Left to Right: June, Neveah and Bette
The prestigious Archer School of Ballet is shaken when star student Cassie Shore (Anna Maiche) falls off the roof. Having formerly been rejected by the school, Neveah Stroyer (Kylie Jefferson) is delighted to be accepted, until she learns the reason for the sudden vacancy. She very soon comes to realize that Cassie was in fact pushed, and that the school is harbouring more dark secrets.
Loosely based on a book series of the same name by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton, the first season released on Netflix on December 14th, 2020.
This show provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Bette's mother places immense pressure on her to be a star but gives little emotional support. She also expects Bette to confess to pushing Cassie in order to protect Delia.
- Above the Influence: Oren refuses to have sex with Neveah when it's clear she is only doing it because she's sad and distressed, saying he wants their first time to be special.
- The Ace:
- Nabil among the male dancers. His skill as a dancer is so great that it causes friction with other dancers who are jealous of it.
- Delia is also considered to be this. A dancer that gets all the attention and rave reviews in the world and is also beloved by everyone.
- Addled Addict: Bette is heavily dependent on painkillers in order to keep dancing since she's terrified of taking a break in order to heal.
- Alpha Bitch: Cassie was this prior to her fall. June is explicitly stated to have been her only real friend. She comes back in full force when she wakes up from her coma, immediately breaking up with Nabil even knowing all he did for her. Bette takes over this role when Cassie is gone.
- All Gays Are Pedophiles: Discussed. Brooks is reluctant to support Shane as a mentor out of fear of this misconception.
- All Gays Love Theatre: Discussed. Matteo assumes that all of Bette's male classmates are gay, which she dismisses. Shane is the sole openly gay man in the class.
- Ambiguously Bi:
- Played With with Oren. He had two romantic interests in Bette and Nevaeh and claimed to not have actual feelings for Shane, but at least got sexual gratification from their hookups, as well as showing mistrust of his friend's new love interest, Dev, and going to Dev to ensure Shane would not be alone after his expulsion.
- Downplayed with Ramon Costa. While he is shown to be strictly interested in women, he has somewhat of a fixation with the idea of Brooks still being attracted to him due to a night where a drunken Brooks made a pass at him. This is despite Brooks having since married and considering that night a mistake. During the debut of Ripper, he even presses Brook's hand against his own crotch.
- Arc Words: "Fly", and the specific phrase "Your turn to fly". The cast often makes similarities between dancing and flying, and a letter saying "your turn to fly" is a recurring piece of evidence.
- Asshole Victim:
- Cassie was a vindictive bully who was willing to lie and blackmail so that she and Nabil could have lead roles.
- As of the end of season one, Ramon Costa, he's found dead with a knife still on his chest on the dance room of the school.
- The Atoner: Cruz is so invested in the Cassie Shore case not only because she was the first officer on the scene, but because she recently lost someone close to her. She eventually reveals that this was her wife Zoe, a fellow military veteran who committed suicide due to PTSD.
- Badges and Dog Tags: Officer Cruz is a military veteran.
- Break the Cutie: June loses her best friend, is robbed of her one chance at a lead role, has to emancipate herself from her mother in order to pursue her dream, is assaulted by a man she trusted, is publicly demeaned and humiliated by Ramon (including being mocked for being a virgin), and betrayed by Bette.
- Broken Bird: Neveah and Officer Isabel Cruz.
- The Casanova: Ramon Costa. As well as dating Delia Whitlock he's been confirmed to have had affairs with Monique DuBois, Cassie Shore, and Maricel Park, and some of his behavior with Bette comes off as predatory. He also implies that he once had a fling with Topher Brooke.
- Catapult Nightmare: Just about everyone has one at some point.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Delia towards Ramon, which led to her pushing Cassie off the roof.
- Closet Gay: Dev, Shane's love interest in the latter half of the season. He's a gay man that doesn't feel comfortable with public displays of affection
- Cop Hater: Neveah is outraged when June's actions lead to Cruz interrogating her because she doesn't talk to cops. This is partly because of the systematic bias against her as a black woman, but also because her brother was shot and paralyzed by the police.
- Contraception Deception: How Ramon became June's father. Her mother was trying to have a child and had an affair with him only to conceive.
- Creepy Ballet: Rarely used for horror outside of dream sequences, but the series doesn't avoid the ugly side of ballet, including implicit racism and classism in the industry, sexual exploitation, and the mental and physical toll it can take on dancers.
- Invoked directly by Ramon who bases the school's production off Jack the Ripper. After the girls resist he changes it to be about Cassie's fall while still maintaining the same aesthetic, calling it Ripper and dressing the dancers like the main suspect.
- Dancing Is Serious Business: As can be expected of a series set in a ballet school. Somewhat subverted since characters discuss how ballet isn't funded like it once was and they need to adapt to stay relevant and draw audiences.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Bette softens up thanks to Matteo.
- Dysfunction Junction: Pretty much everyone at the Archer School has either an addiction, cripplingly low self-esteem, a dysfunctional family, or a dark and troubled past. Or several of the above.
- Easily Forgiven: Zigzagged. June hides Nevaeh's good luck charm while Nevaeh is believed to be the one who locked her and Nabil on the roof on the night of their presentation. Despite it seeming the girls were enemies at this point, and without a scene of reconciliation between them, they are shown to be back as friends when June goes through the emancipation process (which was extremely painful and she wouldn't have to go through it if she hadn't been sabotaged). However, the next time Nevaeh does something June disapproves of, which is going to the media about Travis, she brings the incident back up again, seemingly still angry. Then she discovers it was actually Bette who locked her up there, and makes up with Nevaeh while remaining cold to Bette until the latter is arrested for a crime she's innocent of.
- False Confession: Cassie lies and says that Bette pushed her since she became the new star and Queen Bee in her absence, being threatened by Ramon to keep her mouth shut about Delia being the guilty.
- False Friend: Bette pretends to be June's friend while consistently undermining her in an attempt to get a starring role.
- Fanservice: The series is full of it, especially of the male kind, as the cast is full of attractive males that spend time in tight or skimpy clothing, multiple scenes where they're naked, especially on the sauna scenes, and plenty of rather explicit sex.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: A female variant with Maricel Park. She supports June pursuing ballet only on the condition that she secures lead roles, and is prepared to take her away if she doesn't. This may be because she doesn't want her to be like her father, Ramon.
- First-Episode Twist: The first episode's dialogue is ambiguous about Cassie's situation, but she is heavily implied to be dead until June visits her in hospital at the end when it's revealed that she is in a coma.
- Formerly Fat: In a dream sequence, Oren is revealed to be this growing up, and this has contributed to his current issues of self-image and eating disorder.
- Frame-Up: In the finale, Bette is framed for pushing Cassie, threatened by Ramon to not tell on Delia and Bette is pushed by her family to maintain the lie to keep Delia safe as well.
- Friends with Benefits: Oren and Shane. Oren accused Shane of wanting more and refuses to even kiss him since he doesn't seem to identify as gay or bi or anything of the sort.
- Grew a Spine: June goes from a meek girl in the shadows desperate for approval to someone who challenges authority figures like Monique and Ramon head-on.
- Ice Queen: Monique DuBois.
- If It's You, It's Okay: Subverted with Shane and Oren. They're best friends and Oren hooks up with him but considers himself straight and is ultimately unable to return Shane's feelings.
- Instant Sedation: Averted. June spiked Cassie's drink with rohypnol, but it didn't have time to kick in before she fell off the roof.
- Interrupted Intimacy: All the time, since the students aren't allowed to have sex in the dorms. Oren and Neveah getting caught leads to their expulsion.
- Iron Lady: Madame DuBois.
- Long-Lost Relative: Ramon finds out that he's June's father. As of the end of season 1, she doesn't know.... or does she?
- Love Confession: Oren to Neveah. She doesn't take it well at first, but eventually returns the sentiment.
- Love Dodecahedron: June and Caleb are pretty much the only main characters without multiple love interests.
- Love Revelation Epiphany: Caleb helps Nabil realise he has feelings for June.
- Mr. Fanservice: Pretty much every main male character, accentuated by their skintight ballet outfits. Truthin Television, since ballet is so physically demanding.
- Mentor in Queerness: Shane wants Brooks to be this, but he is reluctant in case he is accused of being predatory.
- Near-Rape Experience: June by Travis. Although Neveah and Bette intervene the experience still takes its toll on her psyche.
- Once More, with Clarity: At the scene where Cassie is pushed off, the way she talks to the figure makes it sound like she's talking to a jealous boyfriend about an affair, but it turns out that she was actually talking with the girlfriend of the man she was having an affair with.
- Parental Favoritism: Katrina Whitlaw pretty shamelessly prefers Delia over Bette, which reaches its apex when it's revealed that she has known all along that Delia pushed Cassie, and asks Bette to take the fall for her sister.
- Posthumous Narration: A variation with Cassie, who narrates while in a coma. Played straight when Ramon takes over the narration at the end of season one.
- Prima Donna Director: Ramon is a self-important choreographer that hurls vocal abuse at the students who don't meet his vision, and believes they should feel lucky to be working for him, subjecting them to their mental and physical breaking point.
- Rape as Backstory: Monique Dubois was raped, presumably while training as a dancer.
- Reluctant Fanservice Girl: June has to dress much more sexually when working as a waitress at Michi Beach than she is comfortable with.
- Rich Bitch: Bette.
- Romanticized Abuse: Bette towards Oren, asking him to lie to the police on her behalf but letting him down when it really matters. Slightly subverted since he does cheat on her too.
- Rooftop Confrontation: Cassie gets into one of these with the hooded figure aka Delia Whitlaw in the first scene, which results in her fall.
- Sexiled: Happens to Shane frequently whenever Bette and Oren are getting it on.
- Sexual Extortion: A variant. Madame Dubois allows powerful donors to attend auditions and pick ballerinas to work at Michi Beach. She claims to not know that the girls are sexually abused, but is quick to silence June when she speaks up.
- The Show of the Books: Loosely based on a book series of the same name by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton.
- Sisterhood Eliminates Creep: Neveah, Bette and June team up to take down Travis and expose the abuse of the Michi Beach hostesses.
- A more mild example when the girls stand up to Ramon against the misogyny of Ripper.
- Slipping a Mickey: June roofies Cassie to sabotage an audition. She believes that this led to her falling off the roof, but she later learns that the drugs did not have time to take effect.
- Subverted with Caleb: he took roofies from June's supply thinking they were aspirin.
- Stealing the Credit: Monique claims credit for "commissioning" a viral video that the students made, even though she previously tried to convince Caleb not to make it.
- Struggling Single Mother: Neveah and her brother Tyler were raised by one until she went to jail for murdering an abusive boyfriend.
- Successful Sibling Syndrome: Bette struggles to live up to the reputation of her older sister Delia, a successful and celebrated ballet dancer.
- Teacher/Student Romance: Caleb and Monique, until she ends it. Also Monique and Ramon in the past.
- Teamwork Seduction: Bette attempts to recruit Oren to seduce Ramon into a threesome, but it doesn't work.
- Technician vs. Performer: June (technician) in contrast to Neveah and Bette (performers).
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: All the time, particularly between the female dancers.
- Temporary Love Interest: Nabil and Neveah kiss in episode 3, but since he is still technically with Cassie they amicably decide not to pursue anything, and later start pursuing separate love interests.
- Title Drop: In Episode 9.
Ramon: I can find the tiny pretty things you love and tear their wings off.
- Token Religious Teammate: Nabil is a devout Muslim who is shown praying frequently. If any other characters are religious it is not made explicit.
- Tragic Keepsake: Neveah keeps a ballerina figurine that her mother gave to her as a lucky charm.
- Troubled Sympathetic Bigot: Caleb is hostile towards Nabil and his Islamic faith due to his father's death, implied to have been in Iraq or Afghanistan. He grows out of it over the course of the series.
- Turn Out Like His Father: June's mother was a businesswoman, but her father is ballet choreographer Ramon Costa.
- Weight Woe: Being ballet dancers, the students all have their weights monitored. Oren is particularly conscious of this and struggles with an eating disorder (implied to be bulimia but never named).
