Greenhouse Academy S1 E1

## Plot

In California, the Woods family is seeing off the matriarch of the bunch: Ryan Woods. She's an astronaut, and she's going on a trip around the moon in a rocket. Ryan has her daughter Hayley promise to watch over her son Alex. Before she leaves, Hayley gets a picture of all of them, including her dad Carter. Ryan is 41 years old, and about to make history. She's wanted to go to space ever since discovering a million year old meteor. She's going to be the first female astronaut to orbit the moon on the Athena spacecraft. She received her doctorate in physics at Caltech. Shortly after liftoff though, something goes wrong, and the rocket explodes. Everyone is in disbelief, especially Alex. Search and rescue teams are mobilized, but nothing is found. Ryan Woods is dead. The family is all hit hard by this, and they each react in different ways, which are all arguably unhealthy. Eight months later, the house is a mess, and Hayley barely interacts with her father and brother anymore. She just hangs out with her friends Owen and Meredith and listens to music. She's become a cynic, and avoids talking about her mom as much as possible. She thinks Alex is wasting his life. Since their mom died, he's dedicated himself to training, especially basketball practice, so he can get into the Greenhouse, because it's the same school their mom went to. Hayley and her friends think it's a brainwash factory. As we see in season 3, they're right. After Alex misses a shot and accidentally breaks her limited edition record, they yell at each other. Alex says that he's glad their mom isn't around to see her and her lazy friends doing nothing with their lives, and Hayley tells him to stop bringing Mom into everything. Carter tells them to stop, and walks away. He was hit by his wife's death the hardest. He's obsessed with it, and the house is covered in news about it. He doesn't (or can't) try to be a parent, let alone a responsible one. He lost his job, and just sits around the house all day. I assume they're still able to live there because of life insurance. Carter is too tired and absentminded to remember where he put his car keys, so he can't drive Alex to the Greenhouse for his entrance exam. Hayley points out that he's in no condition to drive. The school is two hours away, and Alex won't make it if he leaves now. It's his last year to qualify. Hayley decides to drive him there after seeing how much it means to him. Louis Osmond is the founder and headmaster of the school. Daniel Hayward is the captain of the Eagles' clubhouse, and the basketball team. It seems like all the boys on the Eagles' team are on the basketball team, and all the girls are cheerleaders, but we later find out that the girls do have separate sports teams. The Ravens' clubhouse is all about computers, problem solving, intellect, etc. As in the kind of qualities you'd expect actual leaders and people who want to change the world to have. Leo Cruz is the captain of the Ravens' clubhouse, and a musician. Alex and Hayley reach the school, which is right by the beach. Daniel and his dimwitted right hand man Parker Grant want a guy named Tyler to be on their team, because he's a great basketball player, and that's all they care about. There's only one spot on the Eagles team. I get that this is an exclusive, private, rich kid school, but really? To ensure that Tyler passes the test, Parker gives him a paper with all the answers on it. He assures Daniel that no Ravens saw him hack into their server. Um, you're all jocks though. What would any of you know about hacking? They should've gone to Sophie Cardona, the resident gossip queen. She's good with computers, and she's an Eagle. She's also best friends with Brooke Osmond, Daniel's girlfriend, and the daughter of Louis, the headmaster. Nepotism. While in line, Max Miller accidentally bumps into Emma Geller. I could instantly tell that Max is most likely neurodivergent. Hayley rightfully points out that the school takes competition too seriously. Healthy competition is good, but the rivalry between the Eagles and Ravens is anything but that. Alex talks to Daniel, telling him that he's a big fan, he's trying out for the Eagles, and he's a shooting guard. Daniel and Parker basically ignore him, other than to say that he's weak, and should try out for the Ravens instead. Hayley tells them to stop psyching out her brother. Alex says she didn't mean it. He tries to pull her away, but she keeps it up. She says Daniel looks scared, and wonders if he's afraid someone younger and more talented will replace him. He's an athlete, so yes. Meanwhile, another person is brought in… in handcuffs. The test is identical to the SAT test given to college applicants who are a few years older than the kids applying to this school. They get two and a half hours to finish it. These kids only get 45 minutes, while Leo loudly plays his guitar as a distraction. Okay, so they're looking for genius level prodigies who can work fast and ignore distractions while under an insane amount of stress, pressure, and anxiety. No. Just… no. Kids like that don't exist. Once they finish the written exam, they'll move on to either the physical exam for the Eagles, or the computer skills exam for the Ravens. They're interrupted by the girl in handcuffs coming in late, escorted by a man, Sergeant Archer. She's handcuffed to her chair, and sits next to Max. Her name is Jackie Sanders. Emma is sitting next to Alex. Tyler is behind them. Also, the blackboard is covered in inspirational quotes, ranging from Albert Einstein to Confucius. When Hayley sees a rejected girl crying and her family trying to comfort her, she tells her that the school takes free thinkers and turns them into nuts and bolts in their own assembly line, a la *The Wall*. Given her love of music, I assume she's referring to either the 1982 British live action/animated musical, or its inspiration, the 1979 album released by English rock band Pink Floyd. Either way, it's really obscure to a 21st century teenager like me. I wonder how she got into music anyways? She still has records. Not just any records either, extremely rare, limited edition ones. Brooke and Sophie heard her. They don't seem to understand sarcasm. Tyler finishes first, and the teacher, Suzanne, sees that he failed. Louis and his son Jason stop by the classroom to ask Archer how Jackie is doing. Jason doesn't want to even give her a chance, pointing out that she's a delinquent thief, and they're not a charity. Louis reveals what her crime was to the audience: Robbing a bank, which she did to make a point. It was going to close a shelter that was in debt. Louis has a deal with the judge. If they accept her, she'll be pardoned, and he has faith in her. I thought this was a clue that he knew her personally, but he doesn't. Hayley overheard them. Instead of taking the test, Jackie steals a paperclip out of Max's bag to unlock her handcuffs. Max finishes, and he passes. After freeing herself, Jackie walks right up to Leo, unplugs his guitar, and kicks his speaker. Then she bows to everyone else. While calling his mom, Max accidentally walks into the girls' bathroom, where Brooke and Sophie are. They make fun of him by saying he must be trying out for the Eagles. Oh, so they *do* understand sarcasm. But Max most likely doesn't. He does eventually get that they're making fun of him though, and heads to the boys' room. He opens a stall, but Jackie is in there, and yells at him to get out. That explains why Archer is there. After the test, Alex points Leo out to Hayley. She encourages him when he says it's harder than he thought. He never gives up, and he's the most determined person she knows, just like their mom. There's a photo of her in the school. Daniel overheard them. Why is it so easy to eavesdrop on people in this school? And why do they always hear important, personal, and private info, and not what someone had for breakfast or something? Coach Davies is testing people trying out for the Eagles. Louis and Jason are watching, and they heard about what Jackie did. Jason wants to tell Archer to send her back to juvenile detention, but Louis hasn't made up his mind yet. Hayley is in the stands to cheer Alex on. Louis says that he takes after his mother, even though she was a Raven. Jason is surprised that he's Ryan Woods' son. Daniel and Parker are discussing Tyler's horrible score. Parker admits that Alex can shoot. Daniel tries to persuade Louis to accept Tyler, saying that he's a great center, and they need someone with his height on the team. Louis refuses, saying that leadership has nothing to do with height. It has very little to do with sports either. Athletics are good, but so are the arts, and general education. Louis does approve of Daniel playing one on one with Alex. Leo joins Hayley in the bleachers. Daniel shoves Alex. Leo advises Hayley to keep Alex away from Daniel, and she says he can take care of himself. However, she'll contradict herself soon. Daniel tries to psyche Alex out again, and when he tells him to shut up this time, he mentions his mother and the explosion. It was all to make him mad and get him to fight Daniel. Davies pulls Alex off him, and Hayley tells him to stop. Jason asks Alex to leave. Hayley yells that Daniel started it. Louis tells Jason that she's Hayley Woods. He tells her that they all loved her mother, but they can't accept that kind of behavior. So as long as harassment doesn't get physical, it's okay? Bullshit! This is a real world bullying tactic. Hayley thinks it's all part of their game. She tells them how Alex worked for months to get into the school, and they did everything in their power to ruin his chances. She accuses them of enjoying his breakdown. When she calls them pathetic sadists, Jason has her leave too. She points out that they're producing bullies like Daniel, Parker, Brooke, and Sophie. Okay, she just mentions Daniel, but come on. Louis either doesn't know about or condones all of their awful behavior. Being laid back and hands off comes with not knowing what any of the kids do or say at any time. I'm not saying go all 1984 on the school, but security cameras, monitoring their school sanctioned devices, social media accounts, and Sophie's website for bullying, sexting, harassment, etc.; and hiring guards and a guidance counselor might just help. I understand why Louis might not see it with the Eagles because they're close to his daughter, and Jason doesn't even care, but come on! Outside, Alex blames himself for reacting the way he did. Hayley knows Daniel said something about their mom, and says that Alex didn't do anything wrong. Louis talks to them. He didn't agree with anything Hayley said, but he appreciates her honesty. He also didn't approve of Alex's actions, but understands why he lost his temper. He wants students with real integrity, like them. He says they both got in; Alex with the Eagles and Hayley with the Ravens. He points out that if she hates the Greenhouse so much, she could stay and fix it. Besides, having someone with a different opinion than yours can make for good dialogue and tough, stimulating conversations, and assuming everyone is civil and truthful, you might come out of it with a new understanding or gratitude, either in the topic you were discussing or in each other. Louis is confident Hayley will pass the written test because she's Ryan's daughter. Ugh, so much nepotism, even postmortem. Getting into this school, especially as an Eagle, is apparently less about hard work and merit and more about who you're related to. Hayley seems like a girl who could use some challenges. Louis's intuition is usually pretty good. Ha! No it's not! He says that if she passes the written test, she can stay for thirty days. If she still doesn't like it, she can go back home. Alex convinces her, reminding her of the promise she made to their mom to take care of him. She takes the test with Jackie, who was given another shot. Jason still thinks it's a bad idea, and tells his dad. Good thing Louis never listens to his son. The girls ask for Leo to come back in and play his guitar. Regardless of whether or not they did it because they like his music; it at least shows that they're willing to take the tests under similar conditions as the other kids. They really do have integrity. While setting up for the student ceremony, Daniel and Leo do the whole stupid trash talk rivalry thing. It turns out that the Ravens switched the order of the test questions when they found out that Parker hacked into their servers. At the ceremony, Carter isn't there for his kids, even though they texted him about it. Louis believes that leaders come in all sorts of packages, and for some, their intellect can't be measured by numbers. Sometimes they offer a fresh perspective, like Jackie or Hayley. After the ceremony, Max and Emma are geeking out over their new communication devices, Louies. Louis invented them, and turned down billions from Apple for it. He wanted it to only be for Greenhouse students. Or he could've started his own company to sell it and given the money to charity, or used it to make the Greenhouse better, like bigger dorms/clubhouses so more than a handful of students can be accepted each year. The only new students are Alex for the Eagles, and Max, Emma, Jackie, and Hayley for the Ravens, and the latter two were special cases. Hayley isn't surprised that Daniel and Brooke are a couple. Alex is invited to the after party at the Eagles clubhouse, and Hayley tells him to go. At the house, Carter is sleeping on the couch, and his phone indicates that Hayley is trying to call him. She and Alex texted him before, but he didn't respond. Someone breaks in, and inserts a sort of USB drive into his computer. He uses it to find over 1,400 hidden files, permanently delete them, and download them onto the drive. He picks up the framed photo that Hayley took the day of the accident. I hate the credits. They only use half the screen to credit everyone, so it takes twice as long. This is because the right half of the screen is used to show off photos of the cast, and their social media handles. I'm not a fan of it, but most of the photos are nice.

## Review

I personally like this show, but I have some problems with it, which stops me from loving it. For starters, the Greenhouse isn't a real leadership school. I hate every single Eagles member that isn't Alex, and even then I prefer Hayley over him. Probably because she calls out all the Eagle members on their bullshit, she's snarky, and she points out some legitimate flaws in the school. I don't want to see normal teenage drama. Maybe some romance, but the thing that kept me invested throughout the first season was the conspiracy plot, and Brooke slowly undergoing character development, which she only did because of said plot. Seriously, all of the Eagles in the first season are assholes, who fit the dumb jock and jackass jock stereotypes like a glove. They're all lying, manipulative, vain egomaniacs who care about nothing but themselves and their reputation. They only care about winning and humiliating the Ravens, and they're willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish those unsavory goals, even if it involves lying, cheating, spying, stealing, breaking and entering, and vandalism. They shun Alex for *doing the right thing*. These kids would make terrible leaders! I get that they're all still teenagers, and *maybe* they'll grow out of it, but behavior like this is unacceptable! It should be grounds for detention at the very least, maybe even suspension or outright expulsion, but they're almost never caught or punished for their shitty actions! Literally the only characters who are worse than them are the conspiracy people, and that's only because they're okay with all manner of crimes, from trespassing to blackmail to kidnapping to murder! Louis is laid back, but the downside is that he's so easily duped by just about everyone in the main cast, most of whom are teenagers, which explains why they never trust him with anything serious. Plus, they're still teenagers; they probably think they're invincible and can solve everything themselves. Which they do. Anyways, I like all the actors and actresses, especially Ariel Mortman, who reminds me of Ariel Winter. It's sort of like *Harry Potter* meets *Degrassi* on TV, replacing magic with something very similar to but still different from the real world, and taking place in southern California. It was apparently filmed in Tel Aviv though, which, from what I've heard, is a beautiful and amazing city. I really like the music, at least in this first episode. It reminds me of *Cloak and Dagger* for some reason, and *Black Lightning*. I've already watched the whole show, and while I think season 2 is better, it also has its fair share of problems, from plot holes to hanging plot threads, unexplored backstories, underdeveloped characters, and minor cliffhangers, along with season 3 and 4. Oh my gosh. This took me around three whole hours to write. Still, it took me four hours to write my review for the series finale of Tangled: The Series, and Elena of Avalor's finale took me at least six hours. Both of them were over an hour long and were three episodes in one, after all. Or maybe I'm just more of a cartoon person than a live action person. It's not that I specifically dislike live action TV or movies, they just feel somewhat… limiting unless they use CGI, and even then, it's usually not very good CGI. I just want to watch Buffy, or Alex Mack; not to be confused with *Andi Mack*, which is also a really good show; or *Home Before Dark*, or *Hanna*, or Secrets of Sulphur Springs, or *Superman and Lois*, or *Cruel Summer*, or *Julie and the Phantoms*, or *So Weird*, or *No Good Nick*. And those are just the live action shows, don't even get me started on cartoons like *Green Lantern The Animated Series*, or *Monkie Kid*.