Stream It Or Skip It?

There are times when you see lots of common tropes in a particular genre of show and you roll your eyes. Then there are other times when you see the same number of tropes and you just shrug, because the actors and characters in those tropes are appealing and entertaining. That’s the case with a new Prime Video teen series centered around street racing.

MOTORHEADS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A group of teens gather for a street race. A red ’70s-era Corvette pulls up, racing against a yellow Dodge Charger with a license plate that reads “UNB10” for “Unbeaten.”

The Gist: The guy in the ‘Vette, Darren Bowers (Christian Martyn), is racing against the person considered the best street racer in Ironwood, PA. He even has “cool” fingerless driving gloves. Apparently, there’s a huge bet on the line. But Darren ends up spinning out and losing to the Charger.

As we see sitting on top of a bridge, getting a text, a car drives on that bridge. Zac and Caitlyn Torres (Michael Cimino, Melissa Collazo) are moving from Brooklyn to Ironwood with their mother Samantha (Nathalie Kelley). They’re going to live with their uncle, Logan Maddox (Ryan Phillippe), who customizes cars in a barn/garage next to his house. He’s the brother of Zac and Caitlyn’s father Christian, who hasn’t been in their lives in many years. They also meet Marcel Crawford (Nicolas Cantu), a teen who lives down the street and has been eyeing a Pontiac Sunfire that’s been in Logan’s yard.

For Caitlyn, a gearhead since she was a kid, working on cars with her uncle is a great opportunity. For Zac, all he wants is to get a fresh start and not give anyone at their new school an indication that they’re related to Christian Maddox (Deacon Phillippe), who back in the day was considered the best street racer in town.

On their first day at their new school, Marcel eagerly takes Zac around, and Zac meets Alicia Whitaker (Mia Healey), a popular girl who is the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Ironwood. Caitlyn meets Kiara Gibbons (Johnna Dias-Watson), who introduces her to a group that includes Harris Bowers (Josh Macqueen), the son of Darren Bowers (Matt Lanter), who basically owns half the town.

But Caitlyn has more of an interest in Curtis Young (Uriah Shelton), who pulls into the parking lot in a motorcycle he built himself. The attraction becomes especially intense when they’re paired together in auto shop class. Curtis, however, isn’t exactly popular, and doesn’t want to be. His older brother Ray (Drake Rodger) engages in activity that Curtis isn’t a fan of.

Caitlyn finds her father’s old Charger in the barn, which doesn’t run and will take a lot of work to get going. Zac finds himself drawn to Alicia, who is dating Harris; she invites him to Harris’ next street race, and a party at her house afterwards. In the meantime, Caitlyn and Curtis find themselves drawn to each other. The night culminates in Harris becoming enemy #1 to Zac, Caitlyn, Marcel and Curtis, and the four of them vowing to restore the Charger and race him.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Motorheads, created by John A. Norris, feels like two shows Norris has previously worked on: All American and One Tree Hill.

Our Take: Motorheads is a pretty standard teen coming-of-age show, only with some great-looking cars involved. It’s rich kids vs. not-so-rich-kids, a-hole teens vs. nice teens. There’s even a party at the rich kid’s house in the premiere, which is pretty much a staple of teen shows.

The use of all of the tropes are less of a big deal if these are characters we want to spend time with. And there, Motorheads succeeds. The pilot episode does a good job of giving viewers an idea of who we’re supposed to root for and against, and gives all of their situations without loading viewers down with too much exposition.

Aside from the main story, where Harris exposes the fact that Zac and Caitlyn’s father is a fugitive who stole $12 million and basically becomes a sniveling rival to the siblings, Curtis and Marcel, there are other side stories that may or may not be satisfying as the show progresses. For instance, Logan has a beef with Curtis’ brother Ray, who now uses Logan’s old garage as a chop shop. Harris’ father Darren might be into some not-so-legal activity that threatens their standing in town. And Marcel’s father Wade (James Cade), who used to own the diner in town, seems to be embittered, alcoholic and borderline abusive.

Norris and his writers don’t try to force those side stories on the audience, but also gives just enough information to make them intriguing. The elder Philippe has transitioned into the patriarchal portion of his acting career quite smoothly, as Logan still has just enough secrets to not seem like a typical teen show adult, but isn’t exactly dark, either. Cimino, Collazo, Shelton and Cantu also try to make sure they’re playing real teens, not world-weary adults-as-teens, as so many shows of this ilk have.

Sex and Skin: None in the first episode. Prime rates the show “13+,” so we doubt there will be much in the way of either.

Parting Shot: As Caitlyn, Curtis and Marcel look at the Charger’s engine, they wonder who will drive it. Then they put down the hood and see Zac behind the wheel, imagining his father winning races back in the day.

Sleeper Star: Mia Healey’s character Alicia Whitaker plays a rich kid who’s not a jerk, which seems to be rare in teen shows.

Most Pilot-y Line: When we see Harris sitting on top of the bridge, the background moves in a way that shows that the scene is an obvious green-screen shot.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Does Motorheads sound like a very mid show? Sure. But it’s a well-done mid show, which is all we’re asking for as far as teen shows are concerned.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.