Netflix has certainly learned the formula for an addictive young-adult drama: an elite school, attractive teenagers, family secrets, class divisions and a love triangle complicated enough to keep viewers hitting “Next Episode.” Crew Girl doesn’t pretend to reinvent that formula. Instead, it finds a surprisingly effective new place to put it — inside a racing shell.
Led by Miku Martineau, the eight-episode Netflix series combines the familiar pleasures of a teen romantic drama with the less familiar world of competitive rowing. The result is warm, attractive and unabashedly earnest television that works considerably better than its collection of recognizable tropes might suggest.
Martineau stars as Teagan Tao, a championship rower whose carefully planned future collapses when her wealthy father’s financial crimes become public. Suddenly separated from the privileged life she knew, Teagan relocates with her mother Ella (Jessica Paré) to the small Massachusetts town where Ella grew up.
For Teagan, the move means starting over at Easton Prep — and discovering that her new school doesn’t even have a women’s rowing team.
Crew Girl Finds a Fresh Setting for a Familiar Story
That’s where Crew Girl makes its smartest decision.
Unable to continue rowing the way she expected, Teagan becomes the coxswain of Easton’s struggling boys’ crew team. Instead of supplying the physical power moving the boat, she has to learn how to lead the athletes sitting in front of her.
That transition gives the series a sports story that mirrors Teagan’s larger journey. She’s accustomed to measuring success through her own performance. Now she’s responsible for helping a group of people she barely knows function as one unit.
The rowing also gives Crew Girl a visual and narrative identity that distinguishes it from the seemingly endless supply of teen dramas built around football, hockey or basketball. There is terminology to learn, team hierarchy to understand and a rhythm to the racing scenes that feels genuinely different.
You don’t need to understand crew before watching. In fact, part of the show’s appeal is discovering the sport alongside the characters.
Miku Martineau Keeps Teagan Easy to Root For
None of that would matter much if Teagan weren’t someone viewers wanted to follow for eight episodes.
Martineau is the show’s greatest asset. She gives Teagan enough confidence to make her believable as an elite athlete without turning that confidence into arrogance. She’s competitive and ambitious, but she’s also a teenager whose life has been detonated by decisions she didn’t make.
That balance becomes particularly important because Crew Girl surrounds her with plenty of familiar YA machinery.
There’s Josh Regis (Sam Braun), the talented and privileged team captain, and Cam Dillinger (Kyle Clark), who represents a very different corner of Easton Prep. It doesn’t take long for Teagan to find herself caught between them, giving the series the romantic triangle its genre practically demands.
There are rivalries, parties, social hierarchies and the requisite school queen bee. Yet Martineau keeps Teagan grounded enough that the show rarely feels as artificial as that checklist makes it sound.
The Crew Girl Love Triangle Is Predictable — And Still Works
Anyone with extensive experience watching YA dramas will recognize many of Crew Girl‘s moves before the show makes them.
Josh and Cam occupy familiar opposite sides of the romantic equation, and the series isn’t shy about using attraction, jealousy and misunderstanding to keep Teagan’s personal life moving alongside the rowing story.
Predictability isn’t necessarily fatal in this genre, though. The question isn’t always whether viewers can guess what’s coming. It’s whether they’ll enjoy watching the characters get there.
Crew Girl mostly succeeds on that front because the relationships have enough chemistry and warmth to overcome some of the more mechanical plotting. The cast sells moments that could easily have felt manufactured, particularly when the series slows down and simply allows its characters to talk to one another.
Jessica Paré Gives Crew Girl an Important Adult Story
The smartest thing Crew Girl does outside the boat is recognize that Teagan isn’t the only person being forced to start over.
Jessica Paré’s Ella has also lost the life she expected to have. Returning to her hometown means confronting old relationships and old memories while figuring out how to rebuild a future for herself and her daughter.
That gives the series an adult perspective that keeps it from becoming exclusively concerned with who Teagan likes or whether Easton wins its next race.
Paré brings an easy warmth to Ella, and the mother-daughter relationship gives Crew Girl some of its most grounded material. Teagan may be experiencing the upheaval as a teenager, but Ella is dealing with the consequences of the same family collapse from an entirely different direction.
Crew Girl Knows Exactly What Kind of Show It Is
There are moments when the machinery becomes too visible. Certain conflicts exist because the story needs another obstacle, some characters initially arrive as recognizable archetypes, and the romantic complications occasionally threaten to overpower the more distinctive rowing material.
But Crew Girl benefits from not treating any of this as if it were prestige television disguised as a teen soap.
It’s sincere.
There is something refreshing about a series willing to embrace friendship, romance, competition, family drama and good-looking people rowing across beautiful water without constantly apologizing for being entertaining.
The better moments also reveal more nuance beneath those broad strokes. Characters who could have remained villains or stereotypes are allowed insecurities of their own, while the show’s class divisions give Teagan’s sudden change in circumstances additional weight.
Most importantly, the rowing isn’t merely decorative. Teagan has to learn that a boat only works when everyone moves together, and that simple idea becomes a useful metaphor for a girl whose carefully controlled individual future has disappeared.
Final Verdict
Crew Girl isn’t going to revolutionize Netflix’s YA drama formula, but it doesn’t need to. Miku Martineau gives the series an immensely likable center, Jessica Paré adds welcome emotional depth, and competitive rowing provides a fresh backdrop for the romance, rivalries and coming-of-age drama.
Some viewers will see the love triangle coming from a mile away. Others may roll their eyes when another familiar teen-drama complication arrives exactly on schedule. But the show’s warmth, cast chemistry and distinctive sports setting make those familiar ingredients easy to forgive.
Sometimes comfort television works because it gives you something you’ve never seen before. Sometimes it works because it takes something you know extremely well and makes you want to watch it again.
Crew Girl falls firmly into the second boat — and rows it remarkably well.
Familiar Waters, Charming Crew
Crew Girl doesn’t reinvent the YA sports drama, but a winning lead performance and fresh rowing setting make this an easy Netflix binge.
The racing sequences, where the unusual sport finally gives the familiar coming-of-age formula an identity of its own.
Miku Martineau, who makes Teagan ambitious, vulnerable and consistently easy to root for.
The rowing setting, cast chemistry, mother-daughter relationship and the show’s willingness to embrace sincere comfort television.
Familiar YA plotting and a predictable love triangle occasionally make the story feel like it’s following a well-used map.
Is Crew Girl Worth Watching?
Yes, particularly if you enjoy character-driven YA dramas, sports stories and romance. Crew Girl uses plenty of familiar teen-drama conventions, including an elite prep school and central love triangle, but the competitive rowing setting gives the Netflix series a different identity. Miku Martineau’s appealing lead performance and the show’s emphasis on teamwork and family help make it an easy eight-episode binge even when the story becomes predictable.
Where to Watch Crew Girl
All eight episodes of Crew Girl are streaming now on Netflix.
Thomas Miller is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Seat42F, covering television, movies and streaming entertainment. He launched Seat42F in 2007 and has spent nearly two decades covering the entertainment industry.
