Boarding school always sounds like an adventure: independence, chaos, drama, and teenagers making life-altering decisions while they are still very much under construction. Olympia Boarding School has all of that, plus the normal cliques, rivalries, secrets, and enough hormones in the air to power the entire campus.
Keeping Secrets with the Rowing Captain follows Olive, a nerdy girl who wants to grow up, fit in, and finally get the attention of her longtime crush. Her solution? Make a secret deal with Brad, the campus rowing champion. In exchange for biology tutoring, Brad agrees to help Olive become more confident and socially fearless.
Technically, their deal is all about biology.
A totally normal arrangement between two people who have absolutely nothing in common.
What could possibly go wrong?
Well, this is a drama, so naturally: everything.
There is chaos and secrets. There is jealousy. And of course there is a mean girl who has clearly never been told “no” in her life and desperately needs to be humbled. And there is the kind of school environment that feels vaguely familiar while also making you wonder what kind of curriculum Olympia Boarding School is actually running.
How Olympia Boarding School is letting all these teenagers roam around like they actually know what the consequences of their actions are.
Trinity Johnston plays Olive with the right mix of awkwardness and determination. Olive wants to be seen, but she also has to learn that becoming confident does not mean becoming someone else. Evan Adams brings Brad to life as more than just the rowing captain with a reputation. He may look like he has everything figured out, but the more time he spends with Olive, the more obvious it becomes that he is just as caught off guard by their connection as she is.
That and he recognizes feelings long before she does.
Their arrangement starts out as a plan, but plans are rarely prepared for obstacles, curveballs, and feelings. The more Olive and Brad spend time together, the more complicated their deal becomes. Olive starts realizing that confidence has to come from within, while Brad learns that the girl he is supposed to be helping to date someone else may be the person he actually wants.
It is messy, dramatic, chaotic and exactly the kind of story that makes you keep watching because you need to know when everyone is going to finally admit what is obvious to everyone else.
Who belongs with who
Olive’s crush, Zeke, is competing with Brad for a spot at UW and a chance to make the Olympic team. On paper, that is already enough tension. In reality, Zeke is the kind of guy who treats basic decency like a favor he is granting you and you owe him something for it.. He has the confidence of someone who has never once been asked to reflect on his own behavior, and Olive keeps mistaking his attention for validation.
Which is frustrating.
Zeke does not deserve Olive’s time, her energy, or the free rent in her brain.
But Olive does not see herself clearly yet. She has spent so much time accepting the version of herself that other people project onto her. Her confidence is lacking. She thinks being noticed by Zeke would somehow prove she is worth wanting. She settles for being treated like she is an inconvenience because she has been convinced that is what she is.
Brad sees Olive as funny, smart, capable, charming, and far more beautiful than she allows herself to believe. He tries to show her that she is desirable the way that she is. He doesn’t want her to change herself to fit someone else’s standards. To him she is already perfect the way she is.
The frustrating part is that Olive keeps looking past Brad toward Zeke. She is chasing a boy who barely knows how to be decent. Brad is standing right there, quietly falling apart over her and she doesn’t notice. Or maybe she doesn’t believe it.
A++ CASTING
If there is one thing Evan Adams excels at, it is yearning. Yes, he is a heartthrob in the vertical-drama world. Yes, the abs are present and the charm is doing what it needs to do. But Adams’ real skill in this drama is making Brad’s feelings feel lived-in. Every look, every pause, every soft touch, every moment where he has to pretend he is fine while Olive talks about Zeke carries the same message: he is trying very hard not to want more than he is allowed to have.
Brad does not just want Olive to choose him. He wants Olive to understand that she deserves to be chosen.
And that is why Zeke never really has a chance.
If there is one person proving herself and making herself known in the vertical space, it is Trinity Johnston. She is talented, but the real appeal of her performances is how relatable she makes every character feel. Johnston has a grounded quality that makes Olive’s insecurity accessible rather than exaggerated. She makes you believe in the girl who has spent too long apologizing for who she is, and in the possibility that she can stop treating her sincerity like something to hide.
Johnston understands that vulnerability is not weakness. She lets Olive be awkward, hopeful, frustrated, and unsure without ever making her feel small. Instead, she gives the character room to realize that the parts of herself she has been taught to be embarrassed by are also the parts that make her worth knowing.
WHY IT WORKS
Keeping Secrets with the Rowing Captain works because Johnston and Adams have an accessibility factor. At the beginning, I was not immediately sold on Olive and Brad’s chemistry. But it did not take many episodes for the connection to settle into place, and I realized that was intentional. Their relationship is built slowly. It allows the audience to see both characters grow into a version of themselves that can meet the other where they are.
There is a lot happening in this drama, and some moments had me watching through my fingers. Still, I could not turn it off. I needed to know whether the mean girls would finally face consequences. Also whether Olive would recognize her own worth before she let Zeke’s attention define it for her.
The ending feels abrupt, and I wanted more time with the emotional payoff. But I can still appreciate the work it took to get there. Keeping Secrets with the Rowing Captain is a bingeable watch. It has enough chaos, yearning, and character growth to keep you invested until the end.
