If there’s anything I know about Cheer it’s that BITCHES. LOVE. CHEER. One of my hottest best friends (Elena) is OBSESSED with Cheer and if she, a smart journalist with an hour glass figure, likes the series I trust it to be good. In fact, I EXPECT it to be good.
If it’s not, Elena better watch her back (I know I do).
Cheer is a Netflix docuseries following the highs and lows of college cheerleading. Taking place at Navarro College, the series follows that nationally ranked Bulldogs Cheer Team from Corsicana, Texas as they prepare to compete in the National Cheerleading Championship in Daytona Beach, the port of Hell. Monica Aldama is their coach who rose to fame which I know because my mom got compared to her once in the grocery store and hasn’t shut up about it since. It’s six episodes, an hour each, and seems pretty straight forward.
Do you think I could be on their Cheer Team?
This show starts with, you guessed it, a cheer scene. The cheer squad is practicing on mats and we cut to talking heads where someone is talking about the stigma around cheering not being hard. They put their bodies through a lot of pain and they want the people to know as they flip through the air talking about why they do Cheer. They do it because it makes them care about other people, it saved their life, they’re not in jail because of it.
Etc, etc.
Monica Aldama, the coach, says many-a-people have introduced her to broken kiddo types hoping she can shape them up and give them a home. Cheer can be a happy place, she reiterates, as the kids continue their talking heads about how much they love Cheer because of [INSERT TRAGIC BACKSTORY HERE]. Cheer brought them close. They’re a family and they trust each other.
Basically, these kids got heart and they want you to KNOW!!!
They talk about the age-old-vision of cheerleaders on the sideline and how it has evolved. Lawrence Herkimer, known as “Herkie,” set up cheer camps around the world and started the National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) that grew from coast to coast. They started throwing baskets in their formation, got scored by crowds, and cheerleading became competitive. It’s the best of gymnastics, circus, and dance and Daytona Beach is where they’re trying to head. It’s the only competition for college cheerleading which, as we’ve seen in Bring it On, is a big deal. You only compete once for two minutes and fifteen seconds so you better make sure you make an impression.
If you mess up, that’s your only chance the entire year.
Navarro College, the place this takes place, has won thirteen national titles. Since 2012, this journal college has won the grand championship a fuck ton of times. Their reputation has brought the gays and the girlies from infinity and beyond to this small little town roughly 50 miles outside Dallas. Ooookay not to be “prejudiced” or anything but I’m going to guess from the first ten minutes of this that the 24,000 people of Coriscana are NOT about to love the femme boys invading their town. If there’s a hate crime on one of these little twinks in the show, I WILL rage. I went to Indiana ONCE and some dude FOLLOWED ME AROUND THE STORE for KISSING MY GIRLFRIEND I’m NOT about to have rural America fuck this UP for me.
Unpausing the show now.
Cop Robert Johnson is talking about how much he loves Corsicana, home of the Fruitcake (in more ways than one). They sell just shy of a million cakes a year which his shocking, people eat fruitcakes? I thought it was a universal truth not to eat fruitcakes, aren’t they like, rock hard? The cop talks about how Monica but Navarro Community College on the map and she’s driven, meticulous, and knows how to produce. She’s a no nonsense coach. She keeps going until you get it right and won’t stop, which is why they call her “The Queen.” The team cheers on the sidelines but also has to get their shit together for Nationals. After college cheer there’s nor professional cheer, those two minutes may be it for them because this kind of cheerleading doesn’t exist anywhere else. NFL cheerleaders are more-so considered dancers than anything.
There’s no professional team waiting for you, you’re DONE after college.
I still don’t know any of these team members names but Platinum Blonde forget her ID and we’re getting a little vignette of her life. She’s moving in and talking about how she never saw herself going to college. Lexi Brumback, a tumbler, says this is the reason she’s alive and how compassionate she feels to be cheering with this team. Grandma keeps calling interrupting Lexi’s monologue and we meet Jade Withrow a “Top Girl/Flyer” and her boyfriend Nevada, who’s not really helping because he keeps reminding her she has a name to live up to as a cheerleader here. James Thomas, a Tumbler, says making mat is the main goal, since only 20 of them will be on the mat and 40 of them are there.
Competing against each other pushes them to be the best they can be.
Monica says she has a strong personality filed under “La’Darius Marshall” which, is that one of those things where she gets really drunk and has an ulterior motive? Ope no, it’s not. We get the best cut away ever of the most dramatic person ever doing cheer movements. La’Darius is a stunter/tumbler who better be a theater major while he’s in college because I’m obsessed with how he moves. He says he got hate for playing football because he did a round off back handspring when he got a touchdown and they took the touchdown away. People called him fruity and he says he developed quick comebacks because of his time living in Florida. The camera cuts to him yelling “Stomp on his neck!” at someone on the field and I’ve decided he is my favorite.
I don’t know him but I’ll die for him.
Morgan Simianer, a flyer/tumbler, is getting her leg stretched hardcore by her fellow cheerleader pal relaying how she used to cheer at basketball games and is not used to competitiveness. Simianer says she’s behind where everyone else is at and we get a montage of her trying her best. Considering she thinks she’s the worst performer, Morgan is a little jealous of this girl nicknamed “Sherbs,” a top girl (same) who’s naturally gifted (I’m a Top who is Very Talented). Morgan refers to herself as an awkward turtle branding herself a villain in my eyes.
Andy, one of fellow coach Monica’s lackeys, says that for most teams, pyramids are what makes or breaks you. It’s the most intricate part of a routine and it takes a whole semester to put together which I don’t doubt. They’re throwing people left and right up in the air while I eat my twelfth biscuit of the day. They stress how important it is to work together as a team for the millionth time and yeah, I agree. What the fuck happens if you don’t catch someone, they DIE? Would they air that on Netflix if it were to happen? They need to catch in a flyback position, NOT a cradle.
I know this because Andy just said it but also, because I’m a genius.
The people on the sidelines watch the main performers work endlessly to get this pyramid right. It’s not there yet but they’re trying. The group breaks for lunch and Monica explains that they have to practice twice as much as a University would since they only get these kids for two years at community college. Sometimes, their whole days are spent cheering, since some of these kids also do All-Star Cheering with All-Star World which, what the fuck is that? Sounds like Mall of America type shit. Apparently, All-Star cheering is cheering for a club team so people are on TWO teams AND in college. Sorry, with what time? I was fostering at least *counts on fingers* five drug obsessions in college and getting C’s in MOST of my classes.
Monica Aldama turn my life around challenge.
All-star cheerleading is huge. Sometimes these kids are being trained from when they can walk to cheer and they go into the industry of Cheer Athletics. There’s a fuck ton of gyms apparently in Texas and a lot of them look up to Navarro College cheerleaders. They call them cheer-lebrities which okay, cute. They’re big social media influencers with 500k followers on Instagram which, I mean, if they can’t have a career in cheer after college, social media is $$$$. Gabi, one of the people who is big on Instagram, goes into a Youtube type vlog video about a behind the scene shoot for Cheer Leader magazine. Though she’s not physically in Texas, Gabi Butler is a huge part of the team. She used to be on a Youtube series called Cheerleaders and a lot of people on the team look up to her for her status because apparently, she’s kind of a household name.
Could definitely see some drama coming from someone like Gabi being on their team.
Monica is on the phone schmoozing with someone about a pep rally send off for playoffs. She’s frustrated because she’s trying to get plans in motion for this pep rally. She wants to plan the pep rally now instead of later because the city of Corsicana is trying to raise money to renovate downtown by organizing a rally with the cheerleaders. Monica says they get asked to do a lot of things and people don’t realize they need to prepare before hand to get ready for things, the team doesn’t just “show up.” She’s frustrated people just assume they’ll show up to entertain especially because she wants to work on finalizing their pyramid. Monica’s decided they’ll take the next week or two to decide who’s going to be on/off mat and do the performance on Thursday with typical cheer stuff.
They get to work coordinating a routine for the rally.
Monica says “the people who take these seriously will be the ones considered for Mat” as Lexi and Morgan work on the routine together. Lexi’s having a tough time with the routine and we get some down time with her after practice drawing while fellow Tumbler Zach is around. We FINALLY get some tea on this show (!!!!) that everyone is in a group chat invited to Shannon’s birthday except Lexi. They don’t really talk that much so Lexi insists she wouldn’t go anyways, but you can tell she’s upset about it since the whole team is in the group chat besides her. She doesn’t get along with cheerleaders she says since most cheerleaders come from wealthy families and she doesn’t. She’s been in cheer for 12 years and hasn’t paid for half the stuff people have paid for and because of that, the girls think she’s a show off.
She’s been a loner most her life :(
Meanwhile, on another side of town, two cheerleaders are stressing about weight and how they don’t want to eat and doing all the bad kind of stuff people with eating disorders might do, yikes! Stunter boys on the other hand need to be buff so Daniel and Alex, two cheerleaders on the team, are at the gym pumping iron. The bigger the are, the more of a chance you’ll have on the mat. Tumblers are smaller guys who jump around and control their bodies but stunters are the bigger guys who catch the girls in the pyramid. Alex is aiming to do both stunting and tumbling.
I bet these two juice heads would have a great Youtube channel.
Jerry Harris, the only person who seems to have a healthy relationship with his body, is on an elliptical trying to burn fat to be “better and healthier so I can live longer.” He says he used to be a lot bigger and would eat a lot of fast food since it was all he could afford but his first year at Navarro he had the opportunity to eat better and work out and lost forty pounds. His peers mention how hardworking Jerry has been since being enrolled at Navarro and how much he’s grown. He’s constantly working on his skills, hyping people up, and loves the sport so much. Jerry loves cheering!!!!
If he doesn’t make mat, I’ll be pissed!
La’Darius is poking fun at Jerry for watching cheer videos during his downtime because all he does is eat, sleep, and breathe cheer. He laughs that some other teams routine was really shit but is empathetic about how they were tired that day. Jerry’s even SAVED the score sheets from the day of the competition he’s watching. Dude’s DEDICATED.
We get our first shot of them in class learning about good ol’ Texas. The teacher’s giving them fun facts to get them interested in the state of Texas and her first fact is that Texas “gave the world the Quaid brothers.” You know Randy Quaid from Christmas Vacation? I don’t, but this teacher does. Welp! Spoiler! Apparently it’s Cousin Ed! So, okay, hold up. If the Quaid brothers include Dennis Quaid, why wouldn’t she start with him? He’s the most well known in my opinion. He was Hot Dad in the Lohan Twins Parent Trap, wouldn’t more people know him? She giggles as she says “you know, Cousin Ed? Shitters full? He says that” hehe and then goes on to her next fun fact which, lord help this teacher, is that Texas has NASA but it’s shut down right now. She’s REALLY excited to say Donald Trump just invented the Space Force though and no one responds. In fact someone yawns as she moves on to say “Tex-Mex is the best thing ever but it’s not real Mexican food, it’s a better version of Mexican Food.” Apparently Texas makes students take Texas AND US government.
Praying for these kids.
But wait, there’s more! This scene with the teacher is fascinating. She says “Texans believe in the right to bear arms and I am packing heat almost all the time.” Pro-life? Why not tack that on too! Texas is overwhelming a conservative state and she wants the gays and girlies to KNOW! Texans support traditional values and lifestyles so a man and a woman is the traditional form of marriage and you should go to church on Sundays, YIKES! “The old-school people” she says as she illustrates a luxurious vision of white picket fences and 2.5 children. Love when stats about people are always in decimals because what the fuck does 2.5 children mean. Is .5 the pet? Is it nonbinary people like me just tryna fly under the radar? I AM half a person if it means Greg Abbott will leave me alone.
Thankfully Delish wrote about how awful this teacher was, too.
We head on over to the H4 fair or whatever where cows are being toted out and commented on like they’re Ikea furniture. Monica’s there with her children Austin and Ally who are commenting on when they brought their goats to the fair. Sometimes I’m baffled by how hard straight people fight to be boring. This is what you’re doing for fun on a Saturday? No wonder you hate the gays. We have drag brunch and liberation and you have “look at the fat on that cow” talk and Talbots.
They talk way too long about the people presenting goats/cows/bulls or whatever and Monica comments on how charming this small conservative town is. We learn how Monica and Chris met, she was a cheerleader and he was a “nervous little kid” who fell in love with her. She wanted to be CEO (girlboss) of some company with her finance degree from UT (yas queen) but instead of working in New York, family came first. They wanted to raise their children near their grandparents, uncles, cousins, etc. so when she got an opportunity in Navarro, they moved back. She built a cheerleading program and put all her energy into making Navarro cheer something.
Well she got a Netflix show out of it so I’d say she’s doing fine.
Back at her apartment, Lexi and Delaney are getting ready for the rally. Lexi’s not in the dance but Delaney is and she’s commenting on how cute the shorts are. Summer wants to cut hers shorter so she does with the help of Jade. They comment on their costumes for the dance and show how bad the blisters they are from their cowboy boots. As they start getting ready for the rally, clips from townsfolk play about their knowledge on cheerleaders. It’s not much, since the community is so insular, and conflicting interviews play from both sides. Some smart woman tells the history of how cheerleading brings to mind pleasant, pretty girls cheering. They’ve come to represent local patriotism and the people in the town who know them, love them.
Smart lady goes on to say that when cheerleading became feminized in the 1950’s the rules for who could be a cheerleader were wrapped up in the idea of “girl next door.” Now there’s less emphasis on looks and more on talent which, as they parallel with interviews from people at the local tattoo parlor who know nothing about the sport, is the message they’re trying to drive into the ground with this Docuseries. People just dont KNOW Cheer, you know? The problem is cheerleading is an extracurricular and a sport so there’s constant tension being a spirit leader and an unbelievable athlete.
The pep rally BEGINS.
Dr. Kevin Fegan, the president of Navarro college, introduces the 13-time National, 5-time Grand National cheer coach Monica to the stage. She tells her story about growing up here and blah blah blah let’s move on to the performance. The song “God Blessed Texas” plays and the team struts on to the stage in cowboy boots. There’s flips, there’s shimmys, there’s applause, and somber music plays as Monica says her goal is to be the best cheer team in the country. Every year, however, the standard for being great gets higher and it’s lowkey consuming her. They have a fucking impossible pyramid this year so they can score higher and they’re just hoping it works. Plus,
This push has also lead to a higher level of catastrophic energies which makes it much higher stakes.
61 days until Daytona and Ashlee Sawaii has a headache. Coach is trying to figure out if she has a concussion from flying off the side of the pyramid. She has symptoms and is told to sit out for the rest of the day which, thank God. She has to return tomorrow though which doesn’t seem smart but whatever. Jerry gets kicked super hard in the face and an assistant coach puts a tampon up his bloody nose. Sherbs is getting a lot of feedback and they continue the routine again resulting in Sherb getting hit in the head. The injuries are HUGE today good lord. They’re testing out if Sherb’s leg is okay but, as with all strong women,
The pyramid persists, nonetheless.
Kapena, an assistant coach (sorry for all the names) and Monica discuss logistics for the pyramid. He’s sus about bumping it two counts if it will work while a different coach tells Sherb, someone who probably ALSO has a concussion now, to just sit out the rest of the day because that’s the response to everything. Tumbler Allie runs up with four kids now out on the sidelines with injuries and there’s a huge thud as ANOTHER person gets hurt. Now they’re doing fifty push ups since no one caught Allie and they FINALLY call it a day but not before someone says they have to start taking Daytona season srsly.
They close out practice with a prayer circle and ten burpees.
The episode ends building hype for WHO is going to be picked as one of twenty on the main mat.
It is tricky to give a docuseries a score but I think overall, I’d give Cheer a 6.5/10. Since this felt so close to a reality show, it’s hard for me to hold it in as high of esteem as I want to because there wasn’t as much drama as I was expecting. Instead, we were beat senselessly over the head with “cheering is hard” without much explanation as to why. Show, don’t tell, of course, but the things that stood out the most was the specifics they dropped on WHY it’s so important. Only one national competition where people spend a year perfecting a routine to perform for ONLY two minutes? HIGH STAKES! Flips and shit? Yes, I SEE that’s hard. You don’t have to TELL me over and over how this is a dangerous sport, I know that, but break out some specifics, statistics, or history about it and I will be much more engaged! There was too many moving parts that didn’t come together in the end to make this a strong pilot and because of that, I will probably (sorry) not watch the season!!!!!
Best of luck to them on their way to Daytona Beach 2020 <3