Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Seasons’ on Netflix, A Romantic Drama That Follows a Familiar Cycle

You won’t need 525,600 minutes to understand the seasons of love in Seasons (a new Netflix original). In fact, you’ll only require 109 from director Easy Ferrer. This Filipino romance, toggling between comedy and drama, provides all the turbulent swings of two opposite-sex besties trying to determine what their relationship really means.

SEASONS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Charlie (Lovi Poe) is getting anxious about her age as a 32-year-old single woman. To make herself feel better about embarking headlong into the world of dating, she plays god with the dating profile of her platonic best friend Kurt (Carlo Aquino). In order to take the plunge, he has her pre-screen matches from a burner profile on the dating app Kupido. But as she’s vetting, Charlie spots café employee Jane (Sarah Edwards) she sees as a perfect match for her pal.

Things seem to be looking up for the pair — Kurt and Jane hit it off, despite his initial reluctance. And Charlie finds the sparks of love with Hans (Jolo Estrada) in her own romantic adventures. But the past isn’t finished with Kurt and Charlie, each of whom has never entirely moved past a moment in their relationship where things escalated beyond mere friendship. Charlie shrugs it off, much to Kurt’s dismay. Yet in time, he manages to put those qualms to bed … leaving Charlie with an unrequited longing that will wreck anything in its path if left unchecked.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: It starts off like a riff on When Harry Met Sally… but quickly turns into a rerun of My Best Friend’s Wedding when it becomes clear that Charlie is unapologetically home-wrecking Kurt and Jane’s relationship.

Performance Worth Watching: She has little to work with as Charlie, but Lovi Poe has a truly winning screen presence. With her million-watt smile, she powers this film for far longer than it otherwise could withstand.

Memorable Dialogue: “People always say that when you love someone, you have to set them free,” a rueful Charlie states at the outset of Seasons. “But nobody talks about what happens after,” she continues … teeing up the rest of the story.

Sex and Skin: Various sensual escapades of Charlie and Kurt play out on screen, but few of them go past foreplay with a little bit of PG-13 levels of skin.

Our Take: Seasons has no business being as long as it is. Writers Lovi Poe and Dwein Baltazar indulge in just about every rom-com cliche about platonic friends there is. And if that’s not enough to make you feel like you’re watching archetypes traipse around director Easy Ferrer’s frame, the pervasive scoring that sounds like iMovie stock music makes it feel like a well-lit student film. The film further takes a WILD spin-out in the second half when Charlie convinces Kurt to take a journey with her that’s designed to convince him that they’re destined to be together.

Our Call: SKIP IT. Seasons meanders too much in search of a meaningful departure from the genre formula that ultimately never comes. Unlike the title suggests, all your waiting for a change in climate won’t be rewarded. Lovi Poe’s performance holds a lot of the film together as she careens from delightful to deplorable, but that’s not enough of a reason to endure an overly familiar tale of friendship foibles.

Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. In addition to Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, The Playlist and many other outlets. Some day soon, everyone will realize how right he is about Spring Breakers.