How Dare Me both did and didn't queerbait

Season one spoilers ahead!

Dare Me is a (now canceled) TV series - based on the Megan Abbott novel by the same name - that premiered on December 29 of last year. It mainly focuses on three characters: the two best friends Addy Hanlon and Beth Cassidy and their cheerleading coach Colette French. The teen drama follows their lives which include cheer practice, parties, and... a murder.

When I first saw the trailer, I thought this series was going to be similar to Euphoria (2019) - which is another great show - but with a lot more cheerleading and less extravagant makeup. While it's sort of like that, the two shows are different.

Since the first episode, we can clearly understand the dynamic between Beth, Addy and Coach French, which is also the main dynamic, in my opinion. Beth and Addy are best friends, they're in high school and they're on the same cheerleading squad. You could say the two are opposites: Addy is a quiet, introvert girl and doesn't really like drama; Beth is all for the drama, she's sarcastic, mean at times, and the HBIC of the school. Then there's Colette, a woman in her early 30s who takes over Beth's spot as the cheerleading coach. Beth immediately despises her. Addy, on the contrary, is very fascinated by Coach. Colette wants the squad to reach new levels of talent and wants them to win at any cost; this is probably one of the things that attract Addy the most, who's shy about it, but wants to shine. Beth isn't having it, she was the boss and she liked it that way.

What I find interesting is that even if the three characters all have some kind of sexual encounter with men at certain points, the real "love" triangle is between them. It's not a typical love triangle for sure, but the tension is there. Beth is in love with Addy, Addy is attracted to Coach and Coach probably (I hope) doesn't have a thing for either, but certainly flirts with Addy in various scenes.

Beth and Addy used to be really close, but things changed, and even more when Coach French arrived. Addy starts spending more time with her, either practicing or babysitting her daughter, and Beth doesn't feel great about it.

Coach is married to Matt, but she starts seeing an old fling, Sarge Will, and the affair begins. Beth and Addy find them together, Beth makes a video but they decide not to tell anyone.

So while Colette does have two men in her life, she still casually plays with Addy's hair or slowly caresses her, they sleep together, Addy gives her a meaningful bracelet (that Beth gave her) and little things like that. Addy seems to fall for it and the two become close, which seems to make Beth jealous.

It's not like Addy and Beth don't have any scenes filled with homoerotic subtext. In episode 3, they literally undress and start massaging each other. Typical best friend things. Other than that, the two just act like friends, besides some longing looks (mainly from Beth) and some slow dancing.

So what happens in the end?

Here comes my point, but first of all, a definition of queerbaiting for those of you who may not know: "a marketing technique for fiction and entertainment in which creators hint at, but then do not actually depict, same-sex romance or other LGBTQ representation" (Wikipedia). Now, we can use this sentence to describe what Dare Me does, but also not.

Of course, this isn't the first time something like this happens in a TV show or any other media (e.g. in the TV show Riverdale two of the protagonists, Betty and Veronica, kiss in the first season but don't get together; later in the second season the two female characters Cheryl and Toni become a couple). But as I said, I find it interesting that here it concerns the three main characters.

So what happens is, in a crescendo of dramatic events, in episode 7 Beth confesses to Addy she's fallen for her, she's heartbroken and shows that she's jealous about Coach French. "What does she have that I don't?" Says Beth. "She isn't you", responds Addy.

In episode 8, the two finally kiss. It's not a present scene though, it's a flashback; and it's shown right during a Coach/Addy scene, where they're practicing in Colette's backyard and it's raining. Suddenly Addy stops and looks like she's thinking about something: here comes the flashback of Addy and Beth in a playground, at night, and it's raining. Surprisingly, it's Addy the one who initiates the kiss, and Beth kisses her back.

Nevertheless, it stays in the past. Addy and Beth don't mention the kiss or Beth's confession ever again. I guess there wasn't enough time to explore that too since the main plot took a lot of space, but I wish they'd done it.

In the end, the writers did queerbait by showing all these flirty and ambiguous moments between either Beth and Addy or Addy and Colette. However, we know at least Beth's romantic feelings are real, and Addy seemed to like their kiss too. Too bad it's just a few moments here and there, and not much more.

I started writing this article before the show got canceled, so I was hoping Addy and Beth would possibly be in a romantic relationship in season two, or that they'd show if something else happened after their first kiss. Now I guess we'll never see that! But it was fun seeing the relationship between the two unfold.

Thanks for reading!