Are YA Dramas “So Back”?: A Review of Megan Park’s ‘Sterling Point’

 If you’re looking for a moment to pause and bask in the beauty and uncertainty of young adulthood, you’ve come to the right place.

Cast of “Sterling Point”, 2026 (Amazon Prime Video)

While the world has yet to come up short on the sheer amount of Young Adult dramas being produced on various streaming platforms (with series such as “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” “Off Campus,” and “Never Have I Ever” being some recent popular watches to boot), it’s not often that a series produced in this age is deeply rooted in the complexities of growing up without being centered around romance. Though appealing in their own right, I find that the recent crop of young adult media is quite unrealistic by normal standards… which is often what these pieces of media are meant to be: an escape from reality. But is that really all there is to young adulthood? What lies beyond the idea that the most interesting thing to experience in your teen life is your first relationship? “Sterling Point” not only raises these questions, but dares to push past the preconceived notions showrunners seem to have of believing that being a teenager is all fun, games, underdeveloped frontal lobes, and raging hormones. Offering an experience that is not only refreshing but unique to the genre, “Sterling Point” is — to me at least — one of the best YA shows released in recent years.

“Sterling Point” follows 17-year-old Annie Jacobson (Ella Rubin), who, alongside her twin brother Connor (Keen Ruffalo), inherits a remote lake island named Sterling Point — roll credits — in Muskoka, Ontario, from their late grandfather. However, their grandfather is not someone either Annie or Connor knows, having been raised far away from him, and they’ve only ever heard negative stories about this mysterious man. The one solid piece of information that they know about him is that he was their late mother’s father. Additionally, since Annie and Connor barely got to know their mother when she was alive — and after discovering years’ worth of cards and letters from this ‘mystery grandpa’ in her father Steven’s (Jay Duplass) office — Annie became increasingly interested in learning more about Sterling Point. With these leads, Annie secretly travels to Canada to visit Sterling Point, discover who her mother was, and uncover why her father kept secrets from her and her brother.

Though “Sterling Point” hits all the general marks of your everyday teen drama — weirdly absent parents/family members, love triangles, a place so seemingly perfect it almost shapes the characters’ beings— there’s a bit more nuance to this series. This batch of characters feels more complex, fleshed out, and almost… like real people. Overall quite carefree, these teenagers grapple with the same anxieties and complexities most people would experience during this formative part of life, asking questions such as: What life do I see for myself, and how do I know this is the best choice for me to make? What would life be like if things happened differently? Who am I supposed to be?

Ramona & Annie (Credit: “Sterling Point”, Amazon Prime, 2026)

With its steady pacing and relatively natural-seeming acting, “Sterling Point” takes on a more nostalgic, rustic, and overall serious tone than more recent YA shows. Heavily rooted in nature, “Sterling Point” enthralls with its lack of online dependency, and it is one of the few young adult pieces of media that don't refer to or use cellphones or the internet. It shows a time when people weren’t so dependent on screens and online presence. Perhaps it’s because cell service is scarce on a remote island in Canada, or maybe it’s Megan Park’s scriptwriting, seen in the maturity of the actors’ performances. Either way, a distinct level of realism and nostalgia is felt when watching. Sterling Point becomes its own character, becoming the catalyst for the plot unfolding. This aspect, to me, is quite refreshing considering that I have yet to come across another YA drama that doesn’t mention social media within the first five minutes. It’s what makes “Sterling Point” feel more mature, more human, if you will. The lack of technology allows for relationships to form and blossom without some sort of crutch or any unrealistic expectations from others, which seems to be missing from recent series with similar themes.

On the topic of relationships, “Sterling Point” does a beautiful job of exploring sisterhood, friendships, familial relations, and queer experiences. Since many YA dramas nowadays seem to be solely interested in showing romantic relationships, “Sterling Point” goes the extra mile to remind its audience that forming lifelong platonic bonds is equally as important. The characters all exude a charm that makes you feel right at home, or, as I put it while I watched the show with my best friend, “these feel like people we know!” I find this aspect of Park’s writing and character development incredibly beautiful. For one to feel as though they could easily meet someone like the characters in their daily life takes incredible skill. It also requires a sophisticated level of awareness to remind viewers that, like adults, teenagers are human beings, too— both parties are trying to navigate life in the ways they know best, or the ways they think are best.

With its multilayered characters, lush Canadian backdrop, and fun soundtrack, “Sterling Point” is a piece of YA media that creates a comfortable, engaging space for its viewers, taking compelling concepts and drawing the viewer into a world that they— in the same way Annie feels about Sterling Point— don’t want to part from.