Get Even is a teen thriller TV Show aired on the BBC iPlayer in February of 2020. It is loosely based on the novel Get Even written by Gretchen McNeil.
The first and only season takes place at Bannerman School, an elite private school where the students with money can get away with pretty much anything and the teachers only care about hiding bad publicity. It follows four different girls from different backgrounds - Kitty Wei (Kim Adis), a girl from a Middle-Class family who attends Bannerman school under a Scholarship; Margot Rivers (Bethany Antonia), a rich American girl who has no friends; Olivia Hayes (Jessica Alexander), a popular girl from a working-class background desperate to fit in with her wealthy and popular friends; and Bree Deringer (Mia McKenna-Bruce), a rebellious rich girl who loves breaking rules - who all decide that the best way to fight against the injustices committed by the rich snobs at their school is form a secret group, DGM - because they Don't Get Mad, they get even.
Unfortunately, somebody else at the school has decided to take advantage of this...and then the bodies start showing up.
While fans never received an actual second season, in 2022 a Spin-Off was made titled Rebel Cheer Squad, still set at Bannerman School but featuring a new cast making up the DGM, continuing the legacy where the old DGM left off.
Get Even contains examples of:
- The Ace: Kitty gets great grades, is a star football player for the girls team at Bannerman, and manages to achieve everything else with flying colours. Though this is partly because her parents push her to achieve so much out of fears that she could lose her scholarship.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Ronny in the books is said to be scrawny with a bad case of acne. In the show however, Ronny is relatively muscular and is mentioned to work out a lot.
- Adaptational Nationality: The book is set in America, while the TV series is set in England.
- Adaptational Nice Guy:
- Amber in the TV show is notably nicer than in the books. While she's an Alpha Bitch in both, in the books Amber was responsible for coercing a friend into taking a nude photo of someone back in middle school and is cruel to Olivia (only keeping her around because of her looks, jealous of her beauty and acting skills, and trying to humiliate her by tricking her into audition for a role Amber only got thanks to her parents' donations). In the TV show, however, Amber is genuinely best friends with Olivia and, though she does bully Margot, that's more out of fear that Margot could overthrow her place as Queen Bee.
- Rex also deserves a mention. In the books he openly flirts with Olivia in front of Amber (his girlfriend), he snaps at Amber whenever he's in a bad mood or simply can't be bothered to speak to her, bullies weaker students, and is homophobic. In the TV show Rex is still a douche, but he really does care about Amber (who doesn't really give a shit about him) and is genuinely friends with Olivia (and doesn't flirt with her while he’s dating Amber). He also cares about his twin sister Mika, and isn’t ashamed to talk to her in school. When his best friend Ronny shares Mika's nudes they nearly get into a fight, and he's naturally devasted after Mika gets murdered.
- Adults Are Useless: The teachers at Bannerman are clearyl more concerned with keeping their reputation clean than actually confronting any of the problems in the school, which is why they feign ignorance of Mika's nudes being leaked (which should be a major scandal since she's underage) and Coach Creed grooming his students.
- Alpha Bitch: Amber is the most popular girl in Bannerman and does anything to keep her status maintained.
- Cam is this on the girls football team.
- Ambiguously Bi: Amber and Olivia's sexualities are never explicitly labelled, but it's clear they have feelings for each other. Amber's also dating Rex, though she doesn't seem very interested in and may just be using him as a status symbol. On the other hand, Olivia and her ex-boyfriend Donte seem to be mutually in love as well.
- Asshole Victim: Most of the targets of DGM deserve everything they get, and even some the ones DGM are framed for aren't too sparkling.
- Ronny Kent, the rugby player who was murdered by being pushed out his bedroom window. He was a rich snob who bullies weaker students, slut-shamed girls, played Mika (probably hoping to get some action with Mika and then brag about it to his friends) and then found and shared nude photos of her. Then he spearheaded a massive bullying effort against her, claiming she sent him the photo he stole because she was desperate to date him, and didn't get in trouble because the teachers either turned a blind eye for fear of bad publicity or didn't know about the photo because Mika was too embarrassed to report it. It's also revealed he knew that Coach Creed was grooming Cam and threatened to expose them, but instead of reporting Creed as a paedophile he instead blackmailed Creed and effectively let Creed continue the abuse. You're not likely to feel sorry for him when he dies a painful death.
- Coach Creed himself. He's shown bullying his students as bad as Rex's gang do. And then the grooming scandal is exposed, and it's implied that Cam isn't his only victim - though she does become the first victim to get justice. It's certainly satisfying to see him get suspended due to the bullying, and later arrested because of the grooming, and it's all thanks to DGM releasing evidence of it.
- Beta Bitch: Olivia. She's best friends with Amber and desperate to fit in. Olivia is poor (unlike most of Bannerman) and Amber helps Olivia seem rich by buying her expensive clothes, shoes, jewellery, handbags, mobile phones, etc. In return, Olivia is loyal to Amber.
- Jemima is this to Cam on the Football team.
- Betty and Veronica: Olivia is the Betty to Kitty's Veronica for Donte's Archie.
- Olivia doesn't actually like Ronny, but she sets herself up as the Veronica to Mika's Betty in order to distract him during one of DGM's revenge schemes.
- Girl Posse: Amber, Olivia, Jemima, and Meera are known to rule the student body.
- Interclass Friendship: Olivia and Amber are best friends, but they're from very different backgrounds.
- Olivia is from a poor, working-class family, living in a one-bedroom flat with her mother. Her father died a few years ago (likely because the family could not afford treatment of an illness), and her mother and grandmother struggle to pay her fees for Bannerman through odd jobs.
- Amber, on the other hand, is the spoiled daughter of two wealthy parents. She's always wearing pretty clothes and accessories, often shopping after only buying new clothes a few days ago, and lives in a mansion. In fact, in order to help her fit in, Amber herself buys a new wardrobe for Olivia.
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Hollywood Homely: Mika. She’s meant to be unattractive, but she splayed by the incredibly cute Emily Carey. The only things that don’t make her pretty are her dark Brown braids, having a face that never has makeup on, reserved outfits and lack of knowledge on trends. She also wears her knee socks down to her ankles, while the trend for girls at Bannerman appears to be to have them up to their knees.- Margot wears glasses, over-sized jumpers, minimal makeup and has an Afro hairstyle, but she’s still pretty. No wonder Logan and Ed are attracted to her natural beauty.
- Jerkass: Ronny is a privileged, spoiled bully who thinks he can get away with murder.
- Coach Creed being a cunt was well-known to most of the student body even before it was discovered he groomed students.
- Jerk Jock:
- Coach Creed, the P.E teacher at Bannerman. He bullies his athletes, is arrogant and hotheaded, and, oh yes, he groomed at least one of his students.
- Ronny Kent, who's mistreatment of Mika and other weaker students is well-detailed on this page.
- Rex Cavanaugh, Mika's twin brother. He’s the Captain of the Rugby team and though he cares about his sister, he also bullied Bree, Margot, and is mentioned to "flush" a boy named Theo’s head down the toilet every morning. Like Ronny, Rex has also always had an easy, pampered life, being spoiled by his parents.
- Jerkass with a Heart of Gold: Rex is a bully like Ronny, but he genuinely loves his sister Mika.
- Cam is the Alpha Bitch of the Football team and bullies Mika when her nudes get shared, but she’s shown to be vulnerable and was even friends with Mika and Kitty before Mika’s nudes got leaked. She was also being groomed by Coach Creed.
- Amber is the ruthless Queen Bee at Bannerman, bullies Margot, but cares about Olivia immensely. And not just because she’s in love with her.
- Spoiled Sweet: Mika is extremely sheltered and spoiled, but her heart is just full of kindness.
- Margot is from a wealthy American family, but she’s a shy geek with no friends.
- What Does She See in Him?: Why would Mika ever want to date a twat like Ronny? Sure, he’s got decent biceps for a guy his age. But he also has a large nose and a shitty personality.
