I pressed play on Crew Girl, fully thinking I’d be too annoyed to make it past even a single episode, but found myself pleasantly surprised throughout. It’s certainly no masterpiece, and there are way too many moments that can be grating if you lack the patience for teen angst and drama, but it’s a fun time regardless.
At a time when we have some incredible hockey romances like Heated Rivalry and Off Campus, there will likely be comparisons made to them that feel entirely unnecessary because the stories aren’t meant to be even remotely similar. For starters, while it seems there will be a book for Crew Girl, written by Sheila McClure, it’s not out for people to prep in advance or to understand the larger ensemble world other adaptations feature. The characterizations and scope of the story are also significantly different, allowing it to fully stand on its own.
In a lot of ways, Crew Girl Season 1 feels more similar to shows and movies from the early aughts. Features like Rip Girls and Make It or Break It. You don’t quite know what you’re about to get with how angsty the narrative can be, but you also can’t turn it off even when it feels like it’s straying a little too close to “too much.” It deep dives into a quintessential love triangle, making it legitimately hard to predict which way it’ll go in the end because both Samuel Braun’s Josh and Kyle Clark’s Cam give us two very different relationships with Miku Martineau’s Teagan.
The adults at times are even messier than the kids, and Eagle’s Cove isn’t exactly the dreamiest small town, yet you can’t help but want to explore every avenue. Dig through old secrets that separate old money and the working class. In truth, Crew Girl at times bites off more than it can chew, making matters more questionable than they need to be, but the potential is there. The groundwork is compelling enough that if it delivers more contained narratives in the second season, it can be a vast improvement.
As someone who knows next to nothing about rowing, the show does a decent job of giving us enough to not only understand the mechanisms but to care about the sport. As a leading character, Teagan is not only layered and compelling, but Martineau does an incredible job of bringing all her emotions to life organically. So much of the show’s charm is a result of the characters being likable even when they’re messy and frustrating. You want them to be okay, and you want to know what they’ll get into next. You want things to work out for them, and at times, that’s the most we can ask for with a show—time well spent.
And if nothing else, Crew Girl is legitimately a lot of fun. It’s not some must-watch phenomenon, but with heat waves all around us and summer holding on with all its might, it feels like the exact type of show to tune into. The back to school vibes are strong as ever with this one, and it’s also got the kind of stellar soundtrack you’ll be constantly bopping your head to.
Crew Girl Season 1 is now streaming on Netflix.
First Featured Image Credit: ©Netflix