Amazon's 8-Episode Off Campus Debuts on Prime Video as Review Calls It a Modest Hockey Romance
Updated
Updated · Hollywood Reporter · May 13
Amazon's 8-Episode Off Campus Debuts on Prime Video as Review Calls It a Modest Hockey Romance
6 articles · Updated · Hollywood Reporter · May 13
Eight hour-long episodes of Off Campus land on Prime Video, with the review judging the Elle Kennedy adaptation watchable but unlikely to match HBO's Heated Rivalry in steam, emotion or hockey intensity.
Garrett, an NHL-bound captain, and Hannah, a music major juggling 3 work-study jobs, are thrown together by a tutoring-for-fake-dating bargain that relies on familiar romance tropes but generates enough chemistry to carry the show.
Ella Bright's sunny Hannah and Belmont Cameli's softer-than-stoic Garrett anchor the series, while Mika Abdalla's Allie stands out as a lively supporting presence and the sexual tension is treated as central to the relationship.
The 8-hour season stumbles when traumatic backstories and heavier drama overtake its lighter first-half charm, producing tonal whiplash, clunky dialogue and a happy ending that feels rushed.
By the finale, the series is already shifting focus toward another couple, signaling Amazon may be positioning Off Campus less as one love story than as a broader ensemble romance franchise.
Can 'Off Campus' escape the shadow of 'Heated Rivalry' to become Amazon's next big romance franchise?
As the show mixes light romance with dark trauma, can it satisfy fans without jarring tonal shifts?
Will the show's 'less steamy' approach disappoint book fans who expect a faithful, spicy adaptation?