While the Brayden, Adriana, and Freddie romance/triangle dominated the series, the real heart (and heartbreak) of Finding Her Edge lies in the cold, pressurized corridors of the Russo training facility.
On the surface, the series is a glossy mix of Spinning Out meets My Life with the Walter Boys on ice. However, beneath the triple axels and teen angst is a stark portrait of a family legacy that prioritizes gold medals over mental health.
In This Review
The Problem with Will Russo: Coach First, Father Second
The series leans heavily into the “complicated coach-father” trope, but Will Russo (Harmon Walsh) often crosses the line into zero-parenting territory. His daughters aren’t just children; they are assets in a failing business.
This is most apparent in his treatment of Elise (Alexandra Beaton). Following her catastrophic injury in Episode 1, Will’s immediate reaction isn’t comfort; it’s denial. He labels her career-threatening fall a “blip” and pushes for an immediate return, ignoring the psychological trauma that eventually leads her to sabotage her own sisters. When Elise is sidelined, he simply shifts his “star-making” energy to Adriana, treating his daughters like interchangeable parts in a machine designed to save his rink.
In the series, this dynamic is amplified to show that Will isn’t just obsessed with money; he is haunted by the ghost of his late wife’s Olympic legacy, using his daughters to chase a glory that died with her. This pressure is compounded by the fact that the family still hasn’t completely processed their grief. Will, in particular, finds himself struggling to lead a household of four girls while managing a failing business, a weight that feels even heavier now that his wife, who served as his compass and emotional balance, is gone
This toxic environment leaves the sisters with a deeply broken relationship. Instead of leaning on each other through grief and injury, they are pitted against one another for their father’s limited attention. While Will finds a path to redemption by the finale, the damage he inflicts creates a “death spiral” of resentment between the girls that feels all too realistic for elite athletics.
The Review: Style Over Substance?
As a first outing, Finding Her Edge is a binge-worthy addition to the Netflix YA catalog, but it isn’t without its flaws:
The Scripting: The writing often feels mediocre and “TikTok-adjacent.” While it finds some footing in the final episodes, the climax feels incredibly rushed. The World Championships deserved much more screen time; the actual competition is over so quickly that the stakes don’t feel as massive as the show spent seven episodes promising.
The finale asks us to believe that Adriana and Brayden, a team that has been together for months, not years, could secure a World Championship Gold. It’s a fantasy ending that completely ignores the technical reality of the sport.
The Acting: While the cast is undeniably attractive, the performances occasionally lack the depth needed to address the show’s heavy themes of grief and financial ruin.
The Skating Controversy: Critics and fans on social platforms have been quick to point out that the main cast lacks professional skating backgrounds. The production relies heavily on “distanced” shots of professional doubles (Nadiia Bashynska and Peter Beaumont), while close-ups are restricted to the actors’ chests and heads to hide their feet.
The Casting Reality: Interestingly, the comments sections on many social platforms have been lit up by claims from actual skaters who say they auditioned but were passed over in favor of actors. Brennan Martin, a former international figure skater and actor, specifically spoke out regarding this trade-off. According to Martin, lead actress Madelyn Keys was spotted in the early stages of production practicing at his local rink, wearing a helmet, knee pads, and elbow pads, because she wasn’t yet confident on the ice and had never figure skated before.
To be fair to the production, this is a common industry compromise: it is significantly easier to teach an actor to look comfortable on skates than to teach an Olympic-level athlete how to carry a ten-page dramatic scene. Netflix likely prioritized performers who could deliver the heavy emotional weight of the Russo family collapse, even if it meant sacrificing technical authenticity.
However, for a show about “elite” champions, the knowledge that the lead required full padded gear just to find her footing makes the performance scenes a hard pill to swallow for professional viewers and anyone who truly knows the sport.
Why Season 2 (Barely) Deserves a Chance
Despite the technical “train wreck” some critics have labeled the skating scenes, the show survives primarily as a soapy drama. The season finale sets up a “soft reboot” that could, in theory, improve the series, but it currently feels like a project that is only halfway there.
- The New Rivalry: Pairing the jilted Brayden with Riley creates an immediate “villain arc” for Season 2 that might finally give the show some much-needed edge.
- The Voltage Era: Moving the team to a corporate-owned rink removes the family’s financial safety net, forcing them to skate for a boss who isn’t family, a shift that could fix the stagnant pacing of the first few episodes.
However, we have to be realistic: compared to similar Netflix hits like My Life with the Walter Boys, Finding Her Edge feels much more juvenile. It lacks the cross-generational appeal of its peers, landing squarely in “teen-only” territory with mediocre writing that often misses the mark.
As it stands, the series meets the threshold for binge-worthiness. It is worth continuing to watch only if Netflix commits to fixing this season’s glaring issues, namely, sharpening the dialogue and ensuring the cast actually looks like they belong on the ice.
If Season 2 doesn’t show a significant leap in quality, this is one legacy that might be better left on the practice rink.
