TV Review: Apple Cider Vinegar

The newest binge-able mini series from Netflix revolves around the very real scammer Belle Gibson.  She's an Australian wellness influencer who claimed to have stage 4 brain cancer and used that to launch a healthy eating app and book both titled "The Whole Panty" in the early to mid 2010's. Of course, her illness was a lie and Belle was spectacularly called out for not just her bullshit, but also charity fraud. (The latter which she was forced to pay a fine and apparently still hasn't done so) Kaitlyn Dever puts on her best Aussie accent and tackles Gibson in this 6 episode series. 

I was familiar with Gibson before watching this. A lot of you might be without even realizing it. Her 60 minutes interview post scandal went very viral. That blonde in the fluffy pink sweater refusing to confirm her real age and say she's been "living her life as a 26 year old woman?" Yeah, that's her. But what this show does brilliantly is it doesn't focus on Belle. The side stories involving mostly fictionalized characters (though they are amalgamations of real people) are just as rich. There's Milla (Alycia Debnam-Carey) who is a fellow wellness influencer that Belle looks up to. Unlike Belle, Milla actually does have cancer and forgoes conventional treatment to heal herself naturally. There's Lucy (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) another cancer patient that falls for Belle's BS, and her husband Justin (Mark Coles Smith) is a journalist who eventually plays a huge part in Belle's downfall. Tying it all together is Chanelle (Aisha Dee) Milla's best friend who ends up working for Belle at one point. 

Milla's character is mostly based on a woman named Jessica Ainscough, who I had never heard of before, and boy is her story tragic. Milla was the most intriguing part of the series for me. It's tragic and ridiculous, and seeing the contrast of her and Belle like this made for some excellent TV. In fact, this entire show is very harsh on wellness influencer culture and shows how predatory it can be. 

If I have one critique about the series, it's that I didn't love the 4th wall breaks that start out every episode. The showrunners want to be very clear that Belle Gibson isn't making any money from this, but I just don't think using the characters to relay that worked very well. I think text on the screen would've sufficed. 

I hope this show, Debnam-Carey and Dever get some love during the next round of Emmy voting, they deserve it. at only 6 episodes, this is a quick mini series to get through and you will definitely fall down a google rabbit hole afterwards.