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St. Bernardine's
Kevin McClain
Portrayed by: Travis Tope
A socially awkward bullied kid who becomes the prime suspect in the Turd Burglar case.
- Butt-Monkey: He's constantly getting mocked at school, even if he claims to not see the other kids' jokes as taunts. As we later learn he is aware they are mocking him and has developed his eccentric persona as a coping mechanism.
- Clear My Name: Chloe gets Peter and Sam to make American Vandal season 2 in order to revoke Kevin's expulsion and clear his name of being The Turd Burglar. He isn't. But he did cause the Brownout.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: mostly. While at the end of season 2 his expulsion and his house arrest for causing the Brownout stands, his charges drop from three counts to one, and given the circumstances and his age his record should be sealed when he turns 18. He sincerely talks about looking forward to a new start at public school next year, and most importantly he has Tanner and Chloe back in his life as close friends.
- Expy: His tea review vlog series seems to make him one of Reviewbrah.
- Foil: To Dylan. While Dylan is genuinely innocent of drawing the dicks, Kevin did the Brownout, as well as being pretentious to Dylan's dumb.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Kevin presents himself as an intellectual. However, he tries to insult Damarcus's poetry but completely blanks trying to think of a famous poet to compare him to. He calls a pop song an "ocular disaster"; Chloe consults a dictionary later and learns that he's using that word wrong.
- Malicious Misnaming: Dubbed "Shit Stain McClain" when he was a kid for sitting on grass that made it look like he soiled himself.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Kevin had this reaction after the Brownout, not realising how many people drank the lemonade (he doesn't think it's very good) or understanding just how dramatic an effect the Malitol would have (it was provided by someone else). It's one of the reasons (besides his manipulation by the Dean of Students) that he confesses to the police.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: A variation. In response to being bullied, he started deliberately acting strange to embrace his outsider status.
DeMarcus Tillman
Portrayed by: Melvin Gregg
St. Bernie's star basketball player and one of the Turd Burglar suspects.
- Bittersweet Ending: At the end of season 2, Demarcus has had his blackmail photos released, been sentenced to community service, and probably lost several scholarship offers. However, Demarcus credits this as an impetus to change his life in positive ways; he's taken control of his life by ditching his Puppet Master sidekick and refusing to follow his father's dictates for college. For his community service he's started a free basketball clinic for the kids in his low-rent neighborhood, which he loves and credits for helping him rediscover his love of the game. He ends up choosing to go to college at Villanova (which should be noted had the number 1 ranked college basketball program in real life that same year), evidently still on full scholarship. And since Demarcus seems to be on track for a future as a professional athlete, the catfishing and subsequent moral dilemma and scandal is quite possibly a harsh but needed lesson that will help him avoid much worse pitfalls later in life.
- Book Dumb: Although it's not really his fault: Athletes get easier classes on purpose so they can focus on training. He gets Biology credits by taking Zoology (where you get points in a test by correctly naming a picture of a zebra). Still, he does show some interest and talent in English.
- Break the Haughty: Although nowhere near as bad as some examples, DeMarcus can be somewhat dismissive and entitled as part of his Big Man on Campus role. It's revealed that he is deeply lonely and sad inside due to feeling like everyone only values him for sport.
- Everyone Has Standards: DeMarcus is astonished when Peter rudely shushes Sam, saying he "Thought people only did that in libraries."
- Friend to All Children: At the end of Season 2, he is given community service for being an unwilling accomplice to the Turd Burglar. He is seen serving by coaching kids in basketball, claiming he enjoys it dearly.
- Hidden Depths: He managed to write a decent poem, even if it got him mocked by students from rival schools when the poem was posted without his approval.
- Innocently Insensitive: He compliments the scrawniest kid on the basketball team for trying his best even though he's a terrible player who probably shouldn't be on the team to begin with. The kid's grin quickly slips as DeMarcus keeps going.
- It's All About Me: DeMarcus is a friendly guy who's never mean to anyone, but he's also extremely self-involved because of his fame and privileges. He openly takes phone calls during class and he is frequently condescending or passively insulting to the people around him.
- Karma Houdini: The star of St. Bernie's decorated basketball team and easily the most popular student in school. He is known for toeing the line every now and then, going as far as answering his phone in class, because he knows he is that valuable to the school. As a matter of fact, his theorized motive as a suspect in the Turd Burglar case is pretty much "because he could get away with it". ultimately subverted: he was a part of the attacks, but only because he was being blackmailed by the true mastermind. In the end he gets community service for his role, and more importantly, his reputation is ruined.
- Lonely at the Top: As king of the school and a future basketball superstar, he's extremely popular and friendly with everybody, but deep down he's incredibly lonely and suspects all his friends of being phony.
- Lovable Jock: Everyone at school adores him and, to be fair, he's also presented as being a pretty nice guy, despite Peter and Sam's suspicions.
- Loved by All: Every student at St. Bernie's loves DeMarcus, to the point where it's suggested that he can get away with murder.
- Nice Guy: He's noted as being a nice person who gets along with everyone. He shows up to the girl's basketball games to shout encouragement from the sidelines even though hardly anyone attends their games. When being pressed about potentially being the Turd Burglar, he apologizes to Peter for walking out of the interview.
- Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: He is beloved by students and teachers alike for being a popular , yet kind and friendly student, but is he? Yes, yes he is. Zig-zagged in that he did commit one of the Turd Burglar attacks, but he was being blackmailed.
Lou Carter
Portrayed by: DeRon Horton
DeMarcus's right hand man who sees himself as DeMarcus's best friend, but everyone knows Lou is more like his personal assistant/butler.
- Control Freak: A role he apparently shares with DeMarcus's dad.
- Everyone Has Standards: Along with DeMarcus, he’s shocked when Peter straight up shushing Sam, calling it "disrespectful."
- Fair-Weather Friend: Implied to be this to DeMarcus, and especially as he calls the police on his idol just to keep him in line.
- The Man Behind the Man: Perry Coleman says he and [DeMarcus's father are this to DeMarcus, and his scenes with DeMarcus later in the season confirm this, though DeMarcus is able to get out from under his "best friend"'s thumb by the end of the season.
- Manipulative Bastard: Obviously qualifies when it's revealed he is DeMarcus's co-puppetmaster, but keeping his "best friend" apart from his idol and calling the cops on Skip Day solidify him as this.
- The Svengali: Played with. Lou clearly sees himself as this, but he's mostly DeMarcus's lackey, but they do have a similar relationship of Lou controlling DeMarcus, such as calling the police on his idol.
Tanner Basset
Portrayed by: Jay Lee
Kevin's best friend who suspects him of being the Turd Burglar.
- Disproportionate Retribution: When Tanner reports Kevin to the police as the Turd Burglar, it's eventually implied that he did it because he resented Kevin for calling the police onto Skip Day. it was Lou Further investigation shows him and Chloe making out in the background... with the implication that he really held a grudge against Kevin for the cops interrupting that.
- Nice Guy: Comes off as this.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: He is right about Kevin doing The Brownout, but not for his suspicion that Kevin did it as an act of revenge for years of bullying.
- Romantic Runner-Up: Chloe's not-so subtle feelings for Kevin during her interviews make it seem like Tanner was this for her.
- We Used to Be Friends: Although quite why it broke up seems to be uncertain, the Skip Day incident and fallout probably played a part. By the end, it seems like they have made up and are back to being friends again, along with Chloe.
- With Friends Like These...: He's Kevin's (mostly ex) friend, but he still reported him to the police.
Chloe Lyman
Portrayed by: Taylor Dearden
A close friend of Kevin and Tanner who thinks Kevin is innocent and suspects DeMarcus.
- The Ace: Chloe is a straight A student, plays varsity basketball and is apparently a talented enough singer to get accepted to Juillard.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Wears a wire during her meeting with Drexler and pushes the conversation to implicate the teacher in any wrong doing.
- Nice Girl: No subversion, no dark secret, Chloe really is just a nice person who wants to help her friend Kevin.
- We Used to Be Friends: Downplayed as Chloe still clearly thinks of Kevin as a friend and is fond of him, however it's clear they don't spend as much time together as they used to and their changing social statuses has led to them drifting apart.
Jenna Hawthorne
Portrayed by: Kiah Stern
A popular girl at school who was the envy of most students due to her seemingly perfect life.
- Broken Ace: First after the Kendall Jenner incident humiliated her from her "pretty, nice, and very wealthy" position at school, but especially once she gets catfished.
- Fallen Princess: A petty example to the school when it turns out she lied about being friends with Kendall Jenner, and a more serious example once she turns out to be behind one of the Turd Burglar attacks.
- Lipstick Lesbian: She's an attractive young woman who was said to have had a girlfriend.
-
Never Live It Down: She posted a picture jokingly stating that she was best friends with Kendall Jenner, but after it was revealed that she waited five hours in line just for an autograph and picture with Kendall, the other students turned on Jenna and labeled her a fraud. Even her girlfriend broke up with her as a result. - Out of Focus: Out of the three school age characters who did the pranks, she gets the least screen time and focus on her character. We also don't learn anything as to what happened to her in the aftermath.
Drew Pankratz
Portrayed by: Jonathan Saks
A theater kid who has pictures of him in a diaper exposed to the school.
- Camp Straight: He's a theater kid who has platonic friendships with all the theater girls. One guy lets Drew take his girlfriend to prom after getting grounded because he knows Drew wouldn't be a threat.
- Embarrassing Nickname: "Diaper Drew" as a result of the pictures of him leaking.
- Take Our Word for It: We never get to see exactly what is going on in the diaper video leaked during The Dump, but we do know that a) it was extremely graphic and humiliating, and b) it apparently involved some supposedly impossible feat of flexibility.
Paul: God did not design us to bend that way. Certainly not for that reason.
- What You Are in the Dark: Despite pressure and blackmail from Brooke/Grayson, Drew (unlike Kevin, Demarcus, Jenna or Mr Gesualdi) refuses to participate in any of the Turd Burglar's pranks. This leads to him being humiliated when the photos of him in a diaper are leaked to the school, but by the end of the documentary he's arguably the only person associated with St.Bernadine who comes out of it looking better than when they started.
Perry Coleman
Portrayed by: La’Charles Trask
St. Bernie's star athlete in 2016. He is currently studying at UCLA on a sports scholarship.
- Evil Counterpart: To DeMarcus, who is a Nice Guy with a few flaws and weaknesses, but not malicious, vs. the previous St. Bernie's sports star, who was an unrepentant sexist bully.
- Jerk Jock: He was beloved by everyone, and he abused his popularity to get away with pranks and bullying.
- Karma Houdini: Offscreen. When he was a senior at St. Bernie's, he stole the school's mascot costume, and when a girl complained about it, he used it to mock her over the internet for months. Nobody looked into it, and he ended up graduating and going to UCLA.
- We Used to Be Friends: He considered DeMarcus to be like his little brother until Lou and D’s father did what they could do control DeMarcus, which means keeping Perry away from him.
Paul Schnorrenberg
Portrayed by: Miles J. Harvey
An overly religious student who unknowingly broke open a piñata containing feces in front of his English class.
- Holier Than Thou: Comes with being a High School kid obsessed with Catholicism. He gets in long, loud arguments with the English teacher over Kurt Vonnegut and his portrayal of sex in his works.
- Moral Guardian: He objects to reading Kurt Vonnegut's novels in Ms. Montgomery's English class because they have sex scenes.
- The Friend No One Likes: Seems to be this to most of St. Bernie's.
- The Fundamentalist: He is heavily religious to the point where he argues with his English teacher's literary choices due to his belief that they go against God's word. Even the nuns think he could turn it down a notch.
- Say Your Prayers: Paul gets on his knees and starts praying when the Brownout strikes. He sees the Brownout as divine punishment and believes that his faith spared him.
Grayson Wentz
Portrayed by: Jeremy Culhane
A former student at St. Bernie's who was expelled for a prank that involved writing crude things through other students' twitter accounts.
- Beneath Suspicion: Only brief seen working at the phone repair store.
- Big Bad: For Season Two, as he is the mastermind behind the Turd Burglar pranks.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: Just a guy that got kicked out of high school for a few mildly offensive tweets. He works at a phone repair kiosk, where he is perfectly willing to talk to Peter and Sam. He is mentioned sparingly and appears on camera once, until it's revealed he is the Turd Burglar, that is.
- Manipulative Bastard: He catfished a number of people, mostly students but at least one teacher as well, pretending to be a pretty girl who tricked these people into sending graphic photos and videos that he would later use to blackmail them into committing the poop crimes. What's worse is he still shares the photos and videos when he knows he's about to be exposed.
- Non-Action Guy: He doesn't actually commit any of the Turd Burglar acts himself, he just blackmails people who bring their phones to the repair kiosk.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: While the Turd Burglar was never quite "harmless" and was always taken seriously, for most of the season he was supposedly only guilty of poop-related pranks that damaged a school's reputation, with the brownout standing out as his most damaging act. The season finale adds catfishing, privacy violations, identity theft, blackmail and online stalking to his list of crimes, and it earns him two years in a state prison.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The Turd Burglar attacks for him.
- We Used to Be Friends: Kevin and Grayson were friends at least until the latter’s expulsion— which might be another reason Kevin was the first catfishing victim.
St. Bernardine Faculty
Mrs. Cathy Wexler
St. Bernardine Catholic's principal. Concerned about the high school's reputation above all else.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Soft-spoken and seemingly sympathetic, but if the school reputation or funding is threatened, she won't hesitate to screw over any of the students, lying, covering up evidence, going back on her promises, and even making thinly-veiled threats to students who are trying to help uncover the truth... all in that soft, sympathetic tone.
"Hot Janitor"
One of the janitors at St. Bernardine. He was allegedly a key witness to the last Turd Burglar attack, but he quit suddenly the day after.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Even the teachers refer to him only as "Hot Janitor". Deconstructed, when Peter and Sam could not even get his name and had to reach him through someone who bought shrooms off of him.
- Hidden Depths: during his interview, he reveals some pretty in-depth knowledge of local botany and methods of sustainable farming.
- Kicked Upstairs: He didn't actually quit: He was quietly transferred to a sister school with better pay. Presumably, the best way to keep him quiet was to leave him content.
- No Name Given: His actual name is never revealed.
Ms. Angela Montgomery
Portrayed by: Sarah Burns
An English teacher at St. Bernadine noted for her love of Kurt Vonnegut and adoration of student DeMarcus Tillman. Her classroom is the site of the second Turd Burglar attack, the "poop piñata incident."
- Birthday Party Goes Wrong: A birthday party she hosts in class (albeit one for an author who's been dead for over a decade) is soiled by the Turd Burglar's prank.
- Cool Teacher: She tries to be one by celebrating Vonnegut's birthday with a massive party for each of her classes. The students don't care about Vonnegut but do appreciate the lack of schoolwork and free cake, which they note she purchases at her own expense for every class.
- Hippie Teacher: Downplayed. It's implied she's very progressive, judging by how she likes the counter-culture Kurt Vonnegut. She also praises Pope Francis because he reminds her of Bernie Sanders.
- It's Not Porn, It's Art: Invokes this in her argument with Paul Schnorrenberg, where she says that the sex scenes in his works have deeper themes than simply being for titillation.
- White Man's Burden: Her Condescending Compassion toward DeMarcus has a tinge of this. She even compares herself to Sandra Bullock's character in The Blind Side and DeMarcus to Michael Oher (whose name she couldn't remember), without considering any
Unfortunate Implications that may carry.
