Flinch Season 1 Review

May 6, 2019 at 4:00pm
By Jason Stettner

This is a Netflix Original Series that is a more traditional game show type presentation. It’s incredibly low budget in appearance and rather strange. It features a series of contestants each episode that are tasked with not flinching during really odd tests. These tests feature everything from animals hopping around, to items being popped near them to even fully automated swings of death.

At the core of this show are three presenters and they build a team by drawing faces from spoons. Hard to explain, but they choose random spoons that have faces on them, that person joins their squad for that episode. Once the team is selected, the people are trialed and then the loser team lead of each episode gets a little bit of painful consequence. That’s sort of a theme here throughout, a bizarre and painful experience following the act of flinching.

The contraptions are weird, hopefully safe and the show itself comes across as somewhat nonsense. I mean, I could see there maybe being an audience but it’s just so boring to watch. It’s the ultimate background, forget you’re watching something option on Netflix. It’s just a weird chain of events and I really do wonder why this was even made.

Going back to the element of this being a low budget production. It takes place in some Ireland barn in the middle of nowhere apparently. Could be a studio area, who knows. It’s got a strange cast that is always laughing at elements that just weren’t very funny. There are a random group of people and it’s such a weird thing to see on the platform. The concept is too simplistic and the execution comes across as lazy here.

I feel as though this was just ultra cheap to pick-up which is why it ended up on the service. I mean, I watched it so it was viewable. Just don’t expect any sort of neat concept or high level of quality if you’re jumping in. It’s a silly mess that really isn’t entertaining. Even as background noise it can be rather dreary. It’s just such a stupid idea and the execution isn’t enticing. You have this setup area and then the hosts and some folks are watching from a TV to discuss what’s going on. I also didn’t find the hosts to be particularly charming or interesting.

The Conclusion

Flinch Season 1 is a rather terrible game show and it’s such a strange thing to see on Netflix, must have been cheap. It seriously looks like it was since every element of this lacks a certain polish. It may just be a game show, but the style I’m used to on old school TV at least have a polished and professional look to them. The main set is literally in a crowded old barn with hay bales for seats, seemingly random contestants and a TV they watch things on.

Each of the challenges basically feel similar throughout the series and they present as cobbled together. This fits the aesthetic of it being barn based, but still it comes across as just cheap and awful. I’m not sure why this was created, it can be a bit sadistic at times I suppose. I’m not sure why you would watch this, maybe for in the background if you like to hear people make noises occasionally. Flinches are such an automated thing, it’s a weird contest to have as it’s a natural instinct that just happens.

Flinch Season 1 Review at Home with Streamed Viewing
Content Access was Provided by Netflix

Rating Overall: 2.0