USA Network’s Dare Me is a slow-burn teen drama about the fraught lives of competitive high school cheerleaders in a small Midwestern town. Based on Megan Abbott’s 2012 novel, the series is a mystery thriller that follows the fallout after a new coach named Colette French takes over the squad. The show has a single season, ten episodes, and it premiered on December 29, 2019. It was canceled by the network in April 2020.
At its core, Dare Me is a character study dressed up as a thriller. The cheerleaders are not just athletes; they are teenagers caught in a web of dark secrets, loyalty tests, and manipulations that ripple outward from the coach’s arrival. The series leans on the fraught relationship between Beth Cassidy and Addy Hanlon, two best friends whose bond is tested by the coach’s arrival and the ensuing drama.
The Midwestern Town as Its Own Character
The setting is central to the show. The small Midwestern town is a closed system, and the cheerleading squad is its most visible expression of that closedness. The town’s residents are not just spectators; they are complicit in the culture that the coach exploits.
The show spends time establishing the town’s rhythms. It is the kind of place where everyone knows everyone, and where a rumor can travel faster than a game plan. That setting gives the drama its claustrophobic feel. There is no escape from the town’s watchful eyes, and the coach knows it.
The show builds a world where the cheerleaders are the town’s most visible performers, and their lives are on display for everyone to judge. That visibility is a character in its own right. It shapes how the coach operates, and it shapes how the cheerleaders behave.
Colette French and the Coach’s Gambit
Colette French, played by Willa Fitzgerald, arrives to remake the squad. She is not a figure of authority so much as a force of chaos. She brings the squad to prominence, but the cost is high. Secrets surface, alliances fracture, and the lives of the characters become increasingly intertwined with the coach’s schemes.
Fitzgerald carries the show with a performance that shifts between confidence and menace. She is the one who brings the squad to prominence, but her methods are questionable. She is the one who tests the bonds between the characters, and her presence is the engine of the series.
The show does not treat the coach as a one-dimensional villain. She has her own motives, her own fears, and her own past. The show builds her as a character who is as trapped by the town’s expectations as the cheerleaders are. That complexity makes her a compelling figure, even as she drives the show’s darkest turns.
Beth and Addy at the Center
Beth Cassidy, played by Marlo Kelly, and Addy Hanlon, played by Herizen F. Guardiola, are the show’s emotional core. Their relationship is the one thing that remains consistent through the season, even as everything around them fractures. The show keeps returning to their bond, testing it with ever-increasing pressure.
Kelly and Guardiola anchor the show with performances that hold the emotional weight. They make Beth and Addy feel like real people, not just characters caught in a thriller. Their scenes together are some of the best in the show, and they carry the weight of the show’s central conflict.
The show keeps the relationship at its center. It tests it, breaks it, and reassembles it. The tension between Beth and Addy is the one constant in a show full of shifting alliances and secrets. It is the one relationship that the show never abandons, and it is the one that carries the audience through the darkest moments.
The Cast and the Recurring Players
The show’s cast is substantial. Rob Heaps as Matt French, Zach Roerig as Will Mosley, and Paul Fitzgerald as Burt Cassidy round out the main ensemble. Joyful Drake, Tammy Blanchard, Antonio J. Bell, Alison Thornton, and Tamberla Perry recur throughout the season. Chris Zylka and Taveeta Syzmanowicz join later, with Adrian Walters and Amanda Brugel added in the final stretch.
Alison Thornton, initially a recurring player, was promoted to series regular in the second episode of the first season. The show’s casting choices are notable for how they build the ensemble across the season. The recurring players add texture to the town, giving the audience a sense of the broader community.
The recurring players are not just walk-ons. They are part of the web of relationships that the show keeps untangling. They are the town’s watchers, the ones who spread rumors, and the ones who know more than they let on. The show uses them well, and their scenes add depth to the world.
The Pace of the Season
The ten episodes are not evenly paced. The show takes its time establishing the cheerleading world, then accelerates into darker territory as the coach’s plans come to light. The season is structured as a slow reveal, with the show building toward its final revelations.
The first few episodes establish the characters and the town. The middle episodes build the tension. The final episodes deliver the payoffs. The pacing is deliberate, and it works in the show’s favor.
The show’s structure gives viewers time to invest in the characters before the stakes rise. It is a deliberate choice, and it pays off by the final episodes. The audience has spent time with Beth and Addy, with the coach, with the town, before the show asks for a judgment on them.
The Show’s Weak Points
The show’s strengths are also its weaknesses. The slow build works well in the first half of the season, but the middle episodes can feel repetitive. The show spends a lot of time with the coach’s schemes, and some of those schemes feel similar to each other. The show’s attempt to build suspense sometimes slides into a steady drumbeat that loses its force over time.
The show also leans on the town’s smallness as a source of tension. That works in the first half of the season, but by the final episodes, the town’s closed nature becomes a problem as much as a source of drama. The show’s world is small, and that smallness becomes a trap.
The show’s writing is at its best when it focuses on the relationships between the characters. When it drifts into long stretches of the coach’s schemes, it loses some of its sharpness. The characters are the heart of the show, and the show works best when it returns to them.
What Works
- The performances of Marlo Kelly and Herizen F. Guardiola as Beth and Addy
- Willa Fitzgerald’s grounded presence as the coach
- The show’s use of the town’s smallness as a character in itself
- The slow build of the first half of the season
- The final episodes, which deliver on the show’s central promise
Where It Falls Short
- Some of the coach’s schemes feel similar to each other in the middle episodes
- The town’s closed nature becomes a problem rather than a source of drama
- The middle episodes can feel repetitive after the strong first half
- The show’s attempt to build suspense sometimes slides into a steady drumbeat
The Final Verdict
Dare Me is a well-acted, well-intentioned series that occasionally loses its momentum. It is at its best when it focuses on the characters and their relationships, and at its weakest when it gets caught up in the coach’s schemes. The show is a worthwhile watch for fans of character-driven drama and teen thrillers, even if its second half does not quite live up to its promise.
The show is worth watching for its performances alone. Marlo Kelly and Herizen F. Guardiola carry the show with a chemistry that never falters, and Willa Fitzgerald gives the coach a presence that keeps the audience engaged. The show’s writing is at its best when it focuses on the characters, and that is where the show delivers its strongest moments.
The show is not a masterpiece. It is a show with real strengths and real weaknesses, and the weaknesses are significant enough that they cannot be ignored. But the strengths are strong enough to recommend it. It is a show that rewards attention, even as it frustrates at times.
The show’s final episodes deliver on the promises made in the first half. They bring the stakes to a head and give the audience a resolution that matches the show’s ambitions. The show ends on a note that feels earned, given the journey it has taken the audience through.
Dare Me is a show that is best seen as a character study with a thriller’s trappings. It is a show about friendship, loyalty, and the cost of ambition. It is a show that asks the audience to care about its characters before it asks for a judgment on them.
The show is a worthy entry in the genre of teen thrillers. It is a show that respects its characters and respects its audience. It is a show that deserves its place in the conversation, even if it does not reach the heights of its ambitions.
The show is not a perfect watch, and it is not a perfect series. But it is a show that delivers on its promise more often than it fails. It is a show that is worth your time, even if it is not the best show you will ever watch. It is a show that will stay with you, and it is a show that you will remember.
The show’s final score is 7.3 out of 10.
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