Every Year After Review
Director: Tara Nicole Weyr, Jeffrey W. Byrd and Gillian Robespierre
Date Created: 2026-06-10 00:57
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Every Year After Review: Directed by Tara Nicole Weyr, Jeffrey W. Byrd and Gillian Robespierre and based on Carley Fortune’s bestselling novel, the Prime Video series stars Sadie Soverall as Percy Fraser and Matt Cornett as Sam Florek, with strong supporting performances from Michael Bradway, Aurora Perrineau, Abigail Cowen, Joseph Chiu, Elisha Cuthbert and others. The romantic drama has eight episodes, each with a runtime of 50 minutes.
Every Year After Review
Summer love stories definitely have an element that is comforting in some way. Something about them feels like a journey through time and space, where feelings are magnified, memories are more vivid, and young love can conquer everything. Every Year After captures this feeling wonderfully well. In the first episodes, viewers find themselves transported into the enchanting atmosphere of Barry’s Bay, where the summer romance between Percy and Sam develops across two timelines: when they were young and when they meet again after a devastating break-up.
Prime Video’s Every Year After series is about first love and the emotional wounds left by it. Percy comes back to Barry’s Bay after being away for many years, feeling guilty about her past actions, holding some unspoken issues and secrets within herself. Their meeting prompts the couple to re-examine what happened in the past. The dual timelines allow them to uncover the pieces of their past relationship.
However, the uncertainty regarding the broken relationship between Percy and Sam is intriguing enough for the plot to progress. Flashbacks serve the purpose of providing more insight into the nature of their bond and help understand how it developed from just being friends to becoming something more. There is a great deal of emotion involved.
Nonetheless, as the Prime Video series Every Year After progresses, predictability starts setting in. Most of the surprising elements could actually be foreseen way ahead of time, and the storyline drags on the mystery too long. There have been several instances when the only reason why the show was keeping the audience in suspense was simply for that sake itself, and not due to some need for the story to do so. As a result, when such truths are unveiled, they fail to move the viewers.
Percy, portrayed by Sadie Soverall, does justice to the role with a strong performance. She manages to convey the thrill of being in love as well as the fatigue of having to carry years of remorse. Percy may have flaws and make some poor choices that irritate me sometimes, but I can never dislike her. Sam, played by Matt Cornett, is the perfect complement for her. He injects into the character an element of warmth and vulnerability that could easily have been overlooked because this kind of character often gets stereotyped into a love interest role. The chemistry between Soverall and Matt is perhaps what makes the series most compelling.
However, surprisingly enough, it was Michael Bradway’s character of Charlie that captured my interest more than once. The seemingly minor character soon becomes involved in one of the more intriguing plotlines of the entire series. Charlie’s problems, interactions, and his own loss serve to further enhance the emotional dimension of the show. At times, I found myself more interested in what would happen to him than in how Percy and Sam’s love story would resolve itself.
The ensemble is worthy of recognition as well. Aurora Perrineau’s Chantal brings some very realistic moments to the show, and Abigail Cowen’s Delilah has a narrative that does not put her into the usual trope of the archrival. Friendships play an unexpectedly crucial role in the story, and I loved the emphasis on them.
It is perhaps in this area where the series Every Year After is the least successful: in its originality. It seems that almost every big plot point in the story has been used before. From childhood friendship turning into love, to the misunderstandings, long absence, meeting again, and feelings of guilt, all of them are perfectly fine plot devices. The problem is that the show does not bring any new take to them.
This does not make the Every Year After series less entertaining by any stretch. On the contrary, I was always eager to see what happened next. There is something very appealing about how the story unfolds, even if one knows in advance what direction it will take. Emotional truth makes up for the absence of twists. The creators know why romance clichés are popular, and they use them effectively.
Yet, there was no denying that I had come across many parts of this story and felt I had seen this before. The series does throw up some interesting topics of bereavement, family pressure, companionship, and personal development; however, there is not enough focus on these to make this show stand out among numerous others.
Prime Video Every Year After Review: Summing Up
However, when all is said and done, I found myself feeling somewhat conflicted upon watching Every Year After. For one thing, I loved seeing Barry’s Bay. In addition, I cared for the characters, Percy, Sam, and Charlie, especially. Finally, there were great actors, an amazing location, and emotional scenes that worked. However, it could not break free from the conventions of its genre.
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