There’s no denying audiences were bitten by the True Crime bug long ago. It was only a matter of time before the entertainment industry had to expand its repertoire for those who couldn’t handle such intense subject matter but were intrigued by the genre’s allure. Over the past few years, this need has manifested into a sub-genre of True Crime that I like to call the Exposé Genre. Television shows in the Exposé Genre are very similar to True Crime. They follow almost identical narrative structures and relish in a character’s exposure and subsequent takedown while exploiting the victims.

In most Exposé cases, the crimes often start in the court of public opinion rather than the court of law. Apple Cider Vinegar is the latest series in this sub-genre, joining others such as The Dropout, WeCrashed, and Inventing Anna, to name a few. This latest series explores the rise and fall of Belle Gibson and, in doing so, manages to slightly rise above this group as the most engaging and emotionally impactful of them all. But not necessarily because of Gibson’s story itself.

For those unaware of her story, Belle Gibson is an Australian con artist who gained millions of followers in the 2010s with her health blog and nutrition app, The Whole Pantry. Belle eventually lost it all after people discovered she had been lying about having terminal brain cancer, among many other illnesses, which she had used as a selling point for her health advice, promoting alternative medicine due to her “successful experiences” with it. Along with convincing fans suffering from terminal illnesses to believe in alternative medicine practices she had never tried, Belle also received millions of dollars in donations from thousands of her followers. Belle claimed the money was for various charities, but they were the primary income source for her lavish lifestyle. 

This storyline is Apple Cider Vinegar’s most predictable one, especially when it focuses on Belle trying to convince her new lawyer, Hek (Pheonix Raei), to believe in her nonexistent side of events. Kaitlyn Dever, who has starred in projects like Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart and the heavily praised Netflix true crime miniseries Unbelievable, is eerily and phenomenal as Belle Gibson and capably carries the play-by-play aspects of the series. Watching Dever faux empathize with others, make every situation about herself, then fabricate lie after lie with zero remorse is astonishing, especially when you remember she’s playing a real-life person who actually did these sociopathic things. 

That being said, even with Dever’s committed performance and the accurate depiction of Gibson’s inhumane behaviour, that story alone isn’t enough to make Apple Cider Vinegar stand out amongst every other series like it. The show’s second storyline, which revolves around another wellness influencer, Milla Blake, is what gives the series its beating heart, something the previously mentioned series sadly lack. Alycia Debnam-Carey, who starred in last year’s hidden gem It’s What’s Inside, portrays Milla. Creator Samantha Strauss appears to have loosely based the character on Jessica Ainscough, another Australian writer and wellness entrepreneur who was actually diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called epitheloid sarcoma. It left her with lumps covering her left arm, which doctors eventually wanted to amputate. However, Jessica persisted against their plan, believing she could treat it with alternative medicine. And she did, at least for a while. 

At first, Milla appears to be an entirely fictional character created by the series’ writers. She perfectly mirrors the authentic and determined public figure intent on harnessing her pain to change the world. The person Belle desperately wants to become. The only problem is that Belle has no identity of her own, so she essentially has to steal Milla’s. Watching her do this without a second thought, and with complete disregard for the suffering people with cancer endure, is infuriating. The show depicts Belle and Milla as having more of a relationship than they most likely did in real life, but it helps boost the emotional storytelling significantly. Knowing that the rest of what Milla goes through is heavily based on reality makes Apple Cider Vinegar even more heartbreakingly effective. 

For the most part, the series truly understands how awful of a person Belle Gibson is. At times, the show goes out of its way to highlight her emotionally unstable mother, which resulted in a loneliness lessened by an obsession with technology and the World Wide Web. While these short moments help emphasize how a person might be so desperate to be liked they’d make up brain cancer for attention, any sympathy one might feel for Belle goes out the window every time Strauss returns to the very real pain Milla and her family are feeling. Not to mention it’s hard to believe any of Gibson’s past given her very real habit of making everything up.

Apple Cider Vinegar is an extremely easy weekend binge but there’s more depth here than the material might suggest. Strauss doesn’t sacrifice an ounce of emotion and reality at any point during the episodes. She injects care, research and gravitas into every moment, aided by two stand-out performances from Dever and Debnam-Carey. It may share some redundant similarities to other titles in the Exposé Genre, but Apple Cider Vinegar has made many significant improvements, and audiences should take note when searching for their next watch. 

All six episodes of Apple Cider Vinegar are currently streaming on Netflix.