Crew Girl Is Ready to Make Waves with Rowing, Rivalries & a Love Triangle

All of my fellow teen drama fans, we are certainly being well-fed this summer.

If Sterling Point was all about the bond between sisters, and if Outer Banks Season 5 will focus on adventure and revenge, then Netflix’s upcoming teen drama, Crew Girl, should be all about messy team dynamics on New England’s stunning shores.

The new trailer for Crew Girl teases a new YA coming-of-age drama about the dysfunctional rowing team at an elite East Coast prep school — and the drama that ensues when they gain an unexpected new coxswain.

The trailer introduces Crew Girl’s 16-year-old protagonist, Teagan Tao (played by Miku Martineau), a star rower with a promising future ahead of her.

But when her father’s crimes come to light, she has to relocate to the East Coast with her mother.

After arriving in Eagle Cove, Teagan starts attending a posh New England academy (where the uniform policy is quite unclear) and meets a couple of new friends who help her get the lay of the land.

After inquiring into the existence of the women’s rowing team — and finding out to her shock and dismay that there is none — Teagan proves that she’s the missing team member the men’s team needs.

She takes up the position as coxswain (for those new to rowing, that’s the member of the team whose role is to steer, manage race strategy, motivate the rowers, and call their stroke rate), much to the chagrin of some of the men on the team.

Let’s hope they get over themselves real quick.

While I admit that I’ve never rowed a day in my life, I’m excited to see a teen drama center around a female athlete and a sport that deserves more time in the spotlight.

Plus, it switches things up a little from the seemingly infinite number of hockey shows currently in production.

Teen drama fans know that an elite prep school provides more than a pretty backdrop for a show; it makes possible many of the tropes and well-worn plot lines that make the genre feel timelessly nostalgic and familiar.

Class warfare, high-stakes rivalries, lavish parties where ample drama ensues, a platform for designers to debut pieces from their new collections… these genre staples never entirely get old.

In this, Crew Girl seems to borrow such tried-and-true conventions made popular by predecessors like Gossip Girl, Elite, and Maxton Hall.

And of course there will be a love triangle.

Can you imagine a contemporary teen drama without one? I yearn for the day when we’ll get a love quadrangle to spice things up — or maybe, just maybe, a queer love triangle with a bisexual lead.

This time, we’ll settle for one between a rival blonde (Josh, a very blonde name) and a brunette (Cam, a very brunette name).

Teagan’s friends warn her to avoid Josh “at all costs,” which, of course, means she won’t be able to stay away. And as Cam and Josh both catch feelings for Teagan, their tension is bound to boil over the sides of their boat.

There will be gratuitous slow-motion ab shots, longing stares between the boys and Teagan, and parental pressure put on the boys by their fathers.

There will be a moment where Josh carries Teagan down a dock after rescuing her from the water, giving all fans flashbacks to Ryan carrying Marissa.

And there will be ship wars galore, I’m sure.

Will a blonde actually triumph this time? Will the enemies-to-lovers vibe the trailer teases win fans to his cause?

Only time will tell. 

Time will also tell if Crew Girl can successfully follow in the footsteps of new teen dramas like Sterling Point, taking the genre’s well-worn tropes and turning them on their head to tell a story that feels fresh and unique.

The trailer teases slightly more style than substance — everyone looks plucked straight from a J.Crew or 2003 Abercrombie catalog.

But Miku Martineau brings warm, captivating energy that suggests she’ll be a perfect lead for a delightfully soapy back-to-school binge-watch.

Mark your calendars: Crew Girl premieres September 10 on Netflix with its full eight-episode season.

You can watch the trailer here:

So, teen drama Fanatics, are you excited for this new Netflix series? 

Are you ready for a new love triangle to root for?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments!