Summertime sadness.
Romance adaptations have taken over TV – “Heated Rivalry” was a phenomenon, “Bridgerton” remains a juggernaut, “Off Campus” is a hit.
Now, there’s Prime Video’s “Every Year After” – but this show is a dud.
It’s not worth watching, unless you’re a superfan of the book. (It’s a bestseller, so the show will likely still pull in a healthy audience).
Based on the novel by Carly Fortune (confusingly called “Every Summer After”), “Every Year After” is about Persephone “Percy” Fraser (Sadie Soverall), a journalist in her late 20s who is commitment-phobic in her relationships.
After she finds out that a family friend died, she travels back to Barry’s Bay, the lake town where she used to spend summers with her childhood love, Sam Florek (Matt Cornett) and his family. It’s been years since Percy has seen Sam or returned to this quaint community.
“Every Year After” implies that she left and stayed away under hurtful circumstances, but the story takes its time showing what happened. And, like many shows that orient themselves around a “big reveal,” it’s underwhelming.
She’s reconnecting with old friends that she’s been estranged from, which includes Sam, his chaotic brother Charlie (Michael Bradway), her old friend – or frenemy – Delilah (Abigail Cowen), and Sam’s other bud, Jordie (Joseph Chiu). Percy’s lawyer pal from the city, Chantal (Aurora Perrineau), also accompanies her for moral support.
If Prime Video’s other recent hit, “Off Campus,” had the energy of a CW show, “Every Year After” feels like an ABC Family show – before their rebrand as Freeform, in an effort to sound more mature.
The writing, acting, and production values of “Every Year After” are cheesy and melodramatic, like a Hallmark or Lifetime movie.
“Off Campus” was charming enough to get away with a sprinkling of that tone. This show isn’t.
Even when it tries to steer into relationship angst, the whole thing feels amateur and insipid.
Percy has a voiceover that tries to sound profound – for instance, as characters swim in a lake, her voiceover describes them as, “creatures of the lake, not born of it, but made for it.”
The attempts to be faux-deep are painfully try-hard. It feels like a 14-year-old trying to impress their writing teacher.
It also doesn’t help that Sam has all the charisma of a wet dishrag. As the show tries to build the mystery of what happened to fracture his relationship with Percy in the past, it’s hard to feel invested.
As the show unfolds, you get the sense that the story chose the wrong leading man. His brother Charlie would be more interesting to build a story around.
The show also has copious flashbacks to Percy and Sam’s youth.
The 2026 “Wuthering Heights” movie was controversial, but it did a great job of telling a love story that began when the characters met as kids. It found excellent young actors, and the scenes added to the story without overstaying their welcome.
The childhood scenes between Sam and Percy in “Every Year After” are tedious and don’t add much to the story. Every time one pops up, it takes away the momentum.
The show isn’t all bad. Charlie and Delilah are like the Jokers of the show, infusing it with some much-needed personality. Chantal isn’t just “the friend” who is pushed to the sidelines. She gets her own plot line that’s halfway interesting.
The summertime vibes are there — if you simply want to watch characters swimming in lakes, hanging out on docks, and pouting like they’re in a Lana Del Rey music video, and you aren’t fussed about the quality.
“Every Year After” premieres June 10 on Prime Video.
