The recent Netflix series The Goldfinch, as well as several other projects.
Known simply as "Coach", the young woman steps into a not-so-welcoming squad of self-important teenage girls, but they quickly balk under her authoritative approach. Coach also has a repertoire of coaching teams to great success at her previous posts. Besides coaching, she also engages in an illicit affair and possibly something worse.
FELT SORRY: When She Wants To Be Free
Nothing is worse than the feeling of being trapped in one's own life. This is Coach's biggest struggle throughout the series, and probably her life.
She feels tied down to her husband and daughter and weighed down by her past. One thing she can't escape is her reputation, and this is something she must live up to every day. The only thing she can do to feel better is to engage in an affair with Sarge Will, but this ends up hurting many people, including herself.
HATED HER: When She Drags Addy Into It
Coach's preoccupation for Addy is unsettling, to say the least. No coach or teacher should have favorites, but everyone in the cheer squad knows that Addy is hers.
Possibly the worst thing Coach does is to drag Addy into her problems. She burdens the child with her secrets and knowledge of criminal affairs, and Addy takes it upon herself to help when it isn't her problem at all. Coach is also responsible for Addy's presence at the crime scene.
FELT SORRY: When Matt Is Harsh To Her
The end of the season leaves things up in the air, but for the majority of the season, Coach clearly feels trapped in her marriage to a husband who doesn't understand her at all.
Matt is harsh and sometimes neglectful towards his wife, and a few conversations come up in which she accuses him of not respecting her or her work. He's also often away but still blames his wife for not being present, even though she is the one who takes care of their daughter a lot of the time.
HATED HER: When She Smokes In The Office
A coach should be like a role model, especially when working with younger athletes. The girls under her wing are impressionable and already making some questionable choices.
Coach doesn't make an effort to hide some of her less irable habits, such as smoking right in front of her students. Not only is this definitely not allowed on a school campus, but she does it in the presence of her students, setting a poor example. It also reveals that she doesn't have any other way to deal with her stress.
FELT SORRY: When Matt Doesn't Understand Her
Not only is Matt harsh towards is his wife, but he clearly doesn't understand much about her. He fails to gauge her true feelings and intentions, and this makes him angry and irritated.
This makes Coach frustrated, which in turn pushes her to abandon him every chance she gets, and even then, Matt doesn't understand what he's done wrong. Still, this doesn't excuse Coach's actions.
HATED HER: When She Cheats And Lies To Her Family
No matter her reasons, cheating on her husband - and her daughter - and lying to him about it is probably not the best way to handle the situation. She could have tried speaking to him plainly instead of starting an affair behind his back.
The affair and the lying lead Coach to become erratic and scattered, which shows when she gets moody at practice or forgets important things, like when to pick up her daughter. Even worse, many other people know about her affair with Will, leaving Matt in the dark. Although, again, the final episode of the series seems to switch the audience's perception of the entire season.
FELT SORRY: When She's Blamed For RiRi's Injury
A sports coach should absolutely be held able and responsible for their athletes, but in this particular case, Coach is probably not to blame as much as everyone seems to think she is.
The girls made a few choices behind her back, and Coach bears the brunt of the blame, especially from RiRi's mom. Of course, this is understandable, but the viewers have seen what goes on behind the scenes in practice and in the changerooms afterward. This is enough to know that Coach was doing everything she could to help these girls succeed and shine, especially Tacy.
HATED HER: At The Crime Scene
Calling Addy to her at the crime scene is the strangest, most selfish and hurtful thing Coach does in the series. It could result in Addy being implicated, and more immediately, in a whole lot of confusion and trauma.
The way she behaves around Will's dead body is extremely unnerving. She's clinical and entirely self-absorbed, thinking only of how to erase any evidence of their presence - which again begs the question, why does she bring Addy there?
FELT SORRY: When Beth Is Rude To Her
Beth is a handful to anyone who knows her, but she's also a very valuable person to those who make the effort to get to know her. One of Coach's greatest struggles in her new job is learning how to approach Beth, who likes to make fun of Coach to her face and behind her back.
Beth constantly tries to undermine Coach's authority and sabotage her efforts to help the other cheerleaders. Coach tries on several occasions to connect with Beth and understand who she really is, but she's not a typical mean girl and her true personality is so elusive that Coach never really gets to her.
HATED HER: In The Finale
Coach is one of the most intriguing characters of the show because so much of who she really is lies beneath the surface. She's also very dynamic and fluid, but this can also make her confusing to viewers and to characters who know her.
A drastic shift in her behavior occurs in the finale - or rather, it starts earlier but becomes apparent in the final episode. Coach is absent both physically and mentally, far more absent than she has been throughout the season. She doesn't seem to care about anyone but herself, and she has abandoned, implicated, and betrayed Addy, who is left helpless.