Come Back For You
starring: PAIGE MARIE SMELTZER & TEIG SADHANA
SYNOPSIS
After Shannon is fatally betrayed by Ricky, she has a chance to right the wrongs, coming back 10 years ago. This time she has a chance to save herself and find true love.
REVIEW
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Well this was lots of fun. Welcome to a brilliant revenge vertical.
The first few episodes are heavy because we have to establish how awful Ricky and Karen are.
But thankfully Shannon gets to come back 10 years earlier and turn the tide on her bullies. And the whole thing is so satisfying to watch.
Paige Smeltzer finally gets a role that lets her show her range and talent. Heartbreaking in the first scene (rivalled Beth in Little Women for me) she then easily adjusts her body language so she seems younger. It would be easy to overplay it but she never does, and there is a really interesting moment where she suggests the character has lost too much of herself in pursuit of revenge, but then pulls it back thanks to the grounding force of Johnny.
Teig Sadhana is going to conquer everyone's heart with the walking green flag that is Johnny. He is the moral center of the story and the master of a soulful look and gentle eyes. You totally believe that he has long had a crush on Shannon, and the chemistry when they are in scenes together is adorable. One of the main quibbles is that they don't have enough screen time together. I demand more Paige & Teig projects.
And thank you Johnny for being the one to finally punch Ricky Trax.
Now I want to take the terrible trio of Ricky, Karen, and Yancey to therapy as I have questions
Ricky - what has made you so insecure that you feel the need to lie about who you are and denigrate Shannon?
Yancey - why do you rely on feeding off the drama around you? Why are you so desperate for Karen's approval?
Karen - why did you let the nice girl mask drop? Why do you hang around with the others?
Bravo to Zane Claudio, Talia Wynzel, and Amanda Schussel @who bring their A-game to create truly awful characters!
The only reason it isn't 5 stars is I would have loved Ricky to have been given a little nuance in the script. We need an episode showing why Shannon initially went for him over Johnny, perhaps a back story. Instead, his first act is tipping salad and it is hard to believe she would ever have chosen him
PS loved the tennis match (much better tennis action shots than in some other recent tennis-led dramas)
💖 Top swoonworthy moment:
Always a huge fan of the tutoring trope, and together the leads Paige and Teig are perfection. I wanted more Shannon and Johnny time, they are so good together! Stick with it, the makers come through in the final 1/3 with lots more joint screen time, and the mini reveal at the very end is chef’s kiss
🦹🏼♂️ Top villain award:
The terrible trio: Ricky, Karen and Yancey. They are all such a bad influence on each other, feed each other’s toxic traits. Really want to take them all to therapy!
😂 Comedy gold:
‘Get away from me you creepy little girl at the end’ is marvellous. I also rather enjoyed poor Yancey being unceremoniously told she needed to exercise more by a doctor.
🎺 Unsung hero:
The poor professor. Never have I seen a teacher look more tired and exhausted by his class. I also felt for the Dean who very cleverly let the terrible trio dig their own holes at the end. Slightly worried about his admissions policy though, perhaps add a character check to your process.
✍🏼 DETAILS
directors: TBC | writer: TBC | 2025
Available on Dramabox
