The Fatal Five

**The Fatal Five** is an American horror slasher television series. It depicts a young woman who was brutalized by a gang of perverts and left for dead, but she returns thirteen years later to seek her graphic revenge on her attackers.

## Characters

### Beth Sonozaki

Portrayed by Devon Aoki, Beth Sonozaki is the main antagonist. She is an aspiring writer from Miami who was vacationing in the wilderness looking for inspiration from her environment and to escape the boring and dull city life as an office secretary. She was a kindhearted, smart and innocent young girl, but this all changed when she was kidnapped by the Cabin Girl Gang who held her prisoner in their secret torture chamber underneath their cabin where they repeatedly tortured and raped her for over a week. On the night they planned to execute her, Beth managed to escape and she disappeared for thirteen years. During these years, it is revealed Beth was "reborn" and re-evaluating herself into a vengeful and mentally unstable sociopathic killer who sought revenge against her evil attackers.

### Lydia Hunt

Portrayed by Samantha Morton, Lydia Hunt is the overall main antagonist. She was the leader of the torturous and sadistic perverts of the Cabin Girl Gang. Lydia's need for control is a prominent characteristic of her personality and she relishes being the leader of the Cabin Girl Gang. She never directly participated in the assaults on the women. Instead, she applied psychological torture and used verbal abuse. Lydia presents an air of superiority, and feels more intelligent than her friends, even mocking them at times. Although she is in the business of helping people as a motivational speaker and personal growth coach, Lydia looks down on her followers, even while receiving their admiration and money. She presents a calm demeanor unless she loses control of a situation, then she becomes frustrated, angry, and impatient.

Lydia is a highly manipulative woman and she is remorseless, feeling no regret for contributing to the brutalization and murders of nine women. Lydia, though, avoids getting her own hands dirty, therefore, she has others kill the women. Lydia is the founder of her own organization which promotes her events, seminars, and merchandise, while employing numerous men and women for its purposes.

Lydia was born in Miami as "Emily Birkin" (though she changed her name to forget about her "weak" and "pathetic" past) and she lived in an abusive and hateful environment by her mentally ill, alcoholic and racist father. She rapidly developed into a loathing, hateful individual who was a loner throughout her life with only a chicken as a friend. Unfortunately, one day she accidentally stumbled upon and horrifically witnessed her father raping a woman in his cabin. To punish Lydia, his father killed the chicken and cooked it to force Lydia to eat it as well as whipped Lydia repeatedly on her back, creating lasting and painful scars. The death of her only friend and physical and emotional abuse eventually drove Lydia toward the road of a sadistic and manipulative monster who was hateful towards humanity. As a teenager, Lydia fell in love with a boy who apparently loved her back in high school though it turned out to be a cruel prank pulled by him and his actual girlfriend, who disliked and bullied Lydia. In extreme revenge, Lydia knocked them both out with a baseball bat and abducted them, taking them to the same cabin she caught her father in his depraved crime. Lydia sexually assaulted the boy violently with a metallic dildo in front of his girlfriend, before setting fire to the cabin and burning them both alive.

As a young adult, Lydia worked at a psychiatric hospital and she eventually met and befriended Boyd Banner as a patient, a mentally ill and violent man due to suffering from PTSD which Lydia eventually came to be aware of. Out of her own twisted sense of pleasure and enjoyment, Lydia manipulated Boyd into expressing his inner demons by kidnapping his workplace boss and managed to persuade Boyd into giving in to his evil desires and do whatever he pleases with her. Boyd was reluctant at first, so Lydia spiked his drink with ecstasy which allowed her to easily persuade Boyd into sadistically torturing and sexually assaulting their victim. Lydia found pleasure in being in control of the situation and she recorded the torture session which took place in a secret torture chamber underneath her father's old and burned down cabin, keeping it as trophy and she intended to expand her collection. Lydia continued to manipulate and control Boyd and, through him, she also met his friends Emmett Beale, Dennis Wakowski and Matthew Carson. She managed to persuade them into giving into their evil desires and obsessive passions, secretly becoming the monsters they are hiding from the world for their "torture sessions" on women as a way to "help" them by letting loose and releasing their frustration. Lydia formed the Cabin Girl Gang who would take female victims to their secret torture chamber where the men would torture and rape their victims for sadistic pleasure, with Lydia being their ringleader and she manipulated the men into committing these despicable and graphic acts to gain a sense of superiority, feeling she is the one in control for a change as a way to get back at the world for her abusive and hateful past and she recorded the tortures with a camera, using them as collective trophies. While the men were her muscle and the ones who raped and tortured the women, Lydia actually never physically abused them at all, instead she made sure the victims never saw her by blindfolding them in her presence and she employed psychological and emotional torture against her victims. The gang of sadists managed to abduct, torture and murder nine women, with the tenth and final victim they targeted being vulnerable and innocent writer Beth Sonozaki.

Dennis drugged Beth while she was in the woods writing a book after ambushing her and kidnapped her, taking her to the gang's cabin. Beth was tortured and raped several times by the men on Lydia's orders, who sadistically watched and recorded everything to add to her trophy collection. During her captivity, Lydia had Beth tied to a chair and blindfolded her so she could not see what Lydia looked like. Lydia tormented Beth and took pleasure in psychologically torturing her, even telling her that she will be "merciful" and end her suffering soon as well as telling her of the other victims the gang had tortured and killed. Lydia asked Boyd to do her a favor: bring her the book she was writing. In another private talk, Lydia read what she wrote aloud to her and even inquired on her as an aspiring writer and why she was alone in the woods. Beth answered her questions hesitantly and frightened of the monster, so Lydia complimented her inspirations and when Beth asked what will happen to her, Lydia says that Beth is going to die coldly before saying she's going to find and read up on more of her work so she can pry into her victim's mind more of what kind of person she had ended the life of horribly. Lydia continued to emotionally abuse through her final days as the gang's victim, and even started requesting torture methods from the men on what to do to Beth, claiming she's yet her most interesting "project" and wishes to destroy her mentally before destroying her physically. When Boyd questions Lydia's intentions, Lydia admits of her obscure obsession to capture the frame of "innocence" in others and she takes great interest with the idea of "capturing the moment innocent shifts and evolves into corruption".

Matthew was initially reluctant to participate in Lydia's reign of terror and was the most moral of the gang, but Lydia managed to manipulate him with a combination of intimidation and acting motherly towards him by exploiting his mental disability and social disadvantages. Matthew though was remorseful over following her orders and did not have any pleasure from his actions, aside from the feeling of being in somewhat control, even though he is just Lydia's puppet. Matthew managed to come to his senses and believed that he had to try to do the right thing instead of cowering, so he tried to rescue the weakened and broken Beth before her execution day, but they were caught by Lydia and her men. Lydia ordered Boyd and Beale to beat up Matthew as punishment whilst Dennis forced Beth to witness his savage beating. Beth pleaded for them to stop before they kill Matthew, to which Lydia apparently listened to and ordered the thugs to pause the beating. Lydia says she will forgive Matthew and tells him he is "confused" whilst trying to comfort him for his mistake, but adds that actions have consequences and that he needs to learn. On Lydia's orders, Matthew's arm was broken by Boyd and Beale and he was then locked up in the darkness of Beth's former cell to "learn his lesson" whilst Matthew begged them not to leave him in the dark. Having had enough of Beth, Lydia tells Beale to take Beth away and execute her. Before he did, Lydia parted a few last words of sadism with Beth and called her torture "fun" whilst telling her that she will be a trophy she's adding to her collection of other victims. In the woods however, Beth managed to escape Beale's grasp despite being very weak and fell into the river where she apparently drowned because she was never seen or heard of again.

Thirteen years later, Lydia changed her appearance drastically and she wrote a popular book that led to her fame and wealth. Lydia successfully built up herself up as a very popular and famous motivational speaker, giving seminars and gaining a cult-like following.

### Emmett Beale

Portrayed by Robert Knepper, Robert Knepper is a major antagonist. He was a member of the Cabin Girl Gang and it was his responsibility within the group to kill and dispose of the women after they are raped and abused. He is a highly sadistic and perverted rapist and cold-blooded murderer who is actually quite cunning and smart, with his method of killing his victims consisted of hanging them upside down and he slashed their throats to drain their blood and he kept their blood as his personal trophies.

Emmett was born in Miami from his own mentally disabled sister, whom was sexually assaulted by her father. Beale's father wanted him to enroll into the military but Beale learned more towards being an artist, which his father disapproved of violently and one day he destroyed his artwork and physically assaulted Emmett in an act of rage after Emmett denied meeting up with military officers regarding enrolling into military school which left him with a dislocated ankle and broken ribs. Due to his troubled and abusive youth, Emmett developed disturbing and violent tendencies and was constantly in and out of jail, often for vandalism and torturing animals. While in eleventh grade, Emmett tried to poison his teacher for berating him and he was sentenced to juvenile hall. While incarcerated, Emmett was bullied over the fact that he was the product of incest and rape by a gang of boys, leading to Emmett retaliating in anger by brutalizing the ringleader, smashing his head against a sink twice which nearly killed him. In an extreme form of vicious revenge, the bullies confronted Emmett in the bathroom where they beat him up without giving him a chance to fight back and repeatedly dunked his head into a toilet whilst Emmett desperately tried to apologize for his actions and that he learned his lesson, but the ringleader took it too far and used a mop to anally rape Emmett until he bled. Emmett was rushed to the infirmary for what happened to him, and this completely traumatized and haunted him for the rest of his life.

Growing into a young adult, Beale befriended several other men which had similar inner demons including Dennis Wakowski, Boyd Branner and Matthew Carson. One night while Beale, Dennis and Matthew were drinking beer, playing video games and smoking marijuana in Dennis's apartment, Boyd unexpectedly turned up and introduced his friends of his new friend and "mentor", Lydia Hunt. When Boyd told him on what he did to his boss and how alive he felt, Beale was initially skeptical but Lydia and Boyd managed to persuade him and the others to join in on the "fun" and embrace the monsters inside themselves to feel in control and not the victim anymore for once in their lives by kidnapping, torturing and raping women they took sadistic interest in. They formed the Cabin Girl Gang and used a secret torture chamber in the woods for their victims. Beale became in charge of disposing of the women after the gang are finished "playing" with them, in which his method consisting of drugging the victims and taking them to a random motel room each time in where he prepared a refrigeration unit. Beale would hang his victims upside down and cut their face with a scalpel to collect some of their blood as a trophy. He would sadistically mentally abuse them by caressing their hair and ensuring them they will be okay and that they have a chance to survive should they answer a correct question right. The answer is always wrong and Beale will then finally kill his victim by re-gagging them and slashing their throat with his father's butterfly knife. He would then dispose of the bodies by draining the blood and cutting up the corpses before placing them into multiple trash bags and throwing them out far into the ocean. Beale had tortured, raped and killed up to nine women alongside the Cabin Girl Gang, with the tenth and final victim targeted being the vulnerable and innocent writer Beth Sonozaki.

Dennis drugged Beth while she was in the woods writing her book and he kidnapped her, taking her to the gang's cabin. While Lydia recorded the torture session, Beale participated in torturing and raping Beth repeatedly along with his sadistic friends. Beale's brutal actions consisted of stuck his fingers into Beth's mouth until she vomited, dunked her head several times into a dirty toilet whilst taunting her, sodomized her and he physically assaulted her which included snapping her finger after emotionally tormenting her. At Lydia's request, Beale held down Beth so Boyd could brand her with a hot branding iron and he sadistically laughed as she writhed in agony. When Matthew tried helping Beth into escaping her captivity, Beale forced Beth to watch Matthew's savage beating on Lydia's orders and he took pleasure in watching her cry out for Matthew, begging them not to kill him. When Lydia decided they had enough of Beth, she ordered Beale to kill her like he did with the other women.

Beale grabbed his hunting rifle with him as he took Beth through the woods and sadistically talked her about what he did to his other victims and how he enjoyed it, as well as saying how she'll be his favorite one to murder. Upon reaching a specific spot, Beale suddenly orders Beth to stop walking and points his rifle to her to tell her to close her eyes. When she does, Beale begins stripping her of her clothes and says he wants to "play" with her one last time before he kills her, though she suddenly fights back by grabbing a nearby rock and hitting him hard in the face with it, making Beale drop his gun and fall to the ground painfully as well as breaking some of his teeth and his nose in the process. Beth takes this opportunity to try to grab the gun, but Beale trips her over and forces the weakened and broken Beth to run away in fear and desperation to survive. Beale ambushes Beth at the bridge at gunpoint, asking she if she wants to cease or prolong her suffering. Beth does not answer and raises her arms like an angel before intentionally falling off the bridge into the lake to Beale's surprise, whom desperately tries to search for her. Beale is horrified at the possibility of Beth surviving because it will mean the end of his life and his friends' lives, then he tells Dennis about what happened in the woods. Dennis was terrified and Beale admitted of his fear to report back to Lydia or Boyd, fearing that they would kill him in punishment for his grave mistake. Dennis though tries to console the crying Beale that everything will be fine and taken care of, though Beale tries to stop Dennis from telling Lydia. In defensive response, Dennis punches Beale in the face which accidentally knocks him out and then he tells Lydia and Boyd about Beth's possible survival. Beale wakes up tied up and blindfolded and he is interrogated by Lydia but she tells him that she's going to kill him. Beale begs for his life desperately, though Lydia reveals she was only joking and laughed it off but suddenly plunged the knife into Beale's knee, changing her attitude drastically and orders him to join up with the other men in searching for Beth. Beale obeys the terrifying Lydia's command but comes up with nothing, so the gang assume Beth to be dead and they go their separate ways to lay low in the meantime.

Thirteen years later, Beale worked as a children's teacher and he had a girlfriend named Rita though he used her as a cover-up because he did not change at all and continued his killing spree in secret.

### Dennis Wakowski

Portrayed by Mike Seal, Dennis Wakowski is a major antagonist. He was a member of the Cabin Girl Gang and would be the man to pick out the women to capture. He was a highly sadistic and perverted rapist who was very misogynistic and he took great pleasure from torturing his victims, but he held great respect for Lydia Hunt, admitting she was the only woman he ever feared.

Dennis was born in Miami and lived a wealthy life in a mansion for most of his childhood. However, his father's riches were earned from his shady and illegal business practices and one time he even witnessed him strangle a man to death for trying to con him out of a deal, which eventually costed both him and his wife's lives. After a hitman broke into their home and murdered Dennis's parents and his older sister with a shotgun, Dennis was the only person who survived the incident because he hid and witnessed the horrors of what occurred. Dennis was wracked with guilt for not doing anything to even try to help, which led to him on the destructive path of self-loathing which quickly spread to the people around him. Afterwards, he was forced to live with his abusive and meth-addicted auntie and her boyfriend, a ruthless drug dealer named Ronnie Wylder. Wylder involved the young Dennis into the drug underworld and forced him to sell drugs for him, otherwise he would hurt him. Ronnie and Dennis's auntie hated the boy's parents and would often mock them, taunting Dennis over his murdered parents and that they deserved it, with Ronnie even telling Dennis that he was planning to kill them anyway and rob their mansion. One night, Ronnie found out Dennis had lost his drugs and, in extreme turn, Ronnie drugged Dennis's dinner with LSD which caused him to hallucinate at night in his bedroom. Ronnie was with Dennis during his trauma and continuously taunted him, completely traumatizing Dennis and psychologically breaking him down. This resulted in Dennis becoming mentally unstable and psychopathic for the rest of his life. At some point, Dennis stole a fridge from the local junkyard and kept in the woods where he would store the bodies of the animals he had tortured and killed in horrific methods. Dennis also started using up Ronnie's drug supply, leading an enraged Ronnie to follow Dennis out into the woods where he came across his "secret fridge". Ronnie was visibly disturbed by the horrific sight but his foot was suddenly caught in a beartrap, revealed to be a trap set by the cunning and more unstable Dennis. Ronnie threatened that he would kill Dennis for this, but Dennis pulled out a lead pipe and proceeded to hit Ronnie in the face with it, knocking him down. Barely speaking and profusely bleeding from his severe head wound, Ronnie begged for his life and even tried to apologize to Dennis but, to no avail, as Dennis bashed in Ronnie's face repeatedly until he died.

After murdering Ronnie, Dennis searched his pockets and he found some money, a packet of cocaine, keys and his switchblade. He returned to the home where his auntie was angry because Ronnie had not returned yet with her drugs, but Dennis told her he will not be coming back as he killed him. The auntie laughed this off initially and insulted Dennis, but Dennis revealed the bloody pipe he used to kill him with and everything he had on him including the coke she wanted. The auntie was horrified and tried to run away, but Dennis caught up to her and used Ronnie's switchblade to stab her repeatedly, watching her coldly bleed to death. Dennis buried both bodies in the woods and he sat alone quietly in the spot he buried them, peacefully listening to the birds sing.

Growing into a young adult, Dennis befriended several other men whom had similar inner demons including Boyd Branner, Emmett Beale and Matthew Carson. One night while Dennis was hanging out with Matthew and Beale in his apartment, Boyd unexpectedly turned up and introduced his friends to his new friend and "mentor", Lydia Hunt. When Boyd told them what he did to his boss and how alive he felt, Dennis was intrigued and he was easily convinced by Lydia and Boyd to join in on their "fun" and embrace the monsters inside themselves to feel in control and not be the victim anymore for once in their lives by kidnapping, torturing and raping women they took sadistic interest in. They formed the Cabin Girl Gang and used a secret torture chamber in the woods for their victims. Dennis became in charge of picking out the women for the gang as well as stalking and abducting them. Dennis had kidnapped, tortured and raped up to nine women alongside his gang, with the tenth and final victim being the vulnerable and innocent writer Beth Sonozaki.

Dennis first "encountered" Beth at a local bar where she flirted with her but Beth rejected and humiliated him in front of the other patrons, which angered Dennis and he apparently left the bar. While Beth was writing in the woods, it is revealed that Dennis had stalked her and he ambushes her in the woods, sadistically pursuing her while wearing the mask of a bear and is armed with a machete to scare her. Dennis manages to ambush Beth and drugs her, then he abducts his victim and takes her back to the gang's cabin. While Lydia recorded the torture session, Dennis participated in torturing and raping Beth repeatedly along with his sadistic friends. Dennis's merciless actions consisted of forcing her to take LSD which psychologically fractures her, urinated on her whilst taunting her, subjected her to electroshock torture and tortured her with a switchblade to leave her with lasting scars. At Lydia's request, Dennis held down Beth so that Boyd could brand her with a hot branding iron and he sadistically laughed as she writhed in agony. When Matthew tried helping Beth into escaping her captivity, Dennis and Boyd savagely beat up Matthew and Dennis even held out his arm, allowing Boyd to snap it with a stomp. Lydia then told the two men to drag the crying and agonized Matthew into Beth's cell, locking him up despite Matthew's pleas to not leave him in the darkness. Lydia then ordered Beale to take Beth away and murder her, claiming that they're done with her to which Dennis agreed to. However the murder did not go as planned and Beth disappeared into the lake, so Beale told Dennis about the incident before coming to Lydia or Boyd. Dennis was visibly scared of being exposed and tried to console a crying Beale into calming down and telling him they'll be fine, though Beale tries to stop Dennis from informing Lydia. In defensive response, Dennis punches Beale in the face when he was grabbed by Beale and unintentionally knocked him out. Dennis then informed Lydia and Boyd about Beth's possible survival, and, concerned, asked Lydia what she would do to Beale for his mistake. Lydia though did not answer Dennis's question and simply smiled before coldly ordering him to help Boyd search the lake for Beth. The men came up with nothing during their hunt, so the gang assume Beth to be dead and they went their separate ways to lay low in the meantime.

Thirteen years later, Dennis found work as a successful businessman who owned a strip club and he was involved in a Spanish human trafficking ring in which victimized the women he employed.

### Boyd Branner

Portrayed by Pablo Schreiber, Boyd Branner is a major antagonist. He was a member of the Cabin Girl Gang and was a close associate of her boss Lydia Hunt. He had a calm, stern demeanor. He's intelligent and was capable of protecting himself and Lydia from exposure. Due to his position, he's very defensive when someone approaches Lydia and shows to be very protective of her. Despite his facade as Lydia's bodyguard and head of security and a regular, hardworking man, Boyd is a monster who raped and tortured several women. An extremely violent person, he uses physical violence to dominate his victims and leaves them with scars and bruises. He has strong loyalty to Lydia despite the fact that Lydia barely respects and looks down on him.

Boyd was born in Miami and he had went from foster home to foster home due to his parents abandoning him as well as being in and out for jail for petty crimes. During his childhood, Boyd had a history of rage issues and violent impulses that ruined his attempts to fit into society. Finally, at the age of fifteen, Boyd entered a foster family who aimed to discipline Boyd and improve him by enrolling him into military school after he dropped out of high school. Military school effectively changed Boyd for the better and he eventually joined the U.S. Army to serve his country and make his foster parents proud of him. However during one tour in the Middle East, Second Lieutenant Boyd and his squad were ambushed by enemy guerrillas and their defenses were shredded by gunfire. While most of the squad were brutally slaughtered in the attack, Boyd and his other two surviving teammates, Private Lester and Corporal Pikney, were taken prisoner by the terrorists but their conditions were harsh and the hostiles mistreated them. Boyd made attempts to console his fellow prisoners and that they will make it out alive and return to their loved ones, but the guerrillas took Boyd to interrogation and beat him for resisting as well as tying him up in an uncomfortable position and waterboarded him in an attempt to break him. After failing to break Boyd, the guerrillas brought in a beaten up Lester and forced the two to play Russian Roulette with each other, which ended up in Lester being killed. When the guerrillas threatened to bring in Pikney too unless he talks, Boyd started revealing the positions of the other squadrons in the region which led to the guerrillas also ambushing and eliminating them, much to Boyd's remorse. During the night in their cell, a broken Boyd and Pikney were confronted in their cell by the guerrillas and forced the two men to fight to the death after providing them with a hammer. Pikney tried to persuade Boyd not to give in to their games and not let them get the satisfaction as well as pleading for his life, but Boyd coldly ignored Pikney's pleas and said he has to do what he has to do before grabbing the hammer and bludgeoning his former friend with it to save his own life. Boyd blamed himself for his friends' deaths and felt greatly remorseful over what he did, beginning to hate himself and want to die. The guerrillas visited Boyd in his cell again armed with guns and Boyd begged them to kill him, but they refused as they wanted Boyd to suffer and instead forced him to eat a sandwich filled with fecal matter. Though Boyd refused their orders and asked what would they do in retaliation if he did not comply, so the guerrillas beat on and subdued Boyd and one of them sodomized him. Boyd screamed in pain and agony before they left him on the floor, and threatened to do more to him if he did not eat the sandwich.

Eventually, Boyd managed to get free of captivity and returned to the United States to his foster family but he suffered from PTSD and became mentally unstable and violent because of what he suffered as a prisoner as well as the remorse he feels for causing Lester's death, murdering Pinkney to save himself and revealing information that led to numerous casualties. He eventually had a wife and two children, whom he loved deeply and cared for, and he worked at a nearby construction site to make money. However, an incident was accidentally caused by Boyd which led to the unintentional deaths of one of his coworkers. Boyd was suspected of purposefully killing the worker by the other workers because he was birthed from the same region that Boyd was held prisoner at, which led to Boyd angrily ranting at them for thinking that and came to the realization that everyone around him is in danger so he quit his job. One night while having PTSD flashbacks of his time as a prisoner, Boyd imagined his family as his captors and used his gun to shoot his wife in his sleep, and then killed his children when they came into the bedroom after hearing the gunshots. Boyd, realizing what he had done tragically, mourned over his family's deaths and he was arrested by the police but was sent to a mental hospital rather than prison, being deemed mentally unfit to stand trial and this actions were caused by his PTSD.

While staying at the psychiatric facility, Boyd met Lydia Hunt who was working as a psychiatrist there. The two eventually became friends however Lydia was manipulating Boyd into becoming "hers" and she took joy in slowly shaping Boyd into an evil and psychopathic monster due to his fragile mental state, managing to persuade him that he killed his family because he wanted to through several psychological trials and drugs and made him forget about his tragic military past. Lydia managed to get Boyd released from hospital and declared sane, returning him to the streets as a living weapon for her planned "projects". Boyd met up with Lydia in her apartment and she persuaded him into letting out his inner demons, promising it will make him feel "good" and "feel alive". Through Lydia's manipulation, Boyd kidnapped his old construction site boss and he proceeded to take her to the secret torture chamber hidden beneath a burned cabin in the woods. Lydia recorded the torture session but Boyd was reluctant to do anything to his victim after tying her up and simply stared at her, but Lydia spiked his drink with ecstasy which helped her easily convince him to do what he pleases. Boyd brutally tortured and raped his boss out of violent anger, in which Lydia sadistically recorded with her camera. Afterwards, Boyd frantically asked Lydia on what happens to her, but Lydia calms him down and promises she will take care of everything. Lydia then kills their victim by injecting her in the neck with a lethal chemical despite telling her she came to help her escape.

Boyd eventually decided to share his "feeling" to his old friends who he befriended before he slaughtered his family, arriving at Dennis Wakowski's apartment during the following night with Lydia accompanying him and he reunited with Dennis, Matthew Carson and Emmett Beale who were surprised and shocked at Boyd's return. Boyd introduced them to Lydia and told them about how she helped him and what he did, they were initially skeptical but he and Lydia persuaded them to join in on their "fun" and embrace the monsters inside themselves to feel in control and not be the victim anymore for once in their lives by kidnapping, torturing and raping women they took sadistic interest in. They formed the Cabin Girl Gang and used the same torture chamber in the woods for their victims. Boyd acted as Lydia's enforcer and second-in-command, being the physically most intimidating and capable member and Lydia's most loyal friend. He was also the most violent and sadistic member of the gang, often using physical violence to torture his victims and intimidate them with his gun.

Dennis drugged Beth while she was in the woods writing her book and he kidnapped her, taking her to the gang's cabin. While Lydia recorded the torture session, Boyd participated in torturing and raping Beth repeatedly along with his sadistic friends. Boyd's ruthless actions consisted of using his gun to intimidate and threaten her such as playing "Russian Roulette" with her at the risk of only killing her and forced her to suck on the barrel while taunting her, used extreme physical violence on Beth such as whipping her back and wrists to leave scars and brutal beatings with his bare fists, forced her to eat a "shit sandwich" and he pointed his shotgun at her crotch with the evil threat to shoot her. When Beth asked Boyd why is he doing this to her, he sadistically replied because he wants it and that "she wants it" deep down. At Lydia's request, Boyd burned Lydia with a hot ironing brand and sadistically laughed as she writhed in agony. When Matthew tried to help Beth escape from her captivity, Boyd and the others caught them in the act. Boyd shoved his gun in Matthew's mouth and asked permission from Lydia to kill him for his treachery, but Lydia declined and instead ordered her and Beale to punish him through physical violence. Boyd and Beale brutally beat up Matthew to a bloody pulp, and Boyd even stomped on his arm to snap it. Lydia then told Boyd to lock the crying and agonizing Matthew in Beth's cell, to which Boyd dragged him inside and locked him up despite Matthew's pleas to not leave him in the darkness. Lydia then ordered Beale to kill Beth, to which Boyd agreed to. However the murder did not go as planned and Beth disappeared into the lake, angering Boyd who wanted to hurt Beale but Lydia stopped him and claimed she'll deal with him before ordering Boyd to search for Beth. The men though come up with nothing and they decide to go their separate ways and lay low for a while.

Thirteen years later, Boyd married a woman named Anna and started a family together consisting of Boyd's daughter Emily, whom Boyd deeply loved and believed he can forget about his dark past and change his identity to hide it. He also joined the police force, managing to rise up the ranks to chief however he was a corrupt cop who became involved in gang-related drug trafficking and also used his power and influence to help Lydia should she need his services, as Boyd was still fanatically devoted to her.

### Matthew Carson

Portrayed by RJ Mitte, Matthew Carson is a former antagonist. He was a member of the Cabin Girl Gang and was a disabled young man who felt greatly remorseful for his actions, and his participation in the horrible acts were due to Lydia Hunt's manipulation and coercion. He was mistreated and abused by his friends and was forced into participating in the raping and torturing of their victims through violence and manipulation by Lydia and her followers. At some point during their horrible acts, Matthew even tried to rescue one of the women but was caught which led to her execution and Matthew was savagely beaten up by the men on Lydia's orders, to the point of his arm being broken. Matthew felt greatly remorseful over his reluctant crimes but did not go to the police out of a mixture of loyalty and fear to Lydia, thinking of her like a "mother" and the only person he can look to for help and care.

Matthew was born in Miami and he was delivered by emergency caesarian and was not breathing at the time of his birth, which resulted in permanent brain damage. He was raised by a relatively happy and caring family consisting of his mother Betty, father Eric and older sister Kerry in a safe neighborhood filled with friendly faces, however at the age of eight, one of the neighbors was a pedophile and he took a depraved interest in Matthew. Matthew was preyed upon by the pedophile named Ben Philips and was stalked at the shopping mall where Matthew was trying on clothes with his parents. Ben took Matthew around to his home after managing to get him alone in the streets and showed him around to impress the boy, lying to him that he was a photographer. Ben managed to persuade Matthew into getting his clothes off so he can take photos of him, before letting go upon hearing his father return from work. Eventually, Matthew told his father what he did with Ben. In a violent act of revenge for his son, Eric confronted Ben in his home and shot him in both of his kneecaps, crippling him for life. The police was called and Eric was imprisoned, while Ben committed suicide via drug overdose because he was being investigated by the police for his crimes and being left in a wheelchair. Matthew was traumatized by these events and blamed himself for everything, as the once happy and loving family became a bitter and loathing one as Betty turned to alcoholism and Kerry became a vicious bully towards Matthew, blaming him for Eric's predicament. At high school, Matthew's bullying gotten worse as Kerry humiliated him in front of everyone and revealed Ben's actions towards him which got him the attention of the other bullies. Because of his life getting ruined, Matthew tried to hang himself in his bedroom but was saved in time by a remorseful Kerry. Kerry apologized to her brother and tried to help him with the bullying, but Matthew's depressive state continued regardless and he barely forgave Kerry.

Growing into a young adult, Matthew befriended several other men named Boyd Branner, Emmett Beale and Dennis Wakowski. One night while Matthew was hanging out with Beale and Dennis in Dennis's apartment, Boyd unexpectedly turned up to the door and introduced his friends to his new friend and mentor, Lydia Hunt. When Boyd told them what he did to his boss and how alive he felt, Matthew was very skeptical and reluctant to join in on their supposed "fun" because he lacked the same desired evils the others had. Matthew though was persuaded singly by Lydia who acted "motherly" and "caring" towards him, managing to get out his dark past out of him and used that to control him into participating in the nightly sessions of kidnappings, tortures and sexual assaults on women, which took place in the torture chamber beneath the cabin in the woods. They formed the Cabin Girl Gang and Matthew was reluctant in committing the same horrific acts his sadistic friends had, but did so anyway through manipulation and control primarily from Lydia's doing. Matthew was directly or indirectly involved in the tortures and murders of nine women, before their last victim Beth Sonozaki.

Dennis drugged and kidnapped Beth in the woods and took her to the torture chamber. While Lydia recorded the torture session, Matthew reluctantly participated against his will. Dennis told Matthew to rape a pleading Beth but Matthew tried to refuse, so Dennis pulled out his switchblade and slowly cut into her throat with the threat of murdering her. Matthew then proceeded to rape Beth by force, apologizing while doing so and showing great shame and remorse. He was also horrified from the other men's actions, which was noted by Lydia, and he even tried to talk Boyd out of his sadistic Russian Roulette game only to be pushed against a wall by Boyd and threatened. Lydia eventually privately talked to Matthew and comforted him, hugging the crying Matthew in a "motherly" fashion and further toyed with him. After Matthew witnessed Beth's branding in horror, the following night he released Beth from her restraints and unlocked her cell in an attempt to help her escape whilst expressing his remorse and immense shame in what doing what he did and that he did nothing but watch Beth's excruciating torture. However the two were caught by Lydia and her men, much to a horrified Matthew's shock and he tried to reason with them but he was attacked by Boyd who shoved his gun in his mouth and wanted to pull the trigger. However Lydia told Boyd to not kill him but instead teach him a brutal lesson, resulting in Boyd smashing Matthew's head against the wall twice and Dennis sent him to the ground by punching him hard in the stomach. Boyd and Dennis savagely beat up Matthew whilst Beale forced Beth to watch, pleading with Lydia to stop the attack but she silently ignored her and smiled sadistically. Boyd then broke Matthew's arm with a shattering stomp, then he dragged Matthew into Beth's cell and locked him inside whilst Matthew begged them not to leave him in the dark.

While Beth disappeared and the men were searching for her, Lydia visited Matthew in his cell and talked to him about what he did wrong. Matthew cried in Lydia's arms, apologizing to her for betraying them and promising not to do it again. Lydia calmed him down before getting out some rope and he begins to violently strangle Matthew with it, dragging him across the cell until he passes out unconscious. After waking up he is tied to a chair in the dark cell, being stared at by Lydia, Boyd, Dennis and Beale. Lydia lied to Matthew that Beth is now dead and puts the blame on him, watching as Matthew cries in guilt. Lydia also tells him that they're all going their separate ways and demands Matthew to not contact with anyone, or inform anyone, especially the police, about their crimes. Matthew nodded in compliance and makes the promise he will not do anything, though Boyd gets out his gun and presses it against Matthew's chest before saying he's making sure he will not say anything. Shutting his eyes, Matthew is shocked when Boyd pulls the trigger but nothing happens because the gun is empty, revealing he was only scaring him into submission. Boyd threatens Matthew's life should he snitch on anyone or try to seek justice for Beth and the other women, promising that next time the bullet will be real. The gang then abandoned Matthew tied to the chair, with Lydia terrifyingly shushing Matthew to keep quiet before departing.

Thirteen years later, Matthew was framed by the others for kidnapping, raping and murdering Beth Sonozaki which led to him being sentenced to death and was awaiting his scheduled execution in prison.

### Vincent Easton

Portrayed by Jimmy Smits, Vincent Easton is the main character of season two. He is a police detective who was investigating the Cabin Girl Gang and their murders committed by their surviving victim Beth Sonozaki.