Aahana Swrup
In ‘Sterling Point,’ the titular lake island becomes a much-needed escape for Annie Jacobson, a 17-year-old from New York whose life has just been turned upside down. Annie and her twin brother, Connor, were adopted as babies by their parents, Steven and Goldie. However, shortly after their addition to the family, the mother passed away, leaving her husband to be a single father for two. As a result, the twins grow up with a dead mother, with little to no knowledge about her or her family.
Nonetheless, all of that changes one summer, when their estranged grandfather dies and leaves them an entire lake island in Canada as their inheritance. From the get-go, it remains clear that Steven isn’t all that eager for the kids to learn much about the place or Goldie’s past. Yet, all this does is fuel Annie’s intrigue, compelling her to book a secret one-way trip to Sterling Point, where many secrets await her, such as Ramona, Goldie’s apparent biological daughter. Still, family secrets aren’t all that define Annie’s summer away from New York. On the island, her paths also cross with Ellis, an endearing local teenager, who changes her life in the most unexpected of ways. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Annie and Ellis’ Budding Connection is Interrupted by Another Whirlwind Romance
Initially, when Annie is introduced in the story, she doesn’t seem to have much interest in romance. She’s dating her childhood best friend, Oliver, whom she loves dearly, just without any romance involved. Over the years, she has successfully deduced that her boyfriend is actually gay. For the same reason, she is waiting for him to come out to her before calling the time of death on their relationship. Eventually, Oliver goes off to vacation in Thailand, and Annie undertakes her own summer adventure in Sterling Point. Since their relationship was never really real to begin with, breaking up becomes more of a formality than anything else. As such, Oliver finds himself free to see other people he is actually interested in.
Similarly, when Annie feels the sparks flying, a novelty in her case, she’s free to explore her new feelings as she pleases. Notably, she has already met and befriended Ellis, who works at the local Marina, and had subsequently been the first person she interacted with on the island. Yet, he isn’t the one who becomes the immediate object of her romantic intrigue. Instead, it’s Rory, an old friend of hers who is spending his summer in his family’s lakehouse, who catches her attention. Rory remains forthright with his romantic interest in Annie, who finds herself equally attracted to him. Therefore, it’s only a matter of time before the two become entangled in a summer romance.
While Annie’s unofficial and casual relationship with Rory progresses, her friendship with Ellis also continues to grow. Through it all, the latter continues to pine after his friend, unconvinced that she would ever see him as a potential suitor. On her part, Annie remains caught up in Rory’s orbit. She’s experiencing the joys of attraction and affection for the first time and is happy to surrender herself to these feelings without overthinking them. Simultaneously, she remains aware that her thing with Rory is surface-level at best. The fact that her friendship with Ellis feels so much deeper and meaningful remains evidence of the same fact. Eventually, the fling between Annie and Rory dries up, especially once he realizes that the two have drastically different hopes for their future ahead of them.
Annie and Ellis Find Their Way to Each Other, Briefly
Annie’s time with Rory, though meaningful for both of them, was never meant to last. After years of being in a fake relationship, this marked the protagonist’s first foray into the world of romance. Yet, her relationship with Rory was never really built on mutual love. Instead, while she continued her summer fling, something real was brewing between her and Ellis. The duo, who started out as friends, found the time to truly get to know one another, allowing their connection to deepen before anything happened between them.
Unlike Rory, Ellis consistently proves to be a constant companion and a reliable shoulder for the teenage girl. Furthermore, due to the confusion surrounding his father’s biological relation to Ramona, he also inadvertently became a part of Annie’s family drama, which allowed them to bond over another point of connection. Eventually, the evolution from friendship to romance came naturally and seamlessly between the two. Over the course of the next few weeks, they continue to explore this newfound development in their relationship. For the first time ever, Annie learns what it feels like to be in love, which proves to be both an exciting and daunting feat.
Nonetheless, the complications of her life end up coming in the way of this happiness soon enough. Annie had always been staying at Sterling Point on borrowed time. While she loves the island and finds a unique sense of belonging there, she has a life waiting for her in New York. From her family to her senior year of high school, she has a lot to get back home to. This has been a major point of insecurity for Ellis, who has been scared of being abandoned and left behind by young love. For the same reason, as the day of Annie’s departure nears, the two have a difficult conversation in which they have to end their relationship.
Ellis seems to believe any attempt at a long-distance relationship will only delay the inevitable and worsen their heartbreaks. Thus, after a short few weeks together, the two decide to call it quits. Yet, the end of the show finds Annie with a much different ending. Instead of returning to New York, she decides to stay in Sterling Point, unwilling to give up on exploring her mother’s roots and her own identity just yet. Although it’s unclear how this decision affects her relationship with Ellis, it certainly opens up the potential for a future for the two young individuals.
Read More: Sterling Point: Are Oona and Ramona Queer? Do they End Up Together?
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