Some stories are about first love. Every Year After is about what happens when it never quite leaves you. Prime Video’s adaptation of Carley Fortune’s much-loved novel Every Summer After is about Percy (Sadie Soverall) and Sam (Matt Cornett), childhood best friends, whose summer weeks at Barry’s Bay are wrapped up in first love, heartache and a decision that changed everything. Years later, after the death of Sue (Elisha Cuthbert), the woman who was as much of a mother to Percy as she was to her sons, Sam’s older brother, Charlie (Michael Bradway), calls Percy to ask her to return to their lakeside home.
As with any book-turned-adaptation, there’s always a slight fear you’ll be let down as you realise your favourite parts have been changed or perhaps just removed completely. The novel is so steeped in memory, longing, and nostalgia that it’s quite easy for that feeling to fall apart under the scrutiny of a screen, but thankfully, the team behind Every Year After has managed to hold onto the magic of Fortune’s novel.
And a huge chunk of that credit has to go to the cast. Soverall is truly outstanding in her role as Percy. Whether she’s grieving, panicking, falling in love or simply trying to hold herself together, everything feels natural. Percy spends most of the season carrying around years of guilt and unresolved feelings, but Soverall never lets the character become defined by those things. Percy really is the emotional heartbeat of the series, and Soverall never misses a beat. I found it incredibly easy to become completely invested in her journey as she navigates life; you can always feel exactly what she’s feeling.
Alongside her, Cornett brings a quiet vulnerability to Sam. A lot of the time, you know exactly what he’s thinking before he says anything. And together, the chemistry between them is electric. Some of my favourite moments aren’t even the big romantic scenes. They’re washing dishes. Sitting on a dock. Sharing a look across a room. Somehow, the show manages to make the smallest interactions feel like major events.
But one character that will completely blow viewers away is Charlie. While Percy and Sam sit at the centre of the story, Bradway quietly steals several scenes as Charlie. He brings so much depth and vulnerability to the role that makes Charlie’s most frustrating decisions feel painfully human. Crucially, the series never treats him as merely an obstacle in the central romance. Charlie is carrying his own grief, regrets and mistakes, and the fallout between him and Sam often proves just as emotionally affecting as Percy and Sam’s relationship. Against a love story built so heavily around first love, you find yourself deeply affected by the fractured relationship between two brothers.
The show utilises the present-day vs past framework really effectively. There’s an almost uncomfortable dichotomy to the flashbacks where you’re eager to see where these characters end up and also wish to forever remain in those carefree summers spent together. Every memory of Percy and Sam’s younger days only deepens your understanding of their personalities, which only serves to make watching them fall apart and hurt each other later all the more agonising. The show completely immerses viewers into every part of what Percy and Sam were experiencing in their past, before remembering that this series was built toward something painful. The series cuts back to the present and reminds you that none of it lasts. It creates this weird push and pull where you want to stay in those memories for as long as possible while also desperately wanting to know what happens next.
A special mention must go to the supporting cast, who truly made Barry’s Bay feel like a place you’ve been rather than just the backdrop for Percy and Sam’s love story. Abigail Cowen as Delilah is the ultimate best friend, and her character arc throughout the season is particularly emotional and one of the most fascinating. Aurora Perrineau and Joseph Chiu as Chantal and Jordie provided laughs and warmth, adding to a list of characters that you immediately feel attached to.
While as an adaptation, not all of these changes will sit well with every book reader, in terms of certain choices the series takes, especially towards the end. Some decisions felt particularly frustrating, especially as it feels as if the show was trying to pave the way for a season 2, which it did with a slightly rushed, dramatised finale ending. The soundtrack deserves serious credit, too. Every time it feels like the show is giving you a chance to recover emotionally, another perfectly chosen song comes along and ruins that plan. Each song felt perfectly curated to match and enhance the already emotional scenes.
Above all, Every Year After understands how certain places become tied to the people, memories and versions of ourselves we can never quite let go of. The lakeside town feels more like a memory than a place, and the feeling of being nostalgic, comforted, and wounded all at once truly permeates the entirety of the season.
Although I disagree with some of the choices the show made as an adaptation, the heart of Fortune’s novel was still here. It’s easy to fall back into the bliss of first love, the discomfort of growing up, and the painful reality that sometimes people never really leave your life, even if they’re not in it anymore. By the end of this season, I never wanted to leave Barry’s Bay.
★★★★
On Prime Video from June 10th / Sadie Soverall, Matt Cornett, Michael Bradway, Abigail Cowen, Aurora Perrineau, Joseph Chiu, Elisha Cuthbert / Creators: Leila Gerstein, Amy Harris / Prime Video
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