Netflix just dropped the perfect antidote to the post-summer blues. If you’ve been missing the messy romance and emotional family drama of The Summer I Turned Pretty, clear your schedule. Finding Her Edge has arrived, and it swaps the beach house for the freezing cold of the ice rink, trading sand for sequins and sunsets for the punishing glare of arena lights.
This isn’t just another teen drama; it’s a pressure cooker of familial duty, financial desperation, and a fake-dating scheme so convincing it might just become real.
The story centers on the Russo sisters, a trio shouldering the colossal weight of a crumbling family legacy. Their mother, a skating legend, is gone. Their father is drowning in debt, and the famous Russo Rink is on the brink of being sold out from under them. Into this crisis steps Adriana Russo, played with a brilliant mix of steel and vulnerability by Madelyn Keys. Once a promising skater, she’s been off the ice, but now she’s the family’s only hope.
Her Hail Mary? Partnering with Brayden Elliot, a dazzlingly talented but notoriously arrogant skater with a reputation. Their plan is as simple as it is dangerous: manufacture a sizzling, headline-grabbing romance off the ice to attract sponsors and save their home. They vow it’s just business, just a performance. But the heart, much like a triple axel, is notoriously difficult to control, especially when your intensely handsome fake boyfriend starts looking at you like you’re the only person in the room.
And of course, no great romance is complete with a compelling third corner to the triangle. Enter Freddie O’Connell, Adriana’s former skating and romantic partner, who returns to the rink with a new partner of his own. The history between them hangs in the air like frozen breath, a ghost of what was and a constant question of what could have been.
Every glance they share is loaded with unresolved feeling, setting up a brutal conflict where Adriana’s heart is torn between the comfortable past and a terrifyingly exciting, yet fabricated, present. The series smartly elevates this dynamic beyond the book’s original focus, making the central love triangle a genuine nail-biter.
Where Finding Her Edge truly finds its emotional depth, however, is in the frosty silence between the Russo sisters. The show is at its absolute best when it focuses on this fractured sibling dynamic. The eldest, Elise, portrayed by the captivating Alexandra Beaton, is a storm of resentment. Trained from birth to be the champion, a catastrophic fall shattered her Olympic dreams and her identity. Now, she watches from the sidelines as her younger sister, who never seemed to want this life, steps into the spotlight she feels is rightfully hers.
Beaton’s performance masterfully charts Elise’s journey from a bitter rival to a complex young woman rediscovering her worth beyond the ice. Meanwhile, the youngest sister, Maria, just wants a normal life—to read a book, hang out with friends, to be anything but another Russo skater. Their collective struggle, the sacrifice of their individual desires on the altar of family expectation, provides a grounded, aching backbone to all the romantic swooning.
If the series has a genuine flaw, it’s that it doesn’t spend enough time actually on the ice. For a show about world-class athletes, we see more rehearsals in dance studios than breathtaking performances on the rink. When the big skating moments do come, they’re often handled by stunt doubles with obvious editing, which can pull you out of the moment.
You want to feel the chill of the ice, hear the specific slice of the blades, and witness the actors themselves conquering the elements. It lacks the raw, athletic authenticity of a show like Spinning Out.
But don’t let that keep you from diving in. Finding Her Edge is the definition of a cozy, addictive binge. It’s a show about the roles we play—for our families, for the public, and for ourselves—and the terrifying, thrilling moment when the performance ends and you have to figure out who you really are. With chemistry that crackles, family drama that resonates, and a finale twist that will have you instantly clamoring for a second season, this is your next Netflix obsession. Just maybe keep a blanket handy; all that ice might give you a chill.
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