Rebel Cheer Squad review: Adequate thriller for the easily thrilled

Rebel Cheer Squad: A Get Even Series is a British teen drama and thriller in which a trio of cheerleaders at a posh private school revive their former classmates’ anti-bullying club, and team up to fight injustice.

Story

Best friends Clara, Grace, and Rumi go to Bannerman Independent School. Clara and her sister Leila are on the cheer team and their father is the coach.

Grace is running for president and her main agenda is to solve the problem of bullying that is rampant in their school. Rumi is a ballet dancer and is applying to the best ballet schools in the country.

Bannerman is notorious for bullying and several incidents mottle its history where students were severely bullied. But Bannerman lacks accountability and is only concerned with maintaining its reputation and image.

It shows no real concern for the welfare of its students and many former students have been victims of these circumstances.

Disturbed by the lack of consequences bullies face at Bannerman, the girls Clara, Grace and Rumi decide to take matters into their own hands and restart DGM (or Don’t Get Mad), a secret group that was once active in fighting bullying at Bannerman many years ago.

Performances

All three actors that make up the main cast, namely, Lashay Anderson, Amelia Brooks and Ashling O’Shea deliver commendable performances as Clara, Grace and Rumi.

The rest of the cast complements the performances by these three, especially Dan Gilet who plays the cheer coach and Clara’s father. He does a good job playing the typical emotionally distant but supportive father. He shows real emotion as he struggles to communicate his feelings to his daughter but finally manages to do so in a convincing manner.

Positives

The writing is funny and the cast definitely brings the humour to life with their subtle but purposeful acting. The writers also convey a deep understanding of themes such as friendship, love and family and how young adults learn to navigate these in real life.

The characters in Rebel Cheer Squad have depth, and relationships between the characters were portrayed with nuance.

Negatives

The plot seems hollow. Almost all of the events that happen in the show seem to rest on chance factors. Most of DGM’s plots and schemes are successful because everything happens exactly according to plan which rarely happens in real life.

A lot of exposition takes place often leaving the audience with an overload of plot points. The thrill factor of the show is based on very low stakes so it fails to keep the audience engaged.

Verdict

Despite having decent writing and acting, Rebel Cheer Squad falls short of a believable plot. The thriller series may be enjoyed by a young audience, and those looking for a casual high school drama about female friendships. Rebel Cheer Squad will help you kill time on slow days but isn’t quite the thriller it sells itself to be.

Rating: 2.5/5


Also Read: Justice Served (2022) review: Interesting storyline dragged down by other elements

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