Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Summertime’ On Netflix, A Young Adult Love Story Set On The Sunny Adriatic Coast Of Italy

While it seems that we may or may not be spending this summer in our homes, it’s always refreshing to watch shows where we see surf, sand, sun and young love. Summertime takes place during one summer at a small town on the Adriatic coast, and it’s pretty much all about young love. Read on for more.

SUMMERTIME: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Waves roll onto a beach at sunrise. A young woman with curly hair, a nose ring, and a skateboard watches the sun rise over the ocean while listening to “Estate” by Joao Gilberto.

The Gist: Summer (Rebecca Coco Edogamhe) is a high school senior in an Adriatic coastal resort town that’s sleepy most of the year, but is about to get jammed with tourists with the arrival of summer. She’s best friends with Edo (Giovanni Maini) and Sofia (Amanda Campana), and they have serious senioritis. They help each other cheat on an English exam and are already making plans for their post-school lives.

Summer is especially restless, wanting to travel and move away from her hometown, even though she is more or less a surrogate mother to her younger sister Blue (Alice Ann Edogamhe), since their mother Isabella (Thony) works odd hours as a waitress. Blue is more awkward than Summer and gets into a fight with a girl who was voted as the prettiest girl in class. It doesn’t help that Isabella holds out hope that their singer dad (Alberto Boubakar Malanchino) will return to their lives, even though Summer points out to her mom that he seems to be getting cozy with his sound engineer.

We also see Alessandro (Ludovico Tersigni), waking up next to an ex that he broke up with months ago, following a motorcycle-racing accident that severely injured his shoulder. Ale goes back to the track to practice, and his father Maruzio (Mario Sgueglia), who is also his coach, is pushing him to return to the track. But Ale isn’t particularly interested in coming back just yet. And he’s wracked with guilt because his family is in this town because he started to flourish as a motorcycle racer when he was younger. When he asks his mother (Maria Sole Mansutti) if she likes it there, she said it was tough at first, but “If you’re happy, I’m happy.” But Ale doesn’t really know if he’s happy.

Sofia drags Summer to a pool party and neglects to tell her that she needs a swimsuit. When a guy asks her why she isn’t wearing one, she says, “Because I hate summer.” As she’s going to the bathroom, she runs into Ale, who’s being chased around by his suspicious on-again-off-again squeeze. At one point, the two of them bump Summer into the pool. She starts to storm off, but Ale finds her and gives her a dry sweatshirt. And to say there’s instant chemistry between the two is an understatement.

Our Take: Summertime, for lack of a better comparison, is more or less meant to be The O.C. (or maybe Dawson’s Creek) transplanted to an Italian coastal town. Pretty young adults and teens falling in love and having the difficulties and joys that come with young love. Some feelings will get hurt and some misunderstandings will jeopardize friendships and relationships. All of it will play out under the sunny skies of a summer on the beach.

In other words, the show isn’t going to be one of those “deep thinkers”, where moral dilemmas are examined and shady morals are made into heroic acts. This about sand and surf, and a blossoming love between two people who have led very different lives to that point. Where Summertime will end up separating itself is in the acting and the scenery, and both are well-done on this show.

We appreciate that the show’s main character, played by Rebecca Coco Edogamhe, is biracial, something that shows originating from Italy don’t often show. She seems to be pretty secure in herself, but she just wishes she wasn’t so tied down to her hometown as much as she is. Edogamhe has a presence in the first episode that is mature beyond her years, and she confidently plays Summer as someone who isn’t necessarily searching for an identity or a romance, but just a place where she feels she can fulfill her potential. That’s refreshing.

Tersigni also does a nice job playing Ale, the “bad boy but nor really” character that Summer will fall for. He resents his dad pushing him back to the track and goes to his mother for guidance and a shoulder to lean on. But he is also not really looking for anything, even though he can’t seem to separate himself from his ex. It sets up the two of them as people on equal footing in this new relationship, neither expecting it or looking for it.

Of course, the beautifully-shot coastal scenes, with sunlight spilling over beach chairs and surf gently rolling onto sand, helps with this show’s light and airy atmosphere. Hopefully we’ll see as much of that going forward as we saw during the first episode.

Sex and Skin: Less than you’d think. Ale in bed with his girlfriend. People in swimsuits. That’s about it.

Parting Shot: Ale visits the hotel his mother manages to talk to her about quitting racing, at least for the time being. On his way out, he sees Summer walk in and interview for a job there. Fate!

Sleeper Star: We really like that Rebecca Coco Edogamhe’s little sister Alice Ann is playing Summer’s younger sister Blue. Her character has the self-esteem struggles that Summer doesn’t have, but seems equally strong in her own right. We also see a burgeoning relationship between Sofia and Ale’s buddy Dario (Andrea Lattanzi), which could make for an interesting B-story.

Most Pilot-y Line: While we like the character of Edo, we’re not sure if he’s in love with Summer or not, and the poor kid will just get hurt as Summer and Ale’s relationship blossoms. Either that or he likes Sofia, who will stomp on the poor kid’s heart, too. Why does there always need to be that sort of complication?

Our Call: STREAM IT. Summertime is like a refreshing lemonade on a hot day. It’s goes down easy and doesn’t weigh you down. Considering the show takes place over one summer, we hope that feeling continues during its first season.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company.com, RollingStone.com, Billboard and elsewhere.

Stream Summertime On Netflix