Netflix's 'Summertime' Review: Painfully long teenage drama's redundant plot could be more fit for a film
'Summertime' opens on the magnificent blue waters of the Adriatic Coast, where the sun is high in the sky and sea is inviting as ever. A "modern love story" (as it has touted itself to be), it follows Summer (Rebecca Coco Edogamhe), a young 17-year-old who seems to be bearing the responsibilities of the entire world over her shoulders. Yet, seemingly dedicated and motivated, she is sworn to make a difference, grow and get out of her hometown, vouching not to end up like her parents.
When she meets Alessandro, there is instant undeniable chemistry even though they come from totally different worlds. And even though there are a thousand other people in the town at the point, these two keep bumping into each other because that is of course how romantic dramas begin.
Alessandro - or Ale as he is also known among his friends - is former motorcycle champion, rebellious and determined to take over the reins of his life, but also has a troubled past that he is desperate to escape. It is revealed early on in the series that Ale was involved in a fatal accident on the tracks and is now working hard towards making a comeback. Trained by his father Maurizio (Mario Sgueglia), there is constant pressure on him to do better and surpass his old performances, but Ale finds himself stuck in a loop - unable to fully mentally recover from the accident.
Together, Summer and Ale help each other through hard times. But the duo is not alone in their quest - they have a trusted group of friends who are closely following their antiques. Sofia (Amanda Campana), Summer's best friend, is perhaps the only saving grace of the series - au naturel and easy-going, she is the only one who seems fitting to the series and its nature. Her other best friend Edo (Giovanni Maini) rubbed us off the wrong way from his very first appearance and his character perhaps never fully recovers from there.
Ale's BFF Dario is played aptly by Andrea Lattanzi and the chemistry he shares with Campana on the screen is a rapport we root for regardless of its nature.
In this group is a mish-mash of love affairs, friendship, drama and turmoil that is surprising for a bunch of 17-year-olds (Ale's and Dario's ages, however, aren't mentioned).
Netflix's Italian series 'Summertime' is a run-of-the-mill teen romance drama that you have watched not once but several times. So many aspects of the series are redundant it really makes the whole season dispensable. In fact, the very first episode of the series itself is so difficult to sit through.
The actors shared mismatched chemistry and apart from its aesthetically pleasing signature Netflix production value, there is not much to it. From the backstories they have to their arc over the course of the season, there is not one facet of the series worth boasting about.
'Summertime' is a classic case of 'There's Something About Mary', except it is Summer and not Mary. Only the makers happen to have forgotten that the plot got old in 1998 immediately following the release of the movie and adding contemporary tokenism is simply not enough.
At eight episodes long, with each instalment of at least a 40-minute runtime, 'Summertime' is a painfully long romantic series. Midway through these eight episodes, it feels like the season has (finally) come to a fitting conclusion. But no. It is dragged for another four long episodes on the basis of one small misunderstanding.
Unexciting plot twists, redundant character arcs, unnecessarily long runtime and a really messy pot of love affairs renders 'Summertime' a drab. Miss it for all these reasons. We can't think of why you must grab it.
Season 1 of 'Summertime' will premiere on Netflix on April 29, 2020.