Dare Me Episode 10: Shock and Awe-Review and Recap-The Finale Leaves Room For Season 2

As Dare Me Episode 10 concludes, it leaves little question that there will be a season 2. Here’s all you need to know.

Everything is cyclical. When things come full circle there is a lovely symmetry, even amongst horror stories. Friends who become enemies and then back to friends and foes who become unwitting patsies all took their place on the season 1 finale. Dare Me Episode 10 brought plenty of symmetry, but very little resolution leading to big questions about what is ahead for Coach, Beth, Addy, and Corporel Kurtx.

How far will Beth go to win back Addy’s love?

Despite Beth’s tough girl persona, she is really just a fragile girl who has been beaten down by parents who are indifferent at best. Her mother drinks her life away and her father insists on a pay for play type of fathering that creates a relationship built on distrust and pain. Beth’s mother recognizes hunger in Coach and cautions her that kind of hunger only intensifies and consumes everyone who is touched by it. She should know.

Her Mom tells her to choose what beth wants most because you can’t have everything. When you long for everything without any compromise or gratitude you are miserable. She’s not wrong in that desperation like that can be dangerous. Unfortunately, her mother has no idea she may be advising her daughter to leverage her own rape. She is wrong about understanding her own daughter. Beth only wants attention and acceptance from those she loves. Instead, they only praise Coach for making Beth good and tell her to accept abuse.

DARE ME — “Shock & Awe” Episode 110 — Pictured: Marlo Kelly as Beth Cassidy — (Photo by: Rafy/USA Network)

That desperation in Beth leads her to do some breaking and entering into Sarge Will’s apartment and finds a neighbor who saw Kurtz lurking around. This same neighbor also saw Coach visit on occasion. She claims to have seen or heard nothing on the night of his death though. Beth’s suspicious mind causes her to think Kurtz is squatting in the model apartment across from Sarge’s. That proximity gives him the opportunity and the fight earlier in the season gives him a motive.

When Beth confronts Kurtz at school she shows just how far she is willing to go. This is a man who brutally raped her and then acted like it never happened. She is willing to endure time with him however if it means she can catch Coach in a lie. He only knows they were together often and were hot and cold. The kind of white-hot relationship that vacillates between sorrow, rage, and passion. It is the kind of love that burns out and when it does, it scorches everyone involved.

What will Addy do next?

Addy may seem like a weakling. She’s quiet and has always played second fiddle to Beth and now Coach. Just because she seemed to follow doesn’t mean she is a follower. In the novel by Megan Abbot, in the final twist, it is revealed Addy was in control the whole time. Only further seasons can tell us if the series will follow the novel’s plot beats. In the series, she may just be biding her time. Coach may think she can ignore her, Colette may think she is still manipulating her, but Beth has finally struck a chord and asked the right question. As the episode ended she had told Colette her bracelet was missing and steeled herself for the war to come.

How much did Matt know and when did he know it?

The shocker that closed Dare Me Episode 10 revealed Matt knew about Sarge Will’s death and was there that night. This raises all kinds of questions about when he knew about Colettes’s infidelity and why he was there? He acted like he was oblivious to the accident farse but why was he at Sarge Will’s? Maybe he was only concerned about the policeman’s parting shot. The policeman warned Coach to beware because there are cameras everywhere. Is Matt concerned about the cameras that caught them on film at the apartment? What isn’t in question is Coach and Matt are in this together. Coach cut Addy cut loose. She was a commodity to be used and thrown away when convenient. I think everyone is underestimating our honey-toned protagonist.

What kind of screwed up Coach allows a cheer like that?

I have serious questions about Coach’s decision making. In what universe would a cheer like the ones the girls performed at the game be acceptable? “Guns up till the sun’s up”. Even if Coach didn’t kill Sarge, she did cheat on her husband, encourage underage drinking, groom a student, run into a pole to avoid getting caught cheating, and alter a crime scene that she called said student to. She is a terrible person and a deeply concerning coach. Fire her toot suite!

How did Coach lose her Hamsa bracelet?

Just as the viewer has been led to believe Kurtz may have had something to do with Will’s death, the cops now believe it too. His involvement likely had nothing to do with anything beyond their fight behind the bar. More likely is Coach and Mr. Coach killed him and are covering it up. Colette knows she is now vulnerable. The real question is how did her bracelet get in Sarge’s place? There was someone else in the shadows outside the apartment. It could have been Matt, or it could have been Beth. She was angry and is definitely devious. It would not be surprising to find she had stolen the bracelet and left it in his apartment to frame Coach. Beth knows more than she is letting on and had more involvement than she is admitting too.

With a successful season 1 under its belt, USA has discovered there is more than one way to develop good script to screen content. Genre television is lucky in that there is a certain inherent freedom allowed. Drama doesn’t often have that luxury, a formula must be followed. Murder mysteries are more regimented still. When sub-genres collide, however, everything gets a fresh start. Dare Me gave a healthy dose of creativity to its captivating cheerleader, murder mystery, drama.

Dare Me Episode 10 just scratched the surface. Ratings are respectable so there is hope the unflinching twister will get a season 2. With more than enough content left in Abbott’s original novel and plenty more possibilities, there is no doubt there will be a season 2. If nothing else the superb triad of Marlo Kelly(Beth), Herizen Guardiola(Addy) and Willa Fitzgerald(Colette) deserve more screen time. The series has been patient and smartly paced. It has explored themes seen before but in fresh ways. Nothing has been announced to date, but it is just a matter of time. Catch up on all our coverage here while we await news.

Stray Thoughts:

I have only on tonight and it pertains to Beth’s father’s words to RiRi’s mom. Let me never be the kind of parent that does things for my kids to make up for the things I do to them.