It’s been a brutal week for fans of two TV shows across Netflix and Prime Video. 

Netflix cancelled Sweet Magnolias, ending the show’s five-season run, while Prime Video hit its newest action-drama Ride or Die with an abrupt and unexpected end. 

Sweet Magnolias series creator and showrunner Sheryl J. Anderson paid tribute to the show on Instagram, writing: “Living in Serenity for five seasons has been a privilege and a blessing. The people I’ve met and worked with — our incredible writers, cast, crew, executives, and producers — have touched my heart and changed my life. And our fans have been amazing in their passion for our characters. Thank you all. Though our journey has sadly come to an end, I hope Serenity will always have a place in your heart. Keep pouring it out!”

The series, a feel-good romantic drama set in a small Southern town called Serenity, based on the book series by Sherryl Woods, followed three best friends—Maddie (JoAnna Garcia Swisher), Dana Sue (Brooke Elliot) and Helen (Heather Headley), as they navigated romance, family dynamics, careers, personal goals and dreams, and more with grace. It was a comfy, small-town series that felt like home more and more with each passing season, which is what makes the cancellation sting so much. 

There’s not enough pouring it out to make it make sense, though; the dip in traffic each season is likely the reason behind Netflix’s decision, as viewership dropped 30% in the last season, per Deadline. It marked a much more severe drop-off than the one seen in Seasons 3 and 4, with only a 13% dip, as many fans complained there wasn’t enough advertising to make fans aware there even was a new season available in the first place. 

Meanwhile, Prime Video pulled the plug on the Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham thriller after just one season, shocking fans, especially as the series had plenty of potential.

Both shows, though quite different in nature and premise, featured strong female leads and underscored the power of friendship. 

Ride or Die’s lack of season 2 renewal was a big shock, particularly because it was so well received, as Deadline reports it immediately shot to No. 1 in the US and logged 927 views in just 2 days of its release.

Spencer, who played Debbie Claybourne, the best friend to Waddingham’s Judith Barton, who was a secret international assasin, took to Instagram, writing, in part, “Projects like this shouldn’t be the exception, they should be the rule! For all the women out there who felt seen, laughed out loud, lived out loud with Debbie and Judith, thank you. This was a fun one! Thank you Tessa Coates! Massive thank you to you, Jen Salke! You’ve always had exquisite taste!”

Parent Trap and Abbott Elementary actress Lisa Ann Walter commented what we’re all thinking, “They’re insane. Biggest hit prime has had in a minute,” while Ruby Rose added, “This is in the top 10 CRAZIEST cancellations of all time. This PROVES WE ARE NOT ON A REAL TIMELINE!”

And this, of course, follows the cancellation of Josh Duhamel and Minka Kelly’s western rom-com Ransom Canyon after its second season, proving that absolutely nothing and no one is safe.

With so many shows across a plethora of streaming platforms—maybe we’ve just spread viewership too thin? I can’t be the only one who is fed up with paying $10+ for every single service, forced to pick and choose who I support and what I watch. But in the case of Ride or Die, even promising numbers didn’t sway the powers that be. With everything growing more expensive with each passing day in this economy, maybe this is a sign of the times? Will more shows that fans love and pour their heart and soul into suffer the same fate? Should we stop getting invested altogether?

Every Year After just dropped on Prime Video, with all 8 episodes available for streaming on June 10.

The highly anticipated adaptation of the bestselling novel, Carley Fortune’s Every Summer After, brings a nostalgic and fan-favorite love story to life between Percy (Sadie Soverall) and Sam Florek (Matt Cornett).

However, every summer romance, no matter how solid, has its ups and downs, including Percy and Sam’s, which was very much on and off throughout the span of six memorable summers.

A huge and central conflict in the storyline stems from a mistake Percy made over a decade ago that deeply hurt Sam and changed the course of their future.

It’s a mistake she finally confronts upon her return to Barry’s Bay for the funeral of Sam and his brother Charlie’s (Michael Bradway) mother, Sue Florek (Elisha Cuthbert). 

What Did Percy Do in Every Year After—And Why Did She Leave Barry’s Bay?

In Every Year After, Percy and Charlie sleep together in a drunken moment of vulnerability that they’ve regretted ever since.

It happens when Sam is away at a prestigious program focusing on his medical studies, leaving Percy behind to spend the summer all by herself. 

She agrees to help Charlie fix a boat, as they begin to spend more and more time together, growing closer than ever before.

The regretful hookup happens after Sam breaks up with Percy via email while he’s away at the program. When she calls him, a girl answers the phone instead, explaining that Sam went to get them some beers. 

Percy is heartbroken, and in a moment of insecurity, turns to Charlie. 

They both regret it the next morning, as Charlie leaves town instantly, throwing himself into his work, while Percy runs off soon after, after Sam comes home from the program, apologizes and asks for another chance.  

She doesn’t give him an explanation for her abrupt exit, nor does she return to Barry’s Bay for 10 years. But when she finally does come back, all the feeling and memories start flooding back in. 

Sadie Soverall as Percy Fraser

How Does the Show Differ from the Books?

In the novel, Charlie tells Sam about the hookup almost immediately; however, in the TV series, Charlie and Percy make a promise to keep it a secret, agreeing that Sam can never know what they did.

But the secret eats at them, and when Percy returns to town, and Sam breaks up with his girlfriend in hopes that they can get a second chance at love and happiness, she comes clean to him, knowing it’s the only way they can ever have a future together.

The truth not only strains their relationship and friendship, but it also destroys the brotherly bond between Sam and Charlie.

Do Percy and Sam End Up Together in Every Year After?

In the series, they do not end up together. They go their separate ways after a proper goodbye in the back of his pickup truck following his mother’s funeral. 

After a year passes, and they both take time to work on themselves as individuals, Percy gets the keys to the tavern, which Sue left her in the will, and goes back to Barry’s Bay to reopen it with the help of her best friend, Delilah. After a successful opening night, she hears Sam’s voice behind her as she’s washing dishes, turning to him and declaring, “You came home.”

The rest is left up to interpretation, as it’s unclear whether Sam is back for Percy or if he’s finally forgiven her.

However, it definitely gives them plenty to work with if a second season does happen. 

Time is the best healer. 

Everyone learned that the hard way on Every Year After Season 1 finale, Episode 8, which kicked off with Sue Florek’s memorial service. 

The week leading up to the event was difficult for everyone, as they all had to deal with the harsh realities of impulsive decisions that came with some dire consequences that changed the trajectory of their lives forever. 

Charlie and Percy came clean about their one-night hookup, which alienated Sam. And though he came around for the funeral, he wasn’t able to forgive and forget just yet. 

The wounds were still open and raw, which only time could heal. In one swoop, he not only lost his mother, but he lost his brother, his best friend and the love of his life. 

When it came to Percy and Sam’s relationship, well, they were always very dramatic with their goodbyes, allowing themselves one proper sendoff in the back of his pickup. For old time’s sake. There’s also an epic speech from Percy that kind of seals the deal. 

She came back to Barry’s Bay to get closure, which was much harder than she ever thought it would be, but it was necessary. 

The scene shortly after their goodbye hookup is heartbreaking because it underscores the permanence one bad decision can have. No matter how much Sam wanted to be with Percy, he couldn’t just forget what happened. The damage was done.

Sam: “I loved you.”

Percy: “I know.”

Sam: “You broke my heart.”

Percy: “I know that too.”

Sam: “I want so much to forgive you but I don’t think I can do this.”

Percy: “I know.”

With everything out in the open, Percy came to terms with the fact that she’d lost Sam for good… for now.

The love existed on both sides, but the cracks were beyond repair.

So, everyone did exactly what they always did when the summer bliss came to an end—they went back to their normal lives.

This time, however, Percy returned to Seattle with the same confidence she once possessed when she was loved properly by Sam in Barry’s Bay. 

She took back her power, reclaiming her name—Persephone, Queen of the Underworld. In truth, she found strength, returning to the kind of writing that once made her happy, not the obituaries that confined her. She even got a publisher for her first horror novel.

She finally understood that a single place or a single person didn’t define her. And she embraced that she’s made up of a collection of moments—joyful, painful, and everything in between—learning to embrace the full spectrum of highs and lows. 

Sam continued to follow her writing, being her biggest supporter, while going back to confronting his life in the medical field, not hiding from it anymore. 

Meanwhile, Charlie coped with the loss of his brother by throwing himself into work.

Percy even received the key for the tavern, and though the series never really dug into why Sue left it for her—they were close, but she was never such a huge presence in Percy’ slife the way that Susannah from TSITP was a touchstone to Belly and her boys—the final episode did dig deeper into the bond between Percy and Sue. And there was one moment where Sue explained that the “Florek boys don’t own the town, we do.”

It seems that it’s entirely possible Sue simply knew that Percy would take better care of the tavern, giving it the love and attention it deserved, rather than pushing it aside.  

And that’s exactly what she did.

When things began to defrost and summer rolled back around, hearts began to defrost as well.

Percy re-opened the tavern with Delilah, bringing a new elevated vibe to the lakeside town staple. And it seems following Delilah’s gut on this one made the most sense, as it turned out to be a roaring success, with a 45-minute wait on opening night. 

I’m a little bummed that Delilah and Percy never decided to simply buy her old house before it was demolished together. There was one point during an episode where Delilah gets kicked out, and Percy informs her that she’s got her. I was almost sure that when they both landed on their feet, they’d find a place to call home in a place that once meant so much to them. 

Chantal returned to town with Jordie, and while they were existing in the “murky” and not defining their relationship initially, he wanted more, as they agreed to make it official.

Delilah had a year of hookups under her belt following her divorce, getting a lot out of her system, including Charlie, though when she saw Jordie and Chantal kissing, she definitely felt some type of way about it. And man, I hope she doesn’t come and cause a problem because she had her shot, and she prioritized relationships for image rather than for love, which was a lesson she learned the hard way. 

And as Percy was cleaning up after the big opening, she heard Sam’s voice behind her, as she repeated the same phrase he told her when she finally came back after a decade, “You came home.”

The look that they gave each other reveals that maybe there’s a chance for these wild kids to get it right after all. 

Though this isn’t your typical teenage romance story because, well, there really wasn’t a happy ending. Not in the way you’d expect from most of these small-town rom-coms. 

Sam came back into Percy’s orbit, which was proof that these two can’t ever truly stay apart from one another, but there’s plenty more that needs to be done to heal. 

Charlie remains cast aside, throwing himself into work to cope, but that also comes at a price, as Delilah expresses that she’s worried about him.

In the final moments of the episode, he notices a picture of himself on the boat with Sam and Percy in Barry’s Bay in his colleague’s office, who said his wife randomly picked it up at a gallery. It’s extremely random, yes, but it’s meant to serve as a reminder of the good times, before things became so complicated between them all. 

When he goes to look at the shot again after a long day, he begins to feel pain in his arm, before grabbing his chest and collapsing to the ground. Charlie Florek suffered a heart attack, just like his father, which we know led to his untimely death.

Time heals all wounds, but time is also never guaranteed. 

Charlie’s fate remains unknown as the season concludes, but that ending almost guarantees a second season renewal. 

Will Charlie survive? Will this be the big moment that brings Sam back into his life? Will the brothers reconnect because of the health scare, the same one that took their father?