These girls do not stop. Fast and furious and without sound, they routinely plunge headfirst into the concrete below, unaware of the injuries they amount. USA Network’s Dare Me, based on the novel by Megan Abbott, has kept us reeling since Coach’s arrival, Beth’s first temper tantrum, and Addy’s annoying reluctance to choose a side. And now we’ve landed amid the squad’s triumph and full-fledged destruction.
WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FROM EPISODES 1 – 8.
What an awkward turn of events. Beth (played by Marlo Kelly) went from the friend we equated with poison ivy to the friend Addy (Herizen Guardiola) should have stuck with all along, and Coach (Willa Fitzgerald) has proven to be so not worth the effort. Coach, who’s forgotten that she’s the adult and these girls are the children, thought she had Beth figured out from the get-go and enjoyed knocking her off her pedestal. And sure, we enjoyed watching, but now we’re tired. Coach took Addy under her very non-nurturing, hawk-like wing and created a monster, and now it’s up to Beth to wrangle that monster back in and whip her straight. Because Beth, it turns out, is Addy’s glimmer of hope after all, and maybe Addy will stop pretending Coach cares about anyone other than herself and appreciate that Beth is, surprisingly but also not so surprisingly, the loyal one.
(Loyal to a fault and much too forgiving, if you ask me.)
Just two episodes ago, Addy made a bold move when she told Beth that nothing is ever enough for her. (And at regionals! When they were about to take the stage, at that!)
What?
Yes, that selfish, selfish Beth. Nothing is ever enough for her. Yet she never asks for anything. Remind me how that works? (Luckily, and with no thanks to Addy, Beth didn’t falter. They’re going to state.)
Still, it’s easy to understand why Addy would mistake Beth’s dependence on her as asking for too much. Beth acts strong, but it’s obvious that she isn’t. She didn’t fare well after being sexually assaulted (we think?) by Kurtz (Chris Zylka), one of the Marine recruiters that the girls like to party with because it makes them feel unteenagerish, but she put on the bravest face that she could while breaking down into the lost, frightened girl she hides behind her ruthless façade.
So Addy has exceptional timing, said no one ever. Everybody else in Beth’s life has let her down, consistently and without remorse, and Addy concludes that this is the essential moment to join in and trade up? Beth is used to it from the others, but losing Addy during the aftermath of whatever happened with Kurtz was a punch in the gut. If nothing is ever enough for Beth, maybe it’s because Addy is constantly trying to replace her. Maybe what’s enough for Beth is the assurance that Addy will finally treat her as enough. Who is it that’s never satisfied again?
Take a look in the mirror, Addy.
Would Addy have been gallivanting off with Coach if Coach had nothing to give? But what is Coach giving anyway? She takes – that’s for sure – but there’s not a lot of giving going on. A bunch of empty promises isn’t a fair exchange for everything she demands from Addy. If Addy insists on continually looking for the next big thing, she’d best learn that Coach ain’t it.
Hey Addy, watch my kid for me while I cheat on my husband (Rob Heaps), would ya?
Hey Addy, only come around when it’s convenient for me; otherwise, I don’t know you. K?
Hey Addy, come watch me clean up a crime scene because… because?
To be fair, we’re guilty of hasty judgments too. Remember? Well-meaning Coach, here to create a winning team in a fair and competitive way while Beth the villainous schemer was sabotaging the squad from behind closed doors. Yeah, so…(oops!), Coach went in a different direction. It’s a harsh truth, but we get it now. She may have shown up to do what Bert Cassidy (Paul Fitzgerald) hired her to do, but the job got hectic when her feud with Beth tangled with her dirty secrets. Then her solution was to buy Addy’s obedience and strain her relationship with Beth.
But wailing on Coach isn’t to say Beth is perfect – or that we were wrong about her. After all, we’ve seen Beth taunt her little sister, bully the other girls, play mind games with Addy, and fly off the handle in unsettling ways. But none of this is news to Addy, so why didn’t she wave goodbye to Beth a long time ago? Coach offers Addy the world, so it’s time for Addy to judge Beth harshly and make her feel the twist of the knife?
Not cool, Addy. You accepted what Beth was. Now own it.
But the ninth episode has brought us full circle. Beth is back in battle mode, and this time we love it. Unfortunately, it’s Sergeant Will’s (Zach Roerig) demise that gave Beth the ammo she needs. Coach is walking a tightrope to keep the police from discovering her affair with Will, and Beth is going to eat that up. But if it hadn’t been Will’s tragic “suicide” that snapped Beth out of her haze, it would have been something else. Was she really going to lie down and surrender? Unlikely. And this time she has the upper hand and knows it. She’s played this game enough to know when her opponent is on edge and it’s the ideal moment to strike. And Coach doesn’t handle that strike with the same collected cool that she did the first time Beth tested her. Then again, Beth didn’t just test her this time; she outright knocked Coach out of the ballpark. It. was. glorious. Of all the teasing moments of grandstanding we’ve seen since the series started, this subsequential blow was a long time coming. And if we know anything, Beth is not finished.
With one episode left and Beth’s curiosity about what really happened to Will all settled in and comfortable, it’s going to be one beautiful mess. And while we probably won’t get all the conclusions we want (here’s to hoping for a second season!), someone puh-lease make Addy choose already.
Team Beth here. Unlike that other one, she’s a likable kinda evil and she didn’t introduce Addy to a dead body.
Watch full episodes at USA Network.
https://www.usanetwork.com/dare-me
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