In Gen Z Romance Shows Like Crew Girl, Sports Are the New Sex

In the Netflix teen drama Crew Girl, 16-year-old rowing champion Teagan Tao's life is turned upside down when her wealthy father goes missing and is suspected of financial crimes. With her father nowhere to be found, Teagan and her mother are left broke and forced to move to a rundown house in a coastal New England town. This move puts Teagan at Eaton Prep, an exclusive school, where she struggles with the snobbish atmosphere and the fact that the town has no girls' rowing team.

Teagan is then forced to coxswain for the boys' team, leading to her romantic entanglements with Cam Dillinger, a hardworking townie, and Josh Regis, a bratty heir to an airline fortune.

As the series unfolds, it becomes evident that Crew Girl is a love story filled with classic tropes, including a love triangle, a quaint small-town setting, and wealth disparities. These elements are reminiscent of other teen romances such as Twilight, Riverdale, and The Vampire Diaries, while also drawing parallels to more modern series like Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill.

The show also features a single mother (played by Jessica Paré) navigating her complicated feelings for an old friend, mirroring the dynamic seen in Gilmore Girls.