If you’ve spent 2020 like almost everyone else, which is working from home one second and binging Netflix shows the next, then you might have come across Grand Army.
Grand Army aired on Netflix in October and since then, we’ve seen the talented cast of young actors portray teenagers who’ve, at some point, had to overcome challenges both in school and at home.
The series is set in Brooklyn at a fictional High School called Grand Army. Set around the lives of five high school teenagers, the series explores subjects like race, sexuality, economic strains and the urge to belong.
We meet the characters individually; Joey Del Marco (Odessa A’zion), Jayson Jackson (Maliq Johnson), Dominique Pierre (Odley Jean), Siddhartha Pakam (Amir Bageria) and Leila Kwan Zimmer (Amalia Yoo). We meet them at different times in the first episode after the school is put on lockdown following a bombing and then their lives sync in various ways throughout the season.
Joey is the school’s free spirit who becomes a shell of herself after she’s dealt a heinous hand by the people she trusted the most. Jayson is a music lover, a saxophone prodigy and an active speaker against racism. Dominique is the one with too much on her plate and responsibilities no child should have to carry. She’s set on her goals, despite the economic and family based challenges she faces. Siddhartha “Sid” is a high school jock with secrets that threaten to derail his social life and that of his relationships with his family. Leila is the new kid at Grand Army and despite being of Chinese descent, she realizes she doesn’t fit in with the Chinese girls at her school. Struggling to fit in with her new peers, Leila becomes someone she doesn’t even recognize.
Five students, all with different woes and challenges but fighting equally as hard for something they desperately want. Grand Army is a mixture of Euphoria, Degrassi and 13 reasons Why; intense and fast paced but worth it if you love the drama.
