Why Annie Jacobson From Sterling Point Looks So Familiar

The common lament about television in the streaming age is that there are too many good series out there. Granted, there's even more dreck, but it seems like every week I read favorable reviews of a new show that I would totally watch if I could wedge it into my media diet of movies, books, sports, and other TV shows. This is when you have to decide to cut bait on a series that may be showing signs of stalling out. I won't say which series I dropped to make room for "Sterling Point," but there was no chance of me ignoring a coming-of-age dramedy from Megan Park ("My Old Ass") and executive producers Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz ("The O.C.").

The entire first season of "Sterling Point" hit Amazon on August 5, and though I've only had time to watch the first episode, I instantly fell in love with its characters, milieu, and attitude. The cast features some familiar veteran faces (most notably the great Missi Pyle as quite possibly the best wine mother ever), but it's steadily anchored by Ella Rubin as 17-year-old searcher Annie Jacobson. When Annie learns she's been rejected from a summer program at the Wharton School, she has no idea what to do with herself before her senior year of high school. That changes when she learns that her grandfather has died and named her, along with her twin brother Connor (Keen Ruffalo), as the beneficiaries of a trust fund and a Canadian property called Sterling Point. Annie hightails it for Ontario, where her summer is about to get a lot more interesting.

This is Rubin's breakout role, but you've probably seen her before in films like "Anora" and "Until Dawn." Still, I had no idea she was this good.

I honestly didn't remember Rubin as Mikey Madison's sister in Sean Baker's Oscar-winning "Anora," but she was probably the best part of David F. Sandberg's disappointing adaptation of the PlayStation video game "Until Dawn." She played Anne Hathaway's daughter in Michael Showalter's nifty romcom "The Idea of You," and was offed by a meat-cleaver-wielding maniac in "Fear Street: Prom Queen." She's done a bit of television, but mostly in guest roles (she did appear on four episodes of HBO Max's 2021 shared-universe version of "Gossip Girl").

Again, there was evidence that she had talent, but I've a feeling Annie is going to be a star-making part for her. She's aided by Park's wittily perceptive writing, which seems to capture the way I think Gen Z-ers talk (provided my nephew and his friends aren't outliers). Hopefully, Park will stick with the grounded tone and not get too soapy as "The O.C." did after its first season (I still watched it all, but Josh Schwartz had something truly special there for a moment). If you like YA dramas that don't pander to their audience, slide "Sterling Point" into your viewing queue.