Two Summers – Netflix Series Review

TWO SUMMERS on Netflix is a Belgian thriller series (org. title Twee Zomers) in six 45-minute episodes. It has a great cast and a fascinating story that is as interesting as it is relevant and current. This is one you’ll want to check out. Read our full Two Summers series review here!

TWO SUMMERS is a new Netflix thriller series from Belgium (org. title Twee Zomers). If you haven’t watched any of the Belgian series on Netflix yet, then you have several treats in store. I know the language can be a barrier, but do yourself a favor and give it a shot anyway. The characters and plot have very international relevance, so you’ll keep up fine.

BELGIUM HAS MORE THAN JUST CHOCOLATE…

Be sure to check out this treat from Belgium as well: The Netflix series The Break which has two seasons >

This latest Belgian series on Netflix has 45-minute episodes and with six of them, you’ll have plenty of time to get to know the characters. With both a great character gallery and a strong story, this is one Netflix series, you’ll want to check out.

Continue reading our Two Summers series review below. All six episodes are out on Netflix from June 3, 2022.

A fairly big core cast

Due to a time jump of 30 years, all characters are portrayed by two actors. Well, most of them. We go back and forth between a Summer in the present and the one in 1992, so a little make-up wouldn’t be enough to use the same actors in both time periods.

Instead, they’ve done an excellent job of casting actors that look fairly similar to one another. At least in the sense that they could look like an older, grown-up version of the 20-year-olds we follow in the 1992 summer. Now, they’re all back together to celebrate two of them turning 50!

However, be warned, that there are a lot of characters that you need to get a handle on. And fairly quick, if you’re to catch all the drama and history in this group of friends.

Pay attention during the episode 1 opening credits

In the German Netflix series Dark, they also jumped back and forth between several time periods. When they did this, they’d do a split screen of the same character in the past and present, so you could catch on to who was who. Even before you knew the names of the characters.

For Two Summers, they do a similar thing during the opening credits of episode 1. Here we see the present-day actor dancing around and then cut to that same character in the past, so we can see who’s playing them 30 years earlier. It’s efficient but also fairly quick.

For episode 2, a much shorter opening credit is utilized so you need to pay attention during episode 1.

A very relevant storyline

The core plot driver in Two Summers is the fact that the male members in this group of friends sexually assaulted one of the female members in 1992. She was completely passed out when this took place and they videotaped it on an old-school video camera.

Now, very shortly before they all meet up again, one of the men receives a text message with the video attached. There is also a message demanding bitcoins or they’ll release the video online. Since many of these men (now around 50 years old) have careers and families that would not look kindly on that video, they have a problem.

The story also manages to focus on how the men feel about this “event” now. Was it all just “boys being boys”?! Is it only a problem due to #MeToo?! Didn’t the girl really want it anyway?! And on the other side are men who hate themselves for taking part in it, and actually feel bad for what they did. Not just because it has come back to bite them in the backside now.

Hearing this from more angles is intriguing because it deals with both the “Not all men”-argument while staying with the “But still some men”-issue. And we get to hear it from the men themselves, which is bound to hit home harder with both male and female viewers.

Also, there is another thing that happened in 1992; One of them died during that Summer of partying. We also get the story about how that took place… and how it may relate to what they did to one of their [female] friends.

Watch Two Summers on Netflix now!

Two Summers was written by Paul Baeten Gronda and Tom Lenaerts. Paul Baeten Gronda only has one writing credit on IMDb prior to this series and that’s for the Over Water series, which I am not familiar with. Tom Lenaerts was also a writer on Over Water but has written for other series from the late 1990s. As directors, we also have Tom Lenaerts and Brecht Vanhoenacker.

I love these stories where we go back and forth between two specific time periods. Seeing how some characters change (both for the better and worse) while others stay exactly the same. Also, people tend to have very different perspectives on whether you can be held responsible for what you did “in the folly of youth”.

If you enjoy series such as the best Harlan Coben adaptions, then this should be for you. It’s character-driven with a strong story. You don’t need much more than that to create an entertaining and relevant thriller series.

Two Summers (org. title Twee Zomers) is out on Netflix from June 3, 2022.

Details

Directors: Tom Lenaerts, Brecht Vanhoenacker
Writers: Paul Baeten Gronda, Tom Lenaerts
Stars: An Miller, Marieke Anthoni, Tom Vermeir, Lukas Bulteel, Herwig Ilegems, Bjarne Devolder, Inge Paulussen, Louise Bergez, Kevin Janssens, Ruth Becquart, Koen De Bouw, Vincent Van Sande, Felix Meyer