Everything Now is a Netflix dramedy series revolving around Mia Polanco, a teenager who is recovering from an eating disorder and wishes to catch up on the things she missed out on in the months she was in treatment.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary:
Mia Polanco is being discharged from a facility after spending the last 7 months recovering from an eating disorder. She will be undergoing outpatient treatment at home where she lives with her dad, Rick, her mother, Viv, and her younger brother, Alex.
Mia is glad that she’s out of the facility but nervous to get back to normal life and continue her recovery. She meets her best friends Cameron, Becca, and Will on her first day back in school.
They have all been busy growing up and doing things that teenagers get up to with Mia feeling left out. She also meets Alison, a popular girl who always talks to Mia with a superficial tone.
Mia finds out that there is a party on Friday hosted by Theo Mason, the cutest boy in school, and she decides to ask him if she can attend. She gets invited and goes back home to make a list of all the things she missed out on while she was inside.
She plans to accomplish these things at the party and catch up to where her friends are so that she can be “normal” again. She goes to the party and Alison pressures her to do a couple of shots even though she’s not supposed to drink.
Mia gets incredibly drunk, kisses Theo accidentally, and then passes out on the floor after puking on herself. Her friends call the ambulance and accompany her to the hospital.
They find out about the list and promise to help her get through it gradually rather than finish everything in one night. They have their secrets that they have been keeping from her to ease her return.
Cameron and Becca have been sleeping together but they do not make things official and have trouble communicating with each other. Mia hasn’t forgiven Cameron for ratting out her problem to her parents months ago.
Will has been raving about his boss at work who he’s been hooking up with. Theo invites Mia out on a date and when she goes to the mall to get herself a dress, she runs into Alison. Mia doesn’t want to pick up a dress because they’re too expensive so Alison buys it for her.
Mia meets Theo at a pub for their date but when others show up, she realizes that she misread the situation. Alison is there too and she tries to comfort Mia but to no avail.
Mia heads over to a karaoke bar where her friends are supposed to be and she meets WIll’s friend, Carli. Mia saw Carli at the party and immediately fell in love with her.
She begins trying to find ways to spend time with Carli at school at the cost of her meal plan and recovery. She tries to hide her illness from Carli, who learns about it anyway. Mia doesn’t like to be pitied or patronized by anyone so she distances herself from Carli after this.
One of the things on her list is to break the law so they sneak into a mansion that Becca’s mother is the realtor for. They host a big party where Mia confronts Becca and Cameron about their relationship.
She also ends up losing her virginity to Alison later that night, while Carli and Cameron connect and share a kiss. Will has been lying about hooking up with his boss and when that secret is revealed, he has an honest conversation with Theo about his preferences.
Becca gets pregnant but hides this from everyone until she’s ready to have an at-home abortion, at which point she tells her mother about it. Alison and Mia start dating each other and Mia sees her mother outside with another man, raising suspicion that she’s having an affair.
In truth, it was her father who had found someone else and Rick and Viv are getting a divorce, something they tried to keep from Mia because they thought she would be better off not knowing.
Alex was forced to keep it a secret too and this drives a wedge between him and his sister. He also feels a lot of pressure from having to be the reliable one while everyone gives their attention to Mia and her illness.
He goes through some trouble of his own at school but he manages to overcome it and fix things with his sister as well.
Mia’s 17th birthday approaches and Alison asks if she can plan something for the celebration. Carli has been distant with Cameron and he asks Mia to ask her about it since the two of them are close.
Alison sets up a big party in the VIP section of a club with a bunch of people that Mia barely knows and she feels quite uncomfortable about it. She gets incredibly drunk and ends up kissing Carli, which Cameron sees.
He tells Alison who also walks away from Mia, while Will says something hurtful about Theo, and Becca and Cameron get into an argument as well.
Everything Now (2023) ending explained in detail:
What does Viv find out?
Viv and Mia check in with Dr. Nell on a regular appointment and Mia runs into Jenna’s mother. Jenna was another patient that Mia became friends with but she finds out that Jenna committed suicide.
When they head back home, Viv decides to go through Mia’s stuff and finds that she’s been skipping her meals once again. When she confronts Mia about it, Mia sneaks out of the house.
Mia goes to Carli’s workplace and convinces her to skip work and help her finish her list.
What about Mia’s friends?
Becca, Cameron, Will, Theo, and Alison are all volunteering at an old age home for school credit but things are tense between all of them. Cameron had insulted Becca in front of everyone at school and she still hasn’t forgiven him.
Theo hasn’t forgiven Will for not taking their relationship seriously and is very cold towards him. Alison is dealing with the heartbreak after Mia breaks her trust and goes after Carli, the girl she liked all along.
They are all going through the day until Viv shows up to tell them that Mia has gone missing.
What do Mia and her friends all learn?
Mia and Carli spend all day together while her parents and friends spend all day looking for her and worrying about what might happen.
Cameron and Becca head out to look for her and Becca finally tells Cameron about her pregnancy and abortion. Cameron apologizes for not letting her feel comfortable enough to share it with him earlier.
Will offers to watch over the old folks and when he gets stressed out about Mia, Theo tries to comfort him. Will says that he got overwhelmed by the positive attention he was getting from Theo and decided to self-sabotage.
Viv and Rick get into an argument after Viv completely missed the signs of Mia’s relapse but Viv brings up the fact that Rick left them to be with someone else. Rick says that he met that woman at the parent’s support group because Viv never showed up.
It is later shown that the woman Rick met was Jenna’s mother. Alison gets advice from one of the old ladies to move on from the heartbreak and come out stronger.
Carli orders some food but Mia tries to avoid eating. When Carli probes a little deeper, Mia cracks and says that she was afraid that she wouldn’t make it through recovery because she was not feeling good about it.
Carli tells her that she needs to make the effort and they end up going to see Dr. Nell. Mia chooses to be vulnerable with Dr. Nell and take the first step toward accepting that recovery won’t be easy or quick.
What lies in the future for everyone?
Cameron tells Becca that he’s in love with her and that he’ll be whatever she needs him to be. She isn’t able to give him a straight answer as her current boyfriend shows up to take her away. He and Alison decide to get drunk and hook up with each other.
Theo and Will get back together with each other and are happy once again. Mia asks Carli if they can be together but Carli says that they both need to grow a little more emotionally before they can be together.
Mia writes a letter to Alison apologizing for everything but Alison doesn’t take it too well. She also apologizes to her friends and promises to try being a better friend to them and put some effort into her recovery.