Always a bridesmaid...

The absolute queen of unrequited love in "The Tribe" was Salene. Always-confused Salene. Take-care-of-everybody Salene. Whiney Salene. Sincere Salene. She was a typical teenager at a time and in a world when "typical" was underrated.

Salene was the one who suffered bulemia.

Salene sold out to the Chosen (kinda like a version of our game's Brotherhood).

Salene loved Ryan, didn't appreciate him, ran him off, then had a bout of guilt and went out to find him.

But loving the wrong guy at the wrong time was truly her forte. Start with Bray. That actually had a chance except for Trudy. Nah, would never have worked. Bray was definitely meant for Amber. Even when she went so far as to...well...offer him everything, all she did was embarrass herself. The Ultimate Turndown. (Thank god that was her cure for Bray.)

Then there was Ryan. But by that time Salene was just in love with the idea of love. Ryan was too nice a guy. Sadly, she didn't know how to react to being treated well. The only reason she married Ryan was that she was pregnant. Poor Ryan.

Next was Luke. Luke of the Chosen. Luke who would be a friend to Sal but actually had his eye on Ellie.

Then there was Pride. Unfortunately Pride was also hung up on Amber.

Salene realized she really loved Ryan after it was too late. Sal found out that Pride actually loved her, but only after he was dead--and the kicker was, that was when she found out that May wanted to be "more than friends."

More than most of the other Tribe characters, Salene spent 5 seasons growing and changing. She had her weak periods, her strong periods, her wise periods...in other words, we got to watch our Sal grow up. By the end of Season-5, you knew she was gonna be ok no matter what she had to deal with next.

Despite everything, Salene was a survivor. And she was one person that we witnessed that survival step by step.

-Chyna

Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"