I’ll be honest, I watched Spinning Out solely for this column. I saw the Twitter complaints when the show was cancelled one month after it premiered, so I thought it would be a show that would qualify for Gone Too Soon. I am a huge figure skating fan and I follow it year-round. I love figure skating, a show about figure skating however… I wasn’t sure if that would be something that I would want to watch. I was wrong.
Spinning Out is about so much more than figure skating and though the show is set in the sport it really touches on the pressure that comes with being a professional athlete. I wish that I would have watched it sooner, but I don’t think it would even matter. Netflix barely even gave it a chance to get off the ground. It was cancelled after just a month. It didn’t have a chance to build an audience.
The Gist
Kat (Kaya Scodelario, Skins) is a former single’s skater who, after a fall, can no longer land her triple jumps. After her dreams of singles skating and coaching go down the drain, she gets the opportunity to pair up with Justin (Evan Rodrick, Arrow), a pairs skater with a bit of a reputation. Kat must learn how to pairs skate, while also balancing her mental health. Kat and her mother (January Jones, Mad Men) have bipolar disorder.
Kat’s sister Serena (Willow Shields, Hunger Games) is an up and coming singles skater. The show navigates their struggle with mental health, figure skating, and the toll keeping their diagnosis a secret from everyone around them.
The show also stars Will Kemp (Reign), Svetlana Efremova (Stick It), Sarah Wright (American Made), and Amanda Zhou (October Faction).
They also pull from actual figure skating costumes. Kat’s short program look has to be a reference to Tessa Virtue’s Moulin Rouge dress.
Sunken Ships
Kat and Justin. Where do I even start? They had so much potential. I wish we could see more of their relationship. Luckily they are together at the end of the series. I want to see them work together. I want to see how their relationship develops now that he knows about her bipolar disorder. Kat and Justin were on their way to becoming a great ship. I wish we could see more of them.
Caution: Cliffhanger
I’ve debated this before, the difference between a cliffhanger and show setting itself up for another season. I think this falls more into the Daybreak second season category. It’s the difference between that season finale of Criminal Minds, where you see all the members of the BAU walking to their identical cars and then a car explodes. Then we are left waiting for months to see whose car blew up. That’s a cliffhanger. Stitchers had a cliffhanger, the main character faking amnesia and telling some shadow person that she would never forgive them. That’s a cliffhanger.
On that note, Spinning Out sets itself up for another season. There are definite storylines that we would be seeing in the next season, but no one is in mortal peril. There are questions I wish I had answers too, stories that I wish I knew what was going to happen next, but it’s not really a cliffhanger. It’s a setup for the future, it portends where the show would be going next. I wish we could have seen how the storylines play out.
Where to Watch It
Netflix is the only place available to watch Spinning Out. It may have cancelled it, but you can still stream this show!
You can check out my column, Gone Too Soon, for more shows that were cancelled before their time like, Galavant, Timeless, Hannibal, and No Tomorrow.
Sign up for our bi-weekly newsletter here!
