Warning: Minor spoilers ahead for I Know What You Did Last Summer.
I Know What You Did Last Summer revives a tired ‘90s teen trope. The Amazon series, which is based on the 1973 novel by Lois Duncan, essentially has the same premise as the 1997 film of the same name. However, it changes several aspects, including the characters, but it also brings back a pretty horrible trope that is usually tied to teen shows. Using it so nonchalantly in I Know What You Did Last Summer was a mistake.
Before he was murdered by I Know What You Did Last Summer’s mysterious killer, Johnny happily announced he was engaged to Erik Craft, the high school sports coach who left his wife, Kelly, the year prior. His friends, especially Margot, were happy for him, congratulating him. Johnny seemed happy, ready to take the next step in his life before it abruptly ended. However, all of Johnny’s friends glossed over the fact that Erik began dating Johnny when he was still in high school and their engagement was only a year removed from his graduation.
Johnny and Erik’s romantic relationship was not only creepy, but entirely inappropriate. I Know What You Did Last Summer treats their relationship like it’s normal despite the age gap and the fact that it was illegal when they first started dating. I Know What You Did Last Summer isn’t the first (or likely the last) to depict a student-teacher relationship as romantic and not problematic. For some reason, teen shows are enamored with inappropriate student-teacher relationships. To that end, I Know What You Did Last Summer follows in the footsteps of ‘90s shows like Dawson’s Creek, which saw Pacey sleeping with his teacher when he was only 15, Friends, which saw Ross Gellar dating a late-teen college student and Frank Jr., Phoebe’s brother, married his home economics teacher at 18 after falling in love with her in high school, and Saved by the Bell: The College Years, which saw Kelly Kapowski dating her college professor.
This terrible trope isn’t relegated to ‘90s teen shows, either, and has bled over into the early aughts and the 2010s. Riverdale, which saw 15-year-old Archie have an affair with his music teacher, Pretty Little Liars’ Ezra and Aria, who began dating when Aria was in her mid teens, The O.C., One Tree Hill, and Gossip Girl all have inappropriate and disturbing student-teacher relationships portrayed. Perhaps one of the worst aspects of this teen show trope is that there are rarely any consequences for the teachers in these situations. Boy Meets World was one of the only ‘90s series — and one of the only shows in general — that portrayed the teacher’s behavior as predatory and wrong.
To be sure, I Know What You Did Last Summer likely would have continued treating Johnny and Coach Erik Craft’s relationship like nothing was wrong with it if the pair weren’t killed so soon. Still, the fact the student-teacher relationship trope is still so pervasive in teen shows continues to be an issue, one that shouldn’t be swept under the rug.