2.7 DramaWave - Offside My Fake Marriage with the Soccer Superstar
A rom-com vertical can live or die on chemistry, and Offside delivers enough tension, charm, and emotional push-pull to keep you hooked—even when the visuals get messy. If you love swoony sports romance, sharp banter, and the kind of leads who make you root for them hard, this breakdown is for you.
Host Meghan pulls apart the DramaWave series Offside, where rookie PR manager Jenna wakes up married to soccer star Matt after a wild Vegas night and then has to pretend their impulsive mistake is a strategic three-month marriage. What starts as damage control turns into a slow-burn battle of boundaries, pride, and real feelings, with a cheating ex, family pressure, and a public reveal pushing everything to the edge.
You’ll hear Meghan break down what the series gets right about the romance between Tess Deinerstein’s Jenna and Jared Staub’s Matt, why their chemistry lands so well, and how each character sees the other as more than a stereotype. She also digs into the supporting cast, including Alfonso Lopez de la Osa as Nico, Ryan Watson Henderson as Dave, Molly Anderson as Sasha, and Buzz Lear as Arthur, while pointing out where she wanted more from Matt’s emotional arc as a star athlete who feels like a showpiece.
At the heart of this episode is the question every romance fan wants answered: what makes two characters believable enough that you actually feel the fall? If you want a candid, energetic take on a vertical series that mixes comedy, drama, and romance in equal measure, this episode is worth your time.
Perfect for fans of sports romance, vertical series, and honest reactions to what works—and what doesn’t—on screen.
0:00 Welcome to My Vertical Obsession. I'm your host, Megan, and today we are talking about Offside on DramaWave. And this stars Tess Dinerstein as Jenna, Jared Staub as Matt, Alfonso Lopez de la Rosa as Nico, Ryan Watson Henderson as Dave, Molly Anderson as Sasha, and Buzz Lear as Arthur. So the synopsis for this one is rookie PR manager Jenna wakes up married to soccer star Matt Stark after a wild Vegas night where she's assigned as his PR manager to get back at her cheating ex and help Matt dodge family pressure to marry. They agree to a three month contract marriage until the pretense turns into real love.
0:47 So my overview for this is after finding out her boyfriend was cheating on her, Jenna goes out for a night out in Vegas with her friend. Jenna ends up drunk, hooking up with Matt Stark, and the two end up married. After deciding to divorce when they get back, the two find out they work together. Matt is the star player and Jenna is the new PR manager for the team. During a conversation with his mother, Matt suggests they stay married for three months. That way Jenna can get back at her ex and Matt can get his mother off his back about getting married. Jenna says yes as long as no one finds out about this as she could lose her job. So Jenna moves in and it starts the push-pull between the two. The more time they spend together, the more they start to fall for each other, all while trying to avoid being exposed. After her ex goes digging, he ends up leaking the photos that expose them as married.
1:40 Jenna loses her job and walks away from Matt. Matt refuses to give up on her. He ends up searching for her. After winning the championship game, he says at the press conference that if anyone sees her to tell her he loves her. His mom ends up finding Jenna at a coffee shop. She talks to Jenna and she tells her that Matt still loves her. Matt walks in and tells her he never signed the papers. He then proposes to which Jenna says yes. It ends with Jenna and Matt getting married on the soccer field. So that's just a little overview of the series. Now jumping into the talking points is Tess and Jared. So I had said that I was so excited when I saw that Tess and Jared were working together on this series. They are two of my favorites and to have them in a series together is just amazing. It's a dream to see them in a series together. They're both talented actors.
2:31 I had this feeling that they would elevate each other to be even better in this series. Jared is so good with drama and Tess does so well with comedic timing. They're just like a perfect pair. Tess also does drama and comedy so well. I feel she's really good with both. The on-screen chemistry between Tess and Jared was absolutely electric. You could feel the tension and love in every single scene they shared, and I just love it. And at first... When this one came out, I thought this was the series that they were working on because I had seen it posted on a story or on Instagram or something like that, that they were working together. But I don't think it was this one that they were promoting. I think it was the one that's on Candy Jar, which I will get to at some point. But I was still super excited when this one dropped and I was just like, yes, Tess and Jared, finally. Big fan of theirs and so happy they got to work together. So now moving on, next point I had was about Matt's feelings.
3:33 The one thing I do wish the series went more into was Matt's character and his feelings of being just a showpiece. Ice and Flames showed how well Jared can dive into those emotions of an athlete not feeling like enough. or feeling like they only care about what he can do and not who he is as a person. I kind of wanted to see more of that in the series. We got a little bit, but would have loved to have dived more into that. It was an important part of Matt's character and it was kind of more of a subplot or felt more of a subplot. It's what drew him to Jenna, but it seemed it wasn't really mentioned again. Maybe I'm just selfish that I wanted to see Jared diving into another emotional athlete that's hiding the feelings of no one really seeing the real me. He's so talented and just love watching him on my screen.
4:23 So the next point I had was Matt falling for Jenna. What I had said was Matt fell for Jenna because she saw him as more than just Matt Stark, the soccer star who could kick a ball, but who he was as a person. She was able to see him as a human who had feelings. She played dirty the way he did. He really liked that about her. Jenna didn't treat him with kid gloves or like he's a trophy. She treats him as if he's a challenge and she wants to annoy him. Matt found that compelling and it really drew him in. She was the first person in his life who didn't expect anything from him because he was a star. It was more because she wanted boundaries and respect from him. The more they fought, the more he realized he had met his match with her and it made him fall for her. The more time they spent together, the more he liked what he saw and didn't want to lose her. She was the first real thing in his life and he wanted to hold on to it. And then my last point is about Jenna falling for Matt. So Jenna fell for Matt because he put her first when he stood up for her and protected her when she needed it. He even risked his career for her. While there was doubt at one point if he really was just protecting her or her job, he showed her that there was more to Matt than what the world saw. And she liked that version of him.
5:44 Even when she thought she was being sucked into his vortex, he was still doing what he could to help her. When she was fired and their marriage exposed, she left because she thought it was what's best for Matt, but he never gave up on her. He was fighting to clear her name so they could be together. A lot of what he did was for her. Jenna saw that while not knowing it all at the time, but saw it and fell in love with him. He wanted her to have happiness and would do what he needed to make sure she got it. So now, on to my favorite. My overall thoughts of this is, as I said, Tess and Jared are so good together. I would love to see them work together again, which they did for Candy Jar, as I mentioned. So can't wait to do that one.
6:26 But I also loved how Matt's friend and teammate was rooting for him and Jenna, giving Matt advice and being a sounding board for him. Kind of made me wish we saw more of him. All in all, this was such a cute series. Loved every minute of it. It really gave off this rom-com feel to it and... made the series so good. A lot of series have more drama and not a lot of comedy, but this one gave the perfect amount of drama, romance, and comedy within the series. It gave the series that elevated feel. It was more than a typical vertical. It was a rom-com vertical. It had that feel of love, tension, push-pull, and you slowly got to watch the main characters fall for each other. It pulled at your heartstrings and made you want more.
7:07 This is the type of series you could watch over and over again, which I highly recommend. If you haven't seen it, you should. It was amazing. Fantastic. Love it. My rating for this is a 8.7 out of 10. Again, so good. And I just, I loved everything about it, especially the two leads. And I would so watch anything that Tess and Der do, even if they are on other series or working together again. Love to see them work together again. So good. So this was Offside. For Drama Wave. As always. Would love to hear your thoughts on the series. What you liked. What you didn't like. And if you are enjoying this podcast. Please be sure to give it a review. I am your host Megan. This has been My Vertical Obsession. And until next time.