Crew Girl Review: Netflix’s Teen Sports Drama Wins By Playing It Safe

Prime Video may have dominated the teen genre in the summer with hits like Off Campus, Every Year After, and Sterling Point, but Netflix is coming for its crown this fall with its new back-to-school campus rowing drama, Crew Girl. From Canadian creator Vivian Lin, Crew Girl introduces us to 16-year-old Teagan Tao (Miku Martineau), a whip-smart and wildly talented Los Angeles-based sculler with a bright rowing future ahead of her — that is, until her father's financial crimes put everything Teagan has worked for in jeopardy.

Disgraced, Teagan and her mother, Ella (Jessica Paré), are forced to relocate to Ella's hometown of Eagle's Cove, Massachusetts. Teagan hopes to resume rowing at the prestigious Easton Prep, only to discover that the school doesn't have a girls' crew. The protagonist's only chance at rowing in the fall semester is by joining the boys' team as their coxswain. This makes waves with her privileged new teammates, who prefer the pre-established order that favors them, both in and out of the boat.

As Teagan learns how to be part of a team and the boys learn to accept a female crewmate, the Easton Prep crew begins to gel. Of course, standing in their way are obstacles like intense family pressure, internal politicking, and, of course, what teen drama would be complete without a love triangle? In Crew Girl, Teagan is instantly drawn to the workhorse scholarship "townie", Cam Dillinger (Kyle Clark), while she also shares heated enemies-to-lovers chemistry with rich-kid crew captain, Josh Regis (Sam Braun).

Unlike most of its contemporaries, Crew Girl is a wholly original series — at least, original in the sense that it's not based on pre-existing source material like a beloved YA book. Anyone possessing even basic familiarity with teen drama shows will spot nothing new in the Netflix series, but lovers of the genre can expect Crew Girl to become a favorite.

Crew Girl Finds Its Swing With Teagan & The Team After A Messy Start

Full disclosure: prior to watching Crew Girl, I knew next to nothing about rowing. A huge fan of YA television, I was more drawn to the "Girl" and less to the "Crew".

Those like me will find the Crew Girl pilot episode absolute catnip. Thanks to Martineau's captivating performance — she will become a star — Teagan is everything a teen drama fan could want in their heroine — plucky and confident, yet relatable and not without flaws. On her first day at Easton Prep, a humorous dig at horse girls sees Teagan run afoul of Josh's girlfriend and the school's resident queen bee, Britney Garner (Sage Linder).

This only adds to Teagan's already sympathetic circumstances, making her the ultimate underdog, and thus, the audience is even more invested in her earning a spot on the boys' crew. The race for the coxswain seat is as thrilling as it is predictable, and even though its outcome is spoiled by the show's title, I found myself literally cheering when Teagan won. Surely, if Crew Girl can keep up this blend of teenage drama and high-stakes athletic competition, it'll be a winning formula, I thought.

Frustratingly, the series hits some bumps, or "catches crabs," as a rower might say, in the next few episodes. Understandably, Crew Girl wants to flesh out the other crew members, but in doing so, Teagan is reduced to a background character in her own show.

What's worse is that these rough early episodes see Teagan serving as a sort of mommy figure to her male teammates, cheering them on and trying to stop a prank mission. While a coxswain often becomes a de facto emotional support figure to their teammates, as I've come to learn, the fact that Teagan is the only girl on the crew makes that particular gender dynamic uncomfortable and not in keeping with the otherwise proudly female-driven narrative.

Thankfully, this isn't enough to capsize Crew Girl completely. The show takes its sweet time humanizing Josh, but when he sacrifices debaucherous fun at his opulent birthday party in order to impress his airline magnate grandfather, he goes from flat caricature to three-dimensional character — something Teagan certainly takes note of.

From there, Crew Girl is able to course-correct. Less sporty than Friday Night Lights but more so than Off Campus, the second half of Crew Girl's eight-episode first season is a mostly smooth, hugely entertaining ride.

Well-Worn Teen Drama Tropes & Schitt's Creek-Level Empathy Make Crew Girl The Ultimate Comfort Watch

Every genre has tropes — for instance, you'll rarely find a murder mystery without a killer reveal — yet genres traditionally enjoyed by women and girls, mainly romance and YA, are dinged for them. As such, many will be instantly turned off by Crew Girl's love triangles, but the show knows its audience, and its embrace of this and other tropes, such as Teagan's spunky new best friend Juliet (a tragically underused Olga Petsa), is an asset, not a detriment.

Whether it's Teagan-Cam-Josh or Josh-Britney-Teagan, the beats in these love triangles aren't just plug-and-play; they're earned because of the well-developed characters and their organic chemistry. Josh needs to be more than just "rich and hot" to be worthy of Teagan, and Braun ensures he is, with the character not just drawn to Teagan's looks but to her authenticity, which in turn is what allows him to be vulnerable. Meanwhile, the circumstances keeping Teagan and Cam apart are a little forced, but Clark's soulful performance sells the story.

One trope Crew Girl wisely avoids is a toxic locker room. Sure, the Easton Prep crew has its fair share of internal hierarchy and classism — it would be odd to portray a sport like rowing without it — and there's some initial skepticism about Teagan joining the all-male team. However, in place of the expected sexism and homophobia seen in other sports dramas is a team that supports one another for who they are.

This is best demonstrated with Bronson "Baloo" Garner (Jude Wilson), Britney's twin brother and a well-respected member of the team. Baloo is openly gay — no coming-out storyline here — and the show takes a Schitt's Creek-style approach to his sexuality, never making it a point of conflict. Instead, every crew member wholeheartedly accepts him, even helping him pick out the perfect "thirst trap" picture to send to a potential suitor.

While Crew Girl isn't destined for awards and mass acclaim, its warm, empathetic escapism makes it prime for cozy repeat viewings. Ultimately, Crew Girl accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do, wearing its tropes on its sleeve — along with its heart.

All eight episodes of Crew Girl season 1 release Thursday, September 10, 2026, on Netflix.