Off Campus

Surprisingly good character writing for a cheesy teen show but there's still a formulaic aspect to the story that weighs it down. I think it's mostly about the story beats being somewhat predictable. It feels like when the story wants to go somewhere, the characters lose some nuance in their characterization or something happens in the scene which, surprise, perfectly resonates with the current emotional arc of the character. It's the kind of writing that is so functional that it loses some of its authenticity. Characters are written in a bit more detail than you would ordinarily expect. They aren't wholesale clichés. Sometimes a character would say something that signals a more multifaceted interior. But that stops the moment the plot takes over and the perfectly engineered plot device enters the room to bring the characters back to their duties: be a cheesy teen drama. It's really like the screenwriting structure sets landmark for the story to hit which prevents Off Campus to be different (and better) than what it set out to be.