Type: Romantic
Book | TV Show: Elle Kennedy’s The Deal and Prime Video’s Off Campus
Featured Characters: Hannah Wells and Garrett Graham
Trust. That’s the foundation Hannah Wells and Garrett Graham’s relationship stands on. It’s what makes Off Campus work so well as a series, and how it tenderly conveys why romance novels, and their respective adaptations, remain a safe space.
Individually and together, the character journeys give people the safe space to understand that their pain and trauma don’t define them, even if they’re a part of them. For Hannah and Garrett, their time as a couple together is built on their effortless means of giving each other a safe space to land—someone to share their secrets with, crack themselves wide open, to heal and find a steady sense of comfort that’s been missing for both of them. Yes, it’s mutually beneficial and transactional at first, but like the best romances, slowly, then all at once, it becomes everything.
Hannah and Garrett Get the Perfect Fake Dating Arc
Fake dating isn’t rare for a trope, but it’s not always this well done when we aren’t exploring it through a friends-to-lovers trajectory, where much of the groundwork has already been established. Plus, how the show changes various details from Elle Kennedy’s book works perfectly to supply the audience with palpable instances of how they’re falling in love without internal monologue shifting us toward the big, meaty changes in their emotions.
This way, their strangers-to-friends-to-lovers arc morphs even more beautifully with the fake dating archetypes, allowing every moment we spend with them to mirror a safe space that’s easy to stay in.
Between both of them embarrassing themselves on different occasions before their ruse even begins, to the quiet moments where it’s clear that everything’s changing, Off Campus Season 1 does a gorgeous job of conveying the natural progression of their relationship. Specifically, at Beau and Dean’s party in “The Practice,” then at karaoke night, and even more evidently right as they’ve both climaxed in “The Breakup.”
Scene Breakdown: Garrett Watches Hannah Sing Karaoke in Off Campus
It’s in these three instances where sexual tension and emotional tethers lace themselves together to prove that what they’ve found in each other is nothing like either of them could’ve expected. Beyond this, the softness and vulnerability in episodes five to eight secure their endgame in a way that’s so comforting, it’s almost overwhelming to talk about it.
Changes From the Book Show That They Understand Each Other Intimately
A stark change from The Deal that works especially well is the complete trajectory shift we get at the end of the fourth episode, which propels us toward the two of them becoming a couple before they do anything else together. Even more effectively, the Drunk Shakespeare production gives them a place to understand that they can’t keep denying their feelings because their experiences together are no longer transactional. They aren’t just fooling around, and their time spent together isn’t something either of them wants to pause on, despite the snapchats he’s getting and the Justin of it all.
Because at that point, if Hannah and Graham kept sleeping together only for her to still be curious about exploring her feelings for Justin, it’d be jarring and strange. It wouldn’t work in the context of the show when so much of their closeness is fortified by their friendship. It’s already obvious when they lie together and laugh that everything between them has shifted. They might not have touched each other in that scene, but what they experience in that shared moment of vulnerability binds them in a way that goes beyond their physical wants and needs. It tugs on something deeper.
At this early point in their relationship, only Garrett is aware of the pain that Hannah carries. She has somewhat of an idea of his past based on the way he mentioned the pressure his dad put him under in “The Practice,” but his violent nature isn’t something she’s aware of yet. But Garrett knowing about the fact that she was roofied and sexually assaulted is an enormous piece of why he can be trusted. Because of this—and because of how hard he’s fallen after the karaoke scene—it feels more organic that no other person would step into their space once they decide to be exclusive.
The most admirable detail in Garrett’s reaction is that he fully understands just how vulnerable sex is, whether you have trauma tied to it or not. And it’s because he recognizes this notion that his own release is entirely different from anything he’s experienced with the number of other women he’s been with. Hannah trusting him with her past and her heartaches and her truth allows him to be vulnerable in a way that recontexualizes what intimacy actually is.
It’s physical, yes, but it’s completely emotional, too. It’s everything all at once to open yourself up to someone fully. Which is why—again—it feels natural that Garrett would be the first person for Hannah to open up with outside of people at Ransom. And, more importantly, why they’d decide on exclusivity before they do more outside of the scene.
I also understand concerns about why Hannah wouldn’t have told Allie, but because I love how their scene pans out in the end, it almost feels okay that both she and Garrett would work through their pain together, then feel safe enough to open up with their best friends later down the line.
Centering Each Other
Garrett is the definition of he fell first and hard. He’s already inching toward uncharted territories for him when he watches her lose herself to Elton John’s “The B!t!ch is Back,” and he tenderly admits to it later when he tells her about that moment. “I followed your voice through the tunnels. I saw you in the green room…you were so genuine. Free. You centered me.” He might not fully grasp the why in philosophy, but poetry could certainly work for Garrett. Because that’s exactly what the simplicity in this declaration is. It’s poetry.
It’s an honest, profound truth, where Garrett Graham admits to the fact that he doesn’t know how he’s ever lived without her. A fan favorite book quote isn’t in Off Campus this season, but this truth says it all, regardless. In addition, with the show being an ensemble series, it could be something they’re saving to use later, which I personally wouldn’t mind either way.
Because ultimately, the words you centered me say everything. The meaning is infinite when we later watch Garrett crumble in Hannah’s arms after the Thanksgiving dinner at his dad’s house in “Cold Turkey.” There, every pain and heartache he’s harbored alone rushes to the surface as he lets her hold him through the suffering. There, for the first time in his adult life, he gives another person every piece of himself that he’s tucked away, in the same way that she did when she opened up to him.
One of the things I wrote in my notes was, “the way they laugh together.” Because that’s what centering is, isn’t it? It’s comforting and honest. Both their hearts on full display. And much of the reason their soft, easy moments are so evocative is entirely because of the chemistry between Ella Bright and Belmont Cameli. From the moment they start bantering in the early days to their honest conversations about music and movies and memes from opposite sides of the floor, the actors give us clear insight into the fact that they understand their respective characters. On top of that, the classic rom-com split-screen conversations, along with the intimate blocking we get in various scenes as he watches her video, supply us with discernible beats to understand that these two are perpetually changed by each other.
It’s in their moments of honest laughter and quiet conversations where the trust is built so beautifully. It’s one thing for Garrett to refuse her advances when she’s drunk, but he also neatly folds her clothes later and puts them beside the windowsill on her side of the bed. He uses his own blanket when he eventually falls asleep so he won’t disrupt her in any way. They’re small details, but before he even learns the truth about what happened to her in high school, Garrett’s already showing us that he cares about her.
He wants to take care of her. He wants her to know that, with him, she has agency. If she wants to drink, she can, and he’ll guard them with his life. If she wants to do something, he’ll do it for her, even if it’s to serve her crush on another man while he’s already in too deep. He’s in it fully, and the way he runs to the sound of her voice brings so much of that achingly delicious yearning to life. The desperate, unveiled wants that are shimmering in his eyes every time he watches her lose herself in something that brings her joy. Karaoke, music, when she talks about Allie, her curiosity, her wonder—Garrett sees it all and pockets every detail for safekeeping.
Jagged Edges and Light in the Darkness
Opposites attract is also one of the best tropes to explore because the way that characters fill the cracks in each other is just…lovely. The ease she brings him when she isn’t even in the room, and he replays the old video of her singing “Page One.” The way that she knows—for a fact—that she’s safe with him, protected and armored in a world where there’s too much viciousness and horrible people determined to hurt others.
Trust and vulnerability aren’t easy. They’re especially hard in the college years when people are brash and inattentive. Yet, it’s so easy to believe in their happily ever after, and sure, the book and genre archetypes validate this, but it’s the show’s execution, too. It’s the female gaze and every attention to detail in nearly every scene they share.
It’s the detail that their best moments aren’t brought to life through words but proven through actions. For the people who get off on dismissing romance as “meaningless smut,” I’d love for them to show me a beat that’s more achingly vulnerable than Hannah and Garrett accidentally falling asleep while holding each other. I’d love for them to show me something more intimate than their first I love you, which comes through an ordinary, accidental slip-up when they’re both a little tired and soft.
The easy comfort in the way he lies on the bed as she practices and he listens to her sing because her voice is his anchor in every way that’s humanly possible. The tenderness with which he delivers “hey, baby,” with, and the easy smile that curls his lips as he opens the door and sees her sitting on his bed. Garrett Graham has never felt more at ease in his own home, and it’s entirely because of Hannah’s presence there. There’s so much breathtaking intimacy in the quiet moments, and coupled with the literal heat we get in the way they play off each other earlier, it makes these scenes that much more vulnerable.
Trust isn’t easy for most people, let alone for people who’ve endured trauma in their lives. Steadfast, unwavering trust is the hardest form of certainty to uncover with another human being, yet it’s exactly what Hannah and Garrett find in their friendship. It’s the foundation they strengthen when they become a couple, fusing parts of their individual lives as much as they can to continue holding on to the happiness that neither of them thought they’d find.
And this trust is as solid as it is because Garrett genuinely values and respects Hannah’s agency. It’s why the show counterpart wouldn’t make any executive decisions on her behalf, including a campus-wide hands-off ban, because that’d go against the way he’s adamant to ensure that everything is her choice. He loses himself when he finds out about Aaron, and that understandably becomes the catalyst in their momentary split (which also makes perfect sense in the show), yet this is also the part that’s so effectively tied to his past.
It’s how he comes to fully understand that just because he’s capable of rage, he isn’t and could never be his father. Their time apart is what leads them both to open up to Allie and Logan, which in turn showcases how love doesn’t just impact the couple when they’re together, but it’s supposed to encourage them both to continuously become the best versions of themselves possible. It’s what leads Hannah to finally finish her song and understand just how much she’s capable of on her own. It’s what leads Garrett to the realization that he’s in hockey because of his love for the sport, not for his father.
The rest? That’s the magic of an ever-growing love between two people who’ll consistently go out of their way to ensure that their partner is at their happiest. Safe. Satisfied. Heard. Loved.
Writer’s Note: This deep dive will be updated after Season 2.
First Featured Image Credit: ©Prime