Josh’s terrifying Crew Girl heart scare explained as star teases what happens to him next

While Crew Girl is all about rowing and romance, one of the central storylines involves Josh’s heart condition. And now actor Samuel Braun has opened up about his character’s health and what it could mean in the future. 

The new Netflix series follows gifted rower Teagan (Miku Martineau), who is forced to start over at the prestigious Easton Prep high school after a family scandal turns her life upside down. 

But when she discovers the school doesn’t have a girls’ rowing team, she becomes coxswain of its dysfunctional all-boys crew instead. And as expected, there’s plenty of drama both on and off the water, including a love triangle between Teagan, Josh and teammate Cam (Kyle Clark).

Alongside all of that, Crew Girl quietly drops hints that something isn’t right with Josh. He falters during the Iron Crucible obstacle race, and Teagan catches him taking medication, assuming it’s “recreational”. Later, Josh pretends he gets a call from his dad, but we see the number on his screen and it’s from Baltimore. 

As it turns out, the person on the other end is a doctor calling to find out why he hasn’t booked a follow up test. We finally learn he has a heart condition that makes rowing dangerous.

Did Josh have a heart attack in Crew Girl?

Despite how scary his symptoms get, Josh doesn’t actually have a heart attack in Crew Girl. Instead, he’s diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition that puts him at increased risk of serious heart problems.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy causes the heart muscle to become abnormally thick and stiff, which can make it harder for it to pump blood effectively. In short, it makes competitive rowing a potentially dangerous activity for Josh if his condition isn’t properly managed. 

But rather than give up the sport, he keeps trying to brush the problem under the carpet, taking beta blockers and eventually bribing a different doctor to give him medication so he can keep racing.

Things come to a head in episode seven, when Baloo (Jude Wilson) confronts Josh about sabotaging the race – which he did because of his condition. Teagan runs up and demands to know what’s going on, and they both get in his car. 

As everything begins to overwhelm him, Josh experiences severe chest pain and starts blacking out, causing him to crash.

Thankfully, both he and Teagan make it out alive. And while the terrifying scene might look like Josh is having a heart attack, that’s not actually what happens. Instead, his existing hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is causing the chest pain, and the crash finally forces him to take his health seriously. 

Josh eventually comes clean to his family and steps away from rowing to undergo heart surgery. His dad supports him, although his grandfather’s dismissive reaction confirms exactly why Josh had been so terrified of admitting something was wrong in the first place.

By the finale, Josh is preparing for the operation, leaving one pretty major question unanswered: will he ever be able to row again?

Sam Braun teases Josh’s future after ‘fresh start’

Right now, that’s up in the air. As Josh star Sam Braun told Netflix’s Tudum, “We’ll have to see post–heart surgery. It was physically but also emotionally necessary, because now Josh gets a fresh start.”

Either way, Braun is hoping for a second chance for Josh, even if that means reentering the sport in a different capacity. The actor said he’d “just be really excited to have him explore what it means to him to be a good person. It’d be fun if he coached the girls’ team or something like that. I feel like there’d be a lot of drama.”

Even though it was a tough wake up call to have, seeing Josh’s vulnerable side appears to have changed Teagan’s perception of him. 

In the final sequence of the Crew Girl finale, Josh says he hopes for a second chance after his surgery. “Teagan might be more attracted to this vulnerable side of Josh,” Braun said. 

For now, it’s unclear whether Teagan will pick him or Cam. Although Cam and Teagan kiss in the end, her mind isn’t made up, and she shares a special look with Josh. According to Braun, this was a moment he pushed for. 

“Originally, the look wasn’t written in. It leaves the audience going, ‘There’s something still there to be explored,’” he explained. 

Will there be a season 2?

Right now, Netflix hasn’t given the greenlight for Crew Girl season 2. But considering the first season only landed on September 10, it’s still very early days.

The good news is showrunner Vivian Lin certainly seems to have plans for more. When asked by What’s on Netflix whether she has a multi-season plan, she said, “Yes, I think it has the potential to go on as long as it wants to, because rowing goes on for a long time.”

She even suggested there could eventually be potential for spinoffs, adding, “So I think there are legs to this. No guarantees though.”

And there are certainly enough loose ends to pick back up. Josh’s future in rowing remains uncertain, Easton is finally getting a girls’ crew team, and despite Teagan and Cam kissing in the finale, her love triangle with Josh isn’t exactly over either.

Lin separately told Swooon that Josh has “a lot of rebuilding to do” when it comes to him and Teagan, while admitting the future of the love triangle is still “a little bit of a toss-up”.

The cast certainly seem keen to come back too. Braun floated the idea of a second season taking the characters away for summer break, while Kyle Clark said they would “really want to step it up” with the rowing if they get more time.

And Miku Martineau is already thinking about what Easton’s new girls’ team could mean for Teagan, telling Netflix, “It’s going to be interesting to watch. She has such an attachment to the boys’ team, but she’s also in pursuit of her own rowing career.”

So, all that’s left is for Netflix to give Crew Girl season 2 the greenlight. 

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Featured image credit: Netflix