Two Summers (Twee Zomers) is the latest suspense thriller series from Belgium, released on Netflix on 3 June 2022. It is created by Paul Baeten Gronda and Tom Lenaerts, as well as directed along with Brecht Vanhoenacker. The series is about a group of friends that are coming together for a summer weekend after 3 decades. But there’s something that happened at their last get together, 30 years ago, that still haunts everyone in the group.
Starring An Miller as Romée, Tom Vermeir as Peter, Herwig Ilegems as Didier, Inge Paulussen as Sofie, Kevin Janssens as Luk, Ruth Becquart Saskia and Vincent Van Sande as Stef. Their younger version is played by Marieke Anthoni, Lukas Bulteel, Bjarne Devolder, Louise Bergez, Tijmen Govaerts and Tine Roggeman respectively.
There are 6 episodes in total with a runtime of about 44-46 minutes. The series is available in Flemish and English languages.
-Two Summers Review Does Not Contain Any Spoilers-
Plot: Two Summers In Parallel
The series starts off with Peter getting an anonymous message with a video attached to it, that shows him and the other guys (Didier, Stef and Mark), sexually assaulting their female friend and filming it with Luk’s camera. This incident happened 30 years ago in 1992, the last time the group got together in summer. In the present day, the same group of friends are having a get-together to celebrate Romée’s 50th birthday on a private island, somewhere in France.
Once everyone lands on the island, Peter confides in Stef aka Mowgli and they deduce that the blackmailer is within the group and trying to extort money. They start suspecting everyone, from the girl in the video, Sophie, to Luk’s new girlfriend Lia to even each other. They express that what happened was extremely wrong but it’s been 3 decades and nothing consequential has happened after it so, why now?
Who could be in the group that would want revenge over it, or simply want money in exchange for it. The guys visible in the video has to find out the blackmailer or will have to send 100 Bitcoins to an account. Otherwise, the video will be sent to the media which will end all of their careers. Meanwhile, there’s more behind their friendships than can meet the eye. Will they move on from this summer like last time as well or will it be the end of the group?
Peer Pressure, Selective Memory And Guilty Reduction Over Time
The show runs in parallel, showing what happened in 1992 in small flashbacks and what’s happening in the present in 2022. When we try to remember things from the past, they are sometimes a bit foggy or unclear if that happened a long time ago, like 30 years. Likewise, when the characters in the series are confronted with the video evidence, their initial reaction is to deny everything and then gradually accept witnessing but not being the perpetrator.
And when it involves something like a sexual assault, it is highly possible for people to repress their memories or remember a version of it that doesn’t sit heavy on their conscience. The main argument that comes out is that they had to do it because one of their friends was highly pressuring them or they were weak and didn’t know what to do. As if we need to sympathise with them for being in that situation.
Two Summers sheds light on how toxic or violent the peer groups could be, leading to actions that could have serious consequences. Even before the assault takes place, the chemistry between the friend group seems a bit off or often based on a bullish base. Such behaviour is justified as ‘boys being boys’ even if they drive their so-called ‘friend’ to the verge of dying.
In the series, there’s one more person in the group named Mark, who isn’t there at the present gathering and is portrayed as an aggressive guy with a bit of craziness. All the guys at present, blame the real crimes solely on him and try to get their hands off the case. But it is difficult to judge if they are as innocent as they claim, depending on whose side of the story we are being told.
The show tries to show both the sides of the victim and the participants in a case of assault, but majorly it feels like they want us to sympathise with the participants as they made some bad choices at a younger age. Also, if there hasn’t been any consequence in the last 30 years then others should move on too, as seem to be suggested.
Final Thoughts: Stream It or Skip It?
Two Summers (Twee Zomers) on Netflix is a series that might not appeal to a wide range of audiences, mainly due to the plot which seems a bit stretched in the last 2 episodes and acting that could have been better. In fact, the younger version of the characters do a pretty good job but their mature versions lack the same characteristics and features. It even took me a while to connect the young with the old version as they don’t particularly look alike in any way.
Talking about the plot, it starts off with a good suspense build up as we are trying to guess who the blackmailer could be. But after a while, the plot seems predictable and often adds unnecessary elements to the story for a shock factor. However, it doesn’t work in their favour and could have been wrapped up in 5 episodes. If you like suspense thrillers like Anatomy of A Scandal then you might like this series too, but with a bit of patience.
Two Summers (Twee Zomers) is streaming on Netflix.
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