I Was So Moved By The Unpredictability Of Netflix’s New Coming-Of-Age Series

The coming-of-age genre is one of the most well-worn in media, although one of the best things a storyteller can do is utilize a fresh setting to explore the themes of embracing adulthood — whether it’s the Losers Club fighting the terrifying Pennywise the Dancing Clown in IT or Hiccup rising as an unexpected hero and leader in the How to Train Your Dragon movies. The halls of a high school may be universally relatable, but they often lead me to zone out.

But along comes Boots, which puts many of its genre compatriots to shame. An adaptation of Greg Cope White’s memoir The Pink Marinethe Netflix series centers on Cameron Cope, a teenager in the ’90s who has kept his homosexuality a secret from most, apart from his best friend, Ray. Unlike his best friend, Cam finds himself without a clear plan after high school, having spent the majority of his teenage years being bullied and repressing his true self.

When Ray flunks out of Air Force training and tells Cam about his plans to enter a Marine boot camp, our protagonist sees his chance to break free from his life of fear and self-hatred. However, he quickly finds himself in a surprise fight for his life, as he is not only pushed to the physical and emotional brink through the Marine training, but also must find a way to “keep it locked” and not let his sexuality be discovered, given it was illegal to be gay in the military at the time.

Led by 13 Reasons Why and Love, Simon alum Miles Heizer, Boots is a remarkable balance of different subgenres, and it’s easy to become immersed in all of them. Even though it’s occasionally repetitive in its themes, Cam’s journey of resilience and self-acceptance is moving, while both its dive into the highs and lows of the military, as well as the tribulations of repressing one’s self, pulls appropriately few punches.

I Really Never Knew Where Boots’ Story Was Going Next

Considering how often coming-of-age stories tend to hit the same general beats — bullies, awkward crush encounters, complicated parental relationships — it’s actually really refreshing how quickly Boots skips ahead of many of them. That’s not to say creator Andy Parker doesn’t play with some familiar elements of the genre across the show’s eight episodes, but he finds better ways to use them.

An opening montage quickly races through Cam’s high school troubles, namely getting swirlies from his bullies, while future episodes still offer glimpses of his unusual relationship with his mom, played by the ever-phenomenal Vera Farmiga. Even once he gets to the boot camp, there are still moments of the characters messing with one another in ways that immature teens do.

But as the show progresses, Parker provides Cam and those around him with meaningful moments to help them evolve into more well-rounded beings. Alpha male recruits find themselves humbled both by their drill instructors and their counterparts, the instructors themselves are reminded to embrace sympathy as their recruits face heartbreaking life events, and real-world stakes appropriately remind everyone about the importance of camaraderie.

Boots keeps me guessing about the central plot of Cam having to hide his sexuality from those around him. Heizer doesn’t entirely hide his or Cam’s being gay going into the boot camp, which initially suggested that more of the show would be about his awkwardness and adjusting to being around his recruits.

And yet, Parker and his writing team almost treat this as a subplot rather than a central plot, which is a welcome change of pace. Boots definitely doesn’t forget this thread, developing it into one that is much more intense and layered, especially as other characters’ sexual identities are discovered and Cam is not only alone in his situation, but also offers him, and the audience, better paths for reflection on how he should live his life.

Boots Could’ve Gone A Little Further With Its Actual Material

Courtesy of Netflix

Prior adaptations of military boot camps go for an R rating to maintain a sense of authenticity in their portrayals of the training. Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket still, inarguably, remains the standard for this, but there have been plenty of welcome successors in the nearly 40 years since, and Boots is mostly one of them.

The drill instructors are thoroughly harsh towards Cam and his fellow recruits, complete with both physical and psychological torment. The show appropriately doesn’t lean away from the more toxic beliefs some instructors had at the time of its setting, whether it’s them using homophobic slurs, or making racist comments and jokes at the expense of the recruits.

That said, some of Boots‘ material was on the tamer side, in spite of its TV-MA rating. The show so often feels like it wants to be a boot camp-set version of Sex Educationand yet, apart from a couple “racy” scenes of Cam’s lingering eyes on his fellow recruits in the shower, the series bizarrely feels quite sexless.

It’s possible that, because of the intensity of the Marine boot camp training, Cam finds himself less interested in sex, and therefore the show didn’t have an actual need to touch on that. Except, Cam so often talks with a personified inner version of himself that, when combined with their conversations frequently being about a couple of the other recruits’ seeming flirtations with him, it’s kind of weird when these near-fourth-wall-breaking segments don’t include some kind of heart-racing fantasies.

Heizer Gives The Performance Of A Lifetime Alongside A Very Game Cast

Beyond the great writing from Parker and his team, Boots is further elevated by its stellar cast. Heizer proves an outright remarkable leading star, balancing all of Cam’s inner turmoil wonderfully and with a sharp sense of humor. He also brilliantly navigates Cam’s growth as a prospective Marine, both with the increasing physical challenges of the training and the recognition of the good that can come from the organization.

Apart from Heizer, the rest of Boots‘ recruits cast deliver some powerful performances to make them almost as compelling to watch as our protagonist. Liam Oh nicely taps into Ray’s misguided optimism for the Marines passed down from his toxic father, while Angus O’Brien is a welcome comedic relief as wild card Hicks, and Jonathan Nieves is heartbreaking as the increasingly downtrodden Ochoa.

While Heizer gives the performance of a lifetime, two other stars genuinely match his power: Max Parker as drill instructor Sergeant Sullivan and Jack Kay as Jones, a fellow gay recruit. From the moment he walks onscreen, Parker commands a sense of gravitas that belies the self-hatred bubbling under the surface, while Kay effortlessly plays the casual confidence of the only other person Cam finds he can be truthful with.

All in all, it’s truly quite remarkable just how well Boots goes to set itself apart in the coming-of-age genre. Even despite its shortcomings, I was still engaged by the time episode 8 rolled around — which sets up a genuinely haunting season 2 with its ending — that I was ready to keep following these characters’ stories, and hope enough people find this gem to convince Netflix to keep it going.

All eight episodes of Boots are now streaming on Netflix.