Finding Her Edge Season 1 follows Adriana Russo (Madelyn Keys) as she tries to save her family’s rink by winning Worlds and scoring sponsorships. That means a return to skating after a two-year break, a fake dating plot with new partner Brayden Elliot (Cale Ambrozic), and lingering complicated feelings about former partner Freddie O’Connell (Olly Atkins).
Things don’t go too smoothly with the “bad boy” Brayden at first. But, eventually, things heat up — or so we’re told — leading to what should be a fun enemies-to-lovers sort of situation. At the very least, the combination of fake dating, unresolved feelings with the ex, and his current partner very clearly crushing on him at the same time should make for some good rival ships. Unfortunately, though, the concept of this program never quite gets a chance to grow into anything medal-worthy.
The average viewer tuning in for some messy relationship drama might or might not have a blast. But the way this series handles its setting is misguided, at best. Ice dance and the whole of figure skating, really, is background noise to Finding Her Edge Season 1. (It’s like when a skater has no connection, whatsoever, to their music, if you will.) At one point, we hear that Adriana’s mom had “the heart of an ice dancer,” and that was the secret to her parents’ success. In pairs. That “heart,” apparently, was all about “connection.” And nothing else. Forget skating skills, required elements, features necessary to earn levels, or anything else.
The implication seems to be that pairs skaters don’t value the referenced “connection.” Which, of course, would be news to anyone who (rightly) thinks about pairs as two athletes, skating as one. Apparently, if we are to believe the constant message of Finding Her Edge, the likes of Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, or even Ekaterina Gordeeva and her late husband Sergei Grinkov, lacked romance, connection, hotness — you name it.
Because they were pairs, with hearts of pairs. And emotions only exist in ice dance — and that’s all ice dance is! Just vibes! So, if you see a score box while watching the Olympics this winter, don’t worry! All those abbreviations are just different ways of saying “how hot and connected are they” and nothing else.
To be fair, some of the most mainstream and memorable programs, like 2018 (and 2010) Olympic gold medalists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir’s Moulin Rouge free dance, are hot AF. Indeed, people who’d otherwise never watched a single competition in their lives shipped “Voir” after their program went viral. But to boil an entire discipline down to just that one thing, particularly when there have been many successful sibling teams in the sport — not to mention artistic breakthroughs like Caroline Green and Michael Parsons’ Martha Graham inspired piece — does neither the protagonist of this series nor the sport itself any favors.
Why should we care about this athlete’s journey when she’s competing to win in a “low-stakes” discipline that’s all fluff? Not to mention, how is a viewer supposed to care if she wins anything, when her own father is dismissive of the same discipline her mom had the alleged “heart” for? (“Axels, not twizzles, attract the big sponsors.”) It just doesn’t make sense.
Despite a surprise cameo from some four-time World medalists, Finding Her Edge Season 1 doesn’t even seem to understand what it takes to participate in the World Championships, much less to win a medal — gold or otherwise. This may be the result of the short episode order, but it’s still pretty egregious.
A brand-new team can attend one qualifier, with one program, and punch a ticket to Worlds. (That is…not how that works!) Also, Adriana and Brayden skate in between two currently-competitive teams instead of in the earliest warmup group with non-ranked skaters. But at least that inaccuracy serves a purpose by creating more TV drama.
The fictional competitions’ scores don’t make sense either. Winning scores are more like “would get you in the top after the rhythm dance” than combined scores, so no, it’s not just that we’re only seeing part of the competition. But let’s be fair and say that’s the case. Those…are not competitive free dance scores, much less combined scores. If this is your Worlds podium after dance, the ice is more cursed than every Cup of Disaster. Combined.
The series doesn’t treat singles skating any better. Prior to her injury, Adriana’s older sister, Elise, is the family’s great hope for a championship, and hence sponsorship, miracle. But, to be blunt, nothing we see in the way of technical elements leading up to that point would at all be medal-worthy on the world stage in the last couple of decades. Also, whatever you do, don’t ask why someone afraid to get back on the ice after a flop magically has her skates with her and slaps them on to spontaneously join the Exhibition Gala. We’re going on vibes here. Besides, it makes for a sweet, little family moment, so…whatever.
If anything about Finding Her Edge Season 1 is at the championship level, it’s the family drama. And it is drama. Will Russo is a terrible dad/coach and, somehow, worse at doing things like running a business and paying bills. That’s why his daughters have to “save” the rink with their success to begin with. Because he doesn’t particularly care about ice dance despite his late wife’s aforementioned “heart,” his middle daughter’s alleged talent, or even his rink employing a dance coach, his clear favorite daughter is Elise.
At least, she’s the favorite until she’s no longer useful, thanks to a very obviously telegraphed fall that takes her out of action. (Let’s just hand-wave that injury away. I’ve seen far worse without a single medic showing up, or an actual injury, or the skater doing anything other than getting back up and continuing the program.)
Although rushed — again, short episode order — it’s that tension between Adriana and Elise, as well as younger sister Maria (or “Mimi”) trying to decide if she even wants to be part of the family business at all, that works best. In skating terms, I’d give it positive GOE. While the series is supposed to be all about Adriana’s quest for gold and romantic complications, it’s Elise who’s the most fun to watch. Not the most likeable…but the most fun. Mimi is a close second.
Alexandra Beaton steals every scene she’s in, and anyone who’s familiar with Emily from The Next Step should not remotely be surprised that her character is hyper-competitive, at her best when she gets to be in charge, and kinda a b**ch. Elise’s horribleness, unlike the father character’s, is pure entertainment. Besides, Beaton could make us love (and love to hate) just about anyone.
Case in point: It’s impossible not to feel bad for her when you see that one, single tear. Even well before then, when Elise has still got all that pressure on her (soon-to-be busted) shoulders, there’s a depth in the way she seamlessly turns the nerves on and off to be “on” for a young fan. The moment is remarkably well done. And then, there are all the great one-liners. So, so many great one-liners.
The leads at the center of the romance do well enough to sell the obligatory loaded looks and intense moments. Although Keys is at her best when she’s playing the middle sister to Beaton’s Elise and Alice Malakhov’s Mimi, she does make Adey’s struggle with, and against, her feelings pretty convincing — especially toward the back half of the series. Ambrozic and Atkins sell their hurt over various love triangle developments well, but it’s actually when they’re together building an unexpected almost-friendship that they shine brightest.
As Riley (Freddie’s current partner, who’s totally into him), Millie Davis can basically do no wrong. Her character is easily the least culpable, and therefore the most sympathetic, in the whole disaster of a romantic situation the skaters wind up in. And Davis plays Riley with a certain charm and presence that makes it impossible not to wish for more time with her.
It actually hurts to see just how much that character cares about not only her partner, but also the person about whom he cares most — who isn’t her. If you like angst and have time to watch one more thing, you’ll adore her. (But um. Davis is, apparently, Gemma from Orphan Black, all grown up? I feel geriatric.)
So, the required elements are all there for this series to be a successful one. They really are. Maybe with more time to develop these characters (and their programs for Worlds), or even with less story to pack into 8 episodes, it could work. But between how it treats figure skating — ice dance in particular — and the number of episodes it takes to make the love triangle really interesting, I’m thinking it’s not advancing to the free dance…and definitely not appropriate for the Olympic year.
More Finding Her Edge Season 1 reactions
- The episode titles are all skating references, which makes some of the bad choices around the skating even more baffling.
- But why is Elise’s intro with the off-ice turns so…awkward? That camera angle does her no favors.
- “Yeah, well, no standing ovation? This crowd sucks.” I love her already.
- “Tell your body no.” Um…how about not.
- Why does she have workout gear on under her shirt while she preps bedrooms and does business stuff if she doesn’t skate anymore??? Is she headed to the gym later or…?
- Lots of “whatever it takes.” Degrassi, is that you?
- “Don’t kid yourself that your poor reputation off ice doesn’t affect your scores.” Well. At least they got ice dance being political AF right. There’s a “wait your turn” moment at some point, too.
- “I try to care about ice dance.” “But you can’t because you’re dead inside.” I mean…
- “Your jealousy is about as subtle as your eye makeup.”
- “What I mean, sweet sister, is that we are full humans. Capable of thinking about something else besides boys and figure skating for two hours.” But there’s very little proof that this is true.
- “Unbelievable” is a moment.
- Ahhh, we’re doing the “bad boy has reasons for being a bad boy” development. (Ambrozic does a great job here.)
- “Sometimes, we create our identities around something that we’re really good at. And when it’s taken from us, it’s like we don’t know who we are anymore.” I want to see this series.
- There are some classic romance moments that just lack the chemistry. Maybe that’s the point since they’re with the one who isn’t The One? But it makes the drama less exciting.
- “It’s what I love about ice dance. It’s sensual, intense, passionate…” Again. There are plenty of successful ice dance teams that are siblings, and even those who aren’t don’t always go “sensual” with their programs.
- “We ask these athletes to pretend to be in love for a routine that lasts for three minutes. Is that lying or storytelling?” I mean, you could choreograph literally anything else.
- “I have to work twice as hard just to get noticed half as much.” If you’re going to point this out, largely ignoring this character other than as “third wheel in the other prong of the triangle” is…not a good look.
- “…going through vinyl records like it’s the 1900s.” Thanks. Hate it.
- Finally, I’m shipping. In episode 7. Out of 8.
- “This is a full-on love triangle sitch, isn’t it?” Show, don’t tell.
- “We pretend to be in love on the ice every day. What’s the difference if we pretend off the ice, too?” Well, one is a performance. The other is not. And, again, these are choreographic choices that don’t need to be made and, in fact, are not always made in the sport.
- Cute family moment is cute, even if it 100% would never happen.
- “I can’t believe that’s the end.”
Finding Her Edge Season 1 is now streaming on Netflix.
