Spinning Out is a television series about figure skating, mental illness, and the cost of chasing an Olympic dream. It premiered on Netflix on January 1, 2020, and was canceled after one season, with its final episode airing on the same day. Created by Samantha Stratton, the show stars Kaya Scodelario as Kat Baker, a young ice skater who suffers a serious injury and is given the chance to restart her career as a pairs skater while hiding her family’s history of mental illness.
The premise is simple: Kat Baker is an up-and-coming, high-level single skater who is about to turn in her skates after a disastrous fall took her off the competition track. She seizes an opportunity to continue her career as a pair skater with a talented bad-boy partner, risking exposure of a fiercely kept secret that could unravel her entire life. On and off the ice, Kat and her new partner face daunting odds, injury to body and soul, financial sacrifice, and even potential mental breakdown on their way to realizing their Olympic dream.
Trailer, via Netflix.
Kat Baker and Her Family
Kat Baker is the emotional center of the show, and Scodelario plays her with a mix of determination and fragility. Her skating scenes are technically impressive, but the real performance work comes in the quiet moments where she hides her family’s past from the world around her. The show wants her to be both a champion and a daughter, and it rarely manages to hold both truths at once.
Her mother, Carol Baker, played by January Jones, is a force of nature. Carol is the controlling parent who pushes Kat to succeed, often at the expense of Kat’s own peace. Jones delivers a commanding performance, but the writing leans heavily on the mother-daughter dynamic as the engine of the story. This means that Kat’s relationship with her partner, Justin Davis, feels like a secondary concern rather than a central one.
Willow Shields plays Serena Baker, Kat’s younger sister. The show gives Serena a smaller role, mostly serving as a witness to the family’s drama. Shields does what she can with limited screen time, but the youngest Baker ends up being more of a symbol than a fully realized character.
Justin Davis and the Davis Family
Evan Roderick plays Justin Davis, Kat’s partner on the ice. He is described as a talented bad-boy partner, and the show spends considerable time exploring the friction between Kat’s disciplined approach and his more reckless attitude. Their partnership is meant to be the heart of the series, but the writing often treats their on-ice chemistry as a surface-level romance rather than a genuine athletic bond.
Sarah Wright plays Mandy Davis, Justin’s mother. She is the other half of the parental push-pull dynamic, and the show occasionally tries to create tension between the two families through their interactions. The result is a subplot that feels tacked-on rather than essential.
Supporting Cast and Recurring Roles
Svetlana Efremova plays Dasha Glushenko, a recurring character whose exact role is not detailed in the available information. Mitchell Edwards plays Marcus Holmes, and Kaitlyn Leeb plays Leah Starnes, both in series regular roles. Amanda Zhou plays Jenn Yu, also in a regular role. The show also includes Johnny Weir in a series regular role and Charlie Hewson in a recurring capacity.
The supporting cast is competent, but the show’s focus on Kat and her family leaves little room for these characters to develop beyond their functions in the plot. They are present to provide context and complications, but they rarely get the chance to become memorable in their own right.
The Cancellation and Its Aftermath
The show was canceled after one season of ten episodes. That decision was made in February 2020, shortly after the premiere. For a show about pursuing dreams, the irony is not lost on anyone who followed its run.
The cancellation means that Spinning Out remains unfinished. Kat’s journey toward the Olympics is cut off mid-stride, and the series ends without resolving the secrets it spent ten episodes building. The show’s creators were left with no chance to tie up loose ends, and the audience is left with an open-ended conclusion.
What Works and What Doesn’t
The skating sequences are the strongest element of Spinning Out. The choreography is precise, and the camera work captures the physicality of the sport with a sense of weight and grace. These scenes are the clearest example of what the show can do when it commits to its subject matter.
The weakest elements come from the writing. The show’s central conflict is supposed to be Kat’s struggle to hide her family’s history of mental illness while pursuing a career that demands total commitment. Instead, the series leans on melodrama and soap opera tropes, with secrets being uncovered in dramatic confrontations rather than through character growth or careful plotting.
The show also has a habit of underplaying the consequences of its own setup. Kat’s injury is presented as a devastating setback, but the series rarely returns to its effects in a meaningful way. Similarly, the financial strain on the family is mentioned but not explored with the depth the premise suggests.
Comparing the Two Families
| Character | Role | Performance |
|---|---|---|
| Kat Baker | Protagonist, injured skater | Scodelario anchors the show with conviction |
| Justin Davis | Kat’s partner | Roderick plays the bad boy with energy |
| Carol Baker | Kat’s mother | Jones dominates every scene she appears in |
| Mandy Davis | Justin’s mother | Wright adds texture to the parental conflict |
The Verdict
Spinning Out is a show with a good idea and a weak execution. It understands the appeal of figure skating as a sport, and it captures the intensity of competition with genuine skill. But its handling of character and plot is uneven, and the cancellation leaves it without a proper ending.
The show deserves credit for attempting something ambitious. Figure skating is a demanding discipline, and the series attempts to capture both its physical rigor and its emotional stakes. It also touches on important themes, including the pressure of athletic achievement and the burden of family expectations. But the execution falls short of the ambition.
The acting is generally solid, with Scodelario and Jones delivering standout performances despite the limitations of the material. The production values are professional, and the skating sequences are genuinely exciting. None of this is enough to carry the show to greatness.
Spinning Out is a watchable but flawed series. It is worth a look for fans of figure skating drama, but it will frustrate viewers who want a deeper exploration of its central ideas. The show is ultimately a missed opportunity, one that suggests greater potential than it ever fully realized.
The score is 4.7 out of 10.
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