Plot: A heartfelt, coming-of-age drama led by 17-year-old Annie Jacobson. Raised in New York City with her twin brother and loving adoptive father, Annie’s life takes a turn when she inherits her mysterious grandfather’s island in Canada. There, she finds new friends, budding romances, and untold family secrets.
Review: Every year, a new batch of shows pops up trying to speak to the current generation. Whether romantic, dramatic, comedic, or employing genre conceits, these shows come and go, with only a select few connecting with audiences. For me, the show that encompassed my high school experience was Dawson’s Creek, which also served as a launching pad for Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams, Joshua Jackson, and the late James Van Der Beek. It was the realistic dialogue and characters that made that show work so well, along with the idyllic setting. The new series, Sterling Point, takes place in a similar waterside locale during a summer escape and features an ensemble of young actors portraying teens on the cusp of adulthood who deal with family secrets, relationship drama, and more. With believable, bitingly funny, achingly real dialogue, Sterling Point is a surprisingly poignant show that is far better than I expected.
The series centers on Annie Jacobson (Ella Rubin), a wealthy teen entering her senior year who discovers that the grandfather she didn’t get to know had been writing to her for years, but her adoptive father, Steven (Jay Duplass), hid them from her. An attorney reveals that their grandfather left Annie and her twin brother Connor (Keen Ruffalo) an island in Canada called Sterling Point. Hoping to learn more about her mother, who died when she was a child, Annie heads to the remote small town to explore. It is there that she discovers not only the truth about her mother but that she also has a half-sister named Ramona (Amelie Hoeferle). Throughout the eight-episode series, Annie puts aside her ambitious college career and internship goals, and her entitled New York City upbringing, as she makes new friends and new loves in Sterling Point, while also navigating the blunt truth about her family that she never knew before.
The structure of Sterling Point may sound familiar, as so many teen-centric series have followed similar stories about mystery siblings and love during summer vacation, but Sterling Point works in spite of the formulaic plot that would have you believe. Credit is due to the young cast, who inhabit their characters through realistic dialogue and portrayals. There are multiple moments throughout the series that would have been punctuated by a line, but instead end the scene before transitioning to the next. Sterling Point tends to linger for a few beats longer, giving these scenes extra time to add another moment or line that comes across more naturally. There are also playful exchanges where the characters tease or mess with one another that feel almost improvisational rather than scripted, adding to the realism of the story despite the high-concept storylines. Ella Rubin and Amelie Hoeferle deserve the majority of the credit as their acrimonious relationship develops over the series from antagonistic to more familial. Keen Ruffalo adds to that as the third member of the blended family.
While Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Missi Pyle, and Jay Duplass get a good amount of screen time as the adults, Sterling Point is very much about the younger cast. Daniel Quinn-Toye and Jacob Whiteduck-Lavoie are well cast as Rory and Ellis, but the scene-stealer in this series is Bo Bragason. While Bragason has appeared in several BBC series and Disney+ series, Renegade Nell, she is about to become a household name thanks to her upcoming starring role as Princess Zelda in the live-action adaptation of the iconic Nintendo video game. Bragason plays Oona, who is proudly gay, brashly outspoken, and hilariously sarcastic. The most authentic character in the cast, Oona, is the glue that keeps the friend group together despite crushing on multiple characters. Sterling Point never shies away from being frank about sex, relationships, and all of the other subjects adults want to pretend that teens do not talk about. It is specifically because the series uses these as both dramatic and comedic fodder that Sterling Point is refreshing to watch.
My Old Ass writer/director Megan Park created Sterling Point after having starred alongside Shailene Woodley in the teen series The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Park serves as co-showrunner alongside genre experts Josh Schwartz (The O.C.) and Stephanie Savage (Gossip Girl). The combination of the three brings insight into what can help teen dramas sink or swim, and it shows in the finished products. The Canadian setting is familiar yet foreign enough that audiences will find its simplicity refreshing, while the curated soundtrack will speak to viewers, young and old. There is enough balance in the stories that I now find myself enjoying the series as much as I did when I was the same age as many of the adults, since I can relate to the younger protagonists. Some elements don’t work, but these are minor nitpicks compared to the charm and ease of watching the series.
Sterling Point is a nice series anchored by believable, likable young actors, without relying too heavily on the tropes of a fish-out-of-water storyline. Ella Rubin, Keen Ruffalo, and Amelie Hoeferle make for a solid trio of siblings trying to come to terms with the life-changing revelations about their family. Everyone here is enjoying Megan Park’s dialogue and the Canadian waterfront setting, but it is the story’s charming qualities that keep you coming back with each chapter. Of course, there are plot twists and melodrama that keep the momentum moving, but this is a nice series that does not need murder, action, or pyrotechnics to keep the audience entertained. While it may not become the pop culture mainstay that Dawson’s Creek did, Sterling Point is definitely worth the time to visit.
Sterling Point premieres all eight episodes on August 5th.
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