I was counting the number of vertical apps that I have on my phone and it definitely is a lot. If you’re a fan of vertical series, you know the struggle isn’t in trying to find something to watch, it’s in making sure that you have the app on your phone of the show that you want to watch. It being Superbowl Sunday, I was looking for a football one, and well, Bride for Quarterback, fit the bill.
Mckenna Prill and Harrison Harber star as Mia and Jared respectively in the My Drama series, which just came out.
Bride for the Quarterback is a story about a janitor who takes any job she can to support herself and her son. Her son is sick, in desperate need of surgery, and she’s desperately struggling to keep the two of them above water. She has no safety net and her sons father is no where to be found. She gets a job working as a janitor inside a prestigious football club, where she faces cruelty, bullying, and public humiliation.
MIA IS…
Mia is in the fight of her life – trying to stay hidden from her ex who abused her and trying to take care of her son. But as she’s dealing with her life, NFL’s most arrogant and scandalous star quarterback is in a lot of trouble. He does not know how to behave. There are secrets that threaten to destroy him, but his coach isn’t going to let that happen. He suggests a distraction and to no vertical lovers’ surprise – that involves a contract marriage.
Jared Morgan trusts no one, and the thought of it all seems reasonable, but to him, it will need to be on his terms and his terms only. The coach gets Mia to agree to it, as she’s in a vulnerable position. Jared doesn’t care what is going on with her though. The only thing that he cares about is his career and that she plays the perfect fiance.
It’s a chaotic, intense, and sometimes dangerous enemies to lovers story that keeps you on your toes. There are several tropes that keep you wondering which one will prevail and which ones are just added in for the sake of being added in.
THE OPENING
I have to admit that as this series started, I thought I would instantly hate it. There are a few things that happen in verticals that don’t need to happen or when they do happen there needs to be apologies made for them. In the first scenes, Mia is cleaning the locker room – thinking all the players are gone – and they aren’t. They come out in their towels, and when she tries to leave, they make it impossible for her to do so. Surrounded by them making comments towards her, you can see the tension in her eyes.
And then when Jared comes out, he catches her when she almost falls. I’d like to say there is an instant connection between the two, but maybe it’s because of how he throws off his towel and everyone follows suit that, with him telling her to do their dirty laundry, that I thought he was such trash, I just didn’t care to see good in him.
Jared seems like the biggest douchebag ever and that is solidified pretty quickly as he continues to be a jerk. He treats her like she is below him and well, that’s not true. He just makes more money. But to him – it’s a matter of being in control of situations that makes him feel like he can take a step forward.
CHEMISTRY
While I will say that the two leads have chemistry, what I find issue in is that her humiliation seems to be what drives this story forward. His role as a quarterback sets him up to be the “alpha male” in this story, but for me the difference between their roles and how he acts as though those roles define their worth sets me off. His aggressiveness towards her at the beginning of the contract is a complete turn off, making him feel like the enemy also.
Over time, we do grow to understand that both of their attitudes come from trauma that they both have gone through. Both of them have a hard time dealing with the things that have affected them. But in the same breathe it takes quite a long time for them to share that and let each other in. And even when they do let each other in, they revert easily to their untrusting ways.
The two prove to each other repeatedly though that they will be there for each other, no matter what happens. And a lot of twists and turns happen – some that you can guess and some that you won’t see coming. Well, at least I didn’t. Somethings are wrapped up way too quickly and are overshadowed in other ways.
OVERALL
Sports romances are not easy to pull off, and while football was a part of this, I was able to look past the scenes that felt like a high school football game. Mckenna Prill and Harrison Harber can be thanked for that, but so can a strong editing game and transitions the fed into each other flawlessly.
We’ll just overlook the last 7-8 episodes because they felt rushed to tie up storylines and therefore just were infuriating.
The strongest part of this series is the higher production value. It flows like a movie and because of the growth between the characters of Mia and Jared you can overlook any of the plot holes. Bride for the Quarterback‘s strength is fueled by the relationship that grows between Mia and Jared.
The emotional stakes, the casting (minus the ex and the cheerleader), and the production value are what make Bride for the Quarterback a must watch. It’s the type of pacing, romance, sexual tension, editing, and value that vertical series viewers crave.
