History Series / Slasher

* CrapsaccharineWorld: Aside from a double murder thirty years prior, Waterbury is by all appearances an idyllic little town, but as the season progresses, it becomes apparent that the place is '''Fucked. Up'''. To wit...

* PoliceAreUseless: PlayedWith; unlike in season 1, the police are genuinely ''trying'' to solve the murder and putting genuine effort to it this time, and they do get some moments of being competent. Unfortunately, these efforts prove overall ineffective in the grand scheme of things; their only real accomplishment over the course of the season is to [[spoiler:successfully catch and arrest Wyatt, the original Druid]] (which [[spoiler:they do one year too late and proves pointless as another Druid is behind the new murders]]), and they fail to stop even a single of the murders. [[spoiler: It's one of the reasons Connor ''hates'' Detective Roberta over not doing anything before and after Justine's suicide. Him beating her to death with the axe is him releasing frustration over her refusal to take action against the building residents for their involvement in Justine's suicide. Never mind that by law, Detective Roberta ''couldn't'' do anything, and with the murders happening so fast, the police barely had any time to react to the murders, let alone stop them]].

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:None of the Galloways survive, or more accurately, none of the ones bearing the name, Galloway. This is because Liv deliberately ended the name by killing Theo after he told her how he drove his car into a daycare, and her concluding that the family was just poisoned beyond repair.]]

* AdultFear: Saadia's parents are afraid to leave her, especially knowing that the infamous Druid is still around. Even disregarding that, they're afraid of anything potentially happening. It's not spoiler-worthy to say that their fears come really true. [[spoiler: They're extremely lucky that they didn't lose their daughter in the murder spree.]]

* AdultFear: [[spoiler:Grace loses both her husband and her son in just a few hours, the latter [[AnArmAndALeg in a particularly gruesome way]], ''while she's watching and trying desperately to free him.'']]

* AmbiguouslyBi: Talvinder was having sex with [[spoiler:Alex]], and at another point seems to be trying to seduce [[spoiler:Susan]] (who apparently had been with another girl before). Considering her manipulative and exploitive personality however, it is unclear how genuine that was.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Talvinder in the flashbacks, Susan realized it fairly quickly. Others took longer.
** As Talvinder herself counters: [[spoiler:Susan dated another women in secret, then outed and shamed her until she committed suicide; Dawn slept with stepfather to spite her mother; Alex was willing to cheat on Andi; and Andi is a drug dealer (and eventual murderer). Noah didn't initially have any dirty secret, but turns out to be willing to rape Talvinder out of spite. They are also all willing to frame someone else for her murder.]]
** [[spoiler:Benny turns out to be a murderer and rapist]].

* BreakTheHaughty: Most of the characters start as a confident person, but as the killings start, they begin to lose their cool. Special mention goes to [[spoiler: Noah who, after two episodes of threatening and making fun of Glenn, gets beaten and [[RapeisaSpecialKindofEvil raped by him.]]]]

* AmbiguouslyBi: Talvinder was having sex with [[spoiler:Alex]], and at another point seems to be trying to seduce [Susan (who apparently had been with another girl before). Considering her manipulative and exploitive personality however, it is unclear how genuine that was.

* ActionGirl: Liv is the first girl to kick some serious ass, and it's justified, as she's a military girl. [[spoiler: She successfully fights off the killer and easily wins in a fight over Vincent, who's got several inches on her. She also ultimately survives the series and is the one to get the inheritance.]]

* AmbiguousDisorder:
** Vincent has ''something'' off about him. He's got DullSurprise so much that even other characters comment on it, has a hell of a temper, and he was shown to engage in some very questionable acts, most notably [[spoiler: trying to burn Liv alive as a child. He even commits a murder on-camera, being the Gentleman herself, Trinh, and tries to kill Theo out of spite]]. According to some not-so-reliable sources, he also [[spoiler: committed a murder during a riot, but he denies this one.]]
** While not textbook sociopaths, [[ItRunsInTheFamily the Galloways]] share several pathological traits. They show a pervasive LackOfEmpathy (despite each one having some degree of affection towards another member of the family), are [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative]], [[ItsAllAboutMe self-absorbed]], and [[HairTriggerTemper volatile]].

* AxCrazy: The Gentleman is shown sadistically enjoying the kills. [[spoiler: Flashbacks reveal that she was always this sick, using a device to crush a man's head with a huge smile on her face.]]

* BaitTheDog:
** Florence gets a moment with O'Keefe where [[spoiler:they're trapped in a bunker filled with nerve gas with only one mask. They try to share it with each other, but then Florence sees that the air tank is draining too quickly, and it won't be possible for both to survive. Seems like a prime opportunity to redeem herself by performing a HeroicSacrifice to save her child, right? Instead, [[OffingTheOffspring she does the unthinkable.]]]]
** Episode 6 ends with [[spoiler:Aphra encountering the Gentleman who, contrary to their usual MO, takes Aphra's hand and leads her into the woods, implying that they're allowing her to help them kill the rest of the family. Nope, in the first minutes of the next episode, they tie her between two trees and saws her in half.]]
* BecomingTheMask: [[spoiler: Aphra]] claims this, telling [[spoiler: Christy that the video on her phone where she brags about having fooled her adoptive parents was an old one from before she came to care about them. It seems at least half true, as Aphra genuinely loved her adoptive father Seamus, and in the present, is shown accepting affection and care from Christy.]]
* BigBad: The Gentleman is responsible for the deaths in the show and causing the numerous problems they face. [[spoiler: Becomes a BigBadDuumvirate when it's revealed that Spencer hired Trinh to be the Gentleman to weed out the weakness in the family, even though it's slightly subverted when she also murders him to absolve himself before starting the job and denied his request that she do it painlessly.]]

* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler: Grace]] cared for the cancer-stricken Annette and acted as her confidante. [[spoiler: She then proceeded to begin seducing Spencer, and then killed Annette to marry him, and thus gain access to the Galloway fortune.]]

* CreepyChild: Aphra. She has the eating disorder Pica, causing her to try and eat things that are at best non-nutritive or at worst, outright toxic. And she's also shown watching Merle and Grace have sex with a creepy smile on her face. [[spoiler:Subverted, in that she's not actually a child.]]
* DecoyProtagonist: [[spoiler:Seamus]] gets most of the focus, before dying at the end of episode three.
* DiscOneFinalBoss: The Gentleman is revealed to be [[spoiler: Dr. Trinh]] in the penultimate episode. [[spoiler: She is killed at the beginning of the finale, leaving only the three survivors and their conflict between each other over the inheritance to carry the rest of the season.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Bittersweet would be more accurate. [[spoiler: Liv survives and gets the inheritance, and the last shot is her silently rejecting the Galloways[[note]] symbolized by her seeing all the family members, and then she doesn't see them, only past them [[/note]], and choosing to make her own family line with her as the head matriarch. Although, given the last shots, she could be on her own route to become just as bad as Spencer.]]
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Throughout the season, even some of the more despicable characters love at least one person wholly. [[spoiler: Florence genuinely loved her mother and was ProperlyParanoid that her stepmother was little more than a GoldDigger. Spencer himself also genuinely loved Annette with all his heart, and his last hallucination as he lay dying was of her. Finally, Aphra really did love her adoptive father figure Seamus, so much that his death sent her into a downward insanity spiral.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Spencer may have been an awful, amoral patriarch who puts his family through sadistic exercises to test their mettle and encourages ChronicBackstabbingDisorder and family infighting, but even he thinks it was "pathetic" of Florence to [[spoiler:exploit Vincent's disappearance for money and walks out on her in disgust.]]
* EvilIsHammy: After the Gentleman's identity is revealed, the actor doesn't waste any time at all in ChewingTheScenery. [[spoiler: Jeananne Goossen was clearly enjoying her screen time as the unmasked killer.]]
* EvilIsNotAToy: [[spoiler: Spencer hired Trinh to assist him in a painless suicide, and to kill the people competing for his fortune to get rid of the "weak ones". Trinh also made sure to kill Spencer himself in an ''horrifically'' painful way.]]
* FemalesAreMoreInnocent: Numerous characters prove otherwise, notably [[spoiler: Florence, Grace, Aphra, and Dr. Trinh]], but Liv certainly thinks so. [[spoiler: She's happy that her unborn baby is a girl, because she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to handle a child that happens to look like any of the male family members. Then again, they're still both Galloways...]]

* GoldDigger: [[spoiler:Grace]] turned out to be this. [[spoiler: She seduced Spencer Galloway while she was treating his cancer-stricken wife Annette. Grace then killed Annette so that she could marry Spencer and get access to his family fortune.]]
* GoodParents:
** Annette Galloway was this to her children, and she was also the one who kept her husband Spencer in line. [[spoiler: Her death kick-started the downward spiral into backstabbing insanity.]]
** Despite his other flaws, Seamus is a loving father to Aphra and disregards her obvious psychological issues to try and raise her right. [[spoiler:Aphra later admits that he's the only person that's ever loved her. However, while Christy also tried to be a good mother to her, she ultimately meant nothing to Aphra, just because she considered sending her back to the orphanage.]]
* GreaterScopeVillain: The whole situation the main characters face started as a domino effect from one character's action. [[spoiler: Grace murdered the cancer-stricken but recovering Annette to gain access to the Galloway fortune. As Annette was the MoralityChain to the entire family, this is what led to Spencer's dark turn, and eventually to his murderous SocialDarwinist beliefs.]]
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: The fate of [[spoiler: Aphra, the fake child, tied between two trees, and sliced in half with a large, serrated knife by the Gentleman.]]

* HateSink: Florence has ''no'' redeeming qualities. She has a shrill, screeching voice, is a pretentious performance artist, is classist, racist, and a cold-blooded murderer by episode three. [[spoiler: She gets even ''worse'' when it's revealed that she exploited her own son's disappearance for money, ''and'' lets her own child die by nerve gas... for a chance to win the inheritance.]]
* TheHeart: Christy is the nicest person in the cast. While even she gets gruff with the others under the stress of being a mom, surviving the killer, and trying to hold her family together, she tries her best. [[spoiler: The surviving characters are ''devastated'' when they see her after Aphra bit off most of her face and some fingers, and when Grace granted her a MercyKill, they are all left in tears.]]
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: [[spoiler:Seamus is killed right after going through a huge HeelRealization after hearing his wife confide to O'Keefe about how much she really loves him, money or no money. But he's killed with a fire poker to the eye right after.]]
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:When the Gentleman is chasing a few of the family members in the woods, he almost catches Grace, but Jaden rams into him and knocks him to the floor. Sadly, this leads to Jaden being captured and executed instead.]]
* InnocentBystander:
** Merle has nothing to do with the family beyond being a boating man and a helping hand around the house, but he's the first one murdered by the Gentleman. [[spoiler: This was because Trinh wanted to use his body to fake her death, so that she could kill without anyone figuring her out.]]
** Christy and Birgit were never meant to take part to the inheritance game but are still targeted like the rest of the family. [[spoiler: While Birgit isn't innocent, since she took part in Vincent's kidnapping, Christy deserves nothing of what happened to her.]]

* MeaningfulName: Persephone was the Goddess of the Underworld in Greek mythology and "Trinh" means maiden in Vietnamese, which was one of Persephone's titles. It really suits a doctor specialized in assisted suicide.
* MercyKill: [[spoiler:After getting her face and one of her fingers eaten off by Aphra, Christy begs the remaining family members to kill her. Grace obliges.]]
* MisplacedRetribution: [[spoiler: As much as the Gentleman claims that Spencer hired them to "weed out the weak", it is implied that this was much more personal against Grace, as it's presumed that they revealed to him that she murdered his beloved Annette for his money, and he set up one last game for his inheritance just to make her suffer, not caring if his descendants had nothing to do with it.]]
* AMoltenDateWithDeath: A variant. [[spoiler:Grace is killed when the Gentleman pours molten gold down her throat.]]
* MoralityChain:
** [[spoiler:Seamus was the only person that ever truly loved Aphra. His death eventually causes her to spiral into murderous insanity.]]
** Annette Galloway was this to the entire Galloway family, in her own words keeping the family and the conglomerate together and keeping Spencer in check during their entire marriage. [[spoiler: After Grace murdered her, the entire family took a turn for the worse.]]

* NeckSnap: [[spoiler:Liv kills Theodore this way after she finds out he crashed his car into a daycare center and presumably killed numerous children while drunk.]]
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Christy voluntarily adopted a little girl with some psychological problems, and chose to endure a painful family reunion, all because she loved her husband dearly. [[spoiler: She is then forced to witness extensive violence on the island, loses her beloved husband, and ultimately suffers a horrible fate herself when her "daughter" reveals her [[TheFakeCutie true nature]] and mauls her, biting her face and some of her fingers off, leaving Christy a bloodied mess who can only quietly beg for a MercyKill.]]

* OffingTheOffspring:
** [[spoiler: Florence and her child O'Keefe are trapped in the bunker with nerve gas filling up the area, and only one oxygen mask. As it runs out, Florence deliberately doesn't allow O'Keefe to have the oxygen, and they die begging for Florence to save them.]]
** And there's an even ''worse'' case of this. [[spoiler: Spencer hired Dr. Trinh to become the Gentleman to ''kill his children and grandchildren'' to "weed out weakness".]]
* OffWithHisHead: [[spoiler:Theodore slices Vincent's head off at the jaw with a garret wire.]]
* OlderThanTheyLook: [[spoiler:Aphra is actually an adult who manipulated her way into Seamus and Christy's family, a twist clearly inspired by the real-life cases of Natalia Grace Barnett and Frédéric Bourdin.]]
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Liv's actual name is Livinia, but she's rarely, if ever, called by her full first name.
* OnlySaneWoman: Seamus's wife Christy. She's the only one in the whole family who doesn't care about the inheritance, and just wants to help the Galloways survive against the killer. Her late mother-in-law, Annette, was this to the Galloways.
* ThePatriarch: Spencer, who's mostly a PosthumousCharacter but the driving force behind the story and characters and appears in every episode thus far through flashbacks even after his death in the pilot.
* PetTheDog:
** It would be more accurate to describe Florence as a {{Narcissist}} than an outright {{Sociopath}}. She ''does'' love her family behind all the sniping, [[ItsAllAboutMe she just loves herself more.]] [[spoiler:She genuinely does try to save O'Keefe when they're both trapped in the gas bunker, and only lets them die when it becomes clear to her that only one of them can live.]]
** Grace is not the friendliest person, and her DayInTheLimelight [[spoiler: shows that she's also directly caused all of the Galloways' dysfunction]]. However, she genuinely loves her son, and also genuinely cares about some of the other people on the island, most notably Christy. [[spoiler: She's horrified when she helplessly watches her son get torn apart limb by limb, and really tries to help Christy after she was mauled by Aphra. She's distraught to put a bullet in the latter's brain as a MercyKill.]]
** Vincent is the most openly abrasive Galloway and is quite hostile to everyone else. But when Christy takes his gun from him, he gives her tips on the safety and wishes her good luck. [[spoiler:And even he's horrified to see Christy after her mauling by Aphra, and subsequent MercyKill at Grace's hands.]]
** In general, everyone in the family either treats Christy with kindness or ignores her, a huge improvement from how the Galloways treat each other, mainly because she reminds them of their dead matriarch.
** [[spoiler: Aphra is clearly closer with Seamus than with Christy, but in most of the episodes before she falls off the deep end, she is shown accepting care and affection from her. If anything, she probably did develop ''some'' fondness for her, but her insanity following her MoralityChain Seamus's death shattered it completely.]]

* PsychologicalProjection: Seamus is a self-centered asshole who is willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead of the game, and to win the inheritance. He assumes his wife Christy is the same way, much to her horror, and he doesn't believe her when she claims that [[NotWithThemForTheMoney she genuinely loves him and doesn't care about the money]]. He finally realizes how wrong he was when he eavesdrops on her conversation with O'Keefe where she not only reiterates her claim but confirms that she will not give up on him yet.
* PsychopathicWomanchild:
** [[spoiler:Aphra, who despite her appearance, is ''not'' 13, and is actually an adult. Many parts of her childishness are an obvious act, but she does still suffer from pica and [[IJustWantToBeLoved wants desperately to be loved by a father figure]]. The "psychopathic" part comes in when her pica gives her an appetite for raw human flesh. She also tortures Florence and manipulates her adoptive parents.]]
** To a somewhat milder extent, Florence, who might be better categorized as a narcissist than a psychopath, but all the same is violently petulant and entitled. [[spoiler:She graduates to fully psychopathic pretty quickly, when she kills Persephone by throwing her into a woodchipper and shoots one of Grace's eyes with a rubber bullet as retaliation for biting off her finger]].

* SamusIsAGirl: [[spoiler: The Gentleman turns out to be the very female Trinh.]]
* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler:Theodore]] sees his role in [[spoiler:Florence's]] death as this, as [[spoiler:he was fully convinced she was the killer and trapped her outside to try and get her to come to her senses, only to be proven horribly wrong.]] Liv assures him that the Gentleman killed [[spoiler:Florence]], not him.

** Theo, and most of the others, immediately and understandably decide that [[spoiler: Florence allowing O'Keefe to die]] is something that can never be forgiven, and marks [[spoiler: Florence]] as a complete monster. [[spoiler: Most of them don't really care that Florence is left outside, tied to her own art, and in fact, many of them think she's the killer after this.]]

* TokenGoodTeammate: Christy Martin and Annette Galloway are the only characters who are genuinely nice and have no dirt in their past. The former wants nothing more than a stable family with her husband and adopted daughter. The latter is the linchpin for the entire family and keeps her husband's dark side in check.

* TorsoWithAView: [[spoiler: The Gentleman injects acid in Spencer's IV, which corrodes his heart and the area surrounding it, including the ribs and the skin.]]

* WhamLine: [[spoiler:Vincent]] hears Birgit singing a lullaby to Liv and confronts her about it. When Liv defends her mother, [[spoiler:Vincent]] reveals why he's so alarmed by the song.
--> [[spoiler:'''Vincent''']]: [[spoiler:My kidnapper]] sang it to me.

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Christy confides to O'Keefe about her marriage to Seamus, and [[NotWithThemForTheMoney how she truly loves him, money or no money]]. Unknown to her, Seamus overhears this... and it triggers a massive HeelRealization for him. [[spoiler: Not that it saves him in the end.]]
* WouldHurtAChild: The Gentleman has no qualms about going after Aphra. [[spoiler:Though given that the finale reveals that Spencer and Trinh had dirt on every member of the family, it's likely they knew that Aphra wasn't actually a child.]]
* YankTheDogsChain: Annette Galloway really didn't have it good. [[spoiler: Just as she started to beat her cancer, her {{gold digg|er}}ing nurse murdered her to get to her husband.]]
* YouMonster: O'Keefe drops this on Florence when she tells Theodore that [[YouShouldHaveDiedInstead he should've been kidnapped instead of Vincent]]. [[spoiler:Their accusation just rings truer as the season goes on.]]

* AlasPoorVillain: For all the atrocities committed by the Druid, [[spoiler:it's hard not to feel sorry for Jen as not only does she die murdered by her best friend Saadia, but she learns that, for all the people she slaughtered, ''Saadia'' herself- the one person she thought was innocent- unwittingly had caused her family all their misery.]]
* AmbiguousDisorder: Amber's mental state deteriorates significantly after Justine's death. She shows some signs of schizophrenia and requires medication to sleep, but Jen and Connor never actually clarify exactly what is wrong with her or what condition she has.
* AngryWhiteMan: Dan is a white nationalist whose racism primarily is motivated by seeing minorities as favored over white people. [[spoiler:He gets better by the end]].
* AntagonisticOffspring: Cassidy is openly hostile to her father Dan, in no small part because he wasn't really a father to her for much of her life due to his supremacist views. She mentions that he seemingly forgot her birthday, and that she had to clean his vomit off the floor that morning. [[spoiler: Jen and Connor are even worse towards their stepmother Amber, openly blaming her for Justine's suicide, culminating in Jen violently murdering her.]]
* AnythingThatMoves: Kit, by his own admission, pretty much was trying to have sex with everyone, male or female. [[spoiler: This leads to his murder by the Druid, [[WomanScorned who turns out to be one of his suitor's jealous ex]]]].

* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: [[spoiler: Dan refuses to leave Saadia behind to get help, because she came back for him even after everything that he had said to her and her family.]]
* BigBadDuumvirate: [[spoiler: The Druid turns out to have an accomplice in the murders. Also overlaps with BigBadEnsemble when it's revealed that it's not the same Druid; the original Druid is still in hiding, [[SubvertedTrope but turns out to not be after the other neighbors, just Kit]], though they can be considered the GreaterScopeVillain since their crimes led to create the second Druid]].
* BigBadFriend: [[spoiler: Saadia's school friends, Connor and Jen, turn out to be the Druid, though they were intending to use her as an alibi]].
* BondVillainStupidity: Despite their usual modus operandi of killing people viciously and in ways that ensure they will definitely be dead, the Druid [[spoiler:just leaves Angel and Dan trapped inside the cave after gassing them and glues their faces together without even killing them- which eventually results in them escaping to strike back]].

* BreakTheHaughty: [[spoiler:Dan starts out as a stereotypical {{Jerkass}} white nationalist of the worst kind who constantly insults the other characters for being non-white and pesters about minorities. After his daughter dies, [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes he is shown to be genuinely distraught]], and toward the last episodes, he and Angel end up prisoners in the same cave and forced to join forces in order to survive. [[CharacterDevelopment They end up bonding, and this, completed with Saadia saving his life later, results in him learning to respect minorities and grow out of his racist ways]].]]

* DeathByWomanScorned: The reason Kit Jennings was murdered. [[spoiler: [[GenderInvertedTrope Noelle Samuels cheated on her boyfriend, Wyatt with Kit]], leading him to create the Druid and brutally MurderTheHypotenuse. When they reunite at Kit's memorial, Noelle rejects Wyatt as she is still mourning Kit. [[IfICantHaveYou He responds by becoming the Druid one last time to kill her]], leading to his arrest]].

* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler: The Druid, who is revealed to be Wyatt, is apprehended and arrested for Kit Jennings's murder after being caught killing Kit's girlfriend, Noelle. However, he is not responsible for the other neighbors' murders]].
* DomesticAbuse: Frank Dixon is very quickly established to be abusive towards his wife. But oddly, he doesn't seem to project this same abuse onto his daughter.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:Angel dies by sacrificing himself to throw the Druid head first in a furnace, successfully killing him]].
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Saadia is leaving for school when she encounters the local racist Dan drunkenly struggling to unlock his door. She's tempted to follow her parents' poisonous BystanderSyndrome teachings, but she ultimately chooses to help him to his own door and helps him unlock it.
* EveryoneHasStandards: As much of an asshole as Dan is, [[spoiler: he's devastated, traumatized, and horrified into tears seeing the bloody carnage in the furnace room.]]

* FalseFriend: [[spoiler: Saadia accuses Jen of being this upon realizing that the murders were all planned by her. Jen denies this profusely, claiming that she always saw Saadia as her best friend. It's eventually clear that Jen really did see Saadia as a good friend, just not enough to avoid manipulating and using her to make an alibi.]]

** For most of his murders, the Druid is methodical and pragmatic, striking their victim when they are alone and seizing them by surprise in situations where they have little room to escape. By contrast, their attempt to murder Jen is done in broad daylight and in public with zero subtlety, from a long distance and running after her before suddenly abandoning the pursuit. [[spoiler:This is because he never ''intended'' to kill her- Jen is his accomplice, and this murder attempt was done to make her appear innocent]].

* HateSink:
** Dan, until the last few episodes [[spoiler: where he goes through tremendous CharacterDevelopment as a result of losing his daughter to the murder spree and being forced into a survival situation with a polar rival in Angel. He ends up becoming a genuinely much better person through it all, completely shedding the hate.]]
** '''Violet''', who more or less spends all the season being a lecherous bitch by "blogging" about tragedies and using anything she can just to get notoriety. As Joe points out, even her voice is irritating and affected. Not even her husband Joe is safe [[spoiler: when she tricks him into having sex with him and then posting it online]].
** Charlie, who is a borderline sociopath and an annoying, constantly giggling asshole, mocking Saadia's heritage and insulting Jen about her mother's death. When his teacher asks him how he can take such enjoyment in making other people miserable, he says "That's easy, because it's fun!" He also comes onto Saadia ''very'' strongly at the party. [[spoiler: It's not surprising that the Druid (later on revealed to be Connor ''and'' Jen) kills him]].
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** Connor complains that the police are all over the recent string of murders because [[spoiler:Cassidy]] was an attractive white girl. His point may have been valid [[spoiler:were it not for the fact that [[MoralMyopia he was responsible for her death]].]]
** Jen tells Saadia in one scene to be a best friend just like Jen had been a best friend for her. Said scene [[spoiler: is when Jen reveals herself as one of the Druid murderers massacring every one of the apartment building residents... where she has already drugged Saadia, tied her to a chair, revealed that she was using Saadia for the perfect alibi, and ''then'' violently murdered Amber with Saadia witnessing it. Some friend.]]
** Saadia is a milder case of it, as she calls out the Druid for murdering people [[spoiler: complicit in their mother's suicide and for lying to her the whole time about it even though they're friends, when she was lying to them just the same, being too much of a coward to confess to them that she's the one who started the whole thing. It's downplayed because unlike Jen and Connor towards her, Saadia wasn't manipulating them]].
* InsistentTerminology: Violet insists on being treated and have her work referred to as "journalism", despite being actually closer to sheer tragedy and gore porn. Whenever someone tries to hold her back or warn her, she uses the argument that she is defending "journalism integrity".

* ItsAllMyFault: [[spoiler:Saadia feels this way at the end of the season when she realizes she accidentally caused the second Druid's StartOfDarkness. Dan reassures that it really wasn't her fault]].
* JackTheRipoff: When it seems that the Druid has returned to murder everyone to cover up Kit's death one year later, [[spoiler:it turns out to be two new ones working together with a different motive]].
* {{Jerkass}}: The homeless guy who appears in the first few episodes is a complete asshole, beating Angel for not giving him a cigarette, stealing food from the coffee shop and generally being unpleasant, sometimes violently so, toward anyone and everyone.
* MamaBear: Kaili is one to her students, specifically to Saadia and Jen, or at least that's what's seen of her. Both girls are very traumatically terrorized by bullies at school. Kaili has ''none'' of it with either of them, and very swiftly punishes them for their actions. At the same time, she consoles the two girls and encourages them to keep going forward. She even convinces Jen to stay and finish her biology final so that she can pass the course, as Jen wanted to just leave after what Charlie did.
* MisplacedRetribution: [[spoiler: Amy is murdered because she didn't help after Justine's post went viral and she started getting viciously harassed. Connor and Jen use this as a motive to kill her, save that even if Amy wanted to help, there's little she could have done. As she said, online is forever, and there's nothing anyone can do about it.]]
* MoralMyopia: The Druid's entire motivation. [[spoiler: Specifically, Jen and Connor. The former repeatedly says that she and Connor are the victims, and that all these people were responsible for causing her mother's suicide. Saadia throws back that even though it's true, it doesn't justify Jen and Connor brutally murdering so many people. This is especially the case after Jen drugs Saadia, ties her to a chair, ''murders Amber in front of her'', and then has the gall to say that ''Saadia'' should be a better friend to her.]] [[spoiler: She also sees her brother Connor dead in the furnace and is profoundly angry and viciously (and partly correctly) blames the still-living Dan for it, and acts like he's the monster. This is after she had Dan's daughter Cassidy, and Angel's lover Joe murdered, and forced both of these men into extremely agonizing moments where they had to see their dead loved ones.]]

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Saadia has this reaction at one point in the season. Specifically, [[spoiler: in the flashback where it's revealed that ''she'' was the first one to comment on Justine's post speaking ill of Kit's death. Her specific post wasn't cruel, just calling out Justine on being so callous about the violent death of a man who admittedly wasn't all that bad. But as she sees the increasingly cruelty of the posts that succeeded her own, her reaction is quite clear that she knows she accidentally started something that can't be stopped.]]
* MyNaymeIs: Ms. Greenberg's first name is Kaili. It's not an uncommon Hawaiian name, but for most westerners, it's a fairly unique spelling of the name.

* NiceGirl:
** Saadia in spades, so much so that Jen even says that she's "too nice". And Jen's righter than she realizes, because [[spoiler: Saadia is such a good person that she couldn't understand why Justine would be so insensitive about Kit's death. She calls out Justine by commenting on her tweet... which is what led to the downward spiral that resulted in Justine's suicide and consequently the apartment building murders.]]
** Kaili also qualifies, as she makes numerous efforts to give students a good environment at school and deals with bullies swiftly and effectively. She even takes a traumatized Jen aside in the hallways and encourages her to return to finish her biology final so that she can pass and graduate. She has a more vindictive streak [[spoiler: as Kit learned when he asked for a ride after insulting her in the laundry room]], but she still is an overall good woman. [[spoiler: It doesn't spare her from a gory fate at the Druid's hands.]]
* NotQuiteTheRightThing: Saadia's [[spoiler: [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom post that started the whole thing]] was meant to take a principled stand against [[DoNotSpeakIllOfTheDead hate and incivility]]. Unfortunately, while her post was reasonable and wasn't cruel, once out on the Internet it quickly got picked up by people who didn't hear "don't be hateful to anyone" but only "let's go be hateful to this ''other'' person!"]]
* ObliviousToLove: Sexual attraction is more accurate. A shirtless Kit attempts to flirt with Amy, who remains completely oblivious to what he's doing. She doesn't figure it out when he asks if [[IncompatibleOrientation she's gay]], and not even when he looks down at her groin saying he wants "to drill holes in everything". Kit has to literally spell it out for her that he's flirting with her, and she's ''shocked'' to realize that he was putting the moves on her.
* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Dan's daughter Cassidy is murdered by the Druid in the first episode. [[spoiler: He tearfully identifies her body in his first major PetTheDog moment.]]

* PetTheDog:
** For all his flaws, [[spoiler:Dan is shown to be genuinely distraught when his daughter is found dead]]. Also, one of the first signs of his CharacterDevelopment is that [[spoiler:he begins acting nicer toward Angel, especially after giving his respects to Angel after the former succumbs to his injuries after killing the Druid]]. In a less noticeable moment, [[spoiler: Dan actively warns Angel of the visible gas coming into the room they're trapped him, even after Angel just beat Dan senseless.]]
** The Druid kills Frank Dixon in the first episode but is never shown targeting his wife or daughter. [[spoiler: This is because Jen and Connor, along with the rest of the apartment residents, were fully aware of Frank's abuse of his wife, and they chose not to kill either of them. It helps that they were sympathetic to Jen and Connor for losing their mother and weren't participants in the online abuse that lead to her suicide.]]
** As much of an asshole as Cassidy is, she clearly does care for her friends. She cared for her friend Erica enough to warn her not to look at the viral image going to everyone's phones because [[spoiler: it's her father, Frank Dixon's decapitated head]].

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Dan's less a villain, and more {{jerkass}}, but it still applies, nonetheless. Either way, he's a fiercely racist white nationalist who's antagonistic to ''everyone'' in the building for one reason or another and throws racial and ethnic slurs at everyone. Eventually, it leads to the Druid [[spoiler: throwing him in a locked room with Angel who's everything he despises and beats the crap out of Dan... which backfires when being trapped with him leads to them bonding. As a result, Dan has a HeelFaceTurn and loses the racism, save for one little moment where he refers to Connor as "the black dyke's kid", which in the heat of the moment is just from him defaulting to familiar words]].
* ReallyGetAround: Cassidy, whose entire motivation seems to be about jumping anything with a penis big enough.

* RevengeIsNotJustice: Saadia subscribes to this belief. [[spoiler: She doesn't believe that people like Cassidy deserve to die, and even calls people like her good people. She tells Jen that even if they were complicit in the pain that drove Justine to suicide, it doesn't justify murdering them.]]

* RightForTheWrongReasons: Cassidy throws a massively racist accusation at Saadia, claiming that her "friends" beheaded Frank Dixon, claiming that Islamic terrorists like ISIS are the only ones who cut off people's heads. [[spoiler: She's actually right that Saadia's friends killed Frank Dixon, it just has nothing to do her religion or terrorism.]]
* SanitySlippage: Amber is quite a functional woman before Justine's suicide, but afterwards? She became the local crazy woman, engaging in strange behavior, earning her the title of the "harmless crazy woman" of the apartments. [[spoiler: Jen and Connor suffered this even worse, turning into monstrous psychotic teens who went about murdering everyone in the apartments in horribly violent ways.]]

* SlasherSmile: Following their identity reveal, the Druid has a really unnerving smile. [[spoiler: Jen specifically, with the way she maliciously snarls at Amber before butchering her.]]

** The Druid's method of [[spoiler:disposing of the bodies by throwing them in the building's furnace]] might ''seem'' like a good idea at first, but [[spoiler:the smell of burnt corpses is very different from charcoal]], and anyone who knows the difference (in this case, [[spoiler:Saadia]]) will quickly notice.
** Also, if you going to [[spoiler: stoke a furnace in order to dispose of multiple bodies, the heat would need to go somewhere, especially if it's connected to a building's heating system. The fact the heating is even active during the summer is one of the first hints to Saadia that something weird is happening on site.]]
* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:Angel manages to kill the Druid by pushing him in his own furnace, burning his own arms and killing himself in the process.]]
* TeensAreMonsters: The students in Saadia and Jen's school are horrifyingly racist and violent, openly engaging in a screaming beatdown of Saadia in the hall, mocking the death of Jen's mother in the middle of a class (with a later admission that they think it's ''fun'' to mock people's misery) and expecting no repercussions whatsoever for their actions. [[spoiler: Jen and Connor are no different, and if anything, are ''worse'', because they engage in a violent spree of revenge-motivated murders that devolve into killing even innocent people like Kaili, Joe, and their own stepmother.]]
* TookALevelInKindness: Dan's main development as a character. [[spoiler: He starts as an extremely racist white nationalist. He ends as a much nicer man, willing to risk his own life to help non-white gay man Angel kill Connor and refuses to leave immigrant Saadia behind]].
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler: Saadia reveals in the end of the season to a dying Jen that ''she'' was the one who called out Justine's tweet about Kit's murder, [[CreateYourOwnVillain which led to others calling Justine out and kick-starting the events that lead to Justine's death and Connor and Jen's]] StartOfDarkness.]]
* UsedToBeASweetKid: From all appearances, Cassidy was a sweet little girl. Flashbacks show her learning how to ride a bike with her father, and just being a regular girl, in stark contrast to the extremely promiscuous AlphaBitch she became in her high school years.
* VillainousBreakdown: The Druid, [[spoiler:Jen]], pretty much devolves into a screaming rage after [[spoiler:her accomplice/brother gets killed]].
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Absolutely nobody would have faulted [[spoiler: Saadia if she had chosen to leave Dan behind after everything he put her through. However, right when she's about to escape the building, she hears him screaming for help, and can't bring herself to leave even him.]]

* AccompliceByInaction: Implied to be the motive for [[spoiler:Antoine's murder; he had found Talvinder's body long after the murder and ''could'' have just delivered it to the authorities, thus bringing a piece of evidence that Owen was framed but chose to not do so because he was afraid it would tamper with his and Renée's deal about the land]].
* AmoralAttorney: [[spoiler:Mark used to be one, which he feels guilty about and has tried to repress. His nastier side starts coming out again toward the end, as he tries to use his skills to interrogate everyone and figure out who the murderer is]].
* AssholeVictim:
** {{Deconstructed|Trope}} with Talvinder. Despite being a cruel and remorseless AlphaBitch, [[GreyAndGreyMorality her bullying victims turn out to be no better than her]], [[JerkassHasAPoint something that she calls them out on after they mercilessly taunt her about leaving her behind in the forest]]. [[NotHelpingYourCase It doesn't help that they panic and kill her to cover up what they have done to her and frame another counselor for this]]. The commune members are not exactly saints themselves either, [[spoiler: to the point where one of them is revealed to be the killer who is punishing everyone else for what they did]].
** Given [[spoiler: his]] curriculum as rapist and murderer, it's hard to feel sympathy for [[spoiler: Glenn]] when [[spoiler: Renee tortures and kills him to avenge Antoine's death, believing him to be responsible.]]
** Noah also counts, given that he took Talvinder's {{Jerkass}} behavior the hardest and [[spoiler: [[DisproportionateRetribution took it too far]] by [[AttemptedRape attempting to rape her]] and finished off her death by [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill overkilling]] her body]].

* TheAtoner: It's implied Mark is acting so supportive of everyone because [[spoiler:he feels guilty about how horrible a person he was as a lawyer]].
* BerserkButton: A lot of characters have one:
** Andi was jealous of [[spoiler: Talvinder having sex with Andi's boyfriend and killed her after the DeadlyPrank.]]
** Renée had become intensely crankier after [[spoiler: Antoine's death, to the point where she kills Glenn/Benny, believing him to be responsible.]]
** Glenn seems to be a nice guy, [[spoiler: but if you're a young man and insult him, [[DepravedHomosexual beware.]]]]

** [[spoiler: Glenn himself gets this, courtesy of Renee. By the time she finishes torturing him, he is a whimpering mess, begging for his life. She kills him, anyway, believing him to be Antoine's murderer]].

* BullyingADragon: Noah, upon discovering clues that [[spoiler:Glenn might not be who he pretends to be]], thinks it's a smart idea to confront him about it, taunt and threaten the much taller, more muscular guy who did suspicious things in a situation where he ''knows'' a murderer is around. [[spoiler:To say it backfires would be an understatement.]]

* ColdBloodedTorture: [[spoiler:Renee subjects Glenn/Benny to this, with a boxcutter.]]

* DepravedHomosexual: [[spoiler: Glenn, who preys on young and vulnerable men. His methods vary from pressuring his prison cellmate into a relationship to straight up raping Noah.]]

* EyeScream: [[spoiler: Susan has both of her eyes gouged out in episode 2.]]
* FauxAffablyEvil: [[spoiler:Glenn/Benny behaves this way towards Noah. He compliments him, gives him painkillers, and talks to him like he's a friend even when he has him tied up. But it's pretty obvious that he's just putting on a show.]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** Dawn jokes that one of the campers she's teaching archery reminds her of [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]]. [[spoiler:The killer's motive is revealed to be reminiscent to that of [[Film/FridayThe13th1980 Mrs. Voorhees]]. Judith's son, a disliked counselor named Owen, hangs himself in prison when he's accused of being responsible for Talvinder's disappearance, and Judith believes he's talking to her and pushing her to kill those responsible for their deaths.]]
** If you pay close attention to all the appearances of [[spoiler:Wren]], you will notice [[spoiler:he never interacts directly with anyone except Judith and his presence barely gets acknowledged by the others]]. This, combined with [[spoiler:his strange habit of communicating with Judith through letters]], hint at the fact [[spoiler:he isn't a real person- just a hallucination from Judith]].

* IfICantHaveYou: [[spoiler: Thanks to the flashback in episode 4, we discover that Glenn killed a former prison lover because of this.]]
* IfItsYouItsOkay: [[spoiler: Antoine and Renee respectively are gay and lesbian, but there was enough chemistry between them that they loved each other and married.]]

* ManlyGay[=/=]StraightGay: Antoine and [[spoiler: Glenn[=/=]Benny.]]
* MisplacedRetribution:
** The killer's motive is that [[spoiler:she is trying to avenge her son, who was framed for Talvinder's murder by the counselors and committed suicide]]. This motive makes sense for [[spoiler:the counselors' deaths]], and some of the commune members, such as [[spoiler:Renée, Antoine and Mark]], as well as [[spoiler:Megan and Janice]], just happened to "get in the way" or [[HeKnowsTooMuch know too much]]. [[spoiler:Gene's death]], on the other hand, appears completely unprovoked and is unexplained.
** Lampshaded in the final episode, when [[spoiler:Peter]], being confronted by the killer, points out the various people they gruesomely murdered had absolutely nothing to do with [[spoiler:Owen's death]].
* NeckSnap: [[spoiler: How Susan's suffering is ended by the killer.]]
* NoNameGiven: This season is the only one so far where the killer isn't given any signature nickname.

* TheOphelia: Judith is a ''very'' dark example of one. [[spoiler: She's so unstable that not only is she the killer, she's been imagining that it was her son's ghost doing it.]]
* PrisonsAreGymnasiums: [[spoiler: Through episode 5 of Glenn's flashbacks..]]

* RevengeBeforeReason: Once [[spoiler:Antoine]] is killed, [[spoiler:Renée]] becomes [[spoiler:fixated on avenging him at all cost.]] This quickly proves problematic, as [[spoiler:she becomes aggressive toward whoever ''seems'' like they might be guilty, without waiting for actual evidence, which results in her injuring Megan and killing Glenn. She eventually dies at the actual killer's hands, rendering her vengeance pointless]].

* SatelliteLoveInterest: Wren's entire character and personality seems to be about being Judith's lover, to the point she's the only character he even interacts with. [[spoiler:This is actually intentional, as he ''isn't'' a real character as much as Judith's SplitPersonality]]
* SaunaOfDeath: PlayedWith. [[spoiler: Poor Gene only died in one, but the weapon is [[ChainsawGood different]]...]]

* SlashedThroat: [[spoiler: Andi at the end of episode 1, by the killer, and Glenn in episode 5, by Renee.]]

* TokenEvilTeammate: [[spoiler:Glenn, A.K.A Benny Ironside, to the commune members. While some of them have skeletons in their closets, they still are overall either sympathetic or good people trying to find peace. Benny, meanwhile, is a rapist and murderer just trying to make himself forget.]]
* TokenGoodTeammate: Peter. He is the only one of the counselors to realize what they're doing to Talvinder is wrong, despite his own grudge against her, even saving her from being attacked and trying to convince the group to spare her life. [[spoiler: He is also the one who confessed to the parents of Talvinder and Owen about what they've done to them, and even sacrifices himself to save Keira from the killer.]]

* UnrequitedTragicMaiden: Depending on the viewer, [[spoiler: Andi can be sympathetic. Though she gave the first blow to Talvinder, her death is slow, and she is the [[SacrificialLamb first of the counselor group to die.]]]]

** The victim for sloth is thrown into a pit of snakes, [[spoiler: and the second sloth victim is paralyzed so that to be eaten alive by animals. These people are Trent [=McBride=] and June Henry respectively. Their sin was not helping Ariel Peterson when they saw her on the side of the road the night she disappeared. While leaving a drunk teen on the side of the road is a bit of a dick move, they ''did'' at least stop to give her some tips on how to handle the alcohol and made sure that she was mobile enough that she could make it home. The cruel deaths they suffered were far worse than they really deserved.]]

* NotSoAboveItAll: The town priest talks a big game about punishing sinners, in the finale [[spoiler:Cam asks him if he is as righteous when he is being whipped by a dominatrix]].
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Creator/KatieMcGrath's natural Irish accent slips out fairly regularly.
* PluckyComicRelief: Robin, despite his husband's death.
* PoeticSerialKiller: The Executioner bases his victims and his killing of them on their past sins in an ironic fashion.

* PsychopathicManchild: [[spoiler:Cam, the current Executioner shows he has childish perceptions of things, and even starts crying like a baby in the end when his plans go awry, begging Sarah to spare him]].
* ReallyGotAround: [[spoiler:Sarah's mother Rachel was part of a secret pornography and prostitution operation in the town, which her husband was also in on.]]
* RedemptionEqualsDeath:
** [[spoiler: Brenda]] confesses the truth about [[spoiler: her]] crime to Sarah and tries to protect her shortly before being killed. Tom offers this view to comfort Sarah during one of her visits.
---> '''Tom:''' Confession frees us, Sarah. Once we let go of our secrets, their power over us disappears. [[spoiler: Your grandmother]] held onto that secret for years. So, take comfort knowing that [[spoiler: she]] died, if not with a clear, then, at least a clearer conscience.
** [[spoiler: Ironically, Tom himself died this way too. With the guilt of murdering Sarah's parents to protect his job as priest, he escapes prison to save her from the Executioner and offers his life when they were about to wheel her for her sin of pride]].
* TheScourgeOfGod: The Executioner targets people who are guilty of one of the SevenDeadlySins. Most of his victims turn out to be rather despicable people guilty of crimes such as rape, MurderByInaction, and extortion. [[spoiler:When TheReveal comes around, it is somewhat hinted that his father, a priest obsessed with punishing the sinful, was a source of inspiration in all this.]]
* SeeYouInHell: These are [[spoiler: Brenda Merrit's]] final words to the Executioner, calling them out on their hypocrisy before being killed by them.

** Sloth: Thrown into a [[SnakePit pit of snakes]]. Victim and death: [[spoiler:Trent [=McBride=] and June Henry]] - [[spoiler:chased into a pit, left there with snakes, including the Eastern Brown Snake, second most venomous snake on Earth (Trent); drugged and left in a field covered in honey, luring mice to be eaten alive (June).]] Reason: [[spoiler:left Ariel Peterson wandering the streets drunk on the night she disappeared, because they were clocking off and didn't want the extra work.]]

* TheSociopath: [[spoiler:Police Chief Iain Vaughn really couldn't care less about bringing justice to Waterbury, is superficially charming, and rapes/kidnaps Ariel for his own pleasure.]]

* SuddenlySpeaking: For most of the series, the Executioner is completely silent while conducting their kills. When [[spoiler:interviewed by Allison]], however, they do speak while masked, albeit through a voice synthesizer.
* TakeMeInstead: In the penultimate episode, the Executioner is about to make [[spoiler:Sarah herself]] their last victim for the sin of pride, but [[spoiler:Tom Winston]] offers himself in her place. [[spoiler:He's really her father, after all.]]

* TraumaticCSection: Sarah's mother was murdered by the original Executioner when she was highly pregnant with her daughter. In something of a subversion, while he did violently cut her baby out of her womb, instantly killing her, he intentionally kept the infant Sarah alive until the cops arrived on the scene.
* VillainousBreakdown: When the Executioner's plan finally goes awry in the season finale because Sarah discovered their true identity, they start sobbing like a little kid after stabbing her.
* VillainsWantMercy: [[spoiler: When Sarah overpowers the Executioner in the final confrontation, he begs her not to kill him. She has none of it and does so anyway.]]

** Kit Jennings [[spoiler:cheated with Noelle Samuels on her boyfriend, Wyatt.]] The latter became the Druid and killed Kit [[spoiler: for stealing her away from him. Kit's death later spurned a viral hate tweet started by Saadia Jalalzai against Justine Rijikers, prompting her to commit suicide. Her death begins her children's StartOfDarkness, driving them to take up the Druid's mantle and murder everyone involved]].

* AccompliceByInaction: [[spoiler:Vaughn's wife was well aware that Ariel was kept on the basement of her house and decided to never do anything, even when Ariel begged for her help as she was being dragged there. She eventually relented to allow her husband to be arrested after Sarah convinces her to, allowing her to avoid being targeted by the Executioner and the same fate as Trent and June]].
** Seeing from the list we find in the killer's burn book in episode 7, he would count as one too. [[spoiler: Vaughn's name was on the list under 'lust' implying that the killer knew he kidnapped and raped Ariel.]]
* BigBadFriend: [[spoiler:The new Executioner turns out to be Sarah's childhood friend, Cam, who's also the deputy sheriff in the town.]]

* DeathlyUnmasking: An inverted example; [[spoiler: here, the original Executioner AKA Tom takes off his own mask after the mortally wounded Rachel reveals to him that she's pregnant with his child - just so he can cut his own daughter out of her.]]

* DetectiveMole: [[spoiler:The reason Ariel's disappearance was never solved was because Iain Vaughn, the chief of police who was ''running'' the investigation, was the one who abducted her and kept her as a sex slave.]]

** The only characters in the whole series thus far who really got a happy ending through their struggles are [[spoiler: Ariel and Heather Peterson. After five years of being a captive sex slave, Heather survives and reunites with her mother, along with the son she genuinely loves. Heather was driven to insanity by Ariel's disappearance and the subsequent suicide of her husband after Allison forged evidence against him, but ultimately finds a light in the darkness when she's brought to Ariel. This family is the only one in the season, and the series, that has received anything close to a happy ending.]]

* EnfantTerrible:
** Turns out [[spoiler:Cam]] was one of these. [[spoiler:He killed his mother at a young age by pushing her down the stairs. Though given that she was abusive to him, that at least explains it.]]
** In the final scene of the season, Robin is showing the house to potential new buyers. [[spoiler:Their angelic looking daughter snaps a cat's neck before coming back into the house and saying she thinks it's perfect.]] Maybe the house is cursed after all...
* {{Ephebophile}}: [[spoiler:Chief Vaughn is definitely one. Just ask Ariel.]]

* FriendOnTheForce: Cam is this and Sarah's childhood friend compared to Iain.

* GreenEyedMonster: Sarah describes her grandmother as "the most jealous and envious person she's ever known" and has several reasons to say so. Brenda despises both Dylan and Sarah's father (as she tries to pin of the [[spoiler: porn and extortion ring]] uniquely on him) for taking her only family away from her. [[spoiler: And envy was what pushed her to attempted murder.]]
* GuttedLikeAFish: Sarah's father was murdered by Tom Winston, the original Executioner, by stabbing him in the chest from behind with a machete and then carving down to his groin.
* HateSink: Vaughn, aside from being unhelpful bordering on downright ignorant, is [[spoiler:a kidnapper and rapist who kept Ariel in his basement for 5 years and even fathered her child due to a sick obsession for another girl. When Ariel manages to run, he threatens to kill their child. He refuses to repent for his sin and tries to sacrifice Sarah to the Executioner to save his own skin. It's easy to think his punishment of being burned alive was him getting off easy.]]

* {{Hypocrite}}: The Executioner is guilty of almost every sin they kill other people for.
** Pride and wrath are the most evident. The Executioner's motive seems to be implicitly driven by anger, hence the need to "punish" others. And Tom Winston outright says that the Executioner's pride in his/her own conquest is their greatest sin of all, because of how much they're blinded by the idea that they're playing God.
** The Executioner's sin of sloth is magnitudes worse than the designated sloth victim, especially when you stop and think, and realize that the Executioner knew about [[spoiler: Ariel's kidnapping]] and did nothing until it fit into their plan. Compare that to [[spoiler: Trent and June, who had the decency to stop and check on her and made sure that she was able to walk home safely, and their reason for not bringing her to the ER was understandable, though just driving her home would have been better.]]
** Add in that [[spoiler: Cam frames Dylan to have Sarah for himself]] and you have envy and lust as well.

* In general, everyone in the family either treats Christy with kindness or ignores her, a huge improvement from how the Galloways treat each other, mainly because she reminds them of their dead matriarch.

** Rachel and Bryan Ingram [[spoiler:took advantage of Tom Winston's feelings for the former and blackmailed him.]] In response, Tom created the Executioner to take revenge on them, scarring Alan Henry in the process. [[spoiler: Alan then married Suzanne to cope with his trauma, who abuses their son, Cam. The abuse pushes Cam to take up Tom's mantle as the new Executioner.]]

* DeathEqualsRedemption: [[spoiler: Brenda]] confesses the truth about [[spoiler: her]] crime to Sarah and tries to protect her shortly before being killed. Tom offers this view to comfort Sarah during one of her visits.
-->-- "Confession frees us, Sarah. Once we let go of our secrets, their power over us disappears. [[spoiler: Your grandmother]] held onto that secret for years. So take comfort knowing that [[spoiler: she]] died, if not with a clear, then, at least a clearer conscience."

* EarnYourHappyEnding: The only characters in the whole series thus far who really got a happy ending through their struggles are [[spoiler: Ariel and Heather Peterson. After five years of being a captive sex slave, Heather survives and reunites with her mother, along with the son she genuinely loves. Heather was driven to insanity by Ariel's disappearance and the subsequent suicide of her husband after Allison forged evidence against him, but ultimately finds a light in the darkness when she's brought to Ariel. This family is the only one in the season, and the series, that has received anything close to a happy ending.]]
** [[spoiler: Despite all they've been through Sarah and Dylan survive and reconcile, ending the season ready to start a new life. It feels more bittersweet than the previous example because Sarah has lost the rest of her family and has personally killed the Executioner, but at least she finally seems at peace with her past.]]

* AngryWhiteMan: Dan is a white nationalist whose racism primarily is motivated by seeing minorities as favoured over white people. [[spoiler:He gets better by the end]].
* AntagonisticOffspring: Cassidy is openly hostile to her father Dan, in no small part because he wasn't really a father to her for much of her life. She mentions that he seemingly forgot her birthday, and that she had to clean his vomit off the floor that morning. [[spoiler: Jen and Connor are even worse towards their stepmother Amber, openly blaming her for Justine's suicide, culminating in Jen violently murdering her.]]

* BondVillainStupidity: Despite his usual modus operandi of killing people viciously and in ways that ensure they will definitely be dead, the Druid [[spoiler:just leaves Angel and Dan trapped inside the cave after gassing them and glues their faces together without even killing them- which eventually results in them escaping to strike back]].

** While not textbook sociopaths, [[ItRunsInTheFamily the Galloways]] share several pathological traits. They show a pervasive LackOfEmpathy (despite each one having some degree of affection towards another member of the family), are [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative]], [[ItsAllAboutMe self-absorbed]] and [[HairTriggerTemper volatile]].

* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler:O'Keefe is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns (assigned female at birth) and has a girlfriend, while Seamus is secretly gay. Neither make it out alive.]]

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Throughout the season, even some of the more despicable characters love at least one person wholly. [[spoiler: Florence genuinely loved her mother and was ProperlyParanoid that her stepmother was little more than a GoldDigger. Spencer himself also genuinely loved Annette with all his heart, and his last hallucination as he lay dying was of her. Finally, Aphra really did love her adoptive father figure Seamus, so much that his death sent her into a downward insanity spiral.]]

** One of the contests, which only one character participates in, literally is about identifying the killer. [[spoiler: And Grace concludes "the killer isn't one of us". This is the most blatant sign that Spencer not only knew about the killer, but was an active part of the killer's rampage, namely, hiring her to massacre his family members fighting for inheritance.]]

** Differently from the previous seasons, the killer's costume is more elaborated than a parka or a cape that can be quickly removed along with the mask, meaning that it would be difficult for someone to wear the outfit and go unnoticed while doing so. [[spoiler: A hint that the Gentleman has found a way to remove themselves from the group to act without being noticed.]]

** Despite his other flaws, Seamus is a loving father to Aphra and disregards her obvious psychological issues to try and raise her right. [[spoiler:Aphra later admits that he's the only person that's ever loved her. However, while Christy also tried to be a good mother to her, she ultimately meant nothing to Aphra.]]

** Blood is thicker than water, [[{{Greed}} but gold even more]]. The Galloways have always backstabbed each other for a shot at the family money and power, and seem unable to stop even when chased by a serial killer.

** If a system is corrupt, the gender of those in power is irrelevant. [[spoiler: Liv gains the inheritance through murder and deception, and there is no assurance that her girlboss shtick will be different from [[ThePatriarch Spencer's]] psychopathic rule.]]
* HateSink: Florence has ''no'' redeeming qualities. She has a shrill, screeching voice, is a pretentious performance artist, is classist, racist, and a cold-blooded murderer by episode three. [[spoiler: She gets even ''worse'' when it's revealed that she exploited her own son's disappearance for money, ''and'' lets her own child die by nerve gas...for a chance to win the inheritance.]]

** Christy and Birgit were never meant to take part to the inheritance game but are still targeted like the rest of the family. [[spoiler: While Birgit isn't innocent, since she took part in Vincent's kidnapping, Christy deserves nothing of what happens to her.]]

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:None of the Galloways survive, or more accurately, none of the ones bearing the name, Galloway. This is because Liv deliberately ended the name by killing Theo after he told her how he drove his car into a daycare, and her concluding that the family was just poisoned beyond all repair.]]

* KissingCousins: [[spoiler:Vincent tries for this with Liv, to her revulsion. She ends up going for his brother Theodore, however... and just as a sign of how bad every relationship in the season is, this one is one of the ''least'' unhealthy relationships.]]
* KnownOnlyByTheirNickname: Liv's actual name is Livinia, but she's rarely, if ever, called by her full first name.
* MeaningfulName: Persephone was the Goddess of Underworld in Greek mythology and "Trinh" means maiden in Vietnamese, which was one of Persephone's titles. It really suits a doctor specialized in assisted suicide.

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Christy voluntarily adopted a little girl with some psychological problems, and chose to endure a painful family reunion, all because she loved her husband dearly. [[spoiler: She then is forced to witness extensive violence on the island, loses her beloved husband, and ultimately suffers a horrible fate herself when her "daughter" reveals her [[TheFakeCutie true nature]] and mauls her, biting her face and some of her fingers off, leaving Christy a bloodied mess who can only quietly beg for a MercyKill.]]

** Grace's not the friendliest person, and her DayInTheLimelight [[spoiler: shows that she's also directly caused all of the Galloways' dysfunction]]. However, she genuinely loves her son, and also genuinely cares about some of the other people on the island, most notably Christy. [[spoiler: She's horrified when she helplessly watches her son get torn apart limb by limb, and really tries to help Christy after she was mauled by Aphra. She's distraught to put a bullet in the latter's brain as a MercyKill.]]
** Vincent is the most openly abrasive Galloway and is quite hostile to everyone else. But when Christy takes his gun from him, he gives her tips on the safety and wishes her good luck. [[spoiler:And even he's horrified to see Christy after her mauling by Aphra, and subsequent MercyKill at Grace's hands.]] In general, everyone in the family either treats Christy with kindness or ignores her, a huge improvement from how the Galloways treat each other.

* PsychologicalProjection: Seamus is a self-centered asshole who is willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead of the game, and to win the inheritance. He assumes his wife Christy is the same way, much to her horror, and he doesn't believe her when she claims that she genuinely loves him and doesn't care about the money. He finally realizes how wrong he was when he eavesdrops on her conversation with O'Keefe where she not only reiterates her claim but confirms that she will not give up on him yet.

** [[spoiler:Aphra, who despite her appearance, is ''not'' 13, and is actually an adult. Many parts of her childishness are an obvious act, but she does still suffer from pica and [[IJustWantToBeLoved wants desperately to be loved by a father figure]]. The "psychopathic" part comes in when her pica gives her an appetite for raw human flesh. She tortures Florence and manipulates her adoptive parents.]]
** To a somewhat milder extent, Florence, who might be better categorized as a narcissist than a psychopath, but all the same is violently petulant and entitled. [[spoiler:She graduates to fully psychopathic pretty quickly, when the kills Persephone by throwing her into a woodchipper and shoots one of Grace's eyes with a rubber bullet as retaliation for her biting her finger]].

* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: [[spoiler: The {{Token Good Teammate}}s of the Galloways are brutally murdered in the most horrendous ways, betrayed by people they trusted and/or loved. Christy Martin's face and fingers were bit off by Aphra, and she pleaded for a MercyKill which was granted to her. Annette Galloway was killed by Grace, her live-in nurse, who murdered her so that Grace could marry Spencer for his money. O'Keeffe, the only Galloway by blood to be a decent person, is left to asphyxiate on carbon monoxide by ''their own mother''.]]

-->'''Spencer:''' (cackling) ''What the fuck was that?''

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Christy confides to O'Keefe about her marriage to Seamus, and how she truly loves him, money or no money. Unknown to her, Seamus overhears this... and it triggers a massive HeelRealization for him. [[spoiler: Not that it saves him in the end.]]

* DeusExMachina: Sarah looking through some photos from camp, pausing to examine the photo of Cam and finding out [[spoiler: Cam's drawing was the same as the ones the killer drew, and figuring out he's the killer just as he had all but gotten away with it and managed to pin it on Dylan and get him arrested]] would certainly qualify.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Vincent has ''something'' off about him. He's got DullSurprise so much that even other characters comment on it, has a hell of a temper, and he was shown to engage in some very questionable acts, most notably [[spoiler: trying to burn Liv alive as a child. He even commits a murder on-camera, being the Gentleman herself, Trinh, and tries to kill Theo out of spite]]. According to some not-so-reliable sources, he also [[spoiler: committed a murder during a riot, but he denies this one.]]

* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:Despite being denied the peaceful death he asked for, Spencer got everything else he wanted in the end; One sole heir and the entire rest of the Galloway family erased from the world.]]

* InnocentBystander: Merle has nothing to do with the family beyond being a boating man and a helping hand around the house, but he's the first one murdered by the Gentleman. [[spoiler: This was because Trinh wanted to use his body to fake her death, so that she could kill without anyone figuring her out.]]

** Vincent is the most openly abrasive Galloway and is quite hostile to everyone else. But when Christy takes his gun from him, he gives her tips on the safety and wishes her good luck. [[spoiler:And even he's horrified to see Christy after her mauling by Aphra, and subsequent MercyKill at Grace's hands.]]

* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: [[spoiler: The {{Token Good Teammate}}s of the Galloways are brutally murdered in the most horrendous ways, betrayed by people they trusted and/or loved. Christy Martin's face and fingers were bit off by Aphra, and she pleaded for a MercyKill which was granted to her. Annette Galloway was killed by Grace, her live-in nurse, who murdered her so that Grace could marry Spencer for his money.]]

** Season two had the parka wearing killer. Unlike the Executioner, they bother much less with the theatrics of death, only really interested in killing off the characters and getting rid of them in painful ways. They also do not have any unique nickname like the other killers and the only antagonist to [[KarmaHoudini get away with their crimes]]. [[spoiler:Her real identity, Judith, turns out to be more pitiful than the main characters, who indirectly cause the death of her son and is taking personal revenge on them for it.]]
** Season three had the Druid, which is much more violent and theatrical than the killers before them. They have a tendency to kill people in ironic ways just for the sake of offing them in the worst possible way for them. Unlike the previous two, they also actually bother with covering up some of their kills and hiding bodies, as the police is more active this time around and could track things back to them otherwise. [[spoiler:Jen and Connor are the first killer to be two people working together, rather than alone, and they also have sympathetic reasons, in that they are avenging their mother's suicide and harassment from their neighbors.]]

* AccompliceByInaction: [[spoiler:Vaughn's wife was well aware that Ariel was kept on the basement of her house and decided to never do anything, even when Ariel begged for her help as she was being dragged there. She eventually relented to allow her husband be arrested after Sarah convinces her to, allowing her to avoid being targeted by the Executioner and the same fate as Trent and June]].

* ADeathInTheLimelight: Most of the Executioner's victims will have the episode focus on them before their death.
* DetectiveMole: [[spoiler:The reason the Ariel's disappearance was never solved was because Iain Vaughn, the chief of police who was ''running'' the investigation, was the one who abducted her and kept her as a sex slave.]]
* DisproportionateRetribution: Some of the victims truly deserve their deaths, but most of them really don't deserve to die so horribly.

* TheGameNeverStopped: After episode 7, even when all of the 7 sinners have died, there's still one episode left, and Sarah is confident that the Executioner isn't done even though he or she left the costume out in the open at the end of the episode. She's right.

* HateSink: Vaughn, aside from being unhelpful bordering on downright ignorant, is [[spoiler:a kidnapper and rapist who kept Ariel in his basement for 5 years and even fathered her child due to a sick obsession for another girl. When Ariel manages to run, he threatens to kill their child. It's easy to think his punishment of being burned alive was him getting off easy.]]

** Tom Winston didn't find satisfaction in killing Sarah's parents and never had a chance to connect with [[spoiler: his daughter]] for years.

** [[spoiler:Vaughn is one of the seven sinners, and when his ADayInTheLimelight and ADeathInTheLimelight appeared, this time he's actively becomes a villain, attempting to kill and hinder several characters, including a heroin addict with the revelation of his rape of Ariel.]]

* TheScourgeOfGod: The Executioner targets people who are guilty of one of the SevenDeadlySins. Most of his victims turn out to be rather despicable people guilty of crimes such as rape, murder by inaction, and extortion. [[spoiler:When TheReveal comes around it is somewhat hinted that his father, a priest obsessed with punishing the sinful, was a source of inspiration in all this.]]

* SelfDefenseRuse: Dylan holds the killer, [[spoiler:Cam]], down while Sarah stabs him multiple times in the stomach and across the body while he's begging her not to kill him. She then slashes his throat and escapes any punishment because she claims it was self-defense... despite his many injuries that contradicted this.

** Gluttony: [[ForceFeeding Force-fed rats]], snakes and toads. Victim and death: [[spoiler:Justin Faysal]] - [[spoiler:secretly fed rat poison.]] Reason: [[spoiler:He forced a family off their land so he could buy it and build a luxury house there. The family later squatted in an abandoned house, and suffocated on the fumes of the propane heater they were using to keep warm.]]

* SuddenlySpeaking: For most of the series, the Executioner is completely silent while conducting his kills. When [[spoiler:interviewed by Allison]], however, he does speak while masked, albeit through a voice synthesizer.
* TakeMeInstead: In the penultimate episode the Executioner is about to make [[spoiler:Sarah herself]] his last victim for the sin of pride, but [[spoiler:Tom Winston]] offers himself in her place. [[spoiler:He's really her father, after all.]]

* VillainousBreakdown: When the Executioner's plan finally goes awry in the season 1 finale because Sarah discovered his true identity, he starts sobbing like a little boy after stabbing her.

* AccompliceByInaction: Implied to be the motive for [[spoiler:Antoine's murder; he had found Talvinder's body long after the murder and ''could'' have just delivered it to the authorities, thus bringing a piece of evidence that Owen was framed, but chose to not do so because he was afraid it would tamper with his and Renée's deal about the land]].

** {{Deconstructed|Trope}} with Talvinder. Despite being a cruel and remorseless AlphaBitch, [[GreyAndGreyMorality her bullying victims turn out to be no better than her]], [[JerkassHasAPoint something that she calls them out on after they mercilessly taunt her about leaving her behind in the forest]]. [[NotHelpingYourCase It doesn't help that they panic and kill her to cover up what they done to her and frame another counselor for this]]. The commune members are not exactly saints themselves either, [[spoiler: to the point where one of them is revealed to be the killer who is punishing everyone else for what they did]].

** Renee had become intensely crankier after [[spoiler: Antoine's death, to the point where she kills Glenn, believing him to be responsible.]]

* ChainsawGood: [[spoiler: Gene's death in episode 1.]]

* DeadlyPrank: PlayedWith. [[spoiler: At first, it turns out that Talvinder will just get pranked, but then the scene cut to her beaten up and covered in blood...]] Since episode 1, this is the event that orchestrate the killings in the series.
* DepravedHomosexual: [[spoiler: Glenn, who preys on young and vulnerable men. His methods vary from pressuring his prison cellmate into relationship to straight up raping Noah.]]

* KarmicRape: [[spoiler: Noah being raped by Glenn is at first portrayed as somewhat sympathetic... then the next episode reveals that he [[AttemptedRape attempted to do the same]] with Talvinder in a fit of rage]].

** Lampshaded in the final episode, when [[spoiler:Peter]], being confronted by the killer, points out the various people they gruesomely murdered who had absolutely nothing to do with [[spoiler:Owen's death]].
* MrFanservice: [[PrettyBoy Wren, Noah]] and [[ManlyGay Glenn]] all get respectively shirtless in episodes 1, 3, and 4.

* OnceMoreWithClarity: The first episode starts with the group of councelors driving to the wilds having fun, and there is quite a MoodWhiplash, when they suddenly turn on one of them. The last episode starts with the same scenes, but adds brief shots showing how the others were faking their joy.

* PrisonsAreGymnasiums: [[spoiler: Through the episode 5 of Glenn's flashbacks..]]

* ShirtlessScene: Wren, Noah and Glenn [[spoiler: in a flashback of his incarceration.]]

* TokenEvilTeammate: [[spoiler:Glenn to the commune members. While some of them have skeletons in their closets, they still are overall either sympathetic or good people trying to find peace. Glenn, meanwhile, is a rapist and murderer just trying to make himself forget.]]

* BecomingTheMask: [[spoiler: Aphra]] claims this, telling [[spoiler: Christy that the video on her phone where she brags about having fooled her adoptive parents was an old one from before she came to care about them. It seems at least half true, as Aphra genuinely loved her adoptive father Seamus.]]

* ActionGirl: Liv is the first girl to kick some serious as, and it's justified, as she's a military girl. [[spoiler: She successfully fights off the killer and easily wins in a fight over Vincent, who's got several inches on her. She also ultimately survives the series and is the one to get the inheritance.]]

** Talvinder Gill's bullying of the Camp Motega counselors provoked them to murder her [[spoiler: and frame Owen Turnbull for it. As a result, Owen was falsely arrested and committed suicide, but not before messaging his mother, Judith, about what happened. Judith became the Camp Motega killer and lured the counselors back to the camp by starting a commune there to take vengeance for what they did to her son]].
** Kit Jennings [[spoiler:cheated with Noelle Samuels on her boyfriend, Wyatt.]] The latter became the Druid and killed Kit [[spoiler: for stealing her away from him. Kit's death later spurned a viral hate tweet started by Saadia against Justine Rijikers, prompting her to commit suicide. Her death begins her children's StartOfDarkness, driving them to take up the Druid's mantle and murder everyone involved]].
** While the Gentleman was always a killer, [[spoiler: she was hired by Spencer Galloway to murder his family since the death of his beloved wife Annette drove him to become ruthless. While also gathering information on the family's secrets, the Gentleman had presumably found out that Spencer's second wife, Grace, murdered Annette for his money and told him, causing him to set up one last game for his inheritance to make Grace suffer for killing his wife]].

** Inverted with [[spoiler: Tom Winston. He was in love with Rachel Ingram and committed infidelity with her to convince her to give up her and her husband's porn extortion scams. However, Rachel and Bryan reveal they took advantage of it to blackmail him into leaving their crimes alone. Heartbroken, Tom did ''not'' take it well and murdered them both for playing with his heart and to cover up his job as priest.

** While the Gentleman was always a killer, [[spoiler: she was hired by Spencer Galloway to murder his family since the death of his beloved wife Annette drove him to become ruthless. While gathering information on the family's secrets, the Gentleman had presumably found out that Spencer's second wife, Grace, murdered Annette for his money and told him, causing him to set up one last game for his inheritance to make Grace suffer for killing his wife]].

** Inverted with [[spoiler: Tom Winston. He was in love with Rachel Ingram and committed infidelity with her to convince her to give up her porn extortion scams. However, Rachel and Brian reveal they took advantage of it to blackmail him into leaving their crimes alone. Heartbroken, Tom did ''not'' take it well and murdered them both for playing with his heart]].

* DeathByWomanScorned: The reason Kit Jennings was murdered. [[spoiler: Noelle Samuels cheated on her boyfriend, Wyatt with Kit, leading him to create the Druid and brutally MurderTheHypotenuse. When they reunite at Kit's memorial, Noelle rejects Wyatt as she is still mourning Kit. [[IfICantHaveYou He responds by becoming the Druid one last time to kill her]], leading to his arrest]].

''Slasher'' was originally produced by and for the Canadian network Super Channel, in association with the US cable channel Chiller, who both aired its first season in their respective countries. The series later moved to Creator/{{Netflix}} for its second and third seasons, and then streaming service Shudder for its fourth.

** Season 4 -- [[spoiler: Liv survives the night, wins the inheritance, and is set to have a decent comfortable life with her unborn child free from the ties to her sociopathic predecessors. The Gentleman is dead, as well as Spencer Galloway, leaving no one to repeat this action directly. However, Liv's mother is dead, as is literally ''everyone else'' that was at the competition. And the ending is ambiguous enough to hint that Liv carries some psychological trauma from everything, and may yet become a bit more like the Galloways than she would've liked.]]
* BlackAndGreyMorality: No character in any of the seasons are saints, and have done reprehensible and morally questionable behavior. However, there are a few people who stand out as more amoral and disgusting.

** Season one had the Executioner. He is a serial killer that is extremely religious, wears a dark, personalized outfit and is something of a legend in the town. He kills people who can be blamed by one of the SevenDeadlySins and the deaths he causes are based on the punishment for each of them in hell. [[spoiler:His real identity, Cam, is Sarah's closest friend and supposed LoveInterest in the show, who turns out to be a PsychopathicManchild with no particular reason for the killings, except crazy fanaticism.]]

** Season four has the Gentleman, who combines the Druid's theatrics and the Parka Killer's penchant for pain and lack of being a CopycatKiller. They kill people in vicious ways without bothering to try and cover up the evidence. In fact, this individual has a penchant for killing people in such a way that others inevitably ''will'' find the victim, just as a method to terrorize them. This, and the Gentleman seems rather content to sit back and let the backstabbing family tear itself apart in the stress. [[spoiler: Her real identity is Dr. Trinh, who's the first killer who seems to die early on as a way of hiding. She's also the first one who was already a psychopathic serial murderer even before the season's events, and was hired by Spencer for that very reason so that she would kill the "weak" family members.]]

** While the Gentleman was always a killer, [[spoiler: she was hired by Spencer Galloway to murder his family since the death of his beloved wife Annette drove him to become ruthless. The Gentleman had presumably found out that Spencer's second wife, Grace, murdered Annette for his money and told him, causing him to set up one last game for his inheritance to make Grace suffer for killing his wife]].

** Season 3 had Kit Jennings. He was a member of the building that was often causing trouble by consuming a lot of drugs, having orgies, having sex in public and cheating on his partners and was killed well in the view of everyone in the building, and the murders start on the anniversary of his death, with the Druid's motive presumably being to tie up loose ends. [[spoiler:This, however, turns out to be a bit of a RedHerring. Jen and Connor's mother, Justine, made a tweet talking trash about Kit after he died. When the post went viral and the harassment affected her and her family greatly, Justine killed herself, again, to the view of everyone in the building. The killers are avenging ''her'', and have little to no connection to Kit. However, his death still triggered the DisasterDominoes that triggered the season's events, so his death still applies as this.]]
** Season 4 had Annette Galloway. By her own admission, she was TheHeart of her family. It was she who kept the family together, kept the business running efficiently, and kept her husband's darker side, of which she was fully aware, in check. As she lay ridden with cancer, she feared that her death would cause the family to spiral downwards out of control without her. [[ProperlyParanoid She was right]]. After her death, [[spoiler: which was actually a murder at Grace's hands]], the family spiraled downwards into total insanity, something clear from the very first episode. To wit, [[spoiler: her husband's SocialDarwinist ideals morphed into something even worse than it already was, and this caused him to raise the family with a ChronicBackstabbingDisorder mentality, forging Annette's children and grandchildren to be self-centered businessmen and women. Aside from this mentality poisoning Annette's children and grandchildren, this led to Spencer hiring Dr. Trinh to become the Gentleman and hunt down the "weak" members of his family.]]

* ViolenceIsDisturbing: Even when the kills are against {{asshole victim}}s, the violence brought to the kills and characters never ceases to be extremely disturbing to see.
* WorldOfJerkass: As it's typical of the slasher genre, the wide majority of the characters in each season either start out as horrible people, or turn out to be so later on as more is learnt about them. And they manage to get worse with every season.

** The first victim is punished for the sin of wrath by being dismembered alive. [[spoiler: This person is Verna [=McBride=], and she's killed because (it's at least theorized) she discovered her husband Peter was cheating on her and killed him in a fit of rage. While that's no excuse to murder due to her overreacting to it, being cheated on is something that most people would be rightfully angry about.]]

** Turns out [[spoiler:Cam]] was one of these. [[spoiler:He killed his mother at a young age by pushing her down the stairs.]]

* AnythingThatMoves: Kit, by his own admission, pretty much was trying to have sex with everyone, male or female. [[spoiler: This leads to his murder by the Druid, who turns out to be one of his suitor's jealous ex]].

** Kit Jennings is murdered by the [[spoiler: past]] Druid.

** The stress takes it toll as Justine [[spoiler: commits suicide with gasoline, [[KillItWithFire burning herself alive]]]].

** For most of his murders, the Druid is methodical and pragmatic, striking his victim when they are alone and seizing them by surprise in situations where they have little room to escape. By contrast, his attempt to murder Jen is done in broad daylight and in public with zero subtlety, from a long distance and running after her before suddenly abandoning the pursuit. [[spoiler:This is because he never ''intended'' to kill her- Jen is his accomplice, and this murder attempt was done to make her appear innocent]].
** When Connor asks Saadia what was the worst thing she ever did, Saadia looks awkward before changing the subject. [[spoiler:It's then revealed that Saadia was the one to make his mother's post public, which is what would make her kill herself later.]]

** Early on, Saadia and Jen investigate where Saadia's new phone might have ended up on, and look for Cassidy to find it. [[spoiler: The phone is shown to be with Cassidy in the vent where her body is left to rot, but when it falls out of the vent, the police make no mention of finding it, foreshadowing that Jen went back and took it before they left school.]]
** As Charlie mentions himself, he doesn't live in the building where the Druid is hunting, and had nothing to do with Kit's death. [[spoiler:So the Druid murdering him anyway]] hints that [[spoiler:whoever is behind the mask would have a grudge against him as well- namely, Connor and Jen]].

* FurnaceBodyDisposal: [[SerialKiller The Druid]] from season three uses the apartment buildings furnace to dispose of their victims bodies. Deconstructed, as it ends up proving to be their undoing. Their regular use means the buildings heating systems are still on in the middle of summer, tipping off the protagonists somethings wrong, and the fact that burning corpses has such a distinctive smell causes Saadia to realise what's happening. In the end [[spoiler: one half of the Druid is pushed into the furnace and [[DeathByIrony killed by one of their would be victims]].]]

** '''Violet''', who more or less spends all the season being a lecherous bitch by "blogging" about tragedies and using anything she can just to get notoriety. As Joe points out, even her voice is irritating and affected. Not even her husband Joe is safe [[spoiler: when she tricks him into having sex with him an then posting it online]].

* MoralMyopia: The Druid's entire motivation. [[spoiler: Specifically, Jen and Connor. The former repeatedly says that she and Connor are the victims, and that all these people were responsible for causing her mother's suicide. Saadia throws back that even though it's true, it doesn't justify Jen and Connor brutally murdering so many people. This is especially the case after Jen drugs Saadia, ties her to a chair, ''murders Amber in front of her'', and then has the gall to say that ''Saadia'' should be a better friend to her.]] [[spoiler: She also sees her brother Connor dead in the furnace, and is profoundly angry and viciously (and partly correctly) blames the still-living Dan for it, and acts like he's the monster. This is after she had Dan's daughter Cassidy, and Angel's lover Joe murdered, and forced both of these men into extremely agonizing moments where they had to see their dead loved ones.]]
* MurderByInaction: Most of the tenants within the apartment building did absolutely nothing to save Kit from the Druid, some with more understandable reasons than others. Detective Roberta calls them all out on it. Only Saadia's father averts this... because he had to take action to prevent his daughter from opening their door to save Kit, something that still haunts her and she didn't really forgive her father for. [[spoiler: Justine even admits how callous she was to make fun of Kit's murder in her final moments when she and her family suffered the same way he did before commiting suicide]].
--> [[spoiler:'''Justine''']]: You all watched that boy get killed and NONE OF YOU ''FUCKING'' DID A THING!

** Saadia in spades, so much so that Jen even says that she's "too nice". And Jen's more right than she realizes, because [[spoiler: Saadia is such a good person that she couldn't understand why Justine would be so insensitive about Kit's death. She calls out Justine by commenting on her tweet... which is what led to the downward spiral that resulted in Justine's suicide and consequently the apartment building murders.]]
** Kaili also qualifies, as she makes numerous efforts to give students a good environment at school, and deals with bullies swiftly and effectively. She even takes a traumatized Jen aside in the hallways and encourages her to return to finish her biology final so that she can pass and graduate. She has a more vindictive streak [[spoiler: as Kit learned when he asked for a ride after insulting her in the laundry room]], but she still is an overall good woman. [[spoiler: It doesn't spare her from a gory fate at the Druid's hands.]]

** The Druid kills Frank Dixon in the first episode, but is never shown targeting his wife or daughter. [[spoiler: This is because Jen and Connor, along with the rest of the apartment residents, were fully aware of Frank's abuse of his wife, and they chose not to kill either of them. It helps that they were sympathetic to Jen and Connor for losing their mother and weren't participants in the online abuse that lead to her suicide.]]

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Dan's less a villain, and more {{jerkass}}, but it still applies nonetheless. Either way, he's a fiercely racist white nationalist who's antagonistic to ''everyone'' in the building for one reason or another, and throws racial and ethnic slurs at everyone. Eventually, it leads to the Druid [[spoiler: throwing him in a locked room with Angel who's everything he despises and beats the crap out of Dan... which backfires when being trapped with him leads to them bonding. As a result, Dan has a HeelFaceTurn and loses the racism, save for one little moment where he refers to Connor as "the black dyke's kid", which in the heat of the moment is just from him defaulting to familiar words]].

** Also, if you going to [[spoiler: stoke a furnace in order to dispose of multiple bodies, the heat will need to go somewhere, especially if its connected to a building's heating system. The fact the heating is even active during the summer is one of the first hints to Saadia that something weird is happening on site.]]

* TookALevelInKindness: Dan's main development as a character. [[spoiler: He starts as an extremely racist white nationalist. He ends as a much nicer man, willing to risk his own life to help non-white gay man Angel kill Connor, and refuses to leave immigrant Saadia behind]].
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler: Saadia reveals in the end of the season to a dying Jen that ''she'' was the one who called out Justine's tweet about Kit's murder, [[CreateYourOwnVillain which lead to others calling Justine out and kick-starting the events that lead to Justine's death and Connor and Jen's]] StartOfDarkness.]]

** It would be more accurate to describe Florence as a narcissist than an outright sociopath. She ''does'' love her family behind all the sniping, [[ItsAllAboutMe she just loves herself more.]] [[spoiler:She genuinely does try to save O'Keefe when they're trapped in the gas bunker, and only lets her die when it becomes clear to her that only one of them can live.]]

** [[spoiler:Aphra, who despite her appearance, is ''not'' 13, and is actually an adult. Many parts of her childishness are an obvious act, but she does still suffer from pica and [[IJustWantToBeLoved wants desperately to be loved by a father figure]]. The "psychopathic" part comes in when her pica gives her an appetite for raw human flesh. She tortures Florence, and manipulates her adoptive parents.]]

* WhamShot: While Aphra is sleeping, Christy consoles herself [[spoiler:following Seamus's death]] by going through her phone for old photos and videos of them. [[spoiler:Then she finds photos of Aphra taking selfies with all of the dead bodies, which is ''then'' followed by a video revealing that she's actually an adult who's been manipulating them for as long as they've known her.]]

* YouMonster: O'Keefe drops this on Florence when she tells Theodore that he should've been kidnapped instead of Vincent. [[spoiler:Their accusation just rings truer as the show goes on.]]

* BaitTheDog: Episode 6 ends with [[spoiler:Aphra encountering the Gentleman who, contrary to their usual MO, takes Aphra's hand and leads her into the woods, implying that they're allowing her to help them kill the rest of the family. Nope, in the first minutes of the next episode, they tie her between two trees and saws her in half.]]

* HeelFaceDoorSlam: [[spoiler: Seamus is killed right after going through a huge HeelRealization after hearing his wife confide to O'Keefe about how much she really loves him, money or no money. But he's killed with a fire poker to the eye right after.]]

** [[spoiler: Spencer, a heartless ControlFreak, is killed with an injection of acid that burns throughs his heart and chest, while he's in a situation of absolute vulnerability.]]
** [[spoiler: Jayden, who contributed to tearing apart the family business both by embezzling money and driving Seamus away, ends up quartered in front of his relatives.]]
** [[spoiler: Birgit is buried alive on the same beach that she allowed Vincent to be kidnapped years before.]]
** [[spoiler: Florence, who only cares about herself and her "art", is impaled on her installation.]]
** [[spoiler: Aphra, who played a role in driving her adoptive parents apart and has mutilated Christy beyond saving by eating chunks of her face and hands, is sawn in half, with the contents of her stomach spilling to the ground.]]

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler: None of the Galloways survive, or more accurately, none of the ones bearing the name, Galloway. This is because Liv deliberately ended the name by killing Theo after he told her how he drove his car into a daycare, and her concluding that the family was just poisoned beyond all repair.]]