It doesn’t always happen, but every now and then, Netflix releases a new title that earns near-universal praise from critics or fans — and sometimes both.
It’s more common, of course, to see things go the opposite way, with at least one of those groups of viewers in agreement that a new Netflix title is bad or mediocre. The ones from the streaming giant that manage to buck that trend are often surprising, as you can see from the two releases listed below — both of which have scored a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. One is a YA series based on a novel, while the other is a reality show. Let’s dive in.
Geek Girl
First up is this Netflix series adapted from Holly Smale’s best-selling YA novel, Geek Girl, about an awkward high schooler who’s spotted by a London model agent during a field trip. “Sixteen-year-old Harriet Manners (Carey) is a student at Hollybridge Secondary School in England,” Netflix explains about Geek Girl. “Socially awkward and often bullied, Harriet’s thrust into the world of fashion when she’s discovered by a modeling agent during a school trip.
“Soon, she’s not just a clumsy teenager but a rising star. Except Harriet’s sudden success is anything but a fairy tale: Her revamped life creates tension with her fashion-obsessed best friend, Nat (Harrington), and with established model Poppy Hepple-Cartwright (Jelley), who sees Harriet as a threat.”
Geek Girl, which hit Netflix at the end of May, has already spent four weeks on the streamer’s global Top 10 English TV shows chart, racking up 2.3 million views for the week that ended on June 23.
The Mole
The second Netflix release that’s wowed critics is its reboot of The Mole, which aired on ABC back in 2008 prior to Netflix resurrecting the concept.
The reality competition series, which is the #10 Netflix show in the US as of this writing, is currently in the midst of its second season — with episodes 6-8 set to drop on July 5, followed by episodes 9 and 10 on July 12.
The Mole brings together 12 players to try and work together in challenges to accumulate money in a pot. Money, that is, which only one of them will take home. One of the players has been secretly designated as “the mole,” and that person is tasked with working to undermine all of the group’s efforts to add more money to the pot. The winner is whoever outlasts the competition and successfully exposes the mole.
To host Season 1, Netflix turned to MSNBC’s Alex Wagner. This time around, those duties are handled by Ari Shapiro, host of NPR’s All Things Considered.
