History Characters / TheGuyWhoDidntLikeMusicals

** Other: Man in a Hurry, Homeless Man, Greenpeace Girl

** Main characters of ''Nerdy Prudes Must Die'': '''Stephenie Lauter''', '''Grace Chasity''', '''Peter Spankoffski''', '''Ruth Flemming''', '''Richie Lipschitz''', '''Max Jägerman'''

** Main characters of ''Nerdy Prudes Must Die'': '''Stephenie Lauter''', '''Grace Chasity''', Peter Spankoffski''', '''Ruth Flemming''', '''Richie Lipschitz''', '''Max Jägerman'''

** Main characters of ''Nerdy Prudes Must Die'': Peter Spankoffski

** Main characters of ''Nerdy Prudes Must Die!'': Peter Spankoffski

** Main family members: '''Sam Sweetly''', Peter Spankoffski, '''Alice Woodward'''

** Main family members: '''Sam Sweetly''', '''Alice Woodward'''

** Businesses and organizations: Nora, '''Zoey Chambers''', Ken Davidson, Melissa, Dan and Donna

** Schools: Deb, "Hot Chocolate Boy"

** Introduced in ''The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals'': '''Paul Matthews''', '''Emma Perkins''', '''Ted Spankoffski''', '''Charlotte Sweetly''', '''Bill Woodward''', '''Professor Henry Hidgens'''

** Beanie's Coffee Shop: Nora, '''Zoey Chambers'''
** CCRP: Mr. Davidson, Melissa
** Hatchetfield High School: Deb, "Hot Chocolate Boy"
** Hatchetfield News: Dan and Donna
** Hatchetfield Police: '''Sam Sweetly''', Doug
** Other Residents: Man in a Hurry, Homeless Man, Greenpeace Girl

** Clivesdale: '''Alice Woodward'''

* [[Characters/HatchetfieldParanormalPhenomena Paranormal Phenomena]]
** Other Paranormal Beings: The Assimilated

** Introduced in ''The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals'': '''Paul Matthews''', '''Emma Perkins''', '''Ted Spankoffski''', '''Charlotte''', '''Bill Woodward''', '''Professor Henry Hidgens'''

** Beanie's Coffee Shop: Nora, '''Zoey'''

** Hatchetfield Police: '''Sam''', Doug

** Introduced in ''The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals'': '''Paul Matthews''', '''Emma Perkins''', '''Ted Spankoffski''', '''Charlotte''', '''Bill Woodward''', '''Professor Henry Hidgens''', '''Alice Woodward''', Jane Perkins

** Hatchetfield High School: Deb, Grace Chastity, "Hot Chocolate Boy"

** Other Residents: Man in a Hurry, Homeless Man, Greenpeace Girl, Peanuts

Character tropes go on the Franchise/{{Hatchetfield}} character sheets. The characters from ''Theatre/TheGuyWhoDidntLikeMusicals'' are listed below with the character page they are currently on.

** Introduced in ''The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals'': Paul Matthews, Emma Perkins, Ted Spankoffski, Charlotte, Bill Woodward, Professor Henry Hidgens, Alice Woodward, Jane Perkins

** Beanie's Coffee Shop: Nora, Zoey

** Hatchetfield Police: Sam, Doug

** PEIP: General John [=MacNamara=], Colonel Schaeffer

** Debuted in ''The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals'': Paul Matthews, Emma Perkins, Ted Spankoffski, Charlotte, Bill Woodward, Professor Henry Hidgens, Alice Woodward, Jane Perkins

** CCRP Technical: Mr. Davidson, Melissa

** Hatchetfield High School: Deb

** Other Residents: Man in a Hurry, Homeless Man, Greenpeace Girl, "Hot Chocolate Boy", Peanuts

** Hatchetfield Police: Sam, Sergeant

** Debuted in ''The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals''[[note]]Paul Matthews, Emma Perkins, Ted Spankoffski, Charlotte, Bill Woodward, Professor Henry Hidgens, Alice Woodward, Jane Perkins[[/note]]

** Beanie's Coffee Shop[[note]]Nora, Zoey[[/note]]
** CCRP Technical[[note]]Mr. Davidson, Melissa[[/note]]
** Hatchetfield High School[[note]]Deb[[/note]]
** Hatchetfield News[[note]]Dan and Donna[[/note]]
** Hatchetfield Police[[note]]Sam, Sergeant[[/note]]
** Other Residents[[note]]Man in a Hurry, Homeless Man, Greenpeace Girl, "Hot Chocolate Boy", Peanuts[[/note]]

** PEIP[[note]]General John [=MacNamara=], Colonel Schaeffer[[/note]]
** Other U.S. Government Officials[[note]]President Howard Goodman, The Cabinet[[/note]]

** Other Paranormal Beings[[note]]The Assimilated[[/note]]

Any victims of the apotheosis have the trope BrainwashedAndCrazy applied to them.

!Main Characters

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Paul]]
!! Paul Matthews
!!! Played by Jon Matteson

->''"I don't like musicals!"''

A normal guy whose main defining characteristic is his dislike of musicals. When he finds himself in one, he hates it.
----
* AccidentalHero: Paul is just a normal guy who suddenly has the fate of the world resting on his shoulders when it is up to him to destroy the meteor.
* {{Adorkable}}: Seems to be right in Jon Matteson's wheelhouse, especially the way he initially awkwardly hits on Emma.
* AmbiguouslyBi: Paul shows no signs of being attracted to men (or anyone other than Emma) in the show, but fans have seized on [[AllThereInTheManual the soundtrack version]] of "What Do You Want, Paul?" having Paul stammer he wants "money, a partner, kids" rather than saying a ''wife'' and kids. May or may not be EpilepticTrees.
* ArchEnemy: The HiveMind ends up designating Paul as its archnemesis, whether he likes it or not.
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Can anyone infected by the blue shit actually die?]]
* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: "Let It Out" ends up being a song about Paul trying to throw off the HiveMind's influence in an argument with himself.
* [[spoiler: BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: Goes from being the one non-singing actor in the show, what with hating musicals and all, to leading the final RepriseMedley as "the star of the show".]]
* BeneathTheMask: The point of "Let It Out" is the HiveMind trying to convince Paul that beneath his mask of a content, unambituous life, he really is deeply unhappy and needs the HiveMind to take away his pain. Whether it's right or it's {{Gaslighting}} him is a matter of interpretation.
* BerserkButton: Paul is a very mild person, but he makes no secret of the fact that he dislikes musical theatre, and when pushed on this becomes very angry about it.
* ClassicalAntihero: Is very open about the fact that he's not particularly ambitious or noble to start out with, including telling the Greenpeace Girl he feels no responsibility to "save the planet". This changes once the alien invasion begins.
* DefiantToTheEnd: [[spoiler: Even with the HiveMind having almost complete control of his body, Paul manages to pull the pin on the grenade and scream "[[DyingDeclarationOfHate I DON'T LIKE MUSICALS]]" before blowing up the meteor. Unfortunately, those aren't quite [[CameBackWrong his last words]]...]]
* DrinkBasedCharacterization: He takes his coffee black. This seems to be less about RealMenTakeItBlack than that Paul is a generally boring person and doesn't want to make extra work for Emma.
* TheEveryman: Paul is set up as one of these, although he gets more development by the end of the show -- his only notable trait is that he [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin doesn't like musicals]], and serves as an AudienceSurrogate for how a normal RealLife person would react to inexplicably waking up inside [[MusicalWorldHypotheses the world of a musical theatre production]].
* HeroicSacrifice: Paul goes to blow up the meteor, knowing in all likelihood it's a suicide mission. [[spoiler: He succeeds, but the HiveMind survives, which means [[AndIMustScream so does he]].]]
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Bill. Bill mentions that Paul used to babysit his daughter Alice and take her to school, and the two still work together. They seem very close, and Paul is extremely [[spoiler: hurt by Bill's death.]]
* LonersAreFreaks: Paul isn't a hardcore loner but he is pretty aggressively uninterested in most of the passions other people have, from the company softball league to saving the environment to, of course, musical theatre. This goes from being something others find mildly off-putting to something the HiveMind declares anathema that makes it become Paul's ArchEnemy.
* MeaningfulName: Paul's surname, Matthews, is a reference to the protagonist of ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers1978'', who was named Matthew Bennell.
** Paul's first name may be a reference to the Apostle Paul, notorious for being the most stubborn of unbelievers until a HeelFaithTurn is forced on him on the road to Damascus. Especially likely given the line "You've gotta believe in something, Paul" from the OpeningChorus.
* NiceToTheWaiter: Paul distinguishes himself from all the other customers at Beanie's by being considerate to the baristas and ignoring the obnoxious "tip song" policy... although, as a HypocriticalHumor joke, it turns out this is just because he's sweet on Emma ("I don't give a shit about them").
* OnlySaneMan: As time goes on, he is [[spoiler: (along with Emma) truly the only sane man]], but is also this compared to his more eccentric coworkers, especially evident in the scene where Bill and Ted are arguing.
* RidiculouslyAverageGuy: A major plot point since Paul is so content with his boring life and job that the HiveMind is unable to convert him.
* StepfordSmiler: During "Let It Out", he claims "I've never been happy" despite seeming perfectly content with his life up until the invasion. [[spoiler: Possibly invoked by the HiveMind who are trying to convert him, and lampshaded by Paul himself who sings "Is this me, or is this you?!?" beforehand.]]
* TeamDad: As part of his OnlySaneMan gig, he becomes the leader of the gang and looks out for everyone else.
* TenorBoy: It seems like Paul ''would'' be in this vocal range but it's hard to tell just from his speaking voice, since he after all does not sing because he hates musicals. [[spoiler: The ending devastatingly confirms Jon Matteson indeed has a beautifully piercing leading man tenor.]]
* YouHaveToBelieveMe: Isn't very good at trying not to sound crazy when he initially tries to get Emma to "consider the implications".
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Emma]]
!! Emma Perkins
!!! Played by Creator/LaurenLopez, understudy [[Creator/LangBrothers Nick Lang]]
A barista attempting to work her way through community college. Paul's crush.
----
* BadBadActing: Just watch Emma halfheartedly muddle her way through the choreography in "Cup of Roasted Coffee" (which Lauren Lopez said was harder than just doing it for real).
* BrainyBrunette: The only character to figure out [[spoiler: that the meteor was the source of the blue shit.]]
* BrilliantButLazy:
** Musical version. Unlike Paul, Emma is a talented singer and dancer who even performed in a musical back in high school, but has no interest in theatre simply because she doesn't want to put in the effort. That bad attitude may be why she was the only employee of Beanie's to escape assimilation.
** Also applies to her scholarly intellect, in that she admits the reason she didn't go to college earlier was she didn't care, Prof. Hidgens considers her his best student, and she's the one who comes up with the idea that the HiveMind has a HiveQueen in the form of the meteor.
* BurgerFool: Very much has this attitude toward her job, to the point of eventually admitting she habitually spit in the coffee.
* CainAndAbel: Had a relationship like this with her sister. When "the good sister" died suddenly and tragically, it was her wakeup call to try to get her act together.
* CallToAgriculture: In a twist on the more wholesome version of this, Emma plans to move out West to start a ''cannabis'' farm, thinking it's a surefire business to get in on the ground floor of once nationwide legalization hits.
* CoughingUpBlood: A hilarious RealityEnsues where she tries to give Paul a LastKiss while dying from her injuries... only to kill the mood by spitting blood all over his face.
* DeadpanSnarker: Outdoes Creator/LaurenLopez's past roles in this department, and that's saying something.
* {{Delinquent}}: Was this as a child, leading to her becoming a rootless drifter as an adult.
* [[spoiler: FinalGirl: Emma ends up being this.]]
* ForgottenFirstMeeting: It turns out that as a teenager Paul saw Emma perform the lead in ''Theatre/{{Brigadoon}}''... And in a twist on this trope, he ''hated'' it.
-->'''Paul:''' ''You're'' the reason I don't like musicals!
-->'''Emma:''' ''(flattered)'' Oh, I'm your origin story?
* [[spoiler: IronicDeath: She declares that all she ever wanted was to die outside of Harchetfield. She gets her wish, in the sense that she makes it as far as the neighboring town of Clivesdale.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: She's very grumpy and foul-mouthed. Justified in that she starts of the show stuck working a shitty job, with a shitty boss and customers, in a town she absolutely hates. Her interactions with Paul show off her softer side.
* MsFanservice: The required uniform at Beanie's has Creator/LaurenLopez in [[WhoWearsShortShorts short shorts]] for the whole show.
* NotDistractedByTheSexy: She's repeatedly shouting "No!" while Prof. Hidgens strips out of his jacket, in sharp contrast to most of the audience ([[AmbiguouslyBi and Ted]]).
* NotWhatISignedUpFor: Part of the reason why she resents Nora forcing her to sing and dance so much. She signed up to serve coffee and shitty pastries, and nothing else.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: When Paul gets grabbed by "Greg" after [[spoiler: Hidgens' betrayal]] Ted takes the opportunity to [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere steal his gun and run for it]]. Emma, despite being unarmed and a tiny woman half Greg's size, somehow saves Paul offstage anyway.
* OnlySaneMan: By the end...
* PintSizedPowerhouse: Emma manages to physically fight off the zombies ''twice'' despite being a "cute little barista" with no combat training, first saving Paul from "Greg" offstage (despite Greg being twice her size and, theoretically, a football player), then somehow wrestling herself free of the assimilated Ted and grabbing his gun. (Although it is true the HiveMind earlier explicitly said it was going to deny Paul a quick and easy death and may be toying with them.)
* ScreamingWoman: Emma averts this for most of the show, reacting appropriately to the danger around her once she [[RunningGag thinks about the implications]] but generally being more levelheaded than the people around her, including Paul. [[spoiler: She succumbs fully to this at the sheer horror of the DownerEnding the HiveMind has engineered for her. Her abject howl of despair as the assembled zombies happily reprise "Showstoppin' Number" is [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments a peak moment in horror comedy]].]] In what may be a parody of the trope or a [[spoiler: hint at her impending assimilation]], the end of the show is Emma "screaming" out a piercing high note to end the song "Inevitable".
* TheShowMustGoOn: For one legendary performance Nick Lang had to come in and play Emma at the last minute because Lauren got sick. There's no recordings of that performance, but [[https://youtu.be/OZKEh-AiXx8 there is one]] of him having to learn the choreography to "Cup of Roasted Coffee" the afternoon before the show. (EnforcedMethodActing, since Emma is also supposed to have only learned the dance the night before.)
* {{Tsundere}}: A mild but notable example of this trope. Foul-mouthed, abrasive and opinionated to most people she meets, especially in comparison to Paul. Notably, when Paul talks to Ted about the "hot barista from Beanie's" it turns out Ted meant ''Zoey'' and is shocked anyone could have a crush on "the crabby one".
* UnkemptBeauty: Emma gets progressively more disheveled as time passes in this play (as a result of [[RealLifeWritesThePlot having to rush through a quick change at the beginning of Act 2]]) but it doesn't make her any less desirable to Paul.
* WalkingTheEarth: Spent most of her life doing this, getting as far as Guatemala, before coming back to try to be responsible.
* WitnessProtection: [[spoiler: As the sole survivor of Hatchetfield, PEIP gives Emma a new identity, "Kelly", and the deed to the farm out West she's always wanted. Seems awfully decent of them considering their past policy of [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade killing all witnesses]]. Turns out it was, in fact, too good to be true.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Ted]]
!! Ted
!!! Played by Creator/JoeyRichter
A self-described "sleazeball". Works with Paul, is screwing around with Charlotte behind her husband's back.
----
* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Despite the direness of his situation during "Showstopping Number" Ted can't help but get sucked into Hidgens' pitch for "Workin' Boys".
* AmbiguouslyBi: Ted mostly seems to be a straight guy, and a particularly misogynistic and predatory one at that, but during Prof. Hidgens' "Showstopping Number" he's the one EatingTheEyeCandy while Emma is resolutely NotDistractedByTheSexy.
* AssholeVictim: After an epiphany about being a better person he reveals himself to be a coward and flees at the sight of danger, leaving Paul to be dragged away. This scene precedes his death at the hands of General [=McNamara=].
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Can anyone infected by the blue shit actually die?]]
* ButtMonkey: Ted is subjected to a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown from Charlotte and Sam during "Join Us and Die." After everything he's said and done it's hard not to find this satisfying.
* DeathOfPersonality: When Ted is killed and converted by [[spoiler: the assimilated PEIP soldiers]] they've refined the process so it's almost instantaneous. Awful as Ted is, it's deeply chilling to see the light in his eyes go out.
* DirtyCoward: He runs away when Paul is attacked without thinking. When he meets the military group he claims to be the only survivor in order to move out faster.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: He proudly proclaims that while Sam is a "scumbag", he himself is merely a "sleazeball". He has a point -- he may be cheating ''with'' Charlotte but never cheats ''on'' anyone, and never tries to deceive anyone about what kind of person he is.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Ted was already basically this, before the apocalypse revealed his worst traits.
* HiddenDepths: The pre-assimilated characters having this is a theme of this show. Supreme {{Jerkass}} Ted is somehow moved to tears by the story of "Workin' Boys".
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Later in the play he vows to be a better person and declares Paul to be his best friend. When he abandons Paul seconds later he claims that while he's a better person he's still not a good person.
* JerkassHasAPoint:
** He rather insensitively tells Bill that in these times there are people who are alive and those who are dead, and Bill's daughter is good as dead and so will he if he risks going out to rescue her. He ends up being correct as Alice has already been assimilated by the time Bill reaches her, which leads to Bill's death.
** His speech to Charlotte about her 'refusing to be happy' and choosing Sam over him might be incredibly mean spirited and fueled by Charlotte not wanting to sleep with him at the time, but from what little we saw of her phone call at the beginning implies that she was miserable in her marriage with Sam.
* MrFanservice: Has his shirt off in one of his first scenes.
* SerialHomewrecker: Ted sleeping with the married Charlotte, and implies this is a pattern for him. However, it's also shown that he has sincere romantic feelings for her, making it hard to tell whether he genuinely is this trope, or if he's just claiming to be so he can cover up his emotions, since she still wants to stay with her husband.
* TemptingFate: He seems ''so'' happy and smug about doing the smart thing and betraying the others when he finally makes it to the extraction point that his fate is almost a foregone conclusion.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Charlotte]]
!! Charlotte
!!! Played by Creator/JaimeLynBeatty
One of Paul's coworkers, who is unhappily married to Sam and cheating on him with Ted. Quiet most of the time.
----
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Seems to be the reason she ended up with Sam in the first place, and then sought solace for her terrible relationship with Sam (a "scumbag") with Ted (a "sleazeball").
* {{Angrish}}: The resurrected Charlotte is ''so filled with violent rage'' her lyrics seem to be riddled with {{Malaprop|er}}isms ("Sorry to interrupt/But we've got bones to pluck") and [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment redundant]] phrases ("We're gonna kick your ass/And then we're gonna... [[PrecisionFStrike FUCKING]] kick your ass!") [[FridgeBrilliance Makes sense]], since the song is about the HiveMind losing its patience with trying to seduce people through music, instead CuttingTheKnot by just killing them.
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Can anyone infected by the blue shit actually die?]]
** [[spoiler: KilledOffForReal: Apparently yes, in this case -- Charlotte and Sam are never seen again after Hidgens puts them down with a point blank shotgun blast, although this may be because he tells us he went on to [[{{Squick}} dissect their bodies]].]]
* BewareTheQuietOnes: She reveals when praying for Sam's life that she's been bottling up a ton of anger toward him, which is why she feels so much guilt that he seems to have actually died. All that repression may explain why once she turns she sings a paean to violence and murder ("Join Us and Die").
* BodyHorror: Charlotte reappears immediately after her death and resurrection, meaning she still has her entrails -- now bright blue -- dangling out of her ribcage.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Even during her violent rampage during "Join Us and Die", she hesitates before attacking Bill, and then she and Sam start attacking Ted instead. Whether this is because she was moved by Emma's appeal to her that [[IHaveAFamily "He has a daughter!"]] or because of the original Charlotte and Sam's [[ItsPersonal history with Ted]] is unknown.
** FridgeHorror: Maybe the HiveMind did relent because Bill has a daughter... because killing and turning him before he finds out his daughter died [[ForTheEvulz would be unsatisfying]].
* EvilIsSexy: Charlotte undergoes one of the most dramatic transformations of any of the assimilated, coming back as an incredibly charismatic (and violent) rock star.
* HiddenDepths: She seems like such a classically innocent doormat of an abused wife that it's a surprise when we see how passionate her revenge affair with Ted seems to be.
* IncrediblyLongNote: Assimilated Charlotte returns with a line that reminds us that under the pastel sweater and timid mannerisms, she's still Jaime Lyn Beatty.
-->'''Charlotte''': It is time... to DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!
* NervousWreck: Most likely caused by her destructive relationship with her husband, her guilt over cheating on him, or just her general nature, Charlotte's hands shake after conversations and she has cigarettes, a lighter, and a flask at work.
* ShrinkingViolet: Charlotte is very much this, one reason she's a bad match for Sam. Her call sheet describes her as a caricature of a middle aged office lady who dresses exclusively in [[TastesLikeDiabetes pastel sweaters with pictures of cats]].
* ShoutOut: Charlotte's CreepyCute line "All you gotta do is" in "Join Us and Die" is a CallBack to Jaime Lyn Beatty as Neato Mosquito in ''Theatre/{{Starship}}''.
* SlapSlapKiss: Literally does this with Ted.
* SympatheticAdulterer: Compared to her husband [[{{Jerkass}} Sam]] who thinks nothing of canceling their 'cuddle night' just to go out with Zoey, it's clear her affair with Ted is out of a desperate need for passion and love.
* WetBlanketWife: What her cop husband sees her as, in a textbook version of this trope.
* YourCheatingHeart: Cheats on Sam with self-proclaimed "sleazeball" Ted.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Bill]]
!! Bill
!!! Played by Creator/CoreyDorris
Paul's best friend, a divorced man who spends most of his time trying to reconnect with his teenage daughter Alice.
----
* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: Alice clearly considers Bill this.
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: One would think that being shot in the head would do it, and, failing that, being blown up by a meteor, but neither works.]]
* BlackAndNerdy: He is played by the only black member of the cast, and he's in the show because he's Paul's best friend, but he very much averts the TokenBlackFriend trope (a black guy who's the protagonist's best friend to be stereotypically "cool" and make him cooler by association). He's significantly ''less'' cool than Paul or anyone else in the show -- which, [[TheGenericGuy knowing Paul]], is saying something.
* ChekhovsGun: In the Website/YouTube version of the show you can hear the audience audibly gasp when Paul wrestles the shotgun out of Bill's hands and lets it fall to the floor, so desperate to talk Bill out of his despair he's [[spoiler: unmindful of Alice slowly reaching toward it]].
* DisneylandDad: He and his ex-wife seem to be locked in the traditional bidding war for their daughter's affection. Except that in a reversal of this trope, his wife, who as usual is the custodial parent, also has more money than him -- he tries and ''spectacularly'' fails to one-up the trip to New York where they saw ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' with a touring production of ''Theatre/MammaMia'' and a trip to Red Lobster.
* DrivenToSuicide: Almost happens after he finds out his daughter has been assimilated and it's partially his fault she didn't leave the town. Paul stops him [[spoiler: though he is killed anyways]].
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Paul. Bill mentions that Paul used to babysit his daughter Alice and take her to school, and the two still work together. They seem very close, and Paul is extremely [[spoiler: hurt by Bill's death.]]
* IHaveAFamily: Infected!Charlotte is about to kill Bill but then turns aside after Emma shouts "He has a daughter!" [[spoiler: Unfortunately, that seems to be because the HiveMind thought his daughter being the one to kill him would better fit the RuleOfDrama.]]
* ItsAllMyFault: Bill is relentlessly haunted by his fears that he's failed to be a supportive enough parent to Alice, and that this failure may have indirectly led to her death. [[spoiler: The assimilated Alice gleefully confirms each and every one of them.]]
* NonActionGuy: Ted relentlessly mocks Bill for being this to try to dissuade him from going to rescue his daughter. It doesn't work.
* PapaWolf: A more laid-back version, but certainly feels that his daughter can do better than ''Deb''.
* [[spoiler: SacrificialLamb: Bill's death at the top of Act II is our first clear sign this story isn't going to end happily.]]
* UsefulNotes/StraightEdge: Bill isn't TheTeetotaler, but given the chance to raid Hidgens' bar he prefers a Shirley Temple to an alcoholic drink because he thinks they "might need a designated driver", only to get [[RealMenHateSugar mocked badly enough by Ted]] he caves and gets drunk anyway. Unfortunately, [[{{Foreshadowing}} he was right about needing to drive]].
** He also has a kneejerk prejudice against stoners.
* TheWoobie: Is very open about the fact that after his divorce he has nothing in his life he cares about anymore but Alice.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Professor Hidgens]]
!! Professor Hidgens
!!! Played by Robert Manion
Emma's eccentric Doomsday Survivalist biology professor, who predicted the apotheosis thirty years ago. His closest companion is Alexa, and his first love is [[spoiler: musical theatre.]]
----
* TheAlcoholic: Hidgens freely admits there isn't much to do while holed up in his bunker but drink.
* [[spoiler: AmbiguouslyGay: Has vaguely overdramatic mannerisms that gradually become increasingly CampGay until they burst into full flower with "Showstopping Number". Has apparently never loved any woman besides his Amazon Echo, but has constructed an elaborate fantasy musical world revolving around [[DoubleEntendre "tossing around the old pigskin"]] with "his boys".]]
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Can anyone infected by the blue shit actually die?]]
* [[spoiler: BadassNormal: Musical zombie version. His [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Showstopping Number"]] announcing his FaceHeelTurn happens ''before'' his assimilation, and contains the most impressive choreography in the show.]]
* [[spoiler: CannotTellFictionFromReality: It seems unlikely his musical "Workin' Boys" is autobiographical, if only because he's clearly spent most of his life alone in his bunker, but once he gets into performing it Hidgens seems to forget there's any difference between himself and his character "Henry".]]
* CargoShip: Says he loves his BenevolentAI assistant Alexa as much as he could any human woman... even though "she" is clearly just an off-the-shelf Amazon Echo.
* CrazySurvivalist: Has been preparing for the apocalypse for decades and has a bunker.
** [[spoiler: The "crazy" part leads to the FaceHeelTurn -- he comes to realize the HiveMind is [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill the only possible way to prevent all the other apocalypses he's predicted]].]]
* {{Expy}}: Prof. Hidgens' appearance and demeanor is a mash-up of Leonard Nimoy's role as Dr. Kibner in ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers1978'' and Carl Sagan in ''Series/{{Cosmos}}''.
** [[spoiler: And when he takes ''off'' the professorial blazer he becomes an unexpected expy of [[Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow Dr. Frank N. Furter]], if a PG-rated one. "Showstoppin' Number" plays out as a PG-rated version of the Floor Show from Rocky Horror, with [[GenderFlip Emma as Brad and Ted as Janet]] (since he's the one who ends up liking it).]]
* [[spoiler: FaceHeelTurn: He joins the aliens due to his love of musicals.]]
* [[spoiler: HiddenDepths: Despite being a mad scientist and survivalist, he has a passion for theatre and even wrote a musical in his spare time.]]
* LargeHam: As only Robert Manion can.
* MadScientist: Yes, Hidgens did predict to the ''exact detail'' that this particular zombie apocalypse would happen, despite Paul's skepticism. [[spoiler: The "mad" part gets worse after his FaceHeelTurn.]]
* MeaningfulName: [[WordOfGod Nick Lang]] says giving him the name "Henry Hidgens" was a purely accidental similarity to ''Film/MyFairLady'', but [[WordOfSaintPaul Jeff Blim]] was among the people who made the connection to Robert Manion's Rex-Harrison-esque performance.
* MercyKill: Makes the bizarre decision to order Alexa to self destruct to spare her the horrors to come (even though she can't because "she" is just an ordinary home appliance).
* MrExposition: Prof. Hidgens is the obligatory MadScientist with an unlikely level of familiarity with the alien phenomenon who shows up midway through a classic science fiction monster movie for the benefit of the main characters (and the audience).
* NoNameGiven: Presumably Emma knows Prof. Hidgens' first name since she took a class with him, but it's never spoken to the audience. It's left [[AmbiguousSituation ambiguous]] in the show itself if the main character of ''Workin' Boys'', Henry, is named after him or not, but as of the announcement of the standalone ''Workin' Boys'' short film it's been confirmed that Henry is his real name.
* [[spoiler: TheQuisling: Prof. Hidgens joins with the aliens due to rant against TheEvilsOfFreeWill and love of musical theatre.]]
* SmokingIsCool: Hidgens is smoking a cigarette when he comes in with a shotgun to save everyone from the assimilated Charlotte and Sam.
* ThisIsGonnaSuck: [[spoiler: For all his bluster about welcoming death and apotheosis, Prof. Hidgens is brought up short when he realizes how... ''viscerally'' painful the process is going to be.]]
-->'''Hidgens''': [[spoiler: Yes! Make me one of you! ''(as Greg and Stu reach for his tummy)'' No! Not my tummy! ''(shrieks as they tear out the contents of his tummy)'']]
* WalkingSpoiler: [[spoiler: Hidgens' betrayal of humanity is one of the biggest spoilers for Act 2, and, thanks to Robert Manion's performance in "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Showstopping Number]]", it's all anyone wants to talk about regarding his character.]]
[[/folder]]

----
!Other Characters

[[folder: The Assimilated]]
* AlienBlood: Anyone affected will have blue blood.
* AmbiguouslyBi: All of the assimilated, regardless of their previous gender or sexuality, caress Paul seductively during their confrontation in "Let It Out".
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Can anyone infected by the blue shit actually die?]]
* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler: At the end they survive the destruction of the meteor and have moved to the mainland, infecting the world.]]
* BizarreAlienBiology: The assimilated humans' blood and internal organs turn into a bright blue gelatinous substance, giving them a decentralized anatomy that can function even if they lose their hearts or brains.
** Hidgens discovers that the aliens apparently contain an organ many times more sensitive to sound than the human ear, allowing them to hear music from miles away and maintain the Hive Mind through ultrasonic communication.
** Apparently both the meteor itself and the people it transforms emit some kind of "infectious spore" that allows the infection to slowly passively spread. It goes faster if the assimilated get you to take the concentrated "blue shit" into your body, by getting you to drink contaminated coffee, by holding you down so they can bite you or "[[{{Squick}} puke in your mouth]]", or, toward the end, by exposing you to some kind of concentrated radiation.
* EvilEvolves: The assimilated start out just encouraging people to join them in singing and dancing and fleeing from violence even though they're ImmuneToBullets. As Hidgens observes, they get more aggressive as their numbers grow, turning into a Zombie Apocalypse that spreads by mauling and biting people ("Join Us and Die"). [[spoiler: Once they assimilate the PEIP unit ("America Is Great Again"), they've reached the point where they can use complex military tactics and infect a person instantly with concentrated meteor radiation. They also go from seemingly taking hours to recover from fatal wounds to seconds.]]
* FlatCharacter: Even though they have all the memories of their hosts, the victims of the musical plague [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul are all on the same side, have no conflicts with each other, and no real interest in anything but singing and dancing]]. They pretty much become [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] versions of their past selves, taking on roles based on their profession or role in the story (Sam becomes just a "cop", [=McNamara=] a "soldier", etc.)
* ForTheEvulz: Whether or not you see the HiveMind eventually putting an end to TheEvilsOfFreeWill as a positive thing, it certainly seems to go out of its way to cause pain and suffering to the unassimilated rather than doing things efficiently. It outright admits to Paul that it has a [[{{Sadist}} sadistic]] desire to torture him until he "begs for apotheosis" because it's offended he's thwarted it so often. May relate to the fact that it's a HiveMind based on musical theatre and therefore operates based on RuleOfDrama.
* AGodAmI: The HiveMind's InsistentTerminology for assimilation is "apotheosis", indicating it sees itself as God.
** The HiveMind deliberately impersonates God when Charlotte prays over Sam's body, to convince her to accept his recovery as a "miracle".
* HealingFactor: The assimilated repeatedly recover from what should be mortal wounds, whether acquired before or after they were infected. [[spoiler: Bill, for instance, seems to have been infected as a corpse and to have risen from the dead after the PEIP raid. This process seems to speed up as time goes on -- Sam takes hours to recover from his head injury, while Ted and Gen. [=McNamara=] both shrug off fatal gunshot wounds within seconds. (To be fair, though, Sam recovered from losing his ''entire brain''.)]]
* HiveMind: How they are able to preform choreographed musical numbers. It appears individual members of the Hive Mind can have their thoughts get out of sync with each other, and recalibrate themselves by literally matching pitch.
* HiveQueen: Emma theorizes that the HiveMind must have a central intelligence, and that it must be housed in the meteorite that brought the infection. Paul decides to blow it up and destroy it. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, either she was wrong or it didn't take.]]
* ImAHumanitarian: The infected don't seem to actually eat human flesh (or anything at all), but they bite and tear at people's organs in imitation of zombie movies as a quick way to infect them (and seemingly to vent their frustrations).
* NotUsingTheZWord: It's not clear whether the converted singing-and-dancing humans would be more appropriately called "zombies" or "pod people", but the characters avoid either in favor of simply saying "Them". Ted refers to them as zombies in a line however.
* RuleOfDrama: The HiveMind seems to be controlled by this, being as it is a creature of musical theatre. [[spoiler: It goes out of its way to find zombies to play "Greg" and "Stu" so Prof. Hidgens can finish performing "Workin' Boys" before assimilating him, and the whole ending is the HiveMind going to great lengths to give Emma a HopeSpot before assimilating her.]]
* SpeakInUnison: The zombies certainly spend a lot of time ''singing'' in unison, but they also do this with the classic science fiction CreepyMonotone during "Cup of Roasted Coffee" and after [[spoiler: killing Bill]], seemingly just to intimidate Emma and Paul. [[MoodWhiplash Hilariously]], they seem to find staying in sync much more difficult this way.
* StalkerWithACrush: The HiveMind seems to develop this relationship with Paul and Emma.
* ZombieGait: The assimilated are expert dancers and have no need to walk like this, and only seem to do it as part of TheReveal of their nature in order to taunt their victims.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Mr. Davidson]]
!! Mr. Davidson
!!! Played by Creator/JeffBlim
Paul's boss, one of the first victims of the apotheosis.
----
* AmbiguouslyBi: Is very happily married to his wife, but sings to Paul, "There's gotta be something that'll keep my hands off you!"
* CannotSpitItOut: Almost tells his wife he wants to be choked while he jerks off but balks at the last minute.
* ChangeTheUncomfortableSubject: Paul does his best to pull this when Mr. Davidson reveals that he wants his wife to choke him while he jerks off.
* HappilyMarried: Even if he gives ''way'' TooMuchInformation about what he wants to do with his wife in the bedroom, the way he describes Carol is actually pretty sweet.
* HiddenDepths: Turns out to be ''extremely'' kinky, much to Paul's horror.
* IWantSong: "What Do You Want, Paul?" He also inverts it to attempt to get it to be an IWantSong for Paul, but Paul's not into it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Melissa]]
!! Melissa
!!! Played by Mariah Rose Faith
Mr. Davidson's assistant, who seems to enjoy softball.
----
* {{Adorkable}}: She's very excited when she asks Paul to join the company softball team.
* InformedFlaw: We aren't outright ''told'' that she's unattractive, but Paul clearly treats her this way, with polite but intense discomfort. This is obviously at odds with Mariah Rose Faith's real appearance and her other characters in this show. (The script calls for Paul's actor to pretend that Melissa has one extremely crooked tooth that he can't help but stare at when he looks at her.)
* {{Meganekko}}: Mainly to visually distinguish her from Mariah's other characters.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Comes ''very'' close to being this when she rings Mr. Davidson's wife just seconds after Mr. Davidson confesses that he wants his wife to choke him while he jerks off.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: She's not seen again after Mr. Davidson's song for the rest of the show. (Mariah Rose Faith was already playing Alice, Zoey, the Greenspace Canvasser, and the nurse at the end [[spoiler: who turns out to be assimilated]], so bringing her back for any other scenes would be basically impossible.)
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Nora]]
!! Nora
!!! Played by Creator/JaimeLynBeatty
Emma's boss, who makes all her employees sing.
----
* ActorAllusion: Played by Jaime Lyn Beatty, who actually does work in a coffee shop and served as the production's expert on realistically portraying one.
* BenevolentBoss: To Zoey. Not to Emma. This may be because Emma makes it very clear that she doesn't like her job.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Nora is a pretty BadBoss to Emma and does make many unreasonable demands and play favorites... but Emma is also pretty rude to the customers and bad at her job. (And that's ''before'' we find it she routinely spits in the coffee.)
* SmallNameBigEgo: Seems to harbor ambitions of turning Beanie's from a random crappy coffee shop into a local institution by turning the staff into entertainment for the customers. As Emma points out, this is a lot to ask of random low wage employees.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Zoey]]
!! Zoey
!!! Played by Mariah Rose Faith
Emma's manager, despite being ten years younger than her. According to Emma, she was part of an "awful" performance of Godspell that she takes great pride in.
----
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: The only reason she's into a "scumbag" like Sam (that and the [[GoodLookingPrivates uniform]]).
* AssholeVictim: Before she's assimilated, we see her suck up to her boss to get out of work, be rude to Emma, and is dating the married Sam, who she admits she only dates because he's a [[GoodLookingPrivates police officer]].
* DramaQueen: In both senses of the term. Seems to think her amateur theatre career is more important than actually doing her job.
* DramaticUnmask: Obviously we can tell the helicopter pilot is Mariah Rose Faith, but Emma's shocked reaction when she pulls the goggles off her face lets us know that it actually is Zoey.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Zoey snottily turns down Emma's offer of a ride home during the storm because she's seen Emma's "crappy car" and doesn't want to "crash and die". [[spoiler: Zoey later unexpectedly shows up to give Emma a helicopter ride, in which they do crash and almost die.]] Her saying this may also be a cruel comment toward Emma that doubles as foreshadowing, as it's later revealed that [[spoiler: Emma's sister died in a car crash.]]
* HarbingerOfImpendingDoom: The reveal that the helicopter pilot isn't just played by Mariah Rose Faith but actually is Zoey [[OhCrap shows just how bad things have gotten]] and how far the HiveMind has gone to screw with our heroes.
* InstantExpert: Gains the ability to pilot a helicopter due to the HiveMind she has.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Greenpeace Canvasser]]
!! Greenpeace Canvasser
!!! Played by Mariah Rose Faith
A witty environment enthusiast.
----
* CatchPhrase: "Do you want to save the planet?"
* DeadpanSnarker: Makes up a fake Greenpeace campaign to save the turtles just to catch Paul in a lie about having already donated.
* GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul: Applies to all the zombies, but the first sign Paul gets that something is very wrong is how she seems to have completely forgiven him after the previous day's altercation.
* NoNameGiven: Even though she becomes one of the recurring zombies who haunts Paul all the way to the end of the show, we never hear her called anything other than "Greenpeace Girl".
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Alice]]
!! Alice
!!! Played by Mariah Rose Faith
Bill's daughter, who lives with her mother most of the time and is dating Deb.
----
* AdultFear: Alice specifically invokes this to her father's face. "You left me out of your sight for one second and look what happens, nightmare time. It's worse than you could imagine, not sex and not drugs, just [[spoiler: alien invading minds.]]"
* DatingWhatDaddyHates: Bill ''doesn't'' like Deb. Not because she's a girl; he simply thinks Alice can do better. Like Grace Chastity.
* [[spoiler: DeathOfPersonality: A chilling example -- after Bill dies, the assimilated Alice seems to drop the pretense that she actually is Alice and becomes nothing but a CreepyMonotone mouthpiece for the HiveMind.]]
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: "Not Your Seed" sounds like a typical EmoTeen anthem about a kid growing up into somebody their parents don't understand anymore, [[spoiler: even though it's actually about Alice dying and turning into a zombie]].
* EvilGloating: "Not Your Seed" is a weird version of this, being a song about Alice's anger and grief at her death, sung by Alice's body, but actually coming from the HiveMind that killed Alice in the first place.
* FunTShirt: The second time we see Alice, her pink sweater is unbuttoned, revealing the shirt underneath has the slogan "Beautiful Monster", [[spoiler: revealing she's been assimilated]].
* LipstickLesbian: Alice is this to her girlfriend Deb's ButchLesbian.
* MinorCharacterMajorSong: Almost all of her stage time is taken up by "Not Your Seed".
* [[spoiler: MurderIntoMalevolence: The assimilated Alice presents herself as this, seeking only to hurt Bill and drive him to suicide to get back at him for his failure to save her from the HiveMind. Of course, it soon transpires that this was just the HiveMind being a {{Sadist}} ForTheEvulz.]]
* [[spoiler: {{Patricide}}: She kills her father Bill.]]
* PeerPressureMakesYouEvil: Bill seems terrified that this is happening to Alice thanks to Deb and her delinquent friends. [[spoiler: It does happen in the sense that Deb and her friends were assimilated by the meteor and then killed Alice. The assimilated Alice seems happy to treat this as basically the same thing, for the sake of taunting Bill.]]
* TakingTheKids: Bill's whole character is defined by him still reeling from losing custody of Alice.
* VisitByDivorcedDad: From Alice's perspective the plot of the show is one of these episodes, gone ridiculously wrong.
* [[spoiler: WeHardlyKnewYe: Except for one brief scene, Alice is a completely OffscreenCharacter until we meet her in her assimilated form.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Deb]]
!! Deb
!!! Played by Creator/JaimeLynBeatty
Alice's girlfriend, who Bill dislikes.
----
* ButchLesbian: Deb is this to her girlfriend Alice's LipstickLesbian.
* TheStoner: Alice reveals to her father's horror that he was right about Deb; she's a hardcore stoner.
* PhoneaholicTeenager: When struggling to give an actual reason he hates Deb Bill throws out the fact that she's "always on her phone".
* StrawVegetarian: Bill seems to regard Deb being a vegetarian -- and defining "vegetarian" as not eating seafood, even on Red Lobster's Crabfest -- as yet another way she's deliberately antagonizing him.
* ToxicFriendInfluence: Bill thinks Deb is this to Alice. Ironically, the one time we actually see Deb and Alice [[spoiler: before their assimilation]] Deb is the one standing up to [[PeerPressureMakesYouEvil peer pressure]], dragging Alice away from "the Smoke Club".
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Sam]]
!! Sam
!!! Played by Creator/JeffBlim
Charlotte's husband, who frequently cheats on her. One of the first victims of the apotheosis.
----
* AirGuitar: Indulges in some air guitar and air drumming when backing up his wife in "Join Us and Die".
* AssholeVictim: The way he treats Charlotte makes it hard to get too worked up over Ted bashing in his skull... which just makes the fact that Charlotte ''does'' get worked up over it a bigger TearJerker.
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Sam ''does'' get a moment of sincere love and appreciation for his wife... After she's turned into a murderous singing undead rock star.
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Can anyone infected by the blue shit actually die?]]
** [[spoiler: KilledOffForReal: Apparently yes, in this case -- Charlotte and Sam are never seen again after Hidgens puts them down with a point blank shotgun blast, although this may be because he tells us he went on to [[{{Squick}} dissect their bodies]].]]
* BastardBoyfriend: ''So much''. Is a massively Bastard Husband to Charlotte, as well as being a Bastard Boyfriend on the side to many other women, most recently Zoey (who's still [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys in the phase]] where she finds this charming). "You Tied Up My Heart" is a -- forced, insincere, alien-composed -- classic apology song for this behavior.
* TheBadGuysAreCops: He and two other cops are infected by the spores.
* ClicheStorm: "You Tied Up My Heart" is a muddled series of insincere romantic clichés clearly just intended to get Charlotte to untie Sam, which just makes it all the more heartbreaking that Charlotte responds sincerely to it.
* CreepyCute: Sam adopts this affect after his assimilation, both when pleading for Charlotte to untie him ("Don't you twust me?") and when singing along with "Join Us and Die."
* FightingFromTheInside: In the otherwise totally PlayedForLaughs sequence "Show Me Your Hands", he has a heartbreaking moment where he almost seems to come back to normal when he looks in Charlotte's eyes... before he pulls a gun on her.
* GoodLookingPrivates: Sam has no illusion about the fact that the main thing women see in him is the authority that comes from his uniform (and his gun).
* NotHimself: Charlotte first realizes something is wrong when she hears Sam in the shower and he "has the voice of an angel", to which she reacts with comical horror.
* PoliceBrutality: Makes it clear that if anyone disobeys his (conflicting) orders he'll shoot them. Seems to have a habit of roughing up suspects even while they're trying to obey his orders, just to show he can.
* RecklessGunUsage: Was apparently already prone to using his sidearm to randomly intimidate people before assimilation [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] him into even more of a caricature of a bad cop.
* VillainSong: He gets three of these. The first is "Show Me Your Hands" where he first confronts the main characters and sings that if they don't obey him he'll shoot them. The second is You Tied Up My Heart, a song he uses to get Charlotte to sympathize with him and release him. The third is "Join Us (And Die)" which is the most traditional villin song where they reveal they've given up subterfuge and become openly violent.
* WhoEvenNeedsABrain: Half his brain falls out after his head is mauled, yet he's still a competent singer.
* WoundedGazelleGambit: Pretends to be dying so Charlotte releases him.
* YourCheatingHeart: Cheated on Charlotte with at least Zoey, and implies in the song "You Tied up My Heart" that there were quite a few other women.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: General [=McNamara=]]]
!! General John [=McNamara=]
!!! Played by Creator/JeffBlim
A red-blooded American general who rescues Paul.
----
* AlwaysABiggerFish: It seems that the HiveMind zombies have Paul cornered -- until they're hilariously routed in a CurbStompBattle with an elite military unit trained to stop exactly this kind of threat. [[spoiler: Unfortunately for [=McNamara=]'s soldiers and the human race, the HiveMind [[EvilEvolves learns from this experience]].]]
* ArmiesAreEvil: Played with. PEIP's mission involves [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade murdering witnesses]] as a matter of course, but the General has come to reconsider this policy and is in Paul's opinion "a good man". [[spoiler: [=McNamara=] and his soldiers become a completely [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] fascist army after assimilation.]]
* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: PlayedForLaughs. [=McNamara=] pulls out his gun and points it directly at Paul's face as though he's about to execute him, before flipping it around to hand it to him stock-first in the proper fashion.
* BerserkButton: A totally hilarious and random one -- [=McNamara=] HATES when people need to pull out their phone to check the time.
-->'''Gen. [=McNamara=]''': UGH! ''(hurls Paul's iPhone into the distance)'' Wear a watch! Time is a precious thread in the fabric of the universe! It deserves its own tool of measurement!
* TheCavalry: PEIP is a textbook example, saving Paul from imminent torture at the hands of [[spoiler: the assimilated Alice and her friends. Becomes a CavalryBetrayal when they get assimilated.]]
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: A little bit of one, with his wildly inappropriately cozy emotional affect given the seriousness of the situation, his random asides about his NewAgeRetroHippie religion and his being unaware Paul might get jumpy when he pulls a gun and points it at his face. [[spoiler: Led to some WildMassGuessing that he's already starting to get assimilated when he first appears. Note that this behavior [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness disappears]] in ''Theatre/BlackFriday''.]]
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: [[spoiler: His post-assimilation song, "America Is Great Again", directly compares the HiveMind's urge to assimilate to fascist ideology, and compares fascist ideology to the ideology of UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump.]]
* [[spoiler: TheEvilsOfFreeWill: Comes to see the HiveMind as equivalent to the idealized "American values" he signed up to defend, similar to the conformity demanded by right-wing social conservatives.]]
* EagleLand: [=McNamara=] encapsulates both sides of this trope, with being a "red-blooded American" central to his identity. It drives both his noble, heroic actions (EagleLand Type 1) at first, and [[spoiler: his fascist authoritarianism (Type 2) post-assimilation).]]
* [[spoiler: EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: [=McNamara=] acts a little differently in this show than the sequel ''Theatre/BlackFriday'', where he has a much larger role. In this show he [[MildlyMilitary acts like a homey Midwestern dad]] when chatting with Paul and only puts on the stern soldier act at dramatic moments, but after becoming a MemeticBadass between shows, this took over and became the way he acts all the time.]]
* [[spoiler: {{Flanderization}}: Gets hit with this worst of all the assimilated characters, going from a complex man wrestling with the moral implications of his duty to a mindlessly devoted soldier for the HiveMind.]]
* KnightTemplar: By nature of his position, which requires that he act outside the law to preserve the {{Masquerade}} at all costs. Over time he seems to have come to question this. [[spoiler: Becomes much, much worse of one after his assimilation.]]
* MeaningfulName: Fans have proposed that he's named for the (in)famous [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_McNamara Secretary of Defense]] during the Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam War -- in particular, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_100,000 McNamara's Misfits]], a conscious attempt by the US military to invoke the ArmyOfThievesAndWhores trope to boost recruiting numbers in Vietnam, would make one ''hell'' of an origin story for PEIP. Sadly, WordOfGod has {{Jossed}} the idea that this is intentional.
* MemeticBadass: Despite how relatively brief his role is, he makes enough of an impression that fandom ran away with him as the subject of Chuck-Norris-style jokes about how tough and how [[EagleLand American]] he is.
* NewAgeRetroHippie: [=McNamara=], though a loyal soldier, has had enough weird experiences in the PEIP unit that he's developed some kind of New Age spirituality he briefly tries to recruit Paul into. This explains his highly un-military long hair, and his decision to violate his orders and save Paul. [[spoiler: This is a trait erased by his assimilation.]]
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Creator/JeffBlim's shoulder-length hair, scruffy facial hair, and military beret make him a ''dead ringer'' for Che Guevara, which is [[{{Irony}} ironic]] considering how in this show he ends up representing the forces of right-wing American fascism.
* NoSuchAgency: The PEIP unit [=McNamara=] leads is both tasked with eliminating bizarre alien threats like the Hatchetfield HiveMind and upholding the {{Masquerade}} that they don't exist -- by [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade murdering innocent civilians, if necessary]].
* OverrankedSoldier: Classic example -- no one anywhere near Jeff Blim's age should be a general and [[FrontlineGeneral no general should be anywhere near leading a field operation on foot]]. Possibly justified by the clearly unorthodox NoSuchAgency nature of PEIP giving all their members inflated authority. (Though note that Col. Schaeffer, who debriefs Emma at the end of the story, has a much more reasonable rank for her position.)
* ProperlyParanoid:
-->'''Paul''': Wait! I'm not one of them, I'm human!
-->'''[=McNamara=]''': '' (slams his rifle butt into Paul's head)''
-->'''PEIP soldier''': Oh yeah? Prove it asshole, we're the army.
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: He was given orders to kill everyone in Hatchetfield. However he decides to let Paul live and orders a helicopter ride to get them out.
* ShipperOnDeck: [=McNamara=] gives Paul his sidearm to try to rescue Emma because he'd like to see if their relationship becomes "something more".
* [[spoiler: SoundOff: The first line of "America Is Great Again".]]
-->[[spoiler: I don't know what you've been told]]
-->[[spoiler: [[IndividualityIsIllegal But Americans should fit a mold]]]]
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: His surname was never consistently spelled by the creators, switching between [=McNamara=] and [=MacNamara=] (it's [=McNamara=] in the credits). [[spoiler: They settle on [=MacNamara=] in ''Theatre/BlackFriday''.]]
* TheMenInBlack: PEIP is basically this, except we see them fully kitted out for combat rather than in the stereotypical business suits.
* WalkingSpoiler: The very existence of [=McNamara=] and the PEIP unit is a spoiler for a hilarious MoodWhiplash reveal at the top of Act 2. [[spoiler: And it's hard to talk about them without talking about them getting assimilated shortly after their introduction.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Colonel Schaeffer]]
!! Colonel Schaeffer
!!! Played by Creator/JaimeLynBeatty
A colonel who shows up in the ending to usher Emma into her new life.
----
* AmbiguousSituation: [[spoiler: Although the aliens have obviously [[DownerEnding infiltrated and taken over PEIP]], it's not clear if Col. Schaeffer herself is actually assimilated or is just being manipulated, since Jaime Lyn Beatty leaves and comes back as Nora for "Inevitable".]]
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The PEIP cleanup crew could've just left Emma for dead, given their mission of [[{{Masquerade}} leaving no witnesses]], but in gratitude for her role in stopping the apocalypse Schaeffer has decided to not only save Emma's life but give her the money and new identity for the fresh start she's always wanted. [[spoiler: So it seems at first, anyway.]]
* ShipperOnDeck: Schaeffer, like her former colleague [=McNamara=], would like to see "Kelly" and "Ben's" relationship become something more.
[[/folder]]

!!! Played by Jonathan Matteson

!!! Played by Creator/LaurenLopez, understudy Nick Lang

!!! Played by Joey Richter

!!! Played by Jaime Lyn Beatty

!!! Played by Corey Dorris

!!! Played by Jeff Blim

!!! Played by Jaime Lyn Beatty

!!! Played by Jaime Lyn Beatty

!!! Played by Jeff Blim

!!! Played by Jeff Blim

!!! Played by Jaime Lyn Beatty

* BlackAndNerdy: He is played by the only black member of the cast, and he's in the show because he's Paul's best friend, but he very much averts the BlackBestFriend trope (a black guy who's the protagonist's best friend to be stereotypically "cool" and make him cooler by association). He's significantly ''less'' cool than Paul or anyone else in the show -- which, [[TheGenericGuy knowing Paul]], is saying something.

* EagleLand: [=McNamara=] encapsulates both sides of this trope, with being a "red-blooded American" central to his identity. It drives both his noble, heroic actions (EagleLand Type 1) at first, and [[spoiler: his fascist authoritarianism (Type 2) post-assimilation).