WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Tiny Pretty Things, streaming now on Netflix.

Netflix's Tiny Pretty Things seems, on the surface, like a standard teen drama. The first season is about the aftermath of star student Cassie's tragic, coma-inducing fall from the school's roof. Almost all of her peers are treated as possible suspects by police officer Isabel Cruz, but it doesn't take long for the audience to realize the adults are abusers and criminals themselves.

At the center of the story is Monique DuBois, a former dancer who serves as the ASB's headmistress. Her initial motivation is repairing the damage to the school's reputation that was caused by Cassie's fall while maintaining her positive relationship with the school's wealthy, male donors. She's also self-involved and more concerned about her own position of power than her students' safety. She sleeps with students, like former student Ramon and current student Caleb. She also lets donors sleep with students, specifically the girls employed at the Michi Beach club, in exchange for donations.

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This could very well have tied into Cassie's mystery. She worked as a hostess at Michi Beach before her fall, and if one of the clients wasn't responsible for pushing her off the roof, Monique could have been. This isn't the case, but the possibility is never investigated by Isabel or anyone else. Were it not for Neveah and her friends going to the press and playing the tape of June getting a rapist to explain the Michi Beach scheme, Monique's involvement with Michi Beach would've stayed in the dark. Even then, it seems unclear whether Monique will suffer real consequences.

Ramon is another adult who goes uncomfortably unchallenged. He's introduced as an esteemed choreographer, brought in to craft a ballet for ASB. He's also the boyfriend of Delia Whitlaw, who is the principal dancer at Chicago's City Works Ballet, an ASB graduate and the older sister of current student and suspect Bette.

He's soon revealed to be borderline-violent and verbally abusive in rehearsals, which Neveah tries and fails to get Monique to prevent. He also choreographs a ballet exploiting Cassie's tragedy. Furthermore, it comes out that he sleeps with students - specifically Cassie. Isabel considers Nabil a suspect because he was dating Cassie and might have been angry that she slept with Ramon, but she never investigates Ramon himself.

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Later, when Cassie wakes up from her coma, she says that she was pushed, but she doesn't immediately reveal who did it. Ramon then visits her in the hospital and threatens her, implying that even if he wasn't the one who pushed her, he knows who did. This also doesn't lead to anyone outright suspecting or investigating Ramon's involvement.

Isabel is no saint herself; although, she's shown to be genuinely interested in getting justice for Cassie, and she's motivated by the guilt of her wife's suicide. However, she literally and figuratively pushes more than one student around in the course of the investigation. She falls into the common trope of a police officer abusing her power, and she ultimately does a poor job of solving Cassie's mystery.

The actual culprit turns out to be Delia, who was jealous of Cassie's relationship with Ramon and of her talent. Her profession and overbearing mother, Katrina, have messed with her head to the point where perfection is the only option, and anyone standing in her way is an enemy. However, Ramon's threats convince Cassie to pin the crime on Bette, while Delia and Katrina convince Bette to take the fall. This works as Isabel believes Cassie without any further investigation.

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Other adults present include June's overbearing mother Maricel, who refuses to pay for June's tuition because she didn't get a lead role, but she ultimately accepts June's passion only after dancing takes a physical and mental toll on her; Neveah's mother Makayla, who serves time for killing her abusive boyfriend but has a strained relationship with her children; Topher, the school's talented but icy choreographer and Alan, the head of sports medicine and Topher's husband. With the exception of Alan, who's well-liked by everyone, every adult has had a negative effect on a teenager's life.

Almost every bad thing one of the teenagers does is influenced by an adult, but nobody looks hard into the adults. The teenagers -- especially Neveah -- have to take it on themselves to remedy and expose the adults' bad behavior and protect each other since nobody else is going to, and that's a real tragedy.

Season 1 of Tiny Pretty Things, starring Brennan Clost, Barton Cowperthwaite, Lauren Holly, Kylie Jefferson, Casimere Jollette, and Daniela Norman is now streaming on Netflix.

Keep Reading: How Tiny Pretty Things Sets Up Season 2's Mystery