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By Jessilyn Lancaster
If you’ve spent time in the millennial mom corner of the internet, your algorithm has served up a fair amount of actors wrapped in college hockey jerseys. you catch clips not only of actual hockey games, but scenes from OFF CAMPUS or HEATED RIVALRY, interviews with the cast, reaction videos to particular moments, comparisons with the books … you get my drift.
What’s more, the content grabs your attention. Chiseled athletes flash those precious dimples and yearning eyes, making your heart melt, and imagine just for a minute what it would be like to be the object of their desire. This week, the men of choice hail from Briar University, a fictional university first described by author Elle Kennedy in “The Deal,” the first book of her Off Campus series, and brought to life on Prime Video.
The show follows four friends brought together by the Briar hockey team. Team Captain Garrett Graham must pass a philosophy class to skate and agrees to a deal with academically inclined Hannah Wells. She tutors him, and he fake-dates her to make her irresistible to a fellow student. The couple adorably falls in love as they navigate friendships, parental expectations, and past trauma. It’s so sweet that you cheer for their flirting as they each realize they want more than their initial deal.
The cast chemistry shines on screen both romantically and platonically. The four hockey stars — Garrett, John Logan, Dean Di Laurentis, and John Tucker — root for and support one another. Hannah’s best friend, Allie Hayes, celebrates her friend’s wins as much as her own. Even girls initially staged as the antagonists become lovable as characters embrace forgiveness.
But … there are butts. And that’s a major content problem. Even the first episode is graphic, with rear male nudity and upper female nudity. Most episodes feature at least one shirtless man walking around. Couples obsessively fall into bed with each other, with nothing left to the imagination. By the end of the series, full frontal male nudity assaults viewers and flusters the characters on screen. Sex is transactional, something a “friend,” would do for their friend. For one couple, the woman doesn’t want to be tied down after a relationship and pushes the man to pursue other women so she can pursue other men. The f-word is thrown around both as a verb and an adjective so much that viewers would lose count.
Furthermore, significant profanity overshadows much of the on-screen conversations. For people who clearly have never wanted to pursue Jesus, they sure like to invoke His name over every irritation or inconvenience. However, if they actually use His name in prayer, they may be better able to navigate the on-screen traumas and abuses. Let’s add in a nonbinary character, drug use, a bloody fight on the ice, and it’s clear that OFF CAMPUS glorifies hedonism above morality.
There are some redemptive elements within the characters themselves, though. Fans have praised Belmont Cameli’s portrayal of Garrett for leaving many of the character’s problematic traits on the pages of the book. Instead of a manipulative jock, Cameli’s Garrett loves deeply, wants the best for his girlfriend even if it means a life without him, and refuses to control her dating life. He humbles himself to the people he hurt, and he defends those who couldn’t defend themselves. There’s something about his adoration of Hannah that leaves viewers wanting to feel like she does — pursued, supported, cherished.
This is what the world has to offer, and ultimately, it will not satisfy the deepest desires of our soul. God created us for relationships, for friendships, for families. He created us to be challenged and to grow (Proverbs 27:17). But until we understand that we are rooted in Christ, and that He is the one who will make us feel true love, the feelings we get from watching OFF CAMPUS will fade as quickly as its popularity.
If you obsess over OFF CAMPUS, you’ll ultimately leave hollow and hurting, left with a dopamine void and searching for your next hit. Give your brain and heart a break by turning off the TV and asking God to show you where He can make you feel whole.
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