Leah
Episode 2 of Spinning Out begins with a musical montage to open the episode, as our characters prepare for the day ahead. It’s 4am and Justin has unsurprisingly slept with Leah, his new partner, while Kat sleeps in her car after deciding to head back and take up Justin’s offer. In the Baker household, it turns out Serena heard the fight from the previous night and Carol makes her pancakes to try and stave off any concerns she may have. Jenn approaches Kat in her car and as they talk, she tells her friend she’s decided to stay and storms back home in a bid to get her stuff. Only, Carol demands she stop, leading Jenn to call her a bitch and the fight to spill outside, where she tells Kat she won’t be allowed anything to do with Serena as long as she’s around. Kat makes it back to the rink with Jenn where she sees firsthand that Justin and Leah are skating together. She takes Justin aside after their session and talks to him about the situation, where he shrugs and tells her she’s lost her chance. Inside though, Jenn threatens Leah and tells her to move out the way but she refuses. “I have my triple jumps in order,” She boasts before leaving Jenn standing, defeated. Back at the bar, Kat speaks to her colleague Marcus while Dave messages her, asking whether she’s got her password and gear together. Tears well up in her eyes, until Jenn arrives and propositions she try the triple jump again, especially given Leah has failed to get it right thus far. When she gets on the ice though she fails. Again. But it’s enough for Justin to approach her and mention that she needs to impress his Father, not him. Determined to prove herself, Kat breaks up with Dave and severs ties regarding going to London. At the rink, she runs into Serena who admits their Mother has been in a good mood since she left. Outside though, Carol corners Kat and offers her a place back home and to start over, promising that things will get better. On the ice, Kat is graceful, showing off her skills in an impressive performance of jumps, precision-point athleticism and dizzying spins. It’s all an elaborate play to win over Justin’s parents and it seems to work. Dasha eventually offers Kat a room and gives her the good news officially – she’s going to skate with Justin. Only, as it turns out the two of them slept together last year which is why she was so hesitant to partner up. Can they put their baggage aside and skate effectively as an item? Although Spinning Out is devolving a little too much into a soap opera for my liking, there are a few interesting subplots bubbling along in the background. Kat’s mental health is an interesting angle and seeing a strong female archetype without the Mary Sue plot trope to go with it is a refreshing change of pace. Her character is arguably the strongest so far while Leah’s lack of development has her played off as a very typical, one-dimensional character. One thing that is worth mentioning though, is the use of mirrors in this series. There’s a lot of themes around reflecting on your past and this absolutely comes through in physical form as we see characters looking at themselves in mirrors and with clever camera set-ups to show facial expressions while facing characters out of frame. It’s not the most gripping of sport dramas so far but Spinning Out is very watchable.
