Warning! This review contains minor spoilers for Finding Her Edge.
Netflix’s new YA sports romance adaptation, Finding Her Edge, falls short in the romance aspect while providing a realistic portrayal of a highly competitive athletic family. Based on the book of the same name by Jennifer Iacopelli, Finding Her Edge follows competitive ice dancer Adriana Russo (Madelyn Keys) as she attempts to form a new skating partnership with the “bad boy” of ice dancing, Brayden Elliot (Cale Ambrozic).
To complicate matters, Adriana’s former partner and childhood sweetheart, Freddie (Olly Atkins), returns to her family’s skating compound with a new partner, Riley (Millie Davis), one of Adriana’s closest friends. Meanwhile, her father struggles with financial debt as her older sister falls into a near depression, and everyone is still mourning the loss of the family matriarch.
Given everything happening around them, the inevitable love triangle involving Adriana, Brayden, and Freddie doesn’t dominate Finding Her Edge’s eight episodes as much as one might expect. In the grand scheme of things, however, this is likely a positive aspect, as any devoted romance fan watching this may be disappointed with the resolution. It certainly didn’t feel justified.
Finding Her Edge’s Love Triangle Is The Weakest Part Of The Show
Credit: Netflix
In terms of romance tropes, Finding Her Edge has everything going for it. Love triangles, first loves, competitive rivalries; there’s even a hint of fake dating, as Adriana and Brayden agree to enhance their connection for the cameras and social media to attract a sponsor. Tropes are essential to the genre, but their effectiveness relies heavily on the characters involved.
In this instance, Freddie feels like an afterthought. Love triangles can create significant dramatic tension if both romantic interests appear to be suitable matches for the lead character. Unfortunately, Freddie is largely absent during the first half of the season, and the audience is not shown anything truly engaging about his history with Adriana.
Freddie spends most of his time avoiding Adriana, especially as she grows closer to Brayden until Adriana’s feelings seem to shift unexpectedly. In contrast, her chemistry with Brayden is evident both when they dance together and when they simply spend time together, making the difference painfully clear.
Individually, Brayden is also a more developed character than Freddie. He experiences genuine growth while training with Adriana, whereas Freddie remains mostly stagnant until an ill-timed confrontation with his estranged mother. I haven’t read the original book, so I can’t determine whether this issue was present in the source material, but there is a noticeable imbalance between them.
Although the love triangle did not succeed, I was pleasantly surprised by the interactions between Freddie and Brayden outside their relationship with Adriana. These characters are teenage boys. One might expect them to act petty, but both genuinely show interest in supporting each other.
Their moments of camaraderie somewhat redeem the flaws within the love triangle — at least they are not merely jealous of one another. However, I felt that we witnessed more of Freddie’s true character when he shared scenes with Brayden than when he was with Adriana, once again underscoring the issues with the show’s primary romantic focus.
Finding Her Edge Succeeds At Fleshing Out The Russo Family’s Struggles
Credit: Netflix
While Adriana vacillates between Brayden and Freddie, the rest of the Russo family also receives their share of attention. Adriana’s older sister, Elise (Alexandra Beaton), emerges as the show’s most intricate character. After suffering a serious fall during a performance, Elise is hesitant to return to skating while simultaneously feeling replaced by Adriana in their family’s skating hierarchy.
Considering the Russo family’s legacy — their parents were Olympic champions — Elise’s struggle to cope with her injury is understandable. She is not a flawless heroine, which makes her an intriguing character. She makes significant mistakes but faces consequences for them and strives to reconcile with her family and heal.
The youngest sister, Maria (Alice Malakhov), is spirited and independent, and her major skating scene was genuinely one of the most enjoyable and dynamic moments to watch. Observing her navigate her family’s legacy and its nepotistic tendencies in her unique way was fascinating; both Elise and Adriana seek attention while Maria desires normalcy.
If Finding Her Edge had simply focused on three sisters trying to find their paths within the high-stakes world of competitive skating, it would have been successful too. Some of the season’s best and most emotional scenes occur among the Russo sisters, and I appreciated the show’s effort to explore delayed grief.
However, this further emphasizes that the series faltered in its central romance. Given how her partner situation was resolved, Adriana could realistically have skated with anyone.
Finding Her Edge does not qualify as prestige television. The episodes are filled with cheesy dialogue, predictable twists, and several awkward performances. Nevertheless, it felt more grounded and realistic than many other contemporary YA dramas, providing enough narrative substance to remain invested in Adriana and her sisters’ futures despite the underwhelming love triangle.
All episodes of Finding Her Edge are streaming now exclusively on Netflix.
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