Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Geek Girl’ On Netflix, Where An Awkward Teenager Becomes A Runway Model Overnight, But Is Still Totally Awkward

The new Netflix series Geek Girl isn’t meant to be inspirational, but given that its protagonist is a neurodivergent runway model, people can gain a little bit of inspiration from it. Mostly what it tries to do is show how an awkward teenage girl manages to do well in a profession where you have to put yourself out there every time you step on a fashion show runway.

GEEK GIRL: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Scenes of London. A model stands in front of clicking cameras. “My name is Harriet Manners, and I am a geek,” says the voice of that model. “Being a model was never my dream.”

The Gist: “I guess to us, it isn’t a makeover, it’s a full metamorphosis,” says Harriet Manners (Emily Carey) as we see flashes of her life as a top runway model, interspersed with her previous life in high school. Her hair isn’t done, she’s wearing no makeup, and she falls down a lot. She’s not sure why her classmates have called her “Geek Girl” over the years, but her social awkwardness and ability to dive deep into subjects she’s interested in is pretty much the dictionary definition of the word “geek.”

She tries to blend in, unlike her next door neighbor Toby Pilgrim (Zac Looker), but that still doesn’t stop her archnemesis Lexi (Mia Jenkins) from calling her “Spanners” and making fun of her pretty much nonstop. Thankfully, she has her more social bestie Nat Gray (Rochelle Harrington) to help her make school tolerable.

The textiles class Harriet and Nat are in won a competition to attend a show at London’s Fashion Week; it’s important to Nat that they’re on time for the bus, because she hopes to make an impression with some of the model scouts in attendance. Harriet barely makes the bus and falls on her back in the aisle, much to the delight of Lexi and her friend group. Then her backpack gets passed around, and someone writes “GEEK” on it. To further the indignity, Harriet and Nat have to wear neon green gym clothes after Toby accidentally spills his smoothie on them.

Undeterred, Nat introduces herself to Wilbur Evans (Emmanuel Imani), a well-known agency rep who is scouting for models. He says she’s stunning, “but this is fashion. Stunning and beautiful are not enough.” He’s looking for someone with a particular “It” factor, and that person happens to be Harriet, who is busying herself in the lobby trying on a bejeweled hat frame and knocking everything down.

When she causes a scene after she knocks the displays down, Lexi and company gleefully video it, intending on posting it on their socials. But what they don’t realize is that Wilbur and his assistant Betty (Hebe Beardsall) have brought her into a green room and told her they want her to model for their agency. Harriet, finding out that Nat met Wilbur and got turned down, leaves to support her friend, but not before having a meet-cute with top male model Nick Park (Liam Woodrum), who is definitely attracted to her, even if she doesn’t know it yet.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Based on Holly Smale’s teen book series of the same name, Geek Girl certainly has the vibe of a show aimed for that age group, though the show its vibe reminds us the most of is Never Have I Ever.

Our Take: The whole idea behind Geek Girl is that, despite this fashion world whirlwind that has snapped up Harriet, underneath the couture wardrobe and expert makeup and hair is still the same awkward “geek girl” that was unmercifully made fun of by the likes of Lexi and her buddies “the Olives.”

There are hints that Harriet is neurodivergent, but a label isn’t really attached to it by Smale, who created the series with Jessica Rusto. She didn’t write the novels that way, not even realizing she had written a neurodivergent character until she was diagnosed as autistic three years ago. Carey herself has told fans of the novels that she is on the spectrum, as well. So it’s a pretty reasonable thought to conclude that Harriet is neurodivergent, but the fact that Harriet herself just says she’s awkward and doesn’t fit in is almost refreshing, because Smale and the writers don’t feel the need to point it out.

The second episode brings the hows and whys of Harriet’s entry into the fashion world into focus. Wilbur and Betty go to Harriet’s school to find her when a designer their agency works for, Yuji Lee (Sandra Yi Sencindiver) decides she wants a fresh face to model the centerpiece of her next line. At the same time, a particularly humiliating run-in with Lexi prompts her to go for it, with Nat’s help, because, as she says in her voice over, she was tired of feeling like “I’m never enough.”

It’s that motivation that drives Harriet, and seeing her transformation will be fun to watch. Whether that makes her feel like enough, or if the glitz of the fashion world makes her lose herself is going to be the crux of this show’s first season. But what we do know is that Carey has the ability to play Harriet as both the unassuming, awkward version of Harriet as well as the glamorous, more confident version… who just happens to still be awkward.

Sex and Skin: None, and we guess that any story that involves Harriet and Nick Park getting together will be more of the romantic variety instead of anything sexual.

Parting Shot: Back to model Harriet, who turns on the runway after pausing in front of the cameras. Her voice over talks about stars are born out of chaos and messiness. “But once we start shining, the universe is never the same again.”

Sleeper Star: We’ll give this to the adults on the series: Tim Downie, who plays Harriet’s music-oriented father Richard, Jemima Rooper as her practical stepmother Annabel, and James Murray, who plays Mr. Finnes, the school’s headmaster.

Most Pilot-y Line: Harriet’s voice over can be a bit intrusive, but then again it’s a good way to illustrate what’s going on in her head a lot of the time. It’s especially effective when she can’t think straight in Nick’s presence.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Geek Girl is a well-written and well-acted look at what happens when someone who doesn’t usually embrace surprises in life does so out of the simple desire to be seen.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.