Netflix’s Apple Cider Vinegar is the latest in the streamer’s growing obsession with scam culture, a dramatization of influencer Belle Gibson’s meteoric rise and fall. With Kaitlyn Dever, best known for her role as Betsy Mallum in Hulu’s Dopesick, delivering a masterful performance as the pathological liar at the center of this true crime tale. The show offers a critique of the wellness industry and a deep dive into one woman’s desperate need for validation. Yet, despite its glossy presentation, biting satire, and strong performances, Apple Cider Vinegar struggles under the weight of its muddled storytelling.
The problem with Apple Cider Vinegar is not in its premise—it’s in its execution. The wellness industry’s relationship with misinformation and the influencer economy is a real issue that still exists and has little oversight and regulation. However, Netflix is late to the party. From Inventing Anna to The Dropout, the scammer biopic has become a staple of the streaming era. Apple Cider Vinegar feels like a rehashed version of its predecessors rather than a fresh new take. While the series tries to position itself as a critique of influencer culture, it inadvertently indulges in the same sensationalism that allowed Gibson to thrive.
The structure of the show is frustratingly erratic. The timeline jumps between 2009 and 2015, with multiple perspectives, including Gibson’s victims, rivals, and enablers. This approach, meant to add nuance, only dilutes the show’s impact. The lack of a strong narrative throughline makes grasping any particular character or theme difficult. Worse, the decision to have characters break the fourth wall—sometimes earnestly, with a knowing wink—robs the series of emotional gravity. It’s as if Apple Cider Vinegar can’t decide if it wants to be a biting satire or a serious character study.
Despite its storytelling shortcomings, Apple Cider Vinegar remains engaging largely due to Kaitlyn Dever’s performance. Dever’s Gibson is a chameleon—vulnerable one moment, sociopathic the next. Her Australian accent is impeccable, her expressions calculated yet desperate. Unlike the overly theatrical portrayals in past scammer dramas (Julia Garner’s Inventing Anna comes to mind), Dever leans into the subtlety of deception, making Gibson as fascinating as she is repulsive.
Alycia Debnam-Carey also shines as Milla Blake, a fictionalized version of a real-life alternative medicine influencer who genuinely believes in the power of wellness pseudoscience. Her arc is perhaps the show’s most tragic: a woman who truly has cancer, who forgoes conventional treatment in favor of juice cleanses and coffee enemas, and whose misplaced faith costs her dearly. Milla’s storyline is the show’s best shot at making a larger statement about how misinformation preys on the vulnerable, yet Apple Cider Vinegar fumbles this thread by giving too much screen time to Gibson’s antics.
The Show’s Missed Opportunities
One of the more glaring issues with Apple Cider Vinegar is that it doesn’t seem to know what it wants to say. At times, it condemns Gibson and the wellness industry that propped her up, but it also indulges in the spectacle it claims to critique. The cinematography is too polished, the script too snappy, and the pacing too eager for viral-ready moments to truly engage with the systemic failures that enabled Gibson’s rise.
Additionally, while the series hints at deeper critiques—such as the misogyny in how female scammers are treated compared to their male counterparts or how wellness culture often thrives due to legitimate distrust of the medical establishment—it never fully commits to them. Instead, Apple Cider Vinegar is content to entertain rather than challenge.
Final Verdict: More Sizzle Than Substance
If you’re looking for an engaging scam drama with strong performances, Apple Cider Vinegar is certainly watchable. But if you’re hoping for a deeper examination of influencer culture, medical misinformation, or storytelling ethics, you may be disappointed. The series plays with big ideas but ultimately lacks the courage to say something truly meaningful. Like the wellness fads it critiques, Apple Cider Vinegar is slickly marketed, temporarily satisfying, but ultimately hollow.
The Sober Verdict: Stream it for Dever’s performance, but don’t expect any groundbreaking insights.
The Mindful Binge Sobees Score: 3 out of 5
Apple Cider Vinegar Trailer
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