South Dakota and Carolina being two sides of the same coin fuckin fascinates me; they were both incredibly selfish, competitive people who put themselves and the people around them at risk because they had something to prove. the only difference between them is their ability and willingness to rely on people.
as much as South's relationship with North was forced upon her by their parents and used against her by the Director, she leaned on North pretty heavily. he wasn't competitive or judgemental, and he always had her back, no matter what. when she botched a mission, North was right behind her; when she had an outburst, North was right behind her; whenever anything went wrong, she always, always had North. and that made her more reckless than Carolina in some ways.
Carolina, in order to prove herself, would never even entertain the idea of relying on someone the way South relies on North. she didn't ever put herself in a position that she didn't think she could get herself out of, because she thought there wasn't anyone she could rely on. and, of course, she occasionally gravely underestimated the danger of/overestimated her ability to deal with a situation--especially when Texas came into the picture and challenged her position in the project.
but South, in her attempts to prove herself, would willfully put herself in situations that she absolutely could not get herself out of--like tripping an alarm in a building full of armed guards after being told repeatedly that should put her trackers on, and she felt safe being that reckless, because she'd always have North. right up until the moment she 'put him in a position to be killed' (as stated by Delta), South was probably thinking that North would be fine, because North had Theta and, more importantly, she would always have North. until she didn't, and it was all her fault.
ultimately, neither South or Carolina could have survived the other's situation. the moment Texas showed up and put Carolina in South's position of constantly having to prove herself, she completely self-destructed. and when South tried going it alone the way Carolina did, she destroyed the tentative alliance she had with the only other person who tried helping her (Washington) and ended up paying for it later with her life.
