The Character Sheet for Unbelievable.
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Main Characters
Detective Karen Duvall
Portrayed By: Merritt Wever
A detective with the Golden Police Department.
- Ambiguously Christian: Strongly averted. Karen's faith plays an important part of her characterisation. She keeps a piece of paper on her dashboard that says "Here I am. Send me", in reference to Isaiah 6:8, as a reminder for why she does what she does.
- Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: The light to Grace's dark.
- My Greatest Failure: Karen agreed to go out for a beer rather than check in on a woman who had been beaten by her husband. He ended up making bail and proceeded to "finish what he started" and beat his wife till she had permanent brain damage.
- Nice Girl: When dealing with the victims, especially Amber, Karen is empathetic, caring, non-judgemental to a fault.
- Silk Hiding Steel: Whilst Karen is a motherly Nice Girl, it doesn't stop her from dishing it out when necessary. Especially noticeable is when a creepy guy in a diner only stops staring at Karen when a group of young women enter. As she's paying, Karen makes sure to casually flash her badge and gun. The guy stops staring.
Detective Grace Rasmussen
Portrayed By: Toni Collette
A detective with the Westminster Police Department.
- Happily Married: To Steve. The two work on cars together.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Rasmussen is brusque and somewhat rude but only because she cares so much about her job but also because of the great strain it puts under her.
- Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: The dark to Karen's light.
- Tomboy: Grace is in a typically masculine job, police detective, drinks beers and enjoys sports, American Football in particular.
Marie Adler
Portrayed By: Kaitlyn Dever
A young woman sexually assaulted in her home.
- Abusive Parents: It's mentioned that some of the foster homes she grew up in were horrifically abusive.
- Broken Bird: Marie struggles dearly trying to cope with her assault, and things only get worse for her as time goes by.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: By the series' end, Marie has been given a $150,000 settlement which she uses to buy a car (she finally got her driver's license) and goes to the beach, a place she reminisced about during her assault. There she calls Karen and thanks her for her and Grace's work, seemingly at peace, and ready to start the next chapter of her life. The real Marie eventually married and had a family of her own, albeit wishing to remain anonymous for obvious reasons.
- Foster Kid: She was one and has been through various homes, some of which were abusive.
- Good Victims, Bad Victims: She's not seen as a victim because she's not a perfect angel and isn't behaving how a rape victim is 'supposed' to.
- Lie Back and Think of England: During her assault, the blindfold placed on Marie gives her just enough vision to see a picture of the beach. She uses imagining herself at the beach as a way of dealing with the assault.
- Major Injury Underreaction: Marie doesn't want to have to relive the attack by making statement after statement about it. She wants to put it behind her. Her underreaction to the attack is one of the things that people around her start to find peculiar, so when Judith observes to Detective Parker that Marie sometimes acts up to get attention, the cops start to take her underreaction as a sign that the attack maybe didn't happen at all. Actually, she's still in shock, but nobody notices.
- Trauma Conga Line: A turbulent home life put her into the foster care system, bounced around various homes throughout her life, raped, accused of making a false report, abandoned by her friends and "family", kicked out of her apartment and forced back with her emotionally abusive foster mother. Poor Marie doesn't catch a break.
Victims
Amber Stevenson
Portrayed By: Danielle Macdonald
Another woman assaulted.
- Not So Stoic: When Detective Duvall interviews her after her rape, Amber is calm, collected, friendly, wants to be helpful and is very good at remembering details. She even keeps humorously apologizing for various things until Duvall has to reassure her that she doesn't have to apologize for anything. This lasts until her medical examination is over and she gets to call someone to see if she can stay with them, and only then, while talking on the phone to a friend, does she break down, very quietly.
Sarah
Portrayed By: Vanessa Bell Calloway
Another woman assaulted.
Doris
Portrayed By: Jayne Taini
Another woman assaulted.
Golden Police Department
Mia
Portrayed By: Liza Lapira
A IT specialist at Golden Police Department.
- Twofer Token Minority: A woman and East Asian.
Westminster Police Department
Max
Portrayed By: Austin Hébert
A uniform cop with Westminster Police Department who is also Karen's husband.
- Happily Married: To Karen.
- In-Series Nickname: "Max the Knife". Karen doesn't even know he has this until she hears him called it by one of his colleagues, and spends much of the series wondering why he has it. It's because he likes singing karaoke.
- Nice Guy: Max is just a genuinely good dude, through and through.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Max spends most of his time doing his job, being a good husband and doting parent, but when Karen tells him about a difficult rape case she's working, his question "Did he have a backpack?" is what makes her realise that the same attacker has struck elsewhere, and that part of his M.O. is relying on police departments not communicating with each other.
RoseMarie
Elias
Portrayed By: Omar Maskati
RoseMarie's intern.
- Butt-Monkey: Downplayed. Nervous and skittish, Elias is sometimes the butt of the joke, especially his idea regarding women reporting their stolen panties.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Elias' vehicle search is what eventually enables the team to get the plates on the white Mazda. Rasmussen calls for them to search for the vehicle's owner, only for Elias to add that he's already done that, and has the guy's name and address. The Mazda's owner is, indeed, the rapist.
- The Watson: Since Elias is an intern, RoseMarie often takes the time to explain procedure and what certain terms mean to him if he's unfamiliar with them. This is very helpful for audience members who also might not know the particulars of different DNA tests and other relevant policework.
Lynnwood Police Department
Detective Robert Parker
Portrayed By: Eric Lange
A detective assigned to Marie's case.
- The Atoner: After discovering that he was wrong all along, he's wracked with guilt and does everything he can to make it right.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's never really a jerk, exactly, but he initially comes across as very cold and clinical in dealing with Marie's case. When he starts to believe that she's making the whole thing up, he runs with it and behaves more like an outright jerk. Ultimately, he isn't portrayed as being malicious or even incompetent, but as someone who made a grievous mistake brought on by unconcious bias, a lack of communication between police departments and influence from the likes of Judith. He's utterly horrified to realize the depth of his error. It's telling that in the scene where Marie is badgered into "admitting" she made the assault up, Parker isn't present. It's hard to imagine him letting Pruitt get away with his aggressive, bullying tactics.
- My God, What Have I Done?: His reaction upon being faced with undeniable evidence that Marie was indeed telling the truth all along.
- Police Are Useless: Downplayed, but also Lampshaded by Parker himself. He and Pruitt both coerce Marie into recanting her statement and saying that she lied. He muses how incompetent or dirty cops are ever allowed on the force and thinks he should be gotten rid of too.
Detective Pruitt
Portrayed By: Bill Fagerbakke
A detective assigned to Marie's case.
- Jerkass: He's much more aggressive and irritable than his partner, who seems to keep him reigned in. His bullying interrogation of Marie is hard to watch.
Others
Judith
Portrayed By: Elizabeth Marvel
One of Marie's foster mothers.
- Abusive Parents: Former foster mother, in this case. While she never harms Marie physically, she is emotionally abusive, accusatory, and is directly responsible for the police not believing Marie's truthful testimony about her rape. It's not a one-time incident - she continually calls Marie a liar about other topics too and attempts to undermine and control how Marie responds to the accusations of her being a liar. Arguably, she does more to damage Marie's mental well-being than anyone else, aside from the rapist himself. Like many parents who do this too, she doesn't seem to realize the harm she's done, and thinks her acts are in Marie's best interests but her actions are still very damaging and there's no indication that Marie ever reconciles with her.
- Foil: To Colleen, Marie’s other foster mother. While Colleen is kind, loving, and believes in Marie’s story, Judith is cold, bitchy, and doesn’t believe in Marie’s story because she doesn’t act like a typical victim.
- Freudian Excuse: She was sexually assaulted herself many years ago and as such, she believes that since Marie isn't acting as she and other victims have, she must be lying.
- Innocently Insensitive: She honestly seems to think she's looking out for Marie's best interests, treating her in a "no nonsense but caring all the same" manner and doesn't seem to grasp how harmful her behavior is.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As well as being overly critical of Marie, she is also the one who tells Parker that she believes Marie may have fabricated the assault. Yet she genuinely cares for Marie. She appears to realize her mistake due to a conversation with Colleen, though by then it's too late. Unfortunately, her approach seems to be "tough love" in general with Marie, which isn't helpful.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: She's the one who plants the idea that Marie was lying in Detective Parker's head, leading to not only Marie's life being destroyed but the rapist being allowed to continue his spree.
Colleen Doggett
Portrayed By: Bridget Everett
One of Marie's foster mothers.
- Foil: To Judith, Marie’s other foster mother. Colleen is loving, kind, and believes that Marie really was raped while Judith is cold, bitchy, and doesn’t believe in Marie’s story because she doesn’t act like a typical victim.
- Good Parents: Colleen cares deeply about Marie and believes her story is more than a coincidence.
- Happily Married: To Al.
Al Doggett
Portrayed By: Brent Sexton
Colleen's husband.
- Good Parents: Just like his wife, he loves Marie like she’s his own.
- Happily Married: To Colleen.
The Rapist SPOILER ALERT
Played by: Blake Ellis
Christopher McCarthy, the rapist.
- Bald of Evil: He keeps his head shaved and is a vile sexual predator.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: A truly horrific example as it's shown throughout the series how his attacks left his victims severely traumatized and, in the case of Marie, nearly ruined their lives. But he is never shown to give them any further thought beyond a few mementos.
- Dirty Coward: He thinks of himself as a strong figure but all his victims were women he attacked at night and who had no chance of fighting him off and he even tries to cop a deal to get a lighter prison sentence and is clearly frightened at the prospect of serving a life sentence, especially knowing how sexual predators are treated in prison.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Averted. Even his brother seems to find him off putting, offering no defense when his crimes are revealed and his only concern is that hearing about Chris' crimes will destroy their mother.
- Faux Affably Evil: In his final scene, he is seen talking politely to an interviewer about his crimes and acknowledges why he'll never be let out again and comes across as almost charming but the full knowledge of what he's done makes him firmly this.
- From Camouflage to Criminal: He served three years in the Marine Corps long before his crimes.
- Hate Sink: There are utterly no redeeming factors about Christopher McCarthy. A sadistic, depraved serial rapist. Not much else needs to be said as to why he would be any thing but a Hate Sink.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: He pleads guilty in the hopes of a lighter sentence. It backfires spectacularly as the judge sees right through him and he ends up sentenced to over three hundred years, destroying any possible hope of ever getting out.
- Lack of Empathy: He has no regard whatsoever for any of the women he attacks and doesn't seem to think of them as anything more than prey.
- Laser-Guided Karma: He hoped to escape a permanent sentence by pleading guilty. The judge is far from impressed and throws him in prison for about 300 years. It's every bit as satisfying to witness as it sounds.
- Longer-Than-Life Sentence: He is sentenced to over three hundred years for his numerous crimes. The look on his face when the judge dashes any hope he ever had of getting out is immensely satisfying.
- Malevolent Masked Men: He wears a ski mask with cut-out eye-holes during his attacks to keep his victims from identifying him.
- Not So Stoic: Oh, the look of shock he gets when he's sentenced is just karmic deliciousness.
- Oh, Crap!: He has this reaction when the judge shoots down his effort for a lighter sentence and sentences him to over three hundred years in prison. Given all he's done, it's enormously gratifying, to say the least.
- Semper Fi: Both he and his brother served in the Marine Corps.
- Serial Rapist: He's raped a lot of women, and has been at it for a long time.
- The Social Darwinist: He relates a worldview similar to this in conversation with one of his victims: some men like him are "wolves" who just do whatever they want to.
- The Stoic: He barely emotes most times.
Steve Rasmussen
Portrayed By: Kai Lennox
Steve Rasmussen, an investigator with the Attorney General's office in Westminster.
- By-the-Book Cop: Subverted. When Grace is wondering if the rapist is a cop, she tries to get Steve to give her a list of cops who've been charged with domestic violence. He refuses because it's against the rules, but in the end he does give her just one file: on a cop named James Massey, on the grounds that even if Massey turns out not to be the rapist, he's a nasty, violent Jerkass who shouldn't be a cop in the first place. Massey isn't the rapist, but Grace appreciates the gesture.
- Happily Married: To Grace.
