ABC Family’s Greek (rated TV-14 for language and suggestive dialogue) is a surprisingly good television dramedy series, focusing on the social lives of a group of college students at the fictional Cyprus-Rhodes University. The show centers on the Cartwright siblings: Casey, a very social junior who is poised to become the next president of her Zeta Beta Zeta sorority; and Rusty, a bright and geeky freshman hoping to wring all he can out of the college experience, including -- to his older sister’s dismay -- rushing a fraternity. The story soon becomes more than a tale of sibling rivalry, however, morphing into a saga about the extended family of Greek system brothers and sisters.
The storylines are straightforward: college kids finding their ways through the morass of Greek social life. The characters are hardly ever shown to go to class as book learnin’ isn’t what this show is about. In the pilot, Rusty arrives on campus and begins the rush process, ending up at Kappa Tau Delta (an Animal House knock-off) which is headed by his sister’s first college boyfriend, Cappie. Casey is in charge of the new pledges at her sorority, soon discovering that a senator’s power-hungry daughter will be giving her no end of grief. Episode 2, “Hazed and Confused,” has the pledges undergoing several kinds of hazing: Rusty and his roommate Dale get intimidated by their physics professor; Casey must address the fallout of her B.M.O.C. boyfriend cheating on her; Rusty wins the hearts of his Kappa Tau brothers when he wins the beer-pong tournament.
“The Rusty Nail,” episode 3, is all about sex. More racy than I expected from an ABC Family show, the issues are presented without much moralizing. Dale is a member of a religious virginity-pledge club; Casey and her boyfriend Evan use condoms; Casey’s best friend Ashleigh remains faithful to her long-distance boyfriend even in the face of temptation; and Rusty decides that while losing his virginity is important to him he doesn’t want to knock boots with just anyone to get the deed done. I appreciated that Greek didn’t shy away from the fact that sex is an enormous issue for college kids and that the characters recognized the consequences connected with it. This was one of the best episodes of the season: funny, sincere, awkward and honest.
In Episode 4, (“Picking Teams),” the kids learn to use their respective strengths to overcome their particular weaknesses; in episode 7 (“Multiple Choice”) everyone embarks upon their own heroic journey. Episode 10 (“Black and White and Read All Over”) is the final episode of the season and everything falls apart as Rusty’s new girlfriend, a Zeta Beta pledge, writes a tell-all article for the university newspaper, exposing all the scandal behind the Greek houses’ doors. Friendships and romantic relationships shatter and everyone will be faced with picking up the pieces next semester.
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