Netflix Deep Dives: “Spinning Out“
This 10 episode series highlights the struggles of mental illness and portrays family in a new and interesting way.
Oct 7, 2020
Calling all Olympic ice skating fans: get your fill of Lutzes, Salchows, and Axels as well as teen drama with this Netflix Original series.
“Spinning Out” is centered around Kat Baker’s life as an ice skater. After a traumatic fall, she is left with major injuries and has lost all confidence in herself as a singles figure skater. With no other options, she pairs up with a former flame, Justin, to compete in pairs figure skating. The lack of trust between the two makes it difficult for them to connect on the ice. As the show progresses, their bond strengthens and the two seem to make a great pair.
Kat and her mother, Carol, both have bipolar disorder, expressing severe symptoms. Rather than romanticizing Kat’s mental illness, the show realistically portrays both the depressive lows and manic highs of mood swings that come with the disorder. After Kat stops taking Lithium medication, she experiences an all-time high. She decides to completely take herself off the medication and her skating improves tremendously, while her mental health declines. In return, Kat’s sister, Serena, tries to out-skate the legacy of her older sister to look more talented in the eyes of their mother, her coach, and their fellow skaters. Serena feels like she is the one holding her family together since she is the only member of her household not coping with bipolar disorder.
The finale episode of the show ends on a huge cliffhanger, stressing on an important issue that I don’t want to spoil for all the future viewers. Many fans say that the show reminded them of Canadian ice skaters, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir as well as the movie, “I, Tonyaˮ. Sadly, Netflix decided not to renew the show for a second season because the views were not high enough for the amount of money they spent creating it, but the standalone season is worth the watch.