This Hockey Romance Show Everyone's Obsessed With Has Unexpected Nuance
When I sat down to watch Off Campus, I didn’t expect much, but I was proven totally wrong.
There’s been something of a boom in low-stakes romance shows recently, so when I settled down for my binge, I thought I’d be getting some sweet, sweet, hockey romance with some tenuous teen drama hurdles thrown in. And I’ll be honest, Off Campus definitely delivered exactly that for me.
But, to my surprise, it also delivers so much more. I judged a book by its cover, which is ironic because, admittedly, I haven’t actually read the books. Off Campus Season 1 covers ‘The Deal,’ the first book in Elle Kennedy’s series of novels.
The focus is on music student Hannah Wells and ice hockey team captain Garrett Graham. The titular ‘deal’ in both cases is the same: Hannah helps Garrett pass his philosophy class, and he helps her make her crush jealous by pretending to be her boyfriend. As is often the case with these kinds of ‘deals’, Hannah and Garrett end up catching feelings for each other, and the rest is history.
However, one thing I noticed about Off Campus is that it had a surprising amount of depth, tackling difficult themes with nuance and care. Please be advised that this article contains mention of sexual assault and domestic abuse.
Sexual Assault In Off Campus
A few episodes into Off Campus we learn about Hannah’s sexual assault. This is obviously a very sensitive storyline, and needs to be handled with care. Off Campus achieves this goal in a number of ways.
Firstly, we find out at the same time as Garrett, with Hannah talking about her experience in her own words. It isn’t played up for dramatic effect, and doesn’t depict the event actually happening. This ensures that, while important to Hannah’s character, the assault is neither sensationalised nor portrayed in a way that defines her.
She also shows very realistic signs of lingering trauma, like flashbacks and dissociation. In some TV shows, characters that experience something traumatic are glossed over, with the event itself being more of a plot point rather than the effect it has on them. Off Campus is a lot more concerned with the latter, which, as well as adding depth, really hammers home the point that this isn’t something you recover from overnight.
Trauma is complex, and in some ways it might always be with you — but as Hannah ultimately shows, by achieving breakthroughs in terms of her sex life and songwriting, it isn’t insurmountable, and life will always get better.
Domestic Violence In Off Campus
Garrett also has his own trauma to work through, as it becomes apparent that his father was physically abusive towards him and his late mother. The idea of toxic masculinity also plays a role in this issue, as Garrett seems unable to articulate what happened at first.
Eventually, he is able to open up to Hannah and his best friend, Logan. The fact that they showed on a popular TV show that it’s okay for men to cry and talk about their trauma is definitely a good thing, although Garrett still clearly has unresolved issues that developed into a phobia of being like his father.
By the end of the series, he is mostly able to stop this fear from dominating his life, and he seems to come to the same conclusion Hannah does: you’re more than the bad things that happened to you.
And, most importantly, in both cases, while Hannah and Garrett mutually support each other through their respective traumas, the relationship didn’t magically solve their issues. They weren’t framed as ‘saving’ one another. By avoiding this common trope and trap, the show struck the right balance with its realism and, ultimately, ended on an optimistic note. Things might not be perfect, but if you put the work in, you’ll get there.
Off Campus is now playing on Amazon Prime Video. There are even plans for Off Campus Season 2 already, which is very exciting indeed.
