The 'romance set in the surroundings of high school or college sports teams' genre is quickly becoming one of the biggest sub-genres in the streaming world – people can't seem to get enough of steamy locker-room love affairs. Heated Rivalry really kicked things off, but Off Campus underlined the trend this year, too.
Neither of those shows were made by Netflix, notably, so it's perhaps not a huge surprise that it's been working on something of its own – and this time it's going for a new sport. Crew Girl sets up a fairly familiar love triangle, but where the school athletes are all elite rowers, with all the training and discipline that comes with the territory.
The show stars Miku Martineau as Teagan Tao, a hugely talented young rower who's forced to move schools when her parents' home life falls apart for depressing reasons. She's enrolled into a fancy new school by her mum, but soon discovers that it only has a men's rowing program, with no way for her to have a boat of her own.
That is, until she starts to realise that the men's team is having trouble finding a reliable cox to steer and organise them through competitive races. The first trailer makes it clear that she'll make it her mission to become their cox, and in the process she'll find sparks flying with more than one member of the team.
There's no point in a good romance like this without a triangle, after all, and it seems like Teagan will have her affections split between two different men. One, as tradition dictates, is the bad boy who starts off aggressive with her, while the other seems to have no flaws but perhaps lacks a little edge.
Who can say who'll she'll end up with? Part of the fun of this sort of show is the journey, rather than the destination, which can generally be guessed at pretty easily. Netflix viewers in need of some steamy fun can check out Crew Girl when it arrives on the streaming service on 10 September, in a little under a month's time.
