An Honest Review of Off Campus Season 1
By Siddharth Tripathy, Suryasnata Das · 26 May 2026 · KFS Blog
Have you ever walked into a show thinking you’re not gonna like it much, but by the end of the final episode, you’re practically drooling for a second season? I’ll be honest – when I opened Off Campus Season One for the first time, I was not particularly a fan – there are certainly some aspects of the show that I dislike. But by the third episode, I actually found myself enjoying the show. Despite some of the flaws, I was excited to keep watching because of the way the show made me feel. The Off Campus universe has some really fun, likeable, and magnetic characters who literally draw you back into the show like… magnets.
Let’s get to the good bits. The reason you want to keep watching and the reason you will be begging for season 2.
From the very beginning, we are introduced to an ensemble of characters who are so easy to like and get invested in. It’s true that this is an idealised universe, and it goes against the various stereotypes in other media regarding athletes who are considered “jocks” – essentially brainless muscle. I quite like that this show turned things around and showed those same characters having actual emotional depth and relatability. Certainly, a win for the “kindness is the real punk-rock”-ers out there.
The main plot of this season revolves around one of those athletes, Briar U’s ice hockey team captain, Garrett Graham. Now, when we are first introduced to him, he does seem like an overconfident and immature fellow, but we get to learn more about him along with our other main character, Hannah Wells, a singer-songwriter who’s struggling to make ends meet. Without getting too much into the gory, spoilery details of the story, the plot is quite funny yet emotional as they make their journey from “fake-dating” to actual dating.
As good as their story is, I would be lying if that’s the real reason I would recommend this show to anyone. The real reason, of course, is the plotline with Hannah’s roommate and best friend, Allie Hayes, and the ice-hockey team’s alternate captain and defenseman, Dean di Laurentis.
They’re probably the sexiest TV couple you’ll ever see and the reason JLo is trending again. Their story was secondary to the main plotline between Hannah and Garrett, but their on-screen charm and personality just stole the show for me. Their part of the story was entirely to set up the next season of the show, and God knows I’ll be seated in 2027 when it comes out.
Everybody else in the tertiary cast – characters like Logan, Tucker, Jules, and Justin were just as fun as the primary cast and I would love to watch subsequent seasons develop their characters as well. One of my personal favourite episodes was the Thanksgiving episode where Tucker was literally going through an episode of The Bear while everyone else around him was enjoying the holiday. And the end of the show – a really comical and intense cliffhanger to set the stage for the next season, which I am all the more excited for now.
Let’s address the elephant in the room now. It’s a rather small one, so let’s get it out of the way. The reason that I disliked the show in the very beginning was that I am not used to this kind of story and writing. I felt that every other line the characters said was a cliche, and I can completely understand that someone might not like that. I was not a fan of it throughout the entire show, but I managed to get over this very minor complaint by the first few episodes.
The season is fairly faithful to the book that it is based on, The Deal by Elle Kennedy, the first book in the Off Campus series. The showrunners made some important changes from the book, which changed some minor plot points in the story. It also covered significant portions from the third book in the series, The Score, which was the plotline between Allie and Dean. The second book in the series was about Logan and the as-of-yet unintroduced Grace Ivers, but perhaps we’ll see that storyline in a later season. The show was sprinkled with Easter eggs all over the place, which readers of the original series would have picked up on.
Let’s also take a moment to appreciate how fucking good every single member of the cast looks. 10/10 cast, very hot, and very book description accurate. They are all unfamiliar faces but amazing actors with crazy good charisma on-screen. I also want to give a huge shoutout to the guy in charge of the soundtrack of the show for picking the best songs. Although, spoiler alert: they did not use Sexyback (if you know, you know).
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