A Deal With The Hockey Captain
starring: LYDIA PENTZ & JAKE GALLUCCIO
Dora needs help connecting with her crush Leo. Hockey Captain Troy needs help finding out who’s trying to set him up for match fixing. So they cut a deal to help each other… but no one said anything about falling in love.
REVIEW
⭐⭐⭐⭐
It's so good to see more platforms doing YA Verticals, always a favourite genre of mine, probably because I totally failed to do any teenager things during my teen years.
This has lots of fresh ideas, with the bookmaker and match fixing plot, and finally a heroine who although she gets dumped on a lot at the beginning, stands up for herself, saves the day and never changes who she is.
There are a few bits I struggled with at the beginning - the bullying for Mindy and her trio is a bit much (um the bowl hat thing) and endless talk about being a virgin. But I am so glad I pressed on because otherwise I would have missed a super love story between Dora and Troy
Lydia Pentz is freaking brilliant as Dora. You can’t not fall in love with her. She is fun and vulnerable and determined and kooky all at once. Here's hoping we are lucky enough to watch her in great lead roles in more verticals.
And Jake Galluccio has quietly been turning out excellent lead role after lead role. He has cornered the market in sensitive male leads with a heart and conscience, and knows how to convey a broken heart with a facial expression. Poor, poor Troy in this, he does rather get his heart stomped on but always does the right thing and never tries to make Dora change beyond encouraging her to stand up for herself.
We have an interesting array of villains.
Mindy Tenley Stitzer and her posse, who at least have a tiny moment of almost being sorry at the end.
Andrew Searles who is frankly terrifying as Big Mike and seems to appear silently out of nowhere.
And Leo who we never quite know which way he will go. Will he take advantage of Dora? Will he fall for her? The character is well written enough that it doesn't become a cliche, and is much more interesting when we find out what is really going on. It gives Ty Warner more to do, esp. as Big Mike applies the pressure and Leo gets increasingly desperate.
Also have to shout out Jason Caceres who pops up in loads of verticals and always brings it.
So my advice, push past the slightly OTT bullying (note not violent though!) and enjoy a great love story with a fab heroine, green flag male lead and satisfying ending.
💖 Top swoonworthy moment:
It is so well done - Troy likes Dora from the beginning, but she is genuinely clueless as she has firmly put him in the friend zone. And I LOVE that she doesn’t fall for Mindy’s lies about him, but knows him well enough that he wouldn’t say those things or behave like that. This is so refreshing! Thank you. It means we have a proper relationship where they look out for each other.
🦹🏼♂️ Top villain award:
Big Mike is truly terrifying with that bowtie, sunglasses and flat delivery - reminded me of Agent Smith from The Matrix. And this villain storyline is great - original and it works really well. We also have Mindy and her trio of mean girls who are too much at the beginning but has a flicker of hope at the end.
😂 Comedy gold:
Troy exiting the makeover scene with a “I don’t do makeover montages” and then Jason Caceres as Renarto channelling everyone on Queer Eye as he makes short work of Dora’s wardrobe. The whole scene is perfection, and manages a fresh take on the well used makeover scene.
🎺 Unsung hero:
Dora! Because she stands up for herself! She punches Mindy. She believes in Troy. She makes a plan and saves the day! Finally a heroine with some agency, who doesn’t need to be endlessly rescued (in fact Troy gets kidnapped here first).
I adore Dora so much.
✍🏼 DETAILS
Director Longwei Deng | 2025
Available on DramaBox US
