Spoilers Ahead!
New Year’s Day. A day of self-reflection, high hopes and probably a stomachache from all the food you ate the night before. You have one resolution in mind: be productive.
Then Netflix goes and drops Spinning Out and you spend the first day of your year binging ten episodes. An overwhelming sense of dread washes over you when you realize you have to wait an entire year for season 2. This may or may not be a personal experience.
Spinning Out has a wonderful cast of actors including Kaya Scodelario from The Maze Runner, Willow Shields from The Hunger Games and January Jones from Mad Men. It’s a woman-centered show, which is always a plus. It’s even more interesting when the main character and ice-skating queen, Kat Baker, and her mother, Carol Baker, are women diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BPD). The stakes are high considering that ice skating is known to be one of the most meticulous and competitive sports, even if it’s not as popularized as other sports.
Kat balances her responsibilities and mental health pretty well. She plans to make it to the Olympics with her pair skating partner, Justin Davis (who is arguably the biggest hottie of 2020), and she manages her disorder by taking Lithium every day. For 6 episodes, she is in control of her moods, but she often complains that Lithium makes her feel tired and weak which are common side effects of the medication. She has breaking points in which she self-injures through biting her arm, immediately alleviating any of her frustrations. This self-injury is seen various times throughout the show – Carol Baker is seen picking at her nail until it bleeds, which is a manifestation of BPD.
Another thing that the show does well is that the entire season feels like a rollercoaster, almost like the shifting moods of someone with bipolar disorder. The first 6 episodes depict the medicated and on-edge Kat, while Carol is going through extreme cases of psychosis. Carol is repetitive and impulsive about her daughters Kat and Serena pushing themselves to be the best on the ice, even making Serena get out of bed one night and do a hundred pushups outside in the cold weather. When Carol is faced with the consequences of her actions, her irritability causes her to lash out and blame others. She tells Kat that she is worthless, that Kat ruined her ice-skating career by being born and many other harmful words. Carol isolates herself from her family and becomes frantic for not being a good mother.
Courtesy: Screen Rant
When Kat gets off her medication in episode 7 to take more risks in her pair skating set for higher scores, she slowly but surely enters a period of manic behavior. Simultaneously, Carol starts taking her medication, and her life immediately begins to balance out. While Kat engages in extreme manic behavior through recklessly shopping, partying and sexual activities, Carol manages a boyfriend, goes to group therapy and begins to bond with Serena. Just like Carol when she was off her medicine, Kat isolates herself from Justin, Serena and her best friend Jenn through her impulsivity and aggravation.
Courtesy: Screen Rant
Spinning Out manages to capture BPD in a way that does not feel too over-the-top. Kat and Carol both have their shortcomings, but their mental health does not necessarily define who they are as people and figure skaters. That being said, Kat and Carol do not like to confide in anyone about their BPD, and the stigma surrounding the disorder is pretty active throughout the show. Carol says that Kat cannot reveal her disorder to anyone involved in skating because it would ruin her career, so their behavior is immediately misconstrued by others.
To refute Carol Baker’s statement, we have nonfictional Gracie Gold, who is a possible contender for the Bejing Olympics in 2022 after she won a bronze Olympic medal in 2014. She suffers from anxiety, depression and an eating disorder. After sharing her story with the public, she said she received positive feedback and support and is still going strong in the rink.
Courtesy: Giphy
Moving forward, I believe that there need to be more progressive shows like Spinning Out, especially since Netflix’s platform is huge and they have unlimited opportunities to shed a light on disorders that we or the individuals around us have to deal with. Good job, Netflix.
Do I think BPD is portrayed properly in this soapy teen drama? I would lean towards a yes. Is there room for improvement? Absolutely.
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