project running the experiment one the island with the castaways, founded by Gretchen Klein. Gretchen
Gretchen Klein
Played by: Rachel Griffiths
The scientist and brain behind the project.
- Abusive Parents: Having your son help you in your plan to traumatize a group of teenagers is an example for sure. So is guilting him when he exposed you for doing so and locking up said kids.
- Big Bad: The mastermind behind the Dawn of Eve and responsible for all of the events on the island.
- Confirmation Bias: She tries to stack the deck heavily in favor of her Straw Feminist leanings, bringing in more dysfunctional young men for the control group, including one violent abuser, to achieve the outcome she wants and gets annoyed when she's proven wrong.
- Does Not Like Men: Averted; despite her outspoken feminist ideals and dreams of a "gynotopia", she tells Linh she doesn't hate men and has loved some of them and she doesn't treat men she works with differently from the way she treats women.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: When she sees Dean monitoring the girls (out of concern for their well-being), she jokingly asks if he was masturbating while watching them. This is in especially poor taste on account of Leah being a victim of statutory rape and Martha having been molested by her physical therapist when she was a child.
- The Extremist Was Right: There's no defending her methods, but as she points out, the girls really did come together on the island, and several of them underwent Character Development that might not have happened otherwise. The girls also lasted longer on their island than the "control group" on theirs, proving Gretchen's point, at least on paper, and no one actually died aside from Jeanette/Linh, which was an unplanned accident. Of course, it's all counterbalanced by the unforgivable trauma Gretchen has put her subjects through, as well as her interference in her own experiment, clearly trying to weigh things in her favor by using guys with various bad pasts and personality problems and knowingly using a known domestic abuser and sexual predator.
- Faux Affably Evil: She's well-spoken and more than happy to offer bribes to those willing to serve her. All that tends to vanish as soon as anyone tries questioning her goals and methods.
- Female Misogynist: For all her feminist rhetoric, Gretchen doesn't seem to particularly like or get along well with other women on a personal level nor is she very sympathetic to those who suffered due to the kind of behavior she claims to be combating. She sees her former colleagues at the college she used to work at before getting fired as "timid-minded" for not going to the lengths she's willing to go to and even dismissively views Leah as weak for her feelings on Jeff and ignoring that she was groomed by a predator and treating it like Leah's fault for falling for him. She even has no issue using someone she knows is a violent domestic abuser and leaves everyone, including the girls, in his hands without any hesitation.
- Girlboss Feminist: Gretchen is a former college professor who tries to prove that women are better than men at leading society by forcibly stranding two groups of teenagers (one composed of girls and the other boys) on deserted islands and monitoring their progress. Even discounting the fact that leading society requires a very different skillset from surviving on a deserted island, Gretchen deliberately stacks things against the boy group by using boys who all have criminal records, including one domestic abuser, so she can prove her "hypothesis" right. She is barely fazed, and even happy to learn that said domestic abuser assaulted one of the boys because it supports her views. Also, for all her feminist rhetoric, she proves to be very dismissive to other women, dismissing her female colleagues as "timid-minded" for not going to the lengths she's willing to go to, making insensitive voyeur jokes when she sees one of her male subordinates monitoring the girls (who is only watching over them out of concern), and victim-blames Leah for being in a predatory relationship with a pedophile and expected her to be grateful for Gretchen stranding her on a deserted island because Misery Builds Character.
- Hypocrite:
- Gretchen claims to be a feminist, but the entire premise of the series is that she's using the girls as unknowing lab rats. It's basically the opposite of feminist to run an experiment on people without their consent, even if it wasn't also regularly putting them in mortal danger.
- While preparing a speech, Gretchen gripes about her heels, giving a diatribe about how patriarchy has told women to fit into narrow fashion standards in order to oppress them and the negative effects they have on the body. When asked why she still wears them, Gretchen replies that her legs look good in them.
- By the end of Season Two, she's also still choosing to work with Seth, even putting him in a position of control over the two groups, despite knowing that Seth physically abused his ex-girlfriend and sexually assaulted Josh.
- Insane Troll Logic: She believes that her experiment, which consists of stranding two groups of teenagers on deserted islands, will "prove" that women are better suited to lead society when the girls work together while the boys fall apart. Even discounting her biases and deliberately stacking things against the boys, leading society requires a very different skillset from surviving on a deserted island. There's also the fact that a handful of teenagers, most of whom are from the United States, is not a good basis for trying to prove something about all men and women around the world. She also seems to think she'll be hailed as a visionary and feminist icon for her work rather than a borderline sociopath who endangered unwitting teenagers to prove a point and whose work would be discredited immediately due to her methods and who would probably face serious jail time for her illegal actions, to say nothing of the response of the kids' parents.
- Kick the Dog: She cruelly mocks Leah for her feelings for Jeff, calling her a "puddle", despite Leah being a victim of grooming.
- Lack of Empathy: Gretchen has almost no regard or concern for the devastating emotional damage she inflicts upon her test subjects, rationalizing it all as a necessary price to pay for her lofty goals. She makes an incredibly insensitive joke about voyeurism when she sees Dean monitoring the girls. She is barely fazed upon finding out that Seth sexually assaulted Josh nor did she have an issue using Seth despite knowing he's a domestic abuser with a serious anger problem and it's even implied that was why, to stack the odds in the girls' favor, and is callous about Leah being a victim of a predator and expected her to be grateful for being forcibly stranded on a deserted island because Misery Builds Character. She even abandons both groups at the mercy of Seth without any hesitation.
- Mama Didn't Raise No Criminal: Averted with regards to her son, who was involved in the accidental death of Quinn. While she says the fraternity he was part of was a negative influence on him, she still holds him responsible for his own actions.
- Manipulative Bitch: Her so called "control" group is filled with young teenage boys with criminal records while the girls group has troubled teens at worst.
- Never My Fault: She attributes Seth assaulting Josh to "bad male behavior" when the reason Seth was even in a position to do that was because of her stranding them on a deserted island. It's also doubtful that the girls would have been able to work together as well as they did if they also had to deal with a domestic abuser.
- Pet the Dog: She forms a genuine friendship with Linh. While she is able to compartmentalize her tragic death and keep the project going, it is clear that she mourns her.
- Psychopathic Womanchild: For a grown woman, Gretchen has very immature and shallow views of feminism. She believes her experiment will prove that women are superior to men despite the fact that it uses only a handful of teenagers as the unwilling test subjects. She tends to not react well to criticism or anyone so much as questioning her. When she's unable to get any of the boys to reveal what happenened during the blindspot when they were on the island, she basically acts like a child throwing a tantrum and locking themself in their room, which Daniel and Dean point out.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Gretchen has a very high view of herself compared to others and has it in her head that not only will her experiment be a great success but she will be revered as a revolutionary feminist for her findings and reshape society as we know it. The far more likely outcome that she would be dismissed as a quack and a borderline sociopath and all her findings discredited before she would get hauled off to jail or an asylum has seemingly never occured to her.
- Straw Feminist: Somehow, she doesn't see anything wrong with putting teenagers through hell to prove a female-centric society is better. She tries to prove this by tainting the island control group with boys who have criminal records including a known mentally disturbed predator to prove her point. And she's a little too satisfied when she finds out Seth assaulted Josh because it supports her "hypothesis". She also refers to Leah as "a puddle" and a "lovefool" for being in a predatory relationship with Jeffrey, which just comes across as victim-blaming.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: She genuinely wants women in general to live happier, freer, and safer lives with more opportunity and independence. Unfortunately, her pursuit of this goal makes her willing to overlook the suffering of the kids involved in the Dawn of Eve project in order to prove a point.
Linh
Linh Bach
Played by: Chi Nguyen
An Australian undergraduate student. She joins the Dawn of Eve project as a "confederate" with the fake identity "Jeanette Dao" to act as Gretchen's insider, but dies on the first day.- Does Not Like Men: She outright hates men as the result of an incident in high school where she was drugged and raped by two schoolmates and was humiliated and scorned by friends and family afterwards.
- Major Injury Underreaction: She tries to fight through the pain caused by the injury she suffered when she fell on the jetty, the internal bleeding of which eventually kills her.
- The Mole: She was going to be the Dawn of Eve team's primary woman on the inside among the castaways, but this plan goes out the window when she dies.
- Older Than They Look: She is a college student in her 20s, but looks young enough to pass for a high school student.
- Trauma Button: Seeing Leah drugged as she is being brought to the island triggers her, bringing back memories of when she was raped and almost making her drop out of the operation.
Daniel
Daniel Faber
Played by: David Sullivan
A trauma psychologist who interviews and counsels the castaways after they've been brought back from the island together with Agent Young.- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: At first, he appears as a friendly, approachable trauma counselor, but he then turns out to be part of the Dawn of Eve project, working directly for Gretchen.
- Jerkass Has a Point: He's a cruel, manipulative liar and Smug Snake working for the show's Big Bad. Despite this, his assessment of Leah and her obsessive personality contains several grains of truth.
- Manipulative Bastard: In later episodes, we learn that he is deliberately trying to induce guilt in the girls to make them less likely to pursue legal action against the Dawn of Eve.
Agent Young
Dean Young
Played by: Troy Winbush
A federal agent who interviews the castaways together with Daniel Faber.- Dark and Troubled Past: Gretchen mentions that he was an unemployed alcoholic when she hired him for the project.
- Pet the Dog: Despite the quarantine protocol, he lets Leah out of her cell after she has a panic attack so she can get some air.
- Token Good Teammate: In the post-island timeline, he is the one who shows the most genuine concern for the girls' well-being.
Audrey
Alex
Alex
Played by: Jarred Blakiston
- Token Good Teammate: Much like Dean, he has shown concern for the teenagers.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: When Linh decides to back out of the project, him attempting to grab her while she's walking away leads to her eventually fatal injury.
Susan
Susan
Played by: Jen Huang
- Those Two Guys: With Thom. Especially in Season 2, where they are the ones monitoring the boys' island.
- Women Are Wiser: Compared to Thom, she is more willing to point out when the boys are succeeding compared to the girls, such as killing the jaguar and preserving food.
Thom
Thom
Played by: Joe Witkowski
- Blind Obedience: His loyalty to Gretchen leads him to deny her more unsavory choices, such as deliberately stacking things in the girls' favor.
- Horrible Judge of Character: He continously insists that Gretchen is being fair in her experiment even when she's obviously not and is quick to trust Seth's word about Josh's sudden change in behavior.
- Implausible Deniability: When the boys have to deal with a jaguar, Thom asserts that while their experiences may be different, the threat levels on both islands are equal. This is despite the fact the girls never had to deal with anything similar, the closest thing being a shark that Rachel lost a hand to, which only occurred due to her being in the water at the time.
- Those Two Guys: With Susan. Especially in Season 2, where they are the ones monitoring the boys' island.
Supporting Characters
Quinn
Quinn
Played by: John Berchtold
Nora's boyfriend.- Kill the Cutie: After his and Nora's breakup, she learns that he was killed during a fraternity hazing gone wrong.
