Delilah is the only one who doesn’t know Percy and Charlie’s big secret in Every Year After season 1. I’ll let it slide for now given she’s going through a mess of her own. It is surprising that she hasn’t figured it out. It also means Percy abandoned Barry’s Bay and everyone ten years ago. Even the best friend she had before she met Sam and Charlie. Yes, we already knew that, but this secret makes it that much more real.
At the end of episode 6, Sam confesses that despite everything, he still loves Percy. It’s obvious that he’s destroyed, but somewhere deep down, I think he knows she regrets it. If he knows the timing of the betrayal, maybe that second-chance love is in the cards for them. I really hope this show doesn’t make us wait much longer because all these secrets are heartbreaking to watch.
Summer 2016: The mistake
In Every Year After episode 7, Charlie fixed their dad’s boat, or so they thought. Sam, Charlie, and Percy get stranded in the middle of the lake until they find oars. As they arrive back at the dock, Percy reminisces about it being their last summer before college. Sam reveals he got into the internship that starts in two weeks and is for the whole summer. Another school thing comes between them, making Percy feel stupid for planning their summer events. It ruins her mood for the day. Two weeks later, they say their goodbyes as he leaves for his internship.
Now she’s stuck with Charlie as he works on the boat and she mopes. He actually tells her she shouldn’t ruin her summer but teases that he doesn’t want his ruined either. Through teasing, I think they actually agree to work together. Who knew it was possible? Not me.
After a disappointing FaceTime movie night with Sam, Percy brings Charlie his old man coffee order. He shushes her, needing caffeine before any talking happens. Percy spends more and more time with Charlie fixing and learning about the boat, while she drifts apart from Sam. So many unanswered texts from Sam in their threads while she’s having an interesting summer with his older brother. The sad truth is that Charlie doesn’t even know why Sam’s not answering or talking much to any of them. It might be because he’s shutting down. After all, life is a bit hard. They can only guess until they hear from him.
They finally get the boat running at the end of the summer. After telling Charlie she’s had the best summer, she receives a heartbreaking email from Sam. She calls him, and a girl answers his phone while he’s getting beers.
Percy tells her to give Sam this message: “This is Percy, his ex-girlfriend. You can’t break up with someone over email.”
She runs to Charlie, and they end up drinking in the boathouse. She ends up thanking him for giving her a fun summer. Not caring about the outcome, they commit the mistake.
Will Charlie apologize to Percy?
If Percy wasn’t feeling guilty enough, Charlie comes to the motel. He lays into her as if he weren't a part of it. All he cares about is that Percy screwed up his relationship with Sam as if he didn’t participate in the act. He should have told Sam himself. But he made Percy swear to keep it between them. She’s not selfish; she’s brave for giving Sam the choice to be with her for the right reasons over the wrong ones. He may have ordered her to go back to Seattle today, but he’s the pot who just called the kettle black.
Charlie treads lightly around Sam, bringing out their dad’s ties. He’s deeply sorry for everything, but that doesn’t fix it. Jordie said Sam can stay at the motel until after the funeral. Instead, Charlie agrees to go since he’s the one who stayed away the most, unlike Sam. Sam ends up at the tavern having a heart-to-heart with Deliah. She’s stressing over the tablecloths, and he gets her to sit down to talk. They end up on the topic of Percy and all the breakups Deliah had a front seat to. He may not regret much, but it is obvious that he got really good at ghosting people.
Chantal is still unsure if she’s attracted to Jordie. Percy advises her not to blow up her relationship with Drew over unsure thoughts as she did ten years ago. They go back to talking about Percy needing to rip Charlie a new one today, and then tomorrow they are out of town. She’ll say goodbye to Sue in her own way and skip the memorial. Honestly, that’s understandable after Charlie yelled at her for being the bigger person.
As if they were back in summer 2016, Percy finds Charlie in the shed where he used to work on the boat. He claims they have nothing left to say to each other. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. They get locked in the closet. They realize no one will know they are missing for hours because everyone is either busy or hates them. Her yelling at him turns into a panic attack, with Charlie trying to ask if she’s okay.
When he can’t kick the door open, he sinks to the floor and wraps his arms around her. A little while later, they are sitting apart, and she’s okay. He finally apologizes to her and admits that he may have done it because she’s always been the coolest girl he’s known. Despite her blaming herself for trying to get back at Sam, Charlie reminds her that she wasn’t the only one who made the mistake.
Sam finally emerges and goes to the basement in search of something. He uncovers the horror movies Percy left at his house and starts throwing them in a trash bag. The movies he didn’t let Taylor move are finally being thrown out. It hurts my heart. Then he breaks it further and takes a baseball bat to chairs by the lake. The chairs he and Percy shared so many summer memories in, and even their first breakup. He calls someone, needing to talk to them.
To make everything worse, Sam is the one to find Charlie and Percy. What he doesn’t know is that Percy just confessed her love for Sam. She may have been hugging Charlie, but she only wanted Sam. He was just trying to get her to forgive herself. After everything they punished themselves with, forgiveness is the only thing that can help. Sadly, it isn’t easy, especially when you’ve hurt everyone involved.
Lake Day
Chantal checks in on Deliah when she goes to grab Percy’s stuff. Thankfully, she didn’t need to tread lightly. Delilah is determined not to end up like her mother, who got divorced, or the second wife. Alas, she wants to have it all together like the third wife and drive Witt crazy. I love that for Deliah, sticking it to the man and getting out with the espresso machine and cups.
While packing the car, Chantal closes a big deal for work. Ironically, she bonded with the client over fishing, which Jordie points out she did for the first time yesterday. Jordie asks her to complete one more task before she checks out: jumping in the lake. She disagrees without hesitation, but she starts to consider it. She invites Deliah to come with them, but she turns them down. After some convincing, she convinces Deliah. Jordie doesn’t seem happy about this plan at all.
Despite neither of the girls wanting to swim, Jordie runs into the lake. After some convincing, they join him in the lake. Seeing Chantal bond with Percy’s childhood best friends really pulls at my heartstrings. It's a full-circle moment.
Even if Deliah is a little shell-shocked from dunking in the water for the first time. Delilah’s panic moment after the lake saves Chantal from answering Jordie’s invitation to get drinks. Turns out, stepmother number 3 ended up in rehab, and Deliah feels awful for not remembering her name. Jordie comforts her and takes her to her room.
Stream all episodes of Every Year After on Prime Video now.
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