“Rebel Cheer Squad – A Get Even Series,” streaming on Netflix, plays out like a regular teen drama; however, the nuances in the series remarkably capture the confusion, chaos, and identity crisis experienced by a teenager. As the show majorly focuses on bullying, which usually compels an individual to suppress their emotions, the creators wonderfully give enough space to each and every student so that they can express themselves without any inhibitions. Much of its credit goes to the writer, Gretchen McNeil, on whose book series, “Don’t Get Mad,” the show is based on. And then, we have our three central characters, the rebel girls of the cheer squad, Grace Ellington, Rumi Joshi, and Clara Harris, whose moving storyline and common pursuit leave a pleasant smile on the viewers’ faces in the end.
The show is a spinoff series of a 2020 BBC series, “Get Even,” where four students form a group called DGM (Don’t Get Mad) to investigate the murder of a student at school. In “Rebel Cheer Squad” Season 1, Grace, Rumi, and Clara, inspired by DGM, decide to form their own group of the same name in order to unravel the identity of a bully who leaves an anonymous note in the locker of the students of Bannerman Independent School and later plans an attack if they refuse to follow his/her orders. While the 2019 Netflix series, “Control Z,” had the somewhat same premise of an anonymous blackmailer, “Rebel Cheer Squad” resolves the crisis in a light-hearted way. So without any further ado, let’s find out who is the anonymous blackmailer, or X, as the DGM names him/her.
Spoilers Ahead
Who Was X?
The first target of X was a student named May, who received anonymous notes in her locker where the sender bullied her for different reasons. May left the school soon after. The second victim of X was Leila Harris, Clara’s sister, who was a part of the Bannerman Cheer Squad. She was about to perform on Open Day, but X left an anonymous note in her locker and ordered her not to perform, but she didn’t give enough weight to the threats and performed anyway. Hence, on Open Day, Leila fainted during the performance and met with an accident. Later, Grace, Rumi, and Clara found out that Leila was drugged and someone mixed something in her water bottle, but the bottle was apparently missing, so they couldn’t investigate further. X had already taken away the evidence in order to leave no tracks. But the DGM girls didn’t lose hope. They decided to dig deeper and started investigating all the potential suspects. However, in the end, X herself accidentally gave away her identity.
The anonymous blackmailer was no one else but a student named Meg Beeman, aka Mouse. In Episode 6, Mouse confessed to Grace, Rumi, and Clara that she was the one sending anonymous notes in order to destroy the school’s reputation as Bannerman and its management did nothing to stop the bullies or their attacks, and thus Mouse was seeking revenge. With these constant attacks in public, she wanted to make the school look bad so that the parents would pull their kids out of it and eventually, it would be shut down. Secondly, her elder brother, Christopher Beeman, was framed for the murder of Ronny Kent and Mike Cavanaugh in the “Get Even” series, and Bannerman school management did nothing to protect Christopher. The school just wanted to put someone in prison and move on so that they could protect their reputation, and hence, Mouse decided to take revenge on the school and destroy what it held most dear, its image. In “Get Even,” it was the DGM girls who cleared Christopher’s name, and thus, Mouse was so keen on joining the group, but Grace, Rumi, and Clara didn’t let her in as she wasn’t the right person for DGM. She was ready to hurt others to exact her revenge on the school.
The only issue with the series was that the character of Meg Beeman, aka Mouse, was straight-up evil. She lacked depth, which could have made her motivations more justified, or at least more believable. Nevertheless, as soon as Mouse’s identity as the anonymous blackmailer was revealed, Grace, Rumi, and Clara decided to gather evidence against her to get her expelled, but Mouse was always one step ahead of her. She cleared the evidence from her house cellar room, and now the girls had nothing to prove her crimes. Hence, they needed a recorded confession from Mouse, but she wasn’t stupid enough to give it away so easily.
‘Rebel Cheer Squad’ Season 1: Ending Explained – Did Grace, Rumi, And Clara Find Evidence Against Mouse?
A day before Havenmoor Cheer Regionals hosted by Bannerman, Coach Harris was arrested after the police got an anonymous report that he was giving performance-enhancing drugs to his students. These drugs were planted by Mouse to trash Bannerman’s reputation, and it worked. During Havenmoor Cheer Regionals, the Bannerman Cheer Squad was disqualified, and to protect the school’s reputation, Ms. Carson suspended Coach Harris. It was a similar case to Christopher Beeman’s, where the school treated the suspect as guilty without even investigating the matter. Its reputation was the top priority, and nothing else mattered.
Clara had to get evidence against Mouse in order to prove her father, Coach Harris’s, innocence, and hence she reconciled with her friends to trap Mouse. The girls visited Christopher Beeman and asked him to stop his sister. But it wasn’t their plan. They used a covert listening device hidden inside lipstick, the same one used by Mouse on Clara. They hid the lipstick in Christopher’s bag as they knew that Mouse wouldn’t confess to her crimes in front of them but would give away all the details to her brother, and eventually, she did. She confessed to framing Coach Harris to spoil Bannerman’s reputation, and her confession was recorded, which was later played during the Havenmoor Cheer Regionals. As soon as the truth came out, the Bannerman Cheer Squad requested Ms. Carson and other students to let them perform in the competition, and the judges finally agreed. The Bannerman team gave a marvelous performance, earning the regional trophy for their school for the first time ever. Hence, a happy ending for all.
Grace Ellington might have walked out of the school president’s election, but she finally got a lover in Evan, who expressed his true feelings for Grace. On the other hand, Rumi finally kissed Jess, and both of them decided to give their relationship a try, while Clara reconciled with her sister and her father, and their family was complete. The DGM girls saved the school from being shut down and eventually caught the bad girl, and with their little victory, they realized that they could do more for the school and its students. And hence, at the end of “Rebel Cheer Squad” Season 1, Grace suggested that they continue the adventures of the DGM so that no one ever feels scared or alone or bullied at Bannerman Independent School. Her words mean one and only one thing: we are surely going to see them again, solving new mysteries in Season 2.
“Rebel Cheer Squad – A Get Even Series” is a 2022 Comedy Thriller series created by Holly Phillips.
