Let us get one thing out of the way: Every Year After is the show that deserved the breathless, group-chat-melting hype that Off Campus got. Six summers in Barry’s Bay, one lake town, two childhood sweethearts, and a decade of feelings nobody ever says out loud — this is the good stuff.

The dual-timeline structure could have been a gimmick, but here it’s the whole engine. Watching Percy and Sam orbit each other as teenagers and then collide again as adults is pure catnip if you grew up on the classics of the genre. It’s nostalgic without being sugary, angsty without being miserable — a genuinely difficult tightrope, and the show walks it in flip-flops.

Sadie Soverall and Matt Cornett have the kind of chemistry that makes you forget you’re watching actors. The lake itself is basically a third lead, shot so lovingly you’ll be pricing cottage rentals by episode three. And yes, the source material’s emotional gut-punches survive the adaptation intact — bring tissues, not snacks.

If you’ve been waiting for a romance that’d takes first love seriously without taking itself too seriously, this is it. Every Year After is warm, wistful, and quietly devastating — the kind of show that becomes a personality trait for the people who love it. Count me among them.