Sterling Point Recap Season 1 Episode 8 ‘I’m the Kid’
- 16 minutes ago
- 8 min read
Throughout its short but satisfying first season, Sterling Point remained consistent in its emotional eloquence. The finale, in particular, was packed with many emotional scenes, and in every one of them, there was clarity in the way the characters dealt with the complexities of the various situations they found themselves in, following the latest bomb drop – that Steven was Ramona’s biological father. There is a delicate balance that needs to be consistently maintained when crafting an emotional episode to prevent it from being mawkish, or feeling so dark that it becomes difficult to watch. Sterling Point landed this, and left us with a resolution that felt just right – with the characters hurting but alive, and well enough to face an uncertain future.
I am just going to address this one minor thing before we go on – after Connor somehow convinced a hurting Ramona to sell the island, and Ramona told Annie about her decision, Ramona framed it as a way for her to change her life. Selling the island meant money, a lot of it, which also meant that she would get to live the life that Annie and Connor had, with no financial issues ever, free to travel the world, free to take care of themselves in any way they wished. She even hilariously brought up Annie’s many creams. Here’s the issue with that: whilst Gordon may not have had the cash that Steven had, he was by no means a poor guy. He maintained two residences. He was financially comfortable enough so that he was able to resist selling his island for decades. The trust that he left for Annie and Connor included the island; the lawyer’s phrasing left open to interpretation what else was left in trust. I had assumed that included money. If Gordon left Annie and Connor, his grandchildren whom he never got to spend time with except briefly at Sterling Point when they were toddlers, well provided for, there was no way he did not make the same arrangement for Ramona, his grandchild whom he actually raised. Plus, there has to be life insurance money. If all Ramona wanted to do was to take a break from the island, to travel for a bit, she could have done that without needing the millions that would come from selling the island. It was not as though someone who was shown to be able and practical like Ramona would need first class travel arrangements everywhere she went. Ramona post-Gordon’s death was not rolling in money, but it was a little hard for me to accept that she had no options.
Also, the island was not Gordon’s sole property. Who owned the house in Barrie? Presumably, Ramona inherited that, since Gordon had no other heirs except for Annie and Connor – and it was only mentioned that the trust for Annie and Connor included a property in Canada, not properties. Ramona hated being back in the place that reminded her of her beloved grandfather’s pain. If Ramona wanted extra cash – or if Gordon’s money was spent on his health care in the final years of his life – why was there no discussion of selling the Barrie house?
The framing of Ramona being stuck in the island if she did not sell served a dramatic purpose, however, so all that, I am willing to let go. Going back to how Ramona processed suddenly having not just a sister and a brother, but co-heirs to a cottage and an island that she thought was solely hers, there was generosity in her, and a heart open enough to allow Annie, then a complete stranger, in. Bear in mind that Ramona had just spent at least the past year caring for her ailing grandfather. That was a lot to bear for a teenager. Suddenly, there was this stranger in her house, looking every bit as expensively maintained as she was. Someone who had an easier life than she did now shared her history and her inheritance. She processed it about as well as she could have.
Now, it was Annie who needed to process a massive bomb drop. When Annie declared that parents were the ones who raised you – hence, she never really thought of her birth parents as her parents – she probably believed that. Believing that as a concept was different from living with that as a reality, however. When she told her father that it felt like Ramona was his daughter, the one he has always wanted, and she (Annie) was the adopted one, her pain and fear was palpable, and it was not easily eased even as Steven assured her she loved her, he was his daughter, nothing would change that. When Steven tried to share his own pain about how he missed Ramona’s entire life, Annie heartbreakingly snapped back that she could not fix him right now. The good daughter who has always had to be okay because she wanted to be okay for her father could not give him that kind of support as she tried to understand what her life was right now. She did not have a perfect reaction, she had a human one, and it was so well written and well acted.
At first, all Ramona wanted from Steven was for him to sign off on not being her guardian. But, it was also entirely human for Ramona to want to get to know her biological father, and when she mentioned to Oona how she probably would not be able to go to New York to try and get to know him, that single hurting comment led to another well written, well acted scene of coherent pain. The moment Oona realised that Ramona was considering having a relationship with Steven, her mind raced to the future – to Ramona preferring life in New York, to Ramona enjoying the larger life that Steven could and probably would provide her, to Ramona seeing all that the world had to offer and deciding that life in Sterling Point, and life with Oona, was not for her. Ramona called her out for her “mommy issues” and for her lack of empathy, for thinking only of how what was happening would affect her. Ramona going for what hurt Oona the most, her abandonment by her mother, was just about the worst thing to say at that moment, and though Ramona tried to apologise, Oona broke up with her. Later, when Ramona returned to Oona’s boat to tell her she was stuck on the island after all, Oona had Maple lie and say Oona was not there. Oona did not want Ramona to see her, because she knew that if she did, Ramona would stay. Oona was heartbreakingly letting Ramona go so Ramona would feel free to live the life that she now could have in New York. Oona realised before anyone else that, whether or not the island was sold, Ramona would go to New York. Meanwhile, Oona had the boat and her little sister Maple, and no means to leave Sterling Point; she was stuck, not Ramona. Bo Bragason crushed it as Oona the whole season.
Ramona went to see Sully following her breakup with Oona, and Connor just happened to be there sampling Sully’s mushroom recipe, after he finished off Denise’s different kind of mushroom supply. Connor, too, was not doing well with the revelation that his father had a biological daughter. Connor, too, was feeling more than a little lost, and only Denise even bothered to check on him. Connor actually looked devastated when he heard that Ramona and Oona broke up, and when Ramona spoke of how everything hurt, how she hated it there, Connor once more suggested selling the island. Did Connor simply see an opportunity to finally convince Ramona to sell, which was what he wanted to do since he heard he inherited an island? Perhaps. Was there also some resentment there because here was the child his father actually wanted? Maybe a bit. But Connor at least heard what Ramona was saying.
Annie did promise to back Ramona on whatever she decided to do with the island, but when Ramona told her she had decided to sell, Annie did her best to dissuade her from doing so. Annie was trying to argue based on Ramona’s interests, but the reality was, Annie was not ready to give up this place where she felt a measure of peace and a closeness to the mother she never truly knew. Whilst Annie eventually agreed with Ramona, the night she spent sleeping on the couch (because she and Ramona were back to not sharing a room) gave her an elaborate dream about her mother, a glimpse of what her life could have been had Goldie lived, including having Goldie with her when she got her first period, when she was pregnant, and after she had delivered her first child. The next morning, Annie went to Ramona and stood firm in her decision not to sell. She wanted Ramona to wait a year. Ramona declared that she felt like she would die if she spent another year there.
Annie was leaving for New York that very day, but before she did, she walked over to Joe’s house and had a quick chat with him. Annie asked Joe about her mother, on whether she regretted blowing up her life in New York, on if she was going to come back for them, on whether it was the stress of Steven taking her and Connor away from Goldie that led to her going into early labour. She had been carrying this nagging thought all this time, that her father’s actions led to her mother’s death. But, Joe told Annie that Goldie had a heart condition nobody knew about. She had to have an emergency C-section and died during surgery; she never even got to hold Ramona.
Annie ran through the woods and back toward Gordon’s house, where she witnessed Steven and Ramona hugging. Steven had come over, and asked Ramona if they could spend some time together. Emotionally raw from everything she has had to process, Ramona threw herself into the arms of the father who actually wanted to be her father.
Ramona was back in her room and crying when Annie came up and told her her proposal. Annie said that Steven was a really good father, and that she wanted Ramona to have that. Annie, for her part, wanted Goldie’s memories. And so as Ramona woke up in Annie’s bedroom with the automated curtains, Annie chose to remain at Sterling Point, and jumped into the lake for an early morning swim.
I am writing this after it was already announced that Sterling Point has been renewed for a second season. Congratulations on a well deserved renewal! This has been a uniquely lovely first season and I look forward to seeing the Sterling Point gang again soon!
Rating: A
Strays
🏠Someone needs to be there for Connor because the poor kid has been on the internet looking for his birth parents. He received a phone call from one Dawn Fisher at the Open Hearts Adoption Agency, who told him they got a response from his biological mother about his request, and she would love to get in touch with him.
🏠 Ramona only wanted to sell if nothing would happen to Ellis or the marina. Connor assured her she could cut whatever she wanted out of the deal.
🏠I appreciated the slow transition of Annie’s wardrobe, from her New York fit when she first arrived to now wearing an old shirt.
🏠Aw Ellis repeated his move of pulling Annie toward him whilst they sat on the floor and kissing her.
🏠Remember when Annie told Ramona that with their every vacation, Connor would fall in love and not want to leave whichever place they were in? Look who fell in love and no longer wanted to leave at the end of the summer.
🏠I need a Sully and Connor road trip. But also, it looked like Sully was the carer for the group, and I need to see Sully cared for, too.
Episode Title: I’m the Kid
Story by: Megan Park & Raffi Donatich
Teleplay by: Megan Park & Katie Boland
Episode Director: Megan Park
Original Release Date: August 5, 2026