Ripple tells multiple stories about a group of people who meet in random ways and form a community around love and loss. There are many interesting characters who interconnect in various ways.

Ripple has a very large cast. The woman pictured above is Aria (Sydney Agudong). She’s married to John (Robert Bazzocchi). She’s depressed because she can’t have a child.

Walter (Frankie Faison) loses his beloved wife (Tina Lifford) near the beginning of the series. He brings many other people into the story as he processes his grief. There’s Tara (Marci T. House) from his wife’s church. Tara lost her wife recently, too, and they become friends and supporters. When he can’t find the charger for his computer, Tara takes him to the computer store where she meets Sylvie (Nicola Correia-Damude) who she will start dating.

Nate (Ian Harding) runs the neighborhood bar. Walter and Tara go there for a glass of wine. They get acquainted with Nate and his bartender Ellis (Sarah Swire). Nate is married to Claire (Vanessa Smythe), but as he emphasizes repeatedly, they are separated. They have a deaf daughter they speak sign language with.

Ellis is a creative photographer whose girlfriend Rebecca (Eden Broda) does body work. Ellis recommends Rebecca to Walter for massage therapy.

The last of the major characters is Kris (Julia Chan). She’s a record company exec who hasn’t signed a new artist in three years. On the day she gets fired she hears Aria singing in the park and instantly knows she’s found her new star musician. She drops into Nate’s bar and arranges for Aria to sing on his tiny stage one evening. She wants to make Aria a career.

Kris and Nate like each other instantly, but Nate has complications so they mostly make moony eyes at each other and smile a lot.

One of the characters develops cancer and several people get acquainted with 9 year old Finn (Isabella Astbury) while in chemotherapy. She is the kind of sick kid who radiates the wisdom of the ancients. She’s a great character.

Themes and recurring motifs deal with love and loss, opening up to life, and learning to live with grief.

You may have noted by now that many of these actors work frequently in Canada. The series was filmed in Canada, although it was supposedly set in New York.

Ripple was created by Michele Giannusa. It’s the kind of series you’d like to see continue with another season. Most of the directors were women, including Melanie Orr, Lisa Soper, and Amanda Tapping. The series is on Netflix.