Content warning: some reference to mental illness.

Netflix’s gritty figure skating drama series, Spinning Out, presents a complex and deeply emotional story about a plagued athlete fighting for her last chance at victory. The show introduces the difficulties of figure skating by displaying an intimate setting that focuses on how ambition, mental illness, and athleticism all contribute to a troubling and obscure lifestyle. 

Created by veteran TV writer Samantha Stratton, a former competitive skater herself, this melodrama explores the true psychological extremes intrinsic to Olympic training through the creation of compelling characters and engrossing storylines. Kaya Scodelario stars as Kat Baker, a young figure skater traumatised after sustaining a public and gruesome injury to her head on the ice. 

Unfortunately, the emotional aftermath from the accident is only the start of her problems, as she struggles to cope with her abusive bipolar single mother, poverty and a bipolar diagnosis of her own that may delay her career. Its carefully sculptured storytelling combines the unflinching emotional depth of I, Tonya, the star-crossed romance of The Cutting Edge, and the tragedy of Ice Castles. Spinning Out furthers each character’s development by capturing their intimate and personal adjustments to adulthood, and how they handle coping in such a crushingly pressure-filled environment. 

Kat, a powerful athlete, diminishes her chances at becoming an Olympic skater by resigning herself to a bleak future waitressing at the local Sun Valley hotel while watching younger skaters outshine her after the accident effectively killed her confidence. However, hope can be found in the form of a rich boy (Evan Roderick), whose dad offers to pay for her training if she agrees to become Justin’s skating partner. 

Although she is merely used as a tool to get Justin to winning an Olympic gold medal, Kat is desperate to get free from her mother’s toxic and controlling behaviour. With Kat and Justin’s intense chemistry, Spinning Out avoids conforming to romantic clichés by refusing to adhere to stereotypical character tropes and uses their richly drawn complexities to keep the narrative innovative and contemporary. The response to Kat’s vacillating mania and depression encapsulates the true depth of their love and further intensifies their need to reach the Olympics. 

Throughout the series, the portrayal of Kat’s flawed mother, Carol (January Jones), is captivating who emphasises the damages and repercussions of a woman who has been beaten down by life, driven out of competitive skating thanks to a teen pregnancy and forced to confront her bipolar disorder that has been barely managed by medication. Although she portrays herself to be a cruel mother to her two daughters, Carol’s guilt and awareness of her limitations continuously make her redeemable to the audience. Spinning Out’s narrative is central to the complexities of human life, by dissecting the sacrifices of women’s athletic dreams and treating Kat and Carol’s mental health disabilities as an everyday occurrence of the human experience. It destabilises the relationships formed in families and shows the vulnerability of young adults competing in an intense athletic sport. 

Rating = 4/5