Spinning Out Review: A Dark Look Beyond The Sparkle (Season 1)
It’s not all sparkly costumes and bright smiles on Spinning Out Season 1 as it takes a dark, gritty look at skaters’ lives off the ice.
The series follows the lives of a group of figure skaters in the Midwest, but primarily focuses on Katarina Baker (played by Kaya Scodelario), as she finds another chance to continue skating. The catch? She must skate as one half of a pair.
There’s plenty of drama to mine with her skate partner, Justin Davis (Evan Roderick), on the ice because of their history of the ice. Paired with Kat’s trust issues, attributed to her traumatic injury and bipolar depression, the story is engaging, even if it feels a little melodramatic at times.
The Baker family also brings its drama through their dynamics alone. The family certainly has its modest highs and borderline traumatic lows in the span of 10 episodes, in an impressive and somewhat exhausting manner.
The turmoil seems to stem from Kat and Serena’s relationship with their mother Carol and how she deals with her bipolar depression, an aspect of their story that is front and center for most of the season. It’s, at times, painful to watch, but seeing both Kat and Carol deal with the effects of ignoring treatment feels essential.
Though not profoundly familiar with bipolar depression, the treatment of the disease seems respectful and doesn’t imbue a sense of shame on any of those involved, while also providing a point of view for those who are close to both Kat and Carol—even if some of those reactions are less than flattering on those characters.
Spinning Out may not necessarily be perfect, but the way it addresses the lengths that these young skaters go to compete and achieve their Olympic goals. It’s more viscerally felt with the imagery of the battered skaters’ bodies to the trauma that Kat and Jenn go through for the sake of the sport.
The camera work and editing add to the manic, anxiety-inducing tone at the peak of the angst throughout, from Kat and Justin’s routine while Kat is off her medications to the way moments between the Baker women are filmed. It adds another layer to the story and helps compellingly convey those feelings.
The use of the flashbacks to add depth to each of the main characters’ arcs feels like a smart way to address certain defining moments for each of them and tie into who they are today.
From Serena’s history with her father and Carol’s turbulent dynamic with both of her daughters to Marcus’ experiences with racism and the police and Justin getting the news about his mother’s passing, they all tie back to an essential plot point and don’t feel superfluous.
Overall, the season finale does a solid job of building on everyone’s arcs, tying some stories up, while leaving some ground left to be explored on stories like Dasha, Mandy, and the baby’s survival, Carol assaulting Ethan, and Jenn’s very questionable choices.
Though, with the repeated mentions of Nationals and the 2-year timeline, it seems like a hint at a potential second season.
Random Thoughts
- Dasha and Mandy are my favorites by the time the scene goes black in the final episode. There’s something about these 2 that set them apart from the rest of the characters that has you rooting for them throughout.
- The bleakness to specific moments in the first season gives a decidedly Black Swan-vibe without adding a genre sense to it.
- Johnny Weir’s recurring guest role and Jonathan Van Ness’ cameo is entertaining.
- Justin gives off some Gilmore Girls Logan Huntzberger vibes at certain moments that, at times, lean too hard into the “rich boy” tropes, but they don’t necessarily detract from his overall arc.
What did you think of Spinning Out? Do you want more of Kat and company? What burning questions did you have after the finale? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Spinning Out Season 1 is currently streaming on Netflix.
Brianna Martinez
Brianna spends her time away from briefs, legal research, and pleadings, watching TV and writing about it. She generally has a lot of feelings about TV, which you can read about here and on Twitter.