Everyone has baggage.
Everyone. Prominent characters are given a detailed backstories to explain why they are the way they are - from Rue’s father’s death sending her down the road of addiction, to Nate discovering his father’s sexual proclivities in turn fostering his own insecurities. It’s perhaps notable that Rue’s voiceover of these moments never expresses any kind of sympathy but is instead mostly very detached, leaving it to the audience to decide if learning any of these details makes the character’s more or less sympathetic.
Cassie's portrayal of the seven deadly sins in Season 2
As Cassie's mental state became more unstable, she became a
Villain Protagonist. Her fight with Maddy in Season Finale symbolizes her punishment for her actions throughout the season. In addition, we can see she reflects
each deadly sin:- Envy: Her need to imitate Maddy in the way she dresses to get Nate's attention losing her own identity and also occasional jealousy about their relationship.
- Gluttony: She favored her toxic and mainly physical relationship with Nate over her healthier and longer friendship with Maddy.
- Greed: She wants Nate's attention and love beyond anything sacrificing her relationships (Maddy, Lexi, her mother...) and acting in a selfish way.
- Lust: Her obsessive love for Nate, which causes her to gradually fall into insanity nearly to the Yandere level.
- Pride: She does not fully accept her wrongs about her relationship with Nate and ends up embarrassing herself during Lexi's play due to her wounded ego.
- Sloth: She failed to tell Maddy the truth about her and Nate hurting and losing her best friend.
- Wrath: Her tantrums against her family at times and especially against Lexi during the play showcasing her frustration at not feeling understood.
Nate's love interests and their symbolic connection to Earth, Air and Water
In the show, Nate had three love interests: Maddie, Jules (somewhat) in Season 1 and Cassie in Seson 2. These three acted differently with him representing respectively each of the elemental trinity.
- Maddy is Earth as she's tough, resilient and can endure most of Nate's emotional and physical abuse. She maintains her strong facade in front of him most of the time but she can be caring with him.
- Jules is Air as the Manic Pixie Dream Girl seemingly untouchable/unattainable as Nate became close of her only chatting with her through a fake identity. She's unpredictable as she became tempestuous enough to scare Nate when he insulted during the party in the show's pilot.
- Cassie is Water as she's easy to handle for Nate. He can shaped her and influence her as he wants. But sometimes as she became a moody-swinger she can get him mad. It's also interesting to note as water has different states, Cassie has different styles. During the season, she has more than one aesthetics as she mimicked Jules' Season 1 hairstyle and Maddy's overall outfits and makeup.
