Tiny Pretty Things is the newest book-to-tv adaption to be produced by Netflix. The adaption was created by Michael MacLennan, who has previously produced Queer as Folk and Bomb Girls. Sona Chariapotra and Dhonielle Clayton are the authors of the duology Tiny Pretty Things and Shiny Broken Pieces. The TV show appears to be an adaption of both books, with some major differences, including name and plot changes. Tiny Pretty Things follows Neveah (Kylie Jefferson) as she receives a place at the esteemed Archer School of Ballet in Chicago. Once she arrives at the school, she finds out that a spot only freed up because another student, Cassie (Anna Maiche) had fallen from the rood of the school and was left in a coma. Neveah becomes tied up in scandals and lies as the police investigate what happened the night Cassie fell, believing she was pushed.

Tiny Pretty Things is essentially a murder mystery and it leaves you guessing until the very end. As a viewer, I found myself rooting for almost every character wishing they were not the culprit. Besides the mystery, the centre of the show is ballet. Every main character is a professionally trained ballet dancer and their talent is amazing. Each student has their moment to shine in this show and they do not disappoint. Tiny Pretty Things shows a cut-throat world of ballet, all the students are constantly competing to be the best and this translates into their relationships with each other. Bette (Casimere Jolette), June (Daniela Norman) and Neveah find themselves competing for the top spot in the upcoming ballet show. Although for most of these characters ballet comes first, there are moments of friendship and the dancers are supportive of each other.

This show deals with some serious topics, including eating disorders, sexual assault and paedophilia that could be triggering for some. Tiny Pretty Things discusses how eating disorders affect both men and women, with a large focus on the character of Oren (Barton Cowperthwaite). I believe that this is important to show in modern media as it brings the topic of mental health to the centre. It highlights the emotional and physical trauma of competitive dancing as one student ignores an extremely painful injury in order to maintain the top spot.

The cast of Tiny Pretty Things is diverse. However, I believe the representation of the character Nabil (Michael Hsu Rosen) could have been a lot better. He is a French dancer who is Muslim. Tiny Pretty Things fails to portray his religion in a positive light as he has to deal with blatant islamophobia from Caleb (Damon J. Gillespie). As a viewer, I was left feeling uncomfortable as the islamophobia was left unaddressed in later episodes. Caleb suffered no repercussions from his Islamophobic comments and actions and the show fails to resolve this. There is also another moment where Nabil is praying and he is interrupted by his imagined version of Cassie where she tells him ‘It’s okay now, you’ve finished.’ This was disrespectful and many people have spoken out about this poor representation, with one Twitter user captioning a video stating ‘I’m begging- please no more representation.’

For me, Tiny Pretty Things was an enjoyable binge watch that made me dream of being able to dance similarly to the actors on screen. However, the show’s representation of the Islamic religion was extremely disappointing. The mystery surrounding who pushed Cassie was intriguing and kept me guessing until the end.

Rating: 3/5

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