You have to be a devotee of reality TV to really appreciate this, I think, but I absolutely am, and I thought it was fascinating.
Season 1 follows Navarro Texas's community college's cheer team as they prepare to try and win their 14th national title against their rivals from the next town over. The coach, Monica, is a really interesting person; very self-contained and relatively quiet, but occasionally you see how driven she is, and how downright mean she can be. We meet some of the students on the team, hoping to "make mat," that is, be one of the performers at the actual competition in Florida. Each one of them is an unbelievably compelling and tragic figure in different ways -- shout out to my girl Lexi, for whom I want only good things. The team is trying a pyramid that's more difficult than anything they've done before. People get injured. Last minute switches have to be made. Everything is falling apart, and then, at the end of the season--
Well, I won't spoil it, but it's very good television. And then season 2 takes a totally different approach. Because between seasons lots of things happened. The team got very, very famous, and a lot of their time when they should be practicing is now spent doing car commercials, going on Ellen, and hosting red carpets. Monica, the coach, is on Dancing with the Stars, so she isn't even actively coaching the team most days. Kids have graduated and left. Other kids have gotten in to trouble (including one absolutely heartbreaking reveal that a truly beloved person in season 1 is a sexual predator and currently in jail) and been kicked off the team or left. And a lot of season 2 focuses on the rival school, scrappy Trinity Valley community college, just a few miles away.
Will the Navarro heroes win again? Will the Trinity College underdogs snatch the trophy away from them? It's compelling, but not nearly as compelling as season one; season 2 is mostly watchable because it's really interesting to see all the ways that become famous have screwed everyone up.
And I do have some unanswered questions and complaints. For example: it's a two-year college, but some students seem to be on the team for three or even four years. Some students appear to not even be students, but are still allowed to compete. Only two teams ever win -- are there only two teams in their division? Because it's a lot less impressive if Navarro has won so many times... but there are only two teams competing. Why did Netflix feel the need to put the sexual assault survivors on screen, when they are under age? The whole second season is about how badly fame can destroy you; why would you put those children in the show??? I was furious.
My other big gripe is the same one I have about so many movie musicals in the past decade; the editing of the actual cheer routines is terrible. I don't want slow motion cut-aways to the crowd screaming! I want to see the actual thing the show is about. Let me watch the unbelievable athleticism of these students! Let me appreciate this pyramid they've been killing themselves to perfect! Stop cutting the camera at weird angles every seven seconds and trust that viewers actually do want to watch the students cheer.
If this sounds interesting to you, you'll probably love it. If it doesn't, don't go to brunch with me, because I'm going to be talking about it for weeks.
