Off Campus Season 1, Episode 1 Review: The Deal

The Deal has always been my favorite book in the Off Campus series. Hannah has always been relatable – the nerdy girl who likes being alone, staying focused, and has forgotten that there is a life that is out there to be lived. It’s not that she didn’t want to experience life – it’s just that responsibility got in the way.

Hannah has been motivated to succeed and move forward even though there is a lot about her life that hasn’t been easy. She’s only able to rely on herself. Garrett, well, he’s only been able to rely on himself since his Mom died.

Garrett and Hannah aren’t that different, but in the same breath, they are. Watching their story unfold is something that I have been waiting for, and well, I don’t think that it could have gone any better.

The Off Campus series is one of this writer’s favorites. Have I wanted to see it brought to the screen earlier? Yes. Was it worth the wait? Absolutely.

Let’s dive in.

WHAT YOU AREN’T SUPPOSED TO SEE

If you saw Garrett Graham naked, you would stop dead in your tracks, also. Garrett Graham is beautiful, charismatic, and dreamy. Ya, I know that I am getting corny here, it’s what these books do to me.

Graham’s Dad is a hockey legend; he’s got money, but to his credit, he wants to make something of himself on his own terms. Hannah may have been cleaning the locker room and accidentally seen him naked, but that man knew what he was doing when he turned around and lingered full frontal. I don’t think that she knew what she was doing as she stopped and lingered.

Hannah is sometimes too innocent, but that’s okay. The two are from opposite worlds, and I do love how this episode showcases it. The two can be doing the same thing, can be in the same place, but the way that they do things is completely different.

It’s intriguing, and the show is subtly showing the differences.

When they are in class, Graham seems to have noticed her for the first time. He needs help – he can’t fail the class and still play. He wants to earn his grade. When he notices that she was the only one to get an A, he wants her help.

He sees her grade and makes a remark, and she gets sassy. I laughed when he said, “What, only you get to look at things you shouldn’t?”

In fairness, he lingered.

He doesn’t know her, can’t even get her name right, doesn’t seem to know how to ask a question, but wants her help? No.

“I failed that paper, and I was thinking how great it would be to not fail,” he says instead of asking a question.

She turns down helping him, and for that, I admire Hannah.

SCHOLARSHIP IS GONE

Hannah doesn’t like the violence of hockey. Anyone who plays it – her walls are up. That goes into the backstory – Hannah’s backstory -, and we’re definitely going to get there in this season. Her sexual assault is an important part of her story.

Hannah is running through the crowds to get to orchestra class. She’s a talented musician, and her music is life; her escape. My heart broke when she found out that her scholarship was pulled due to budget cuts. Her teacher tells her that they’ll find a way, they always do.

One thing that is so admirable about Hannah is that she is not one to give up. She finds herself coming up with a plan – she’s going to enter a pop showcase. Pop isn’t necessarily Hannah’s first love – but it is music, and she loves music.

Hannah’s story in the book tells us a lot about her. You get the reasons why – the build-up of the fear, the drama, and getting to her character motivations. I love that in this show, we get to see pretty quickly after this – her at Malones and Allie talking her up during Justin’s set.

Which, quite frankly, I have never gotten Hannah’s fascination with Justin, besides an accent in this series – I don’t get it. But what I do love is that as we’re seeing her and Allie talk and the scenes of Graham and Kendall, you saw that Hannah and Graham live two very different lives, but ultimately, both of them just want to be loved.

Hannah has her music, and Graham has his hockey, but whatever the circumstances are, it sets up this look at the two that we can see where they started from, so we’ll have a gauge of how far they’ve come.

THE PARTY, THE BOYS & THE EWWW

Let us all repeat one after the other – we do not like Kendall. We don’t like her, but I admit I do get that she wants to be Graham’s girlfriend.

Are the two having sex at the party? Not shocking. It’s college. Her wanting a relationship after he clearly said repeatedly that he’s not good for something more than casual? Controversial take – she’s in the wrong.

While I know that conversations and emotions can always be changing, there is a time and a place for everything. She tells him that she missed him, and I mean – bold movie that her follow-up is asking if he missed her too.

He’s told her he’s not capable of giving more. His life is workouts, practice, repeat. The Boston Bruins are already paying attention to him – he has an image to protect. To her, this is an excuse. Other people on the team have lives and do those things.

But hey, not all of them are being actively looked at by the Bruins.

Garrett reiterates over and over again that all he can offer is casual. He doesn’t understand why she wants the girlfriend title and attempts to show her that she doesn’t need that. He tells her she just wants to be with a guy going to the NHL, or she’s deluded herself into thinking he’s someone he never pretended to be – both of which are very harsh.

LOGAN

After the next morning’s workouts, his friends tell him the reasons that Kendall wasn’t far off. She had every reason to feel however she feels, no matter what anyone says. Yet, so does Graham.

It was the conversation that Logan had with Graham that was the definition of what a friend should be, though. Graham’s relationship with his Dad is complicated, but Logan reminds him that he’s still his Dad. Logan is trying to be that friend – the one who is logical and doesn’t necessarily say what one wants to hear, but says what needs to be said.

He reminds Graham that they aren’t playing hockey for their parents; they are playing hockey because they love it.

LATE FOR OPENING

Every good book has a place that everything centers around. When the boys aren’t on the ice, they are at their house or Malones. Hannah, she works at Malones.

After pulling an all-nighter trying to write music, Aliie comes back. Hannah has written melodies, but no lyrics. Allie isn’t my favorite person in the books, but maybe I was wrong because I am loving her in the series. Seeing her here, she’s a girl’s girl. She’s a bestie who wants nothing more than to give her bestie the faith that she should have in life.

It’s their conversation that breaks me because we see a flashback, and Hannah is filled with fear. The memory draws you in, though, and makes you want to protect Hannah

But that also means that she’s gotta remind her that she’s late for work. It’s always funny to me when she takes off running – because it’s uncomfortable. Why? Because I have been there and it’s uncomfortable, because like Hannah, I don’t like being late.

At Malones, Graham is flanked by girls, and Hannah rolls her eyes. She’s probably thinking that she wasn’t wrong about him. But he gets distracted quickly when Justin walks in to pick up an order, and tells Justin that she knows who he is. The exchange is awkward, but she gives his takeout order to him.

I carried your watermelon.

Graham isn’t one to let an opportunity pass him by. Walking up behind her, he tells her that her references are dated. He’s used to girls fawning over him, giving their names, and moving on from there. He tells her that she’s too available.

I think that as we go through these scenes, we can notice that something is wrong with Hannah. Interacting with hockey players puts her walls up, and she’s quick to distance herself from hockey as quickly as she can.

Hannah continues to turn Graham down, but you can see the look in his eyes that he’s not giving up. Though I do believe that part of him thinks that – as in all aspects of his life – there is no giving up.

Until he and the boys get home and his Dad is there. There to tell him that he got engaged.

For Graham, his father is the devil. He remembers the worst of his father and knows he can never please him. It doesn’t matter what he does or how hard he works – Papa Graham will never be happy. His timing is crap, the way his father interacts with him is crap, and this is just an example of that.

THE GAME & THE RESET

If there is one thing that I have learned about athletes is that they all have a strict routine. The mental state of any player is of the utmost importance. Graham’s is off for this game, thanks to his father. He messed with Graham’s focus, and all he could think about was what his father did to his Mom.

Remembering the pain of the past, it is no wonder that Graham was distracted. His head was the one place that it wasn’t supposed to be – out of the game. He can see his Dad in the stands, his eyes wide open and the disappointment shining through. Graham is upset, and no one can really blame him.

Hannah is working, overhearing all of the things that people are saying. Yet, then she sees someone walking by, a man who instantly makes her tense up and her body is filled with fear.

She takes off and finds a room. There are tapes and a player, as well as a piano. She starts to play to recenter herself.

Graham stormed out of the locker room – so angry that he needed to walk it off. What he finds, though, is Hannah – singing and dancing in a room all by herself. She doesn’t even notice that he’s looking through the window and that he’s smiling at her, getting lost in the music.

Watching her resets him, and he returns with his head back in the game. It was just one of those moments that I felt like Hannah and Graham belonged together. They both have pain – other people may not know what it is, but it’s there. She had an effect on him, and for the first time in Graham’s life, something made sense outside of hockey.

Even if he didn’t understand it.

BLOCKPARTY

Hannah doesn’t like parties, and I don’t blame her for that. I, too, would rather watch Dirty Dancing than go to a block party. She promised Allie that she would come out with them to the block party, though, so she should realize that Allie would not give up.

She even does everything to get her boyfriend to talk to Hannah – but like a smart man, he doesn’t want to get involved.

I have to admire that Hannah has a bestie like Allie. She’s going to push her to do things she may not want to do, but needs to do for herself. She needs to live and not just exist.

Graham is fascinated with Hannah, sitting and looking at Instagram. He asks Logan what the name of the girl at Malones is. I had to laugh when Logan told him it’s Hannah and that she’s waited on them like 17,000 times.

Graham is intrigued. He’s scrolling through her Instagram while she’s dancing to music with her friends. He’s looking at her picture, and if it wasn’t for the smile on his face watching her dance and sing at the arena, I would not believe that Hannah was anything more than a game. But just the way that he looks at her, you can tell that even he doesn’t know that he likes her, but he does.

Hannah needed courage to go over and talk to Justin, and watching her try to figure out what to say is all of us. Talking to crushes is never easy, but I think we all have to admire that Hannah tried. Also, finding something to relate to is a crapshoot.

Hannah and Justin may have gotten off on the wrong foot at Malones, but she is definitely trying to make it better.

THE DEAL

Graham knows timing. Sometimes it is good, sometimes it is bad, but he shows up.

“Wellsy.”

He’s saying he always tells her to wear her jacket, but she never does. Allie is on the sidelines, ready to put a stop to it, but sometimes you just have to let life happen.

Garrett and Justin’s interaction is a pissing contest. Men are strange that way. They want the girl, but want the girl to be hard to get. They want what someone else wants, as if there is some sort of validation in that. It is confusing.

Hannah is confused over Garrett’s antics, but Garrett is truly trying to help. But that being said, how does he know her name? What is he doing right there?

To Garrett, he’s helped her. He has made Justin know her name. Graham has a high opinion of himself, but it also means that he knows relationships; he just doesn’t want to be in one.

Hannah and Garrett – this whole interaction feels somewhat intimate. Just the way that these two divulge secrets and talk. He recognizes her love for music, and she thinks that hockey has to be like that for him. The saddest part is that he doesn’t know – hockey has been something that he has done.

Garrett Graham could get passes on things, but he doesn’t believe in favors or shortcuts. He wants to earn his grade and doesn’t want to pass the class because someone handed him a grade. So he offers – he’ll be her fake boyfriend, and she’ll help him study.

To Graham, this is perfect – everything is purely transactional.

It’s the last seconds that made me stand up and cheer. The two are close, and Hannah gets even closer, whispering in his ear, “Deal.”

The games have just begun.