The Lake caught my eye because Jordan Gavaris from Orphan Black was in it. Being a loyal Clone Club member meant I’d have to take a look. Julia Stiles costarred, another draw.
The Lake was both good and less than good. A relationship story proceeded among all sorts of comedy distractions. When that part of the series worked, it was very good. There were many characters who were caricatures of people who only had one quality milked for endless jokes. The situations were downright silly. But, under it all, was a story about human connection that ultimately worked.
The opening episode was too much of everything. Too much talk, too fast, too over the top. I almost didn’t get past it. But once you get further into the story, I started connecting with Justin and his problems.
The very gay Justin (Jordan Gavaris) and his high school best friend Teesa (Sagine Sémajuste) had a child in their teens. The girl, Billie (Madison Shamoun), was adopted by a wonderful couple. Billie’s parents arranged an open adoption, so both Justin and Teesa had been in touch with Billie from the start.
Billie had parents, and she had a birth dad and a birth mom. She handled it well.
This summer, when Billie was 16, she and Justin were going to be together for the entire summer. It was their first time together outside of Facetime. They were going to the lake cottage where Justin had grown up for some bonding time.
Except there was a little problem with the cottage. Justin’s step sister Maisy (Julia Stiles) and her family were living in it. Maisy was married to an ex hockey star, Victor (Terry Chen). She had a son Billie’s age named Killian (Jared Scott). That made Billie and Killian step-cousins. More like kissing cousins as the summer wore on. Maisy also had a gender divergent child going by the name Opal (Declan Whaley). He was accepted by his family, but his step-uncle Justin was the one who really got him.
Maisy was sneaky, manipulative, unkind, and vindictive. She and Justin both wanted the cottage and much of the action in the 8 episodes of the season involved them in various kinds of battles over possession of the home.
Justin also had a little something going on with Riley (Travis Nelson) during the summer.
There were many secondary characters filling out the little lake community. It was a beautiful spot. The series was filmed in Ontario, Canada.
I can’t really recommend this series 100% because it is so often superficial. But it does have an underlying storyline that is about love, understanding, and human connection. The cast is quite good. Madison Shamoun as Billie is outstanding.
The series is on Prime Video.