I don’t think any of us can really be mad at Percy for telling Sam the truth. If there’s any chance of having a real relationship with him, she has to be honest. Secrets are what got them here in the first place. Keeping this one would only guarantee more damage later.
And Percy knows exactly what the truth is going to cost.
She knows it’s going to hurt him.
Not just because she slept with Charlie. Not just because she kept it from him. But because the secret that her and Charlie have kept is going to shatter something bigger with Sam: his trust.
Sam expects disappointment from Charlie. Charlie has spent years proving that he’ll make reckless decisions and deal with the consequences later. But Percy? Percy was different. Percy was the person he trusted.
Even when she hurt him.
And now he’s learning that the two people he trusted most shared a secret that involved him and changed the course of his life without his knowledge.
Percy was seventeen. She was heartbroken. She made a mistake.
A painful one. A consequential one.
But still a mistake.
What makes this so difficult is that Sam is experiencing the hurt in real time while Percy has been carrying the guilt for years.
And while part of me wants to point out all the ways Sam broke Percy’s heart too—the ways he pushed her away, chose fear over honesty, and left her questioning herself over and over again—I can’t even be angry at him right now.
Because this moment isn’t about keeping score.
It isn’t about who hurt who more.
It’s about pain.
Raw, immediate pain.
The kind that makes it impossible to see anything beyond the betrayal sitting directly in front of you.
Sam has spent years believing he understood the story of his life. And in a matter of minutes, Percy has handed him a version of that story he never knew existed.
Of course, he’s devastated, and he’s angry.
Unfortunately, sometimes the truth can be the right thing to say and still break someone’s heart when they hear it. Both can be true.
VIRGINITY
I think it’s summer 2016. Maybe 2015. Honestly, they never announce the year, and it is driving me absolutely insane.
Whatever year it is, Sam and Percy are deeply, hopelessly in love.
It’s sweet. Not because of grand gestures or dramatic declarations, but because of the little things. They spend all their time together—working together, finding excuses to be around each other, learning the rhythms of each other’s lives.
At one point, they’re taking out the trash at The Tavern, and Sam tells her she drives him crazy when she throws the garbage bags a certain way. It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard, which is exactly why it feels real.
Then he tells her he loves her. Percy says it back.
No hesitation, but filled with certainty.
These two are at that stage of young love where every moment feels important, and every future feels possible.
Back in the summer—whichever summer we’re calling this—Percy tells Sam she has something important to tell him. Her parents are out of town until Sunday. In teenage speak, that means one of two things – parties or sex.
The look on Sam’s face is a mixture of excitement and panic, which feels about right for two teenagers who are convinced they “are ready.”
The thing I love, though, is how thoughtful Sam is about all of it. He’s nervous. He wants everything to be perfect. He’s planned. He’s trying so hard to get everything right. In teenage boy speak, that means sex.
Which makes what happens next even more heartbreaking.
Percy shows up at his house smiling. Sam is smiling too. They’re both nervous, both excited, both standing on the edge of a moment they’ve built up in their heads for months.
Then Sam disappears for a second and comes back with a bag of rose petals.
It’s awkward and yet adorable. It’s exactly the kind of thing a teenage boy in love would think is romantic.
Percy looks at him like she can’t believe he actually planned all of this.
And then, of course, everything falls apart because Jordie shows up.
Panicked.
Desperate.
The second he asks to speak to Percy alone, you know something is wrong. At first, Percy doesn’t understand. He keeps asking if she saw Delilah. She keeps insisting she saw Delilah earlier. That Delilah seemed fine; that she even helped her get ready earlier.
But Jordie knows better – he says the words that stop everything cold.
Delilah is pregnant.
Just like that, the entire night changes.
Nothing besides Delilah matters anymore. Percy does what Percy has always done when someone she loves needs her.
She leaves. She tries to run away, but this time she runs towards.
Nothing feels simple anymore, but they are all at that age, everything is changing, and holding on is even more complicated than it was before.
HE KNOWS
It’s been hours since Percy told Sam, but she hasn’tleft her spot by the lake. She’s been sitting on the rocks for what feels like hours, crying, calling Charlie over and over, trying to warn him before Sam gets to him first.
Missed call.
Missed call.
Missed call.
Charlie finally sees them and immediately sees the text message that says he knows.
Fuck.
When he gets downstairs, Sam is already there. Just sitting and staring.
And somehow that’s worse.
Charlie starts talking immediately, trying to explain, trying to find some version of the story that makes it less terrible. But there isn’t one. He wants Sam to unleash. Charlie almost wants Sam to explode. Yell. Hit him. Do something.
Anything would be easier than this.
Because this isn’t really about Percy.
It’s about trust.
Sam trusted his brother more than anyone. Through everything—their dad dying, growing up, losing their mom—Charlie was the one person he believed would always be there. And now that foundation is gone.
Sam is shattered, and Charlie knows he deserves whatever is coming.
“I don’t think you’re capable of remorse,” Sam tells Charlie, as he keeps apologizing.
It’s harsh and maybe unfair. Somehow you can’t be mad at Sam, because you can understand where it’s coming from. Charlie has spent his whole life making messes and expecting people to live with the fallout. Even when he means well, he leaves damage behind him.
“You poison things,” Sam says. The horrible part is that Charlie doesn’t even argue.
Because on some level, he believes it too.
But this isn’t some random mistake– this is a betrayal of his brother.
The one person whose forgiveness actually matters.
Sam looks exhausted. Grief-stricken. Betrayed.
Their mother has barely been gone a week, and now this. The truth. The realization that two of the people he loved most kept something from him for years. The betrayal.
Finally, Sam says that after they bury their mom, it’s over.
They’ll go back to their separate lives.
They’re done.
Charlie is dead to him.
And honestly?
That hurts almost as much as the secret itself.
Watching Sam erase his brother entirely feels like another tragedy on top of all the others.
And for the first time, Charlie looks like he realizes there might not be a way to fix this one.
HEY DELILAH
Percy gets the phone call and doesn’t even hesitate.
“I’ll be right there.”
It’s Delilah. By the time Percy arrives, movers are already emptying the house. Furniture. Boxes. Pieces of an entire life being carried out the front door like it means nothing.
Delilah is standing in the middle of it, completely overwhelmed.
Movers are taking everything. Apparently, Whit informed her she needed to vacate by noon. No discussion. No warning. Just gone.
Percy gets her inside and tries to calm her down while Delilah spirals through every possible worst-case scenario. They call Chantal, who happens to be out with Jordie, and within seconds, Lawyer Chantal takes over.
“Whatever you do,” she says, “don’t leave the house.” Possession is 9/10’s of the law.
Delilah looks terrified.
Percy notices Chantal keeps trying to redirect the conversation, but now is not the time.
What happened last night? Why didn’t Percy come back? Is she okay?
Percy dodges every question.
Because talking about Delilah is easier than talking about Sam.
Talking about a divorce is easier than talking about heartbreak.
For a little while, helping Delilah feels like a gift. A distraction. Something she can fix.
BARNEY (NOT THE DINOSAUR)
Whit’s assistant arrives. Barney. Little troll-looking man in a bad fit. A man who seems genuinely delighted to be delivering bad news.
Barney is a villain origin story.
He assumes Percy is the lawyer. Percy quickly corrects him. Barney looks even happier.
Then he hands over the envelope.
Inside are photographs.
Proof of adultery. Violation of the pre-nup. Suddenly, everything changes.
Percy calls Chantal back immediately. The second Chantal hears that there are photos, her advice changes.
“Get out of that house.”
The confidence drains out of Delilah’s face. She looks petrified. Barney seems to be enjoying every second of it.
Percy and Delilah are packing up whatever they can salvage while Barney watches like a guard dog with a clipboard. He’s counting down their time, threatening authorities, hovering like he has power he barely understands.
“You have one minute,” he snaps.
Percy mutters under her breath for him to shut up, and it almost makes Delilah laugh through the tears. Almost.
Because Delilah’s standing there asking, “What am I supposed to do now?”
And Percy answers without hesitation, “You’re not alone in this. I’ve got you.”
But even as she says it, there’s a sense that Geordie’s already part of that promise too—quietly, steadily. Not new, not loud. Just always there.
Later, they’re sitting in a motel room owned by Jordie. Delilah’s entire life has been reduced to a few bags and borrowed space.
She admits she knew, even when she married Whit, that something wasn’t right. But everyone kept telling her they belonged together. Eventually, she started believing them.
Now she’s sitting on a motel bed, wondering how she got here.
Percy stays with her.
Because Delilah needs someone. Delilah is hurting. And then there is the fact if Percy keeps focusing on Delilah’s disaster, she doesn’t have to think about her own.
A text from Chantal appears.
Are you okay?
Percy stares at it for a long moment.
Then types the biggest lie she’s told all week.
I’m okay.
And then she asks about Sam.
I NEED MY BESTIE
In 2025, Delilah tells Percy she needs to talk, and Percy immediately assumes something is wrong.
“Are you okay?”
Delilah says yes, but she doesn’t look okay. She looks nervous. Distracted. Like she’s carrying something heavy. Before Delilah can say more, Percy blurts out her own news.
She and Sam are finally going to sleep together. Delilah smiles and tells her it’s about time, but the reaction feels smaller than Percy expected. There is something off about her, but Percy is too caught up in her own excitement to really see it.
Season One Every Year After Reviews
- Every Year After Season 1, Episode 1 Review: Every Summer After
- Every Year After Season 1, Episode 2 Review: Young Blood
- Every Year After Season 1, Episode 3 Review: Playing With Fire
- Every Year After Season 1, Episode 4 Review: Anatomy of a Romance
- Every Year After Season 1, Episode 5 Review: I Choose You
- Every Year After Season 1, Episode 6 Review: Plan B
- Every Year After Season 1, Episode 7 Review: The Boathouse
- Every Year After Season 1, Episode 8 Review: Goodbye…
Delilah is pacing her room, repeatedly checking her phone. She texts Percy that she needs to talk, but Percy never understands the urgency.
At the tavern, Sam and Charlie are more than happy to encourage her to leave work early. Charlie jokes that everyone’s suffering from Sam’s anticipation, and Percy laughs because she is just as excited as Sam is.
The problem is that Delilah needs her, and Percy doesn’t realize it.
When Percy finally gets home, she bursts into the room, talking nonstop. She tells Delilah about her plans, about Sam, about how nervous and excited she is. Every time Delilah tries to speak, Percy unintentionally talks over her.
Looking back, it’s impossible not to notice how withdrawn Delilah seems. She is sitting on the edge of her bed, scared and distracted, while Percy is completely focused on her own life-changing moment.
Before leaving, Percy promises they’ll catch up later.
Only after she is gone do we see what Delilah couldn’t bring herself to say.
She opens her purse and pulls out a pregnancy test.
Suddenly, the scene feels entirely different. While Percy is preparing for one milestone, Delilah is facing another, and she’s facing it alone.
In the present, Percy remembers what happened after she finally learned the truth. She remembers chasing after Delilah’s car, begging her not to leave without her.
She wasn’t trying to fix anything. She just wanted Delilah to know she wasn’t alone.
When Delilah unlocked the door, Percy climbed inside, apologized, and held her while she cried.
For all the moments Percy missed what was right in front of her, when Delilah truly needed someone, she showed up. And that may be why their friendship survived everything that came after.
WHERE IS SAM
Charlie is sitting at his computer when he gets a call from the mortuary. Sam never picked up Sue’s ashes, and that sends Charlie into an immediate panic.
For all of Charlie’s flaws—and there are many—this is the moment where you can see exactly how terrified he is. He loves his brother, and he is worried. He calls Sam. No answer. He calls again. No answer. He leaves messages, trying to sound calm, but the fear is bleeding through every word.
All he wants is one text.
One message.
Just tell me you’re okay.
He even tells Sam that if he sends a single text, he’ll leave him alone. He just needs to know his little brother is safe.
And honestly? It broke my heart a little. Neither Forek brother knows how to handle grief. Neither of them knows how to handle pain healthily. Their default setting is to shut down, bury it, avoid it, pretend it’s manageable until it explodes into something worse.
Sam retreats into himself.
Charlie talks too much, drinks too much, pushes too hard.
Different coping mechanisms. Same damage.
Charlie isn’t calling because he’s angry. He’s not calling because he wants forgiveness or because he wants to defend what happened with Percy. He’s calling because he’s scared.
Their mother is gone. Their relationship is shattered. Sam has just learned a secret that completely rewrites how he sees his brother.
And now Sam has disappeared.
The tragedy is that these two need each other now more than they ever have. They’re grieving the same person, carrying the same history, and drowning in the same pain.
But neither of them knows how to reach for the other without making things worse.
So Charlie keeps calling.
And the longer Sam doesn’t answer, the more worried I become about where Sam’s head is right now.
FISHY FISHY
Jordie and Chantal are still out fishing, and somehow this might be the most revealing conversation they’ve had yet.
We learn Jordie only had one serious girlfriend back in college. She left after his injury, once it became clear the future she imagined with him wasn’t happening anymore. Chantal immediately assumes he must have done something wrong, which honestly feels very on-brand. Her experience with men hasn’t exactly encouraged optimism.
The conversation is light until Chantal hooks a fish.
Jordie moves behind her to help, guiding her through it, and the chemistry between them is impossible to miss. Neither of them is saying it out loud, but it’s there in every look and every interaction.
And naturally, that’s when Charlie Forek shows up to ruin the moment.
Charlie tells them Sam is missing. At first, Jordie tries to rationalize it. Maybe Sam is with Taylor. Maybe he just needs space. But Charlie quickly shuts that down. Sam ended things with Taylor.
The mood changes immediately.
Soon, the three of them are in the Bronco searching for Sam, and the tension is thick. Jordie is fiercely loyal to his best friend, and I respect that. He doesn’t want to hear Charlie’s excuses. As far as he’s concerned, Charlie crossed every line imaginable.
But there is something Jordie doesn’t fully want to acknowledge either: Sam wasn’t innocent in all of this.
Yes, Charlie sleeping with Percy was a betrayal, but Sam broke Percy too.
He ended their relationship in the worst possible way and left her carrying that heartbreak for years. Two things can be true at once. Charlie was wrong, and Sam made mistakes too.
Jordie tells Charlie he went as low as a person can go and then somehow found a way to go lower.
“I can’t even look at you.”
Underneath all the guilt and all the damage, Charlie is terrified. This isn’t about defending himself. It isn’t about Percy or the secret or the fallout.
It’s about his brother.
Charlie may be a screwup, but he loves Sam more than anything. And sitting in the backseat, Chantal understands that fear even while she’s fully prepared to go to war for Percy.
Because that’s what real friendship looks like too. Nobody cares about winning the argument anymore.
They just need to find Sam.
ROOSTERS
They pull into the parking lot. A bar called Roosters.
Chantelle looks up immediately. “This has gotta be the one.”
Charlie huffs. “That’s what you said about every other one.”
But this time, it is.
Sam is inside. He’s already halfway gone—back in the place he always ends up when everything else falls apart. He’d been here every day for a month after Percy ghosted him. Now he’s back again like nothing ever really changed.
He’s at the bar, drunk, slumped forward.
The bartender keeps trying to throw him out. Sam refuses to move. Charlie exhales. “I got this.”
Geordie looks at him. “Are you high?”
Charlie ignores him, walks in, and wraps an arm around Sam like this is normal. Like Sam isn’t actively unraveling. “Hey, bud.”
Sam is here again—because of course he is.
Jordie tries to stop it before it escalates, but Sam is already sharp around the edges, drunk and burning through every restraint he has left.
Then Charlie walks in.
Everything in Sam locks.
“You’re scum,” he says instantly. “Why are you here after you stabbed me in the back?”
His eyes flick to Chantal.
“You too? Helping her steal the tavern? Did you all sit around laughing about it?”
The bartender steps in. “Don’t talk to a lady like that.”
“I’m not your lady,” Chantelle snaps.
“Crazy bitch,” the bartender mutters under his breath.
“What did you just say?”
Geordie moves in too late. Chantelle swings back on instinct and catches him clean in the nose.
“Oh my God—sorry,” she says immediately.
In the chaos, Sam lunges at Charlie. It’s messy, drunk, all impulse and history. Charlie goes down hard.
Then Sam collapses too.
Silence drops in like a weight.
Chantelle crouches beside Geordie, wiping blood from his nose. For a second, neither of them moves away.
“So,” he says, half-smiling. “Do I look like a badass now?”
“Yeah,” she says.
They almost kiss.
Almost.
But it doesn’t happen. It never quite does.
Because Charlie is already moving again. Sam is still the center of everything. And whatever almost existed between them disappears before it can become real.
SHE WAS HIS FIRST LOVE
Delilah is so upset that she starts packing, ready to leave. She’s at the back of her car when Jordie finds her. At first, he tries to talk like everything’s normal, but he hears it in her voice before she even turns around. She’s crying—really crying.
And Jordie, for all his awkwardness, notices everything. He always has. He just doesn’t always know what to do with it. When she turns, she’s falling apart.
“It’s bad,” she says.
He doesn’t ask for details. He just pulls her into a hug like it’s the only answer that makes sense. Like he’s decided, quietly, that she doesn’t get to go through this alone. And somehow, that’s exactly what he’s good at—making sure people are okay, even when he can’t fix what isn’t.
Later, Delilah falls asleep in the motel room. Percy’s still sitting with her when there’s a knock at the door.
Jordie. He came to check on her. He didn’t know Percy would be there.
There’s a moment where Percy almost speaks—almost asks questions—but Jordie stops her gently without saying much at all. He doesn’t want to get dragged into it. Not tonight. Not this.
“We all hurt each other,” he says instead. Simple. Honest. Final.
Percy tells him she just wants to take care of Delilah.
“Yeah,” he replies. “Me too.”
And it’s the first time it doesn’t feel like sides. Just shared weight. Before he leaves, he promises coffee in the morning. She smiles. He does too.
And as he walks away, Jordie is left standing in that quiet in-between place—still trying to be there for everyone, still carrying feelings he doesn’t name, and still, somehow, always showing up for everyone else, anyway.
I ALMOST KISSED SOMEONE
Chantelle is sitting in the motel room with Drew when she finally says the thing she’s been avoiding.
“I almost kissed someone tonight.”
To his credit, Drew doesn’t explode. He listens while she explains what happened. Nothing actually happened. She didn’t kiss him. She walked away.
“We’re human,” Drew says. “We’re not dead.”
But then she tells him who it was. Jordie.
And suddenly the conversation gets harder.
“Do you like him?” Drew asks.
Chantal doesn’t know how to answer. She’s only known Jordie for six days. How can she know? But Barry’s Bay has changed something in her. She finally understands what Percy has always tried to explain about this place—the way it makes you confront things you’d rather ignore.
When Drew asks if she still wants to get married, she hesitates and that hesitation says everything. Drew retreats to the bathroom, needing a minute. Chantelle is left staring into the silence, looking like someone who’s breaking her own heart.
Meanwhile, Charlie gets Sam home and puts him to bed. Sam is passed out, but Charlie can’t stop looking at him.
His little brother.
The person he just lost.
For the first time, Charlie seems to fully understand the damage he’s done. Not just the secret itself, but the trust he shattered.
And as he sits there, we’re pulled back into the past. 2015ish.
A few days have passed since Delilah’s pregnancy crisis. It’s heavily implied she had an abortion, and whatever happened has left her devastated. Miles was useless through all of it, leaving Percy to be the one who showed up, stayed beside her, and carried her through the aftermath.
It’s been one of the hardest weeks of Delilah’s life.
And yet, life keeps moving.
Percy is still young, still in love, still trying to hold all the pieces of her world together at once. Delilah is hurting. Sam is waiting. Everything feels fragile.
The tragedy of being young is that even when something life-altering happens, the rest of life refuses to stop and let you catch up.
YOU WERE THE ONLY FAMILY
Back in the present, Charlie quietly takes care of the things Sam won’t. He leaves water on the nightstand. Aspirin. A puke bucket beside the bed.
It’s such a small thing, but it feels devastating. Despite everything, Charlie is still taking care of his little brother the only way he knows how.
Sam is half asleep when Charlie looks over at him.
“You’re the only family I had left,” Sam says. There is pain in his eyes. The words hit harder than any punch could have.
Because Charlie knows.
He knows exactly what he destroyed.
He knows this isn’t really about Percy. Not entirely. It’s about trust. Sam believed in his brother more than anyone, and now that foundation is gone.
Charlie stands there looking at him, carrying all the guilt he’s been trying to outrun.
“I know I fucked up,” he says quietly. “I’m sorry.”
But some apologies arrive too late. The damage is already done. Sam doesn’t yell. He doesn’t fight. He doesn’t tell Charlie to leave.
He just rolls onto his side and turns his back on him, and somehow that’s worse. Anger would mean there was still somewhere for all that hurt to go.
Instead, there’s only exhaustion.
Silence hangs between them for a long moment before Sam finally says the thing that’s been underneath all of it.
“I still love her.”
For all the damage, all the years, all the mistakes they’ve made to each other, that’s still the truth sitting at the center of everything. Charlie closes his eyes for a second because there isn’t a single thing he can say that will make any of this better.
Not tonight.
Maybe not ever.
And as Sam lies there with his back turned and his heart broken all over again, the tragedy isn’t that he still loves Percy.
It’s that Percy still loves him too.
