Final Considerations on “Spinning Out”

After two years I’m back with another review of a series that took me almost 2 years two finish it : the Netflix “Spinning Out”.

The series dropped in 2020 during the pandemic and I remember clearly I just wanted to watch it because Kaya Scodelario was the main lead actress and it was about ice skating and just looked intriguing to me.

I was so disappointed when it was cancelled after the very end of the season but that didn’t stop me to starting it and it was the best decision to take: “Spinning Out” addresses some delicate topics that we don’t get to see often in a tv series .

Character’s development is brilliantly carried out during the season not only for the main lead Kat Baker but also for secondary roles : at the beginning you appreciate X , at the very end you just gonna hate him/her (no spoilers intended).

This 10 episode drama deals with the mental health and bipolar disorder affecting Kat Baker and her mother ; the delicate family relationships on the cutting edge and the toxic competition between Kat and her sister .
The competition with her sister , as well as a complicated relationship with her absent mother is exacerbated by PTSD and self-harm .
Through the episode Kat tries to handle and manage her mental issues , at times ignoring them but finally becoming aware of how her bipolar disorder affected her personal life and judgements.

But not only :through Kat’s friend Marcus backstory we experience racism , through her trainer we deal with LGBT and finally ice skating!

All the main characters are involved into skating whether as aspiring professional iceskaters or trainers .
To be honest I’ve always found interesting this discipline and all the sequences and choreography where outstanding ! (Though you could clearly see the stuntmans for Justin and Kat).

Cannot believe this location really exists : ” Blue Montain Village” Ontario , Canada

The tv series is set in Ontario , Canada ; visual and photography are mesmerizing ; you get to see some beautiful snowy locations that I’m going to attach below .

Least but not less important , the soundtrack :
1-The intro “In the water” by Joy Downer is simply effective ; a 1 minute song with vintage retro vibes combined with ice skating sequences of people falling and then get on track again.

2-“Habit” by Gabrielle Shonk : the voice of this singer remebers me a lot of Joss Stone; what I love the most is the increasing tempo of the bridge that combines perfectly with the vocals .

3- “Lover You Should’Have Come Over” by Jeff Buckley : when I heard this song It immediately sounded familiar to me . I felt like :”good music taste!” and then I realized it was the one and only Jeff Buckley

4-“You Would Have To Lose Your Mind” by The Barr Brothers : I haven’t spend more than two days without listening to this song since I heard it on Spinning Out .
Its lyrics , pace and dreamy vibe made it easily one of my favourite song of all the time .
Starting with a slow harp rhythm it grows during its 6 minute duration into an explosion of choir full of awareness and drums .
To be honest for a long time I just enjoyed listening to it without caring about the lyrics or the meaning just because the melody was self fulfilling .Afterwards I read the lyrics and to my surprise there are many metaphores and mythological references (such as Icarus myth) : the images evoked brilliantly a dreamy dimension combining with a crescendo pace of harp and guitar solos.
To me this songs captures the essence of “Spinning Out” , the snowy location and everything .

Woke up in the bed last night
Her features were golden
And the walls, they were crowded with symbols of lust

“You Would Have To Loose Your Mind – The Barr Brothers”

Still cannot believe it got cancelled and Netflix left the audience on a cliffhanger … this show was just so perfect and accurate about mental awareness .

Final consideration on “Sense 8”

I’ve been hearing about this tv show for a long time back in 2017 .Everyone were literally obsessed with it and I remember the media hype when Netflix decided to cancel it.
As soon as I discovered that fans managed to get a finale through petitions I thought :” It should be good …”.

Finally while I was in Erasmus in France (back to 2018) one day I decided to start it (instead of going party omg) and I finished only yesterday …

“Sense 8” was an “up and down” of emotions : I remembered watching the pilot and being frustrated for its duration ! (yes I’m more of a 30 minute ep kind of gal) .. At the same time I was intrigued by the connections between this heterogenous group of seven .

Slowly I kept watching and finally the “click” happened with that “iconic scene” brilliantly featuring “What’s Up” !
This song has been one of my favourite for ages and seeing all of them being present and distant at the same time , singing along this masterpiece was unexplainable !
Rethinking about the series I watched this is surely one of the most brilliant “musical scene” I’ve ever watched alongside with “Wild World” for the finale of Skins season one .

Cannot lie , there are some points I didn’t understand as the role of Jonas and others sensates but that was probably because sometimes I kept watching even If I was a little bit distracted …

But what I realized after finishing the 2 hour and a half finale is that I grew deep and sincere attachment to every character ; I started feeling part of the group …

Probably is this period of uncertainty we’re living in but watching “Sense 8” in the midst of the pandemic gave me a sense of relief : it was like travelling for real ; getting to know a bit about Sun’s Korea or Kala’s India and so on …

Anyway in my opinion when a novel or movie deals with so many characters I think it’s quite challenging to give every one the fair amount of screen time ; the same applies to the several themes approached by screenwriters : sometimes I had the feeling that they tried too much to squeeze all the possible evils of the society but at the same time never really get an insight of each of them .

This doesn’t change the love I feel for the series : Sense 8 is about inclusivity and strong connection overcoming physical boundaries it was a blast and forever be a great comfort serie for me .

One of my fav scene was when Sun had her period and each Sensate got to experience in his/her own way this discomfort : that was an epic sequence that I will never forget!

ps: kinda wrote this review in a rush , it took me sometime because I started during my exam session and I had to study so… don’t take it too seriously