Every Year After Review: A Sweet and Winning Young Adult Streaming Series

Every Year After never reinvents the wheel, but it builds something sturdy from familiar parts with warmth and polish. Similar to other streaming offerings like The Summer I Turned Pretty, Normal People, and My Life with the Walter Boys, this new drama feels more akin to turn-of-the-century young adult series like Dawson’s Creek and One Tree Hill, with the quirky charm of Gilmore Girls, though without the same sharp sense of humor. A guilty pleasure that doesn’t quite excel at one particular thing.

However, Prime Video’s Every Year After sometimes holds back, even though the series could have used a little more soapy romantic fun and a broader sense of humor. Yet, as the series progresses, you come to appreciate its maturity to an extent, even though it keeps overselling aspects of its backstories, where the payoff never quite reaches the promise suggested by the pilot. Though the winning performances, stunning scenery, and sweetness will win you over, patiently.

What is Prime Video’s Every Year After about?

The story follows Persephone Fraser (Saltburn’s Sadie Soverall), who everyone calls “Percy” for short, a failed writer, who attends a wedding alone, having not been in a serious relationship in nearly a decade. After the nuptials, dancing, drinking, and general tomfoolery, Sadie gets a call from an old friend. That would be Charlie Florek (Michael Broadway, in one of the few scenes where he has on a shirt), informing Percy that his mother, Sue (24‘s Elisha Cuthbert), has died, after a long battle with cancer.

Percy is upset by the news because Sue was such a big part of her life. Percy’s family spent summers in the Floreks’ hometown of Barry’s Bay, Ontario, Canada. The first people she meets there are Charlie and his little brother, Sam (Matt Cornett of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series fame), who is Percy’s age. They spend countless summers together, yes, year after year, becoming best friends and exchanging friendship bracelets. As the series progresses, we see their relationship evolve as well.

We also find out why Percy, who was once so close to the Florek family, left the land of ketchup chips and bagged milk. As a guy who also spent summers growing up in Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada, believe me, these are a thing. Also, try to locate a burger from Hardee’s and something called a Wunderbar. The revelation makes for a quietly rewarding experience that pays off the audience’s investment. The narrative is solid, the plot is a bit of a slow burn, but the performances ring true.

Prime Video’s Every Year After Review

To distract you from the somewhat slow-moving plot, the series offers some delightfully quirky supporting characters, including Delilah (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’s Abigail Cowen), a local socialite having an affair with Charlie. There is also the sloth-like charm of Jordie (Joseph Chiu), who has a crush on Delilah but starts to form a bond with Percy’s best friend, Chantal (Prodigal Son’s Aurora Perrineau). Some of them round out the story with subtle revelations, while others seem like, well, filler.

Yet this group is consistently entertaining, even compelling. There are your classic young-adult clichés, which, you know, are a thing. How do you think they became clichés? However, Cornett’s Sam is such a whiner, always blaming others for his lack of fortitude, that he will drive viewers crazy. Still, it is easy to get past that, since Soverall and Cornett have such obvious chemistry that it’s hard to take your eyes off them. Their relationship has a messy earnestness that is well earned.

One annoying trait, which is why I brought up the series needed to loosen the grip on its oppressiveness, is the fact that, over eight episodes, I counted seventeen instances of someone being interrupted before a kiss or meaningful relationship moment, a crutch the writers lean on to generate suspense later. This is an almost amateurish move that the writers go back to the well far too often. Also, the odd narration, with Soverall referring to herself in the third person, a trope since she is a writer.

Is Prime Video’s Every Year After worth watching?

The series is from Sex in the City producer Amy Harris and Hart of Dixie showrunner Leila Gerstein. The series is more akin to the latter. Based on the young adult novel Every Summer After by Carley Fortune, the show has a low-stakes, warm, quirky romantic charm, all set in a world viewers want to lose themselves in. Not to mention, with the long road, the theme of emotional healing gives the show a bit more dramatic weight than expected. Overall, a satisfying yet familiar entry in an always dependable, viewer-friendly genre.

There is also a stunning lack of product placement, which is almost as distracting as having too much of it, since we are inundated with the stuff on a consistent basis. The point is that the show is easy to fall for and lose yourself in. Beneath its YA stamp of approval is a refreshing take on the genre, focusing on coming-of-age regrets, family, and new beginnings. The kind of story you will want to come back to, year after year.

You can watch Every Year After exclusively on Prime Video starting June 10th. All eight episodes were screened for this review.

1

Every Year After Review: A Sweet and Winning Young Adult Streaming Series