The Teen Drama We’ve Been Waiting For

Critic’s Rating: 4.7 / 5.0

4.7

In Megan Park we trust.

Get ready to be whisked away to the stunning shores of Canada’s Muskoka Lakes: Prime Video has officially dropped the immaculately paced first season of its newest coming-of-age drama, Sterling Point.

Helmed by showrunner Park (My Old Ass) and backed by teen drama veterans Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage (of The OC and Gossip Girl fame), Sterling Point is teen drama storytelling at its best.

It effortlessly blends the familiar and the nostalgic while offering an entirely new take on the genre.

Yes, it serves up all the classic conceits for which the genre is revered: emotionally turbulent first love, reluctant siblings, absentee parents, a little class warfare, and a dose of mystery.

But with all Sterling Point’s twists and turns (of which there are quite a few), it could have easily gotten bogged down by manufactured drama. Instead, it handles its plot twists nimbly.

Its rich, emotionally-nuanced storytelling is brought to life by a cast of confident, talented actors, keeping the grounded emotional journeys of its characters the focus of the season.

Sterling Point follows 17-year-old Annie (Ella Rubin), who discovers that after his passing, her estranged maternal grandfather left her and her twin brother Connor (Keen Ruffalo) his island in Canada.

A daughter to her adoptive father Steven (Jay Duplass), Annie never knew her mother, who passed when she was a child.

Curious about her mother’s past, she sneaks off to Canada to explore it on her own (but not before accidentally popping an Ambien on her 45-minute flight to Toronto).

New York-born and bred, Annie is a fish out of water in the wild nature of the lakes. But upon arrival, Annie meets a cast of characters that gladly show her the ropes.

Sparks fly with Ellis (Jacob Whiteduck-Lavoie), the son of the marina owner Joe (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).

Oona (Bo Bragason), an incredibly flirty and confident British expat, takes Annie under her wing, introducing her to Oona’s fast-talking, genuine best friend Sully (Niko Angelo Hinayo).

Annie also reconnects with Rory (Daniel Quinn Toye), an old friend from middle school and son of an uber-wealthy real estate agent, Denise (Missi Pyle), who — as an old friend of her parents — sheds light on some of Annie’s family’s secrets. 

Things come to a head when Annie heads home to her grandfather’s cottage, only to find it already occupied by Ramona (Amélie Hoeferle), who claims that it is also her grandfather’s cottage.

And as they soon discover, Ramona is Annie’s mother’s biological daughter — and neither knows the truth of why they’ve been kept apart.

Annie’s bright, eager personality quickly clashes with sharp, icy Ramona, and the two sisters have a long journey ahead of them as they learn about one another, embrace the possibility of new family, and uncover the secrets their family kept buried.

Both Rubin and Hoeferle dazzle in their roles.

Their scenes together are effortless, and their chemistry is magnetic. They pull you right into the budding sisterhood between them, playing scenes of conflict and intimacy with equal conviction. 

A Grounded Exploration of Family

Sterling Point may have its unraveling secrets and essential romantic subplots, but at its core, it’s a story about family: what defines it, the craving for it, the lengths we go to find it, and its fallibility. 

If there’s one thing I know up, down, backwards, forwards, and sideways, it’s the teen drama genre.

Its recurring conventions are what make it feel comforting and familiar, and they’re key to the integrity of the genre.

And by its nature as a teen drama, Sterling Point invites conversation about the shows that came before: the classics that defined the structure, the plot beats, and the tropes we turn to time and time again.

Sterling Point takes a relatively familiar format for the genre — two siblings reconnect in the midst of family drama, and love triangles ensue — but it knows that its strength isn’t in reinventing the plot wheel.

Instead, it uses its plot as a scaffold to tell a resonant story about forgiveness and healing that will stick with viewers long after the final credits roll.

Sterling Point is a show without clear villains and heroes, and it’s one of its many strengths.

“Do you think I’m the bad guy?” Annie’s father asks in a pivotal scene. “I don’t think it matters,” Denise replies, poignantly summing up the show’s ethos.

If the teen drama genre is concerned with what the teens get up to while the parents are away, then Sterling Point leans into exploring the mistakes parents make, and what it takes to forgive and move past the scars their choices leave behind.

The Highs and Lows of Adolescence

For a show that had me blowing through tissues (Episode 6 and Episode 8 were heavy hitters), I was surprised by how often I found myself cackling out loud.

Rubin shows off her range as Annie, balancing the amusing, accidental humor that forms the show’s comedic backbone with the raw emotion of its heavier moments.

Connor provides most of the overtly chaotic, comedic energy of the season.

He can veer at times into slight absurdity, pushing the boundaries of realism the show attempts to ground, but his energy does add a counterbalance in the cast.

While the story keeps its focus on Annie, the season hints at his complexities and insecurities — and with most of its time spent on the rest of the cast, he feels more like comic relief than a well-rounded character in his own right.

For a teen drama, Sterling Point successfully leans into its drama without being soapy.

And don’t get me wrong, I do love a little soap. But Sterling Point keeps its narrative tone grounded, which lends the show — and the genre — a new emotional tenor.

It made for an exciting experience of watching something that hit all the emotional beats I love and expect, while doing it all with a clear and unique vision of how the story is meant to be delivered.

Park, who writes and directs the majority of the episodes, has a very specific voice and storytelling style that makes the show feel distinct.

Her strength lies in writing young people — her dialogue leaning into the realism of how they truly communicate: awkward pauses, fast-talking banter and all.

It gives the viewer the sense they’re present with the characters, and it’s a style of delivery the actors manage with ease.

Sterling Point Season 1 Episode 6, “I Bleed Through My Pants All The Time,” is by far and away the standout episode of the season.

Annie, Oona, and Ramona visit Oona’s younger sister Maple at camp, and upon learning she started her period, they celebrate this milestone.

Annie and Ramona also take time to mourn the absence of their mother during this part of their lives, and Annie reflects on the volatile energy of adolescence.

Emotionally raw yet effortlessly hilarious, it gives a beautiful look into what it means to find and build a community of women, and the inherent magic in that dynamic that can’t be taken for granted.

Beyond a Classic Love Triangle

While Sterling Point focuses its core narrative on finding one’s place in the world in relation to one’s family, it succeeds in capturing all the highs, lows, turbulence, and beauty of first love.

Annie’s love triangle with Rory and Ellis plays less as a plot device to generate a ship war, and more as a real look at a woman deciding what she likes and needs for the first time.

Another bright spot is the relationship between Oona and Ramona, a beautiful depiction of young queer love between two people who have always had to navigate being alone.

They find solace in leaning on one another, but navigating pain and trauma left by their parents doesn’t come easy.

Many of the secrets that come to light throughout the eight-episode run feel purposefully predictable, seemingly less about adding shock value than forcing the viewer to engage with the emotional fallout.

I’ll leave such secrets undisclosed, because while I saw most of the reveals coming, the Episode 7 twist is as surprising as it is weirdly satisfying.

While the show speeds a little too quickly toward its resolution, it doesn’t stray too far from the characterization it’s developed for its leads, sticking the landing with its ending surprise.

The finale sets up Annie and Ramona’s journeys for Season 2 in a clever callback to the pilot.

It cements how far they’ve come, both together and as individuals, but shows they have a lot more of their journey to go.

And after a truly excellent Season 1, I couldn’t be more excited to see what could happen next for them both.

Sterling Point is now streaming on Prime Video.

So what do you think, Teen Drama Fanatics? Are you excited to tune in? Let us know all your thoughts (including which teen dramas you’re most nostalgic for) in the comments.