Where to Stream: Girl from Nowhere

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What would you do if you had the ability to expose everyone’s secrets? For the lead in Netflix’s latest international thriller that’s not a question; it’s a reality. Originally from Thailand, Girl from Nowhere follows one dangerous and dedicated teenage girl as she uses her charms and wit to expose hypocrisy in a series of schools. It’s like Gossip Girl but the young women who holds all the cards isn’t afraid to use them.

GIRL FROM NOWHERE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A group of people clad in white silently do yoga together. Everything seems peaceful until suddenly a woman screams. A man at the front desk of this studio stares at the live feed of the yogis, shocked. That’s when the Girl from Nowhere herself appears.

Nanno (Shisha Amatayakul), a young woman with medium-length hair and engaging eyes turns to look at the camera. “In order to live in a pretentious society,” she says in a voice over, “you need to have a chic life.”

She then smiles sweetly at the camera before turning away, leaving behind whatever torment she likely caused. That’s cue enough for the second best part of Girl from Nowhere to come on screen — its sexy and punk opening credits. The camera shows various parts of a young woman’s body as she gets dressed. No matter how you cut it the message of this opening is clear. This is Nanno and she will not be fucked with.

The Gist: Originally from Thailand, this thriller is an anthology series unlike any other. Each episode follows Nanno as she re-enrolls in a different school and exposes different stories of hypocrisy. No matter where she goes her male classmates are still gross, her female classmates are still mean, and her teachers still have a plethora of secrets hiding behind their lesson plans. Nanno wants to expose them all, and she just may be smart, manipulative, and charming enough to pull it off.

Up first in “The Ugly Truth” is Mr. Win (Thanawat Siriwatanakul), a teacher who’s unnervingly comfortable with getting too intimate with his female students. Though “The Ugly Truth” starts by framing Nanno as Mr. Win’s latest underage victim, by the end of the episode it’s clear that she’s the one who was in control the whole time.

Our Take: There’s nothing like a good revenge epic to let you embrace your edgier side, and Netflix’s latest international thriller lets you do that through 12 standalone stories (and one two-parter). For most shows just pointing to the hypocrisy of high school would be enough. But Girl from Nowhere has Amatayakul, an actress that launches the series from fun to joyfully brutal.

Girl from Nowhere’s first episode isn’t for the faint of heart. “The Ugly Truth” starts with a frank conversation about what schools should teach kids about sex. After a group of faculty members soundly shut out the sex positive Ms. Mali (Nijsa Suwannapreksachati) in favor of maintaining their reputation as the “Purest School of the Year”, Girl from Nowhere then swings to focus on Mr. Win’s story. This middle-aged teacher with a wife and child has been threatening and blackmailing underage students to sleep with him for years. And now Nanno wants to bring him down.

The remainder of the episode swivels elaborate blackmailing schemes that alternatively favor Nanno then Win. Girl from Nowhere does come close to crossing the lines of acceptability, at one point showing quite a lot of a stumbling sexual encounter between Win’s preteen daughter and her equally young boyfriend. But through its use of well-placed edits and intentionally shaky camerawork, the episode never gets too explicit. The series chooses rather to imply the horrific sex acts than outright show them.

A teenage girl using her own body to entrap terrible men does at times feel a bit too close to Lolita for comfort. But Girl from Nowhere always makes it clear just who we’re supposed to be rooting for and the horrific villain we should be screaming against. Also the series’ antihero has the composure and expertise of a woman far beyond her years. It’s difficult to know after the first episode, but if by the end of the series it was revealed that Nanno is actually a vengeful immortal spirit, it wouldn’t be surprising.

Sex and Skin: There is a lot of that, but most of the sex in this first episode is statutory rape. So no, this isn’t exactly a sexy series, but it will make you want to punch a teacher.

Parting Shot: After Nanno releases the photos and videos filled with damning evidence against Mr. Win, he’s shuffled into a cop car. The very last shot in Nanno smiling at him, clearly happy that the man who caused so many women so much pain has been arrested. She then disappears.

Naerunchara Lertprasert’s Mei deserves a special round of applause. As much fun as it is to watch Nanno, she’s so calculating and distant she often feels far removed form a typical teenager. The pregnant and troubled Mei feels like a much more grounded teenager.

Most Pilot-y Line: The second time Mr. Win sleeps with Nanno, he lures her into a classroom, saying “It’s my private space.” He then pauses and corrects himself, saying, “It’s our private space.” If you didn’t know he was garbage before, that line is a dead giveaway.

Also Nanno’s cackle deserves a shoutout. Her laugh is genuinely jarring and unpleasant, so much so it feels as though it belongs in a different show.

Our Call: Stream this one, for sure. Revenge epics are great, and this is an especially fun one.

Watch Girl from Nowhere on Netflix