History Characters / TheWilds

* AntiHero: 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 [[spoiler:outwit her captors in the present day.]]
* CassandraTruth: [[spoiler Though she doesn't get all the details right, much 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.]]

* ConspiracyTheorist: She's the one to most consistently question the odd things happening on the island, and the first to point fingers. [[spoiler:While she misses the mark on who the mole is, [[TheCloudcuckoolanderWasRight she's actually not wrong about a lot of it]].]]
* FictionalFanRealCelebrity: Leah Rilke mentions having a crush on Music/BenFolds when she was younger. Later on, she hallucinates him showing up on the beach, wearing a tux and singing to her.

* ProperlyParanoid: 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.

* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: 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 (albeit justifiably so), 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.

!!DJ Keating

* AtLeastIAdmitIt: DJ, in his ReasonYouSuckSpeech to his mother, points out that [[DeadlyPrank 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 WomenAreWiser hypothesis and never shows any regret about the damage she leaves in her wake.

* DeathFakedForYou / FakingTheDead: 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, DJ 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.

* FemaleMisogynist: 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, even dismissively viewing 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 [[spoiler: leaves everyone, including the girls, in his hands without any hesitation.]]

* LackOfEmpathy: 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 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 MiseryBuildsCharacter. [[spoiler:She even abandons both groups at the mercy of Seth without any hesitation.]]

* StrawFeminist: Somehow, she doesn't see anything wrong with putting nine girls 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. [[LackOfEmpathy 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.

* FemaleMisogynist: For all her feminist rhetoric, Gretchen doesn't seem to particularly like or get along well with other women on a personal level, even dismissively viewing Leah as weak for her feelings on Jeff, ignoring that she was groomed by a predator and treating it like Leah's fault for falling for him.

* LackOfEmpathy: 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 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 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 MiseryBuildsCharacter. [[spoiler:She even abandons both groups at the mercy of Seth without any hesitation.]]

* DarkAndTroubledPast: It is implied that Kirin comes from a rough background as he sees his football coach as the closest person he has in his life and is devastated when the man is fired.

* HiddenDepths: 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.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: 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 [[spoiler:after he is sexually assaulted by Seth.]]

->'''Played by:''' Rachel Griffiths

* ConfirmationBias: She tries to stack the deck heavily in favor of her feminist leanings, hiring more dysfunctional young men, including one violent abuser, to achieve the outcome she wants and gets annoyed when she's proven wrong.

* 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.

* AntiHero: 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. However, at her core she's a caring and resourceful person who manages to [[spoiler:outwit her captors in the present day.]]

* InsaneTrollLogic: She believes that her experiment, which consists of stranding two groups of teenagers on a deserted island, 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, surviving on a deserted island requires a very different skillset from leading society. 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 men and women from 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 due to her methods and who would probably face serious jail time for her illegal actions.

* ReallyGetsAround: 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 Conques.t" She also had at least one three-way with two guys.

!! Leah Rilke

* AmbiguouslyBi: 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. [[spoiler: 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]]
* AntiHero: 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. However, at her core she's a caring and resourceful person who manages to [[spoiler: outwit her captors in the present day.]].
* CassandraTruth: [[spoiler: Though she doesn't get all the details right, much 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]]
* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler: It's revealed at the end of season 2 that she's played Gretchen and beaten her at her own game, leaving Gretchen forced to flee the island where she's keeping the teens and scrambling to continue her experiment.]]
* ConspiracyTheorist: She's the one to most consistently question the odd things happening on the island, and the first to point fingers. [[spoiler: While she misses the mark on who the mole is, [[TheCloudcuckoolanderWasRight she's actually not wrong about a lot of it]].]]

* TheJailBaitWait: 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. [[spoiler:However, Jeffrey learned afterwards that she had lied and had turned 17, not 18, from an anonymous tip]].

* TookALevelInBadass: She undergoes quite a lot from the start of the story, from being pretty naïve and antagonistic to [[spoiler: a Chessmaster capable of outsmarting Gretchen and her organization, though it only gets her and the others so far...]]

!! Rachel Reid

* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler: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]].

* ILetGwenStacyDie: [[spoiler:Rachel blames herself for Nora’s death, unaware that she is not actually dead]].

* MyGreatestFailure: [[spoiler:When she believes that Nora died saving her, Rachel feels responsible and grieves her for several episodes]].

!! Dorothy "Dot" Campbell

* OnlySaneWoman: She’s not confrontational like Toni, Fatin, Rachel or Leah. She’s also not overly idealistic like Martha. She also doesn’t suffer SanitySlippage like Shelby or Leah. She’s usually trying to stop fights, stay realistic or help others stay sane much like Nora. [[spoiler: But unlike Nora, she’s not spying on the other girls.]] This gets {{deconstructed|CharacterArchetype}} 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 OnlySaneWoman down with them.
* RedHerring: [[spoiler: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]].

!! Toni Shalifoe

* ParentalAbandonment: 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.

* PitbullDatesPuppy: [[spoiler:She starts a relationship with the religious beauty pageant contestant Shelby]].

* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend: She's shown as this in episode 4, when she fights a group of full grown men who threaten her and her girlfriend.

!! Fatin Jadmani

* CloudcuckoolandersMinder: 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.
* CoolBigSis: Her HiddenHeartOfGold shines through when she’s with her brothers, and she acts sisterly to Martha as well, reassuring her that she can find love.

** 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, [[spoiler: 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]].

* TheLoad: She's seen as this initially, especially by Rachel and Leah, but later proves her worth to the group by [[spoiler: being the one to find fresh water]].

* MsFanservice: 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.
* ReallyGetsAround: 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.

* ShipperOnDeck: [[spoiler: 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.]]

* TwoferTokenMinority: 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 Goodkind

* ArmoredClosetGay: 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. [[spoiler:Later she kisses Toni, before they have sex offscreen]].

* CrisisOfFaith: 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.

* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Shelby begins the series with long, sleek perfect blonde hair. [[spoiler: 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 SanitySlippage 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]].

* HeteronormativeCrusader: 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 [[ArmoredClosetGay internalized issue]]. She sheds her view later and [[spoiler:gets involved with Toni]].
* ImportantHaircut: [[spoiler: While experiencing SanitySlippage 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]].

!! Martha Blackburn

* AffectionateNickname: Martha is frequently called “Marty” by Toni.
* AnimalLover: 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, [[spoiler:the guilt about this eventually gets to Martha so much she's left catatonic]].

* ParalyzingFearOfSexuality: Martha admits having this trait to Fatin, [[spoiler:which is the result of being molested as a child]].
* RapeAsBackstory: [[spoiler:She was sexually abused by her physical therapist when she was young, something she repressed for years]].
* SanitySlippage: Martha suffers this during the second season due to a combination of her childhood trauma and having to kill animals for sustenance. [[spoiler:Martha falls into a catatonic state as a result]].
* UncertainDoom: In the post-island timeline of Season One, [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler:when it is revealed that Martha is still alive and recovering from her injuries, though left the island in a catatonic state]].

!! Nora Reid

* BewareTheQuietOnes: 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, [[spoiler:she's the mole of the group]].

* {{Gainaxing}}: She displays this while running with Quinn in a flashback, apparently not having a bra on at the time.
* TheMole: [[spoiler: She's revealed in episode 9 to be working with Gretchen, although the circumstances of their situation are explored in episode 10.]]
* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:The first episode of season two implies that Nora died saving Rachel from the shark attack and the group NeverFoundTheBody, only for it to be revealed a couple episodes later that Nora is still alive and with The Dawn of Eve]].

* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler:Like Martha, she isn't seen in the post-island timeline and it's unclear what happened to her]]. Then subverted when [[spoiler: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 Dao

* SacrificialLamb: [[spoiler:She dies from internal bleeding in the first episode]].
* TwoferTokenMinority: She's a woman who has East Asian ancestry, the single one in the cast (also [[spoiler:an Australian, with the rest largely Americans]]).
* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler:As stated earlier, she dies in the first episode before we can get to know her much]]. However, [[spoiler:a later episode devotes a fair amount of time to her real identity]].

!! "The Control Group"

!! Rafael Garcia

* ConflictingLoyalty: To [[spoiler:Seth]], the first guy to befriend him on the island, versus the rest of the group.

* GrewASpine: While not completely passive, [[spoiler: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]].

* UptownGirl: His girlfriend Marisol is the daughter of a famous salsa company owner, which causes some tension between them [[spoiler:after he is arrested]].
* WideEyedIdealist: Raf often sees the world with rose colored glasses, both in terms of his girlfriend’s relationship with him and [[spoiler:Seth's actual personality and issues]], and he doesn't realize it until later.

!! Henry Tanaka

* JerkassHasAPoint: [[spoiler: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]].

* TheQuietOne: Henry generally occupies this role.
* RightForTheWrongReasons: [[spoiler: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]].

!! Josh Herbert

* BerserkButton: Josh ''really'' hates being thought of or referred to as a victim, especially [[spoiler: after his assault by Seth]].

* HatesBeingTouched: [[spoiler:Develops this after he is sexually assaulted]].

* InnocentlyInsensitive: As much as Josh wants to be socially progressive, it can often be performative. For example, Josh refers to the Día de Los Muertos [[note]]"Day of the Dead", observed in Mexico and other areas[[/note]] holiday as "Mexican Halloween", which Raf and Leah find cringe-inducing, even after getting the purpose of Cinco de Mayo right.
* KickTheDog: 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 [[spoiler:a reminder of his abuser.]]
* MotorMouth: Has a tendency to talk a lot, which can lead to some annoyance within the group. Unfortunately, one drunken gaff [[spoiler:resulted in Seth physically and sexually abusing him after accidentally hitting the latter's BerserkButton]].

* RapeAsDrama: [[spoiler:Seth sexually assaults Josh halfway through the second season, which drastically affects Josh emotionally and physically]].

!! Kirin O’Conner

* EveryoneHasStandards: [[spoiler: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 ItsAllAboutMe tendencies.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Kirin starts off as an obnoxious and angry JerkJock, but he later shows a softer and more sensitive side and can acknowledge the strengths of the others at times. Additionally, [[spoiler: he is instantly protective of Josh when he learns about his sexual assault]].

** [[spoiler: Kirin is quick to suspect that Seth’s NiceGuy personality is just a façade, and turns out to be right in the most horrific way]].
** Kirin points out that Ivan's HolierThanThou 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 NerdyBully at times. Ivan's quiet response implies he knows Kirin isn't wrong.

* OddFriendship: He and Josh couldn't be more different but end up becoming close, [[spoiler: especially after Josh's assault]].
* STDImmunity: Averted. Kirin contracted gonorrhea before arriving on the island and has to use Josh’s antibiotics to treat it.

!! Ivan Taylor

%%This is an index, not trope. For now I don't know what trope this falls under.* CharacterDevelopment: He would usually make popular decisions, whether it was right or wrong prior to being on the island. He learns to make tough decisions that he feels are right even though they aren’t popular decisions.
* DeadpanSnarker: Ivan’s usually this to Kirin, with whom he has a tumultuous relationship.
* DudeNotFunny: Chastises Kirin for making sex jokes [[spoiler:in front of Josh, who had recently dealt with a sexual assault]].
* HolierThanThou: 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.
* ItsAllAboutMe: 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.
* JerkToNiceGuyPlot: 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 VitriolicBestBuds with Kirin despite everything.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: 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 [[spoiler: after he is sexually assaulted by Seth.]]

* NerdyBully: A variation. Ivan is a CampGay 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 DrowningHisSorrows 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.
* PetTheDog: Is very protective of Josh, [[spoiler: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.

* TwoFirstNames: “Ivan” and “Taylor” can both be first names.

* WhatTheHellHero: His boyfriend Luc calls him out for [[spoiler:goading an emotionally vulnerable Kirin into calling him slurs and recording it]], which leads to their break-up.

* PoisonousFriend: 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. Gradually, he’s shown to be very protective of Bo because the two relate to each other in their backgrounds.

* ThoseTwoGuys: With Bo, his childhood friend.

* LikesOlderWomen: Has a big thing for [[Advertising/{{Progressive}} Flo from Progressive]]

* SpearCounterpart: 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 [[spoiler: 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.
* TheQuietOne: Along with Henry, though Bo has a more affable personality.
* ThoseTwoGuys: With Scotty, his childhood friend.
* TwoFirstNames: “Bo” and “Leonard” can be first names.

!! Seth Novak

* AxCrazy: [[spoiler:Despite seeming like a tame NiceGuy, Seth is incredibly dangerous and reacts to perceived slights in ways that makes Toni’s outbursts look gentle in comparison.]]

** [[spoiler:As Henry finds out, pointing out that his mother left him will leave you in a really bad position]].
** [[spoiler: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]].

* DomesticAbuse: [[spoiler:He beat his girlfriend Julia after she dumped him and later stole and killed her cat]].

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:After spending much of the season dealing with his darker side, Seth seems to have fallen in with Dawn of Eve]].
* FauxAffablyEvil: [[spoiler: It takes the rest of the boys a while to realize that Seth's NiceGuy persona is a cover. As Henry says, Seth hurts people. Even after this becomes known, though, Seth proves scarily adept at winning members of the group back to his side.]]
* {{Gaslighting}}: [[spoiler: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]].
* HairTriggerTemper: Seth is shown to have a severe one when his aforementioned BerserkButton{{s}} are pushed, [[spoiler:resulting in him nearly drowning Henry, sexually assaulting Josh, and almost abandoning Kirin to die in the ocean]].
* IJustWantToBeLoved: Seth has this trait similar to Martha, but unlike her, [[spoiler: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]].
* ManipulativeBastard: Seth is initially portrayed as a NiceGuy who is shown to be a team player [[spoiler: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]].
* MissingMom: His biological mother left when he was a child, though he calls his stepmother “Mom”.
* TheMole: [[spoiler:Revealed to be one for the Control Group in the fifth episode]].
* NervousTics: 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 [[spoiler:tries to suppress his explosive anger]].
* NiceGuy: Seth presents himself as a relatable and kindhearted person, [[spoiler:until it turns out he has a lot of psychological issues]].

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: [[spoiler: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]].
* ShadowArchetype: Seth has [[spoiler:Leah’s obsessive tendencies, Shelby’s BitchInSheepsClothing tendencies, and Toni’s HairTriggerTemper all played straight and ramped up to dark extremes]].
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: [[spoiler: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 Keating

Gretchen’s son and the other mole in the Twilight of Adam Experiment
* AtLeastIAdmitIt: DJ, in his ReasonYouSuckSpeech to his mother, points out that what [[DeadlyPrank 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 WomenAreWiser hypothesis and never shows any regret about the damage she leaves in her wake.

* DeathFakedForYou / FakingTheDead: 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, DJ 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.
* HatesTheirParent: Boy does he, and [[JustifiedTrope with good reason]]. He’s the frat bro who accidentally got Nora’s ex Quinn killed in a DeadlyPrank and feels [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone 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 WomenAreWiser, which horrifies him.

* DoesNotLikeMen: 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.
* TheExtremistWasRight: 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 CharacterDevelopment that might not have happened otherwise. [[spoiler: 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.
* FauxAffablyEvil: 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 [[CantTakeCriticism questioning her goals]] [[TheyJustDontGetIt and methods]].

* MamaDidntRaiseNoCriminal: {{Averted|Trope}} with regards to [[spoiler: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 B|astard}}itch: Her so called "control" group is filled with young teenage boys with criminal records while the girls group has troubled teens at worst.
* PetTheDog: She forms a genuine friendship with [[spoiler:Linh]]. While she is [[spoiler:able to compartmentalize her tragic death and keep the project going]], it is clear that [[spoiler:she mourns her]].

* WellIntentionedExtremist: 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 girls involved in the Dawn of Eve project in order to prove a point.

!! Daniel Faber

* BitchInSheepsClothing: At first, he appears as a friendly, approachable trauma counselor, but [[spoiler:he then turns out to be part of the Dawn of Eve project, working directly for Gretchen]].
* JerkassHasAPoint: He's a [[spoiler: cruel, manipulative liar and SmugSnake working for the show's BigBad]]. Despite this, his assessment of Leah and her obsessive personality contains several grains of truth.
* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler: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]].

!! Dean Young

* DarkAndTroubledPast: [[spoiler:Gretchen]] mentions that he was an unemployed alcoholic when [[spoiler:she hired him for the project]].

* TokenGoodTeammate: [[spoiler:In the post-island timeline, he is the one who shows the most genuine concern for the girls' wellbeing]].

!! Quinn

* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:After his and Nora's breakup, she learns that he was killed during a fraternity hazing gone wrong]].

* FemaleMisogynist: For all her feminist rhetoric, Gretchen doesn't seem to particularly like or get along well with other women on a personal level, even dismissively viewing Leah as weak for her feelings on Jeff, ignoring that she was groomed by a predator and treating it like Leah's fault.
* {{Hypocrite}}: She 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.
* InsaneTrollLogic: She believes that her experiment, which consists of stranding two groups of teenagers on a deserted island, 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, surviving on a deserted island requires a very different skillset from leading society. 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 men and women from around the world.

* AngryBlackMan: 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.

* JerkJock: Kirin has this in shades, though is shown to have some standards when it comes to morality.

* DomesticAbuse: [[spoiler:He beat his girlfriend Julia after she dumped him]].

* AtLeastIAdmitIt: DJ, in his ReasonYouSuckSpeech to his mother, points out that what [[DeadlyPrank 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 WomenAreWiser hypothesis.

* LackOfEmpathy: 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 is barely fazed upon finding out that Seth sexually assaulted Josh 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 MiseryBuildsCharacter. [[spoiler:She even abandons both groups at the mercy of Seth without any hesitation.]]

* OnlySaneMan: He tends to be the most grounded of the group, lacking Kirin's machismo, Ivan's abrasiveness, Josh's neuroses and people pleasing tendencies, Henry's pessimism, Scotty's self-centeredness, Bo's timidness and anxiety and Seth's [[spoiler: volatile temper and dark side]].

* AmbiguousDisorder: Leah falls into SanitySlippage during the series, [[spoiler:including hallucinations of Ben Folds playing a piano. However, the second season finale implies Leah might have faked at least some of her behavior]].

* AmbiguousDisorder: Much like Nora, he has trouble with eye contact, has affected speech patterns and is also implied to be on the autism spectrum.

* ADayInTheLimelight: [[spoiler: "Day Fifteen" (the seventh episode of Season One)features several flashbacks exploring her backstory and how she came to join the Dawn of Eve before her death.]]

* InsaneTrollLogic: She believes that her experiment, which consists of stranding two groups of teenagers on a deserted island, will "prove" that women are better suited to lead society when the girls together while the boys fall apart. Even discounting her biases and deliberately stacking things against the boys, surviving on a deserted island requires a very different skillset from leading society. 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 men and women from around the world.

* MamaDidntRaiseNoCriminal: {{Averted|Trope}} with regards to [[spoiler:her son, who was involved in the accidental killing 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]].
* ManipulativeBitch: Her so called "control" group is filled with young teenage boys with criminal records while the girls group has troubled teens at worst.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Kirin starts off as an obnoxious and angry JerkJock though can acknowledge the others’ strengths at times but he shows a softer and more sensitive side as time goes on. Additionally, [[spoiler: he is instantly protective of Josh when he learns about his sexual assault]].

* OnlySaneMan: He tends to be the most grounded of the group, lacking Kirin's machismo, Ivan's abrasiveness, Josh's people pleasing tendencies, Henry's pessimism, Scotty's self-centeredness, Bo's passiveness and Seth's [[spoiler: volatile temper and dark side]].

* AmbiguousDisorder: She's smart but awkward with an affected speech pattern. Her flashback episode strongly implies she and her boyfriend are autistic.

* OnlySaneMan: He tends to be the most grounded of the group, lacking Kirin's machismo, Ivan's abrasiveness, Josh's people pleasing tendencies, Henry's pessimism, Scotty's self-centeredness and Seth's [[spoiler: volatile temper and dark side]].

* KickTheDog: 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. 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.

* TwoferTokenMinority: She's a woman who has East Asian ancestry, the single one in the cast (also an Australian, with the rest largely Americans).

* TheUnfavorite: He has two siblings who are very accomplished compared to him; he says his parents see him as a disappointment by comparison and sent him on the retreat with the hopes that he would toughen up.

* InsaneTrollLogic: She believes that her experiment, which consists of stranding two groups of teenagers on a deserted island, will "prove" that women are better suited to lead society when the girls together while the boys fall apart. Even discounting her biases and deliberatly stacking things against the boys, surviving on a deserted island requires a very different skillset from leading society. 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 men and women from around the world.
* LackOfEmpathy: 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 is barely fazed upon finding out that Seth sexually assaulted Josh 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 MiseryBuildsCharacter. [[spoiler: She even abandons both groups at the mercy of Seth without any hesitation.]]

* TheQuietOne: 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 diplays other typical autistic traits.

* AffablyEvil: She's well-dressed, well-spoken, and more than happy to offer bribes to those willing to serve her.

* LackOfEmpathy: 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 is barely fazed upon finding out that Seth sexually assaulted Josh and is callous about Leah being a victim of a predator. [[spoiler: She even abandons both groups at the mercy of Seth without any hesitation.]]

* TheExtremistWasRight: 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 CharacterDevelopment that might not have happened otherwise. [[spoiler: 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.