Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Republic Of Sarah’ On The CW, Where A Small New England Town Becomes Its Own Country, Thanks To A Young Teacher

We’ve had our share of “quirky Northeast towns” on TV over the past two decades, some of which seem like their own worlds. But have any of them decided to become its own nation? That’s what we see in the new CW series The Republic of Sarah, led by the AP History teacher you always wanted when you were in high school. Read on for more.

THE REPUBLIC OF SARAH: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Colorful fall foliage is shown, then the image of a woman sleeping in her clothes and Chucks after a big night out is shown.

The Gist: In the bucolic New Hampshire town of Greylock, Sarah Cooper (Stella Baker) is the coolest AP History teacher you’ve ever seen, with her roommate AJ Johnson (Nia Holloway) waking her up after her big night out so she can go to work. She even borrowed her friend’s Nirvana t-shirt for the occasion. She has fun talk with her married buddy next door, Corinne Dearborn (Hope Lauren) about the seemingly mutual but unrequited crush Sarah and their friend Grover Sims (Ian Duff) have on each other. When she teaches about American History, she equates Ethan Allen to a “colonial Jason Momoa.”

A company called Lydon Industries has moved their equipment into town, and Sarah finds out that the representative they sent to talk to the town is none other than her brother Danny (Luke Mitchell), who left town eight years prior and cut off all communications with both Sarah and their state senator/bestselling author mom Ellen (Megan Follows). What he presents to the town, with full approval of the mayor, is a plan to dig for a massive reserve of Coltan that’s been found under the town.

He tries to spin it as a positive for the town, but most of the people are worried that they’ll be displaced or the town will become an ecological wasteland. Sarah is one of them. After punching her brother when she mentions their mother, she goes back to see Ellen; after 11 months sober, Ellen has decided to get drunk with the news of Danny’s return. Sarah understood how abusive Ellen could be towards Danny when she was drunk, but she still can’t understand why he cut the both of them off when he left.

To slow down the excavation effort, Sarah brainstorms with her friends; diner owner Luis Vidal (Salvatore Antonio) inadvertently gives her an idea with his newest breakfast creation. Sarah remembered that the town of Greylock was embroiled in a border dispute when the U.S.-Canadian border was mapped in colonial days. Because the local bordering river shifted, neither U.S. nor Canadian maps showed the town as part of the country. She thinks she can start an independence campaign that will slow things down long enough for the townspeople to figure out their ultimate strategy.

The campaign is almost scuttled when the company’s shark of an attorney finds the dirt on Ellen’s alcoholism and DUIs. But after that attempt is scuttled with the help of Danny, Sarah announces to the town that the independence vote should go forward. This time, though, she thinks it should be for real independence, not as a legal tactic.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The Reupublic Of Sarah has some of the quirky New England small-town charm of Gilmore Girls, but with the hyper CW vibe of In The Dark.

Our Take: There’s a good show somewhere within The Republic Of Sarah, from writer-EP Jeffrey Paul King (Elementary). Stella Baker actually pulls off the tough but super-cool persona of Sarah without making her look like a cliche. The story about how her brother Danny is coming back to more or less exact revenge on the “Podunk” town that gave him nothing but misery is definitely intriguing. Most of the acting is decent, and the colorful New England locations (which are actually in Quebec, but still…) give the show some well-needed atmosphere.

But the show suffers from a preposterous premise and a penchant to cram in far too many stories. The tiny town of Greylock, population of somewhere around 2500 people, is getting ready to become its own, sovereign country, to be led by an AP History teacher who barely has her life together. Uhhhh…. sure. And, despite what happens at the end of the first episode, the title of the series alone suggests that’s where we’re going. Does any part of this idea sound like anything but science fiction?

How will they source their own, well, everything? How will they establish trade with the US and Canada? How will anyone be able to do anything that requires leaving town without being checked at border patrol? King’s aim, of course, is to explore all those issues during the season. But from the minute Sarah proposes this independence vote as a political tactic against Lydon, it feels like it’ll be a series of contrivances to even get this concept to work in something resembling a real-life setting.

But it seems that making a New England town into its own country isn’t enough for King or The CW; the people in town have their issues to deal with. Grover, for instance, likes the hell out of Sarah but has his own relationship baggage to deal with. There’s a reason why Danny has come back to town that has nothing to do with work and everything to do with the now-married Corrinne and her son. A smart new student, Maya Jiminez (Izabella Alvarez) struggles after moving in with Luis, her biological father that “decided to be gay” after impregnating her now-jailed mother in Los Angeles. The mayor’s daughter, Bella Whitmore (Landry Bender) starts a romance with an Indigenous student, Tyler Easterbrook (Forrest Goodluck), much to the chagrin of her parents.

It’s a lot. And it feels highly unnecessary. It doesn’t give the independence story enough space to breathe and put down roots in reality. It certainly isn’t given enough space to feel like a premise that could sustain a show for multiple seasons. And it’s mired in too much CW-style family drama and teen/YA sexual innuendo to make any headway.

Sex and Skin: All words, as we note below.

Parting Shot: As Sarah makes a speech to the town about the independence vote, FBI agents come to arrest her for conspiring to overthrow the authority of the U.S. government.

Sleeper Star: We did like Goodluck’s calm presence as Tyler, especially when Bella’s a-hole jock ex confronts him by calling him “Squanto” and throwing an air punch at him. Tyler doesn’t even flinch.

Most Pilot-y Line: When Sarah tells Corrine “The ball is in his court” about the flirtation between her and Grover, Corinne responds in a very predictable way when the word “ball” is introduced. “Hopefully soon, his balls will be in your court.” Get it? Get it?

Our Call: SKIP IT. The Republic of Sarah has its charms, but the premise is unsustainable and it’s larded down with too much “CW stuff” to give that premise a chance to make itself sustainable.

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.

Stream The Republic Of Sarah On CWTV.com