Belle Gibson comes to life in 'Apple Cider Vinegar' on Netflix

Toward the end of the first episode of Netflix’s new scandal-drama Apple Cider Vinegar, the main character, Belle Gibson, announces on Instagram that she has been diagnosed with malignant brain cancer and has four months to live. The love begins flooding her feed.

Director Jeffrey Walker captures the moment in a cascade of comments and emojis that becomes positively euphoric, and actress Kaitlyn Dever milks every last endorphin from the scene. Clearly, this is a woman on a mission.

Apple Cider Vinegar, a six-part original series that dropped on February 6, tells Belle’s tale from that moment forward. It is a rags-to-riches-to-infamy tale. Belle’s aggressive cheerfulness (think an Aussie version of Tracy Flick from Election) helps her build a self-help empire as she navigates her way through her disease, largely eschewing the advice of the mainstream medical community.

Apple Cider Vinegar proves to be another can't miss series for Netflix

Her “journey” – a word that the show suggests is frowned upon within the community of cancer survivors – inspires countless followers.

What a shame that it all may have been built on a lie.

When the first episode begins, Belle has already experienced some sort of fall from grace. Her authenticity has been called into question. That is why she is meeting with a crisis counselor, Hek, played by Phoenix Raei. She says she wants her reputation back. He continually prods her to tell him the truth. That leads to a series of flashbacks and flashforwards that might be mind-boggling if Walker didn’t have such firm control of his story and its many characters.

In that first episode, we not only meet Belle and Hek but also two women on either side of Belle’s journey. (Sorry – that’s the last time I will use that word.)  There is Milla Blake (Alycia Debnam-Carey), another cancer survivor who serves as something of a role model for Belle. And there is Lucy (Tilda Cobham-Hervey), a breast cancer patient who becomes one of Belle's biggest online fans.

As written by series creator Samantha Strauss, episode one, entitled “Toxic,” also fills in back stories for each of its three primary characters. It is effective and engrossing storytelling, right up until the final five minutes, when Strauss introduces a fourth major character.

Chanelle (Aisha Dee), is a friend of Milla’s, who is laser-focused on destroying the illusion that Belle has constructed. In a direct address to the audience, Chanelle introduces herself as the “hero” of the story.

That may have been a touch of overkill for a single episode that has already jumped all over in time and place and has set up a raft of intriguing characters. Chanelle’s presence suggests that the rest of the series will focus on the investigation that brought Belle down, but that had been clearly established late in the episode. Chanelle was already a presence as well – just not a “hero” presence. Her proper launch might have been better saved for the second installment.

No worries, though. It only confuses things a bit, and that’s not always a bad thing in a streamer. That direct address in which she pronounces herself the hero is one of the nice touches Strauss and Walker drop in throughout “Toxic.” Each major character gets a moment to speak to the audience.

Belle’s moment is marvelously transgressive in that she breaks the fourth wall in a different way, telling us that “the real Belle Gibson has not been paid for the recreation of her story.” Then, slipping seamlessly back into Belle, she mutters a word under her breath that I am not permitted to repeat here. Suffice it to say it rhymes with “truckers.”

Dever is the beating heart of Apple Cider Vinegar. The American actress, who was so heartbreaking in Dopesick several years back, is a master manipulator. She is all sweetness and positivity on the outside, but seething frustration and resentment are constantly on the precipice. She is also winning major praise for her Melbourne accent, which I personally cannot judge, but have been told by genuine Aussies is spot on.

The other standout early on is Debnam-Carey as Milla. Her blend of strength and fragility is palpable as she pushes back against a medical establishment that is pushing her toward highly invasive procedures. She is defiant at times but also gets a wonderful moment of acceptance, in which she allows for her own culpability in what has befallen her.

There is also strong work from all the supporting players, including a fantastic single scene from Essie Davis (of Babadook fame) as Belle’s mother. That scene firmly establishes that the apple does not fall far from the tree.

The medical profession, at least in the first episode, is mainly portrayed as arrogant and unfeeling, which explains why these women go in search of alternative treatments and fall victim to online fads. In such a nuanced story, I’ll be curious to see whether mainstream medicine gets a similarly nuanced treatment, or whether it will remain a convenient villain.

Walker peppers his soundtrack with pop songs that surround the timeline of his story, basically running between 2010 and 2015. The only contemporaneous song we hear is Monsters and Men’s “Dirty Paws.” I supposed the inclusion of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” makes sense, given the title and general theme of the episode.

KT Tunstall and Doja Cat don’t seem to make quite as much sense, but they are fun songs. We get to hear the “Walk on By” sample from the latter’s 2024 song “Paint the Town Red,” further jumbling the timeline. But it all kinda fits.

The real Belle Gibson was initially fined $410,000 for her duplicitous activities. It is unclear whether she has ever paid that penalty, which rose over the years. She has popped up from time to time since her downfall. Strauss has based her series on the 2017 book The Woman Who Fooled the World by Melbourne journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Costano, who are credited as series writers along with Strauss.

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