Canada is hitting a home run with its entertainment lately. Canadian comedy Schitt’s Creek won every single comedy award at the Emmys in 2020 and the Great Canadian Bake Show (which also stars Daniel Levy) made its way into our hearts.
Now, Netflix has blessed us with a brand new series that has left audiences mesmerised by the fantastical world of glass blowing in Blown Away.
The series follows ten glassblowers who arrive in a warehouse, known as the “hot shop” in Ontario, Canada. It’s a competition show which aims to weed out the best of the best in the industry and see who can make stunning, unbreakable glass art.
With outrageously talented and kooky cast members, a science YouTuber (Nick Uhas) host and judge Katherine Gray — a glass artist and professor, this series is a melting pot (pun intended) of eye-popping, jaw-dropping talent.
The episodes are bite-size and bingeable and the creations are just insane. Each artist is just as talented as the next, leaving only one question unanswered. How do you become a glass-blower in the first place??
Each episode, one person is sent home and at the end of the competition, only one person will be left standing, earning them not only glass-blowing bragging rights but a grand prize of sixty thousand dollars and a residency at the Corning Museum of Glass.
Watching the artists blow their glass is simply mind-boggling. But their use of concept, texture and even a feminist agenda or two is what makes it even more awe-inspiring. Undoubtedly, you have not lived until you’ve met the fabulously mad Deborah Czeresko (pictured) work with such speed and anxiety, yelling “glory hole”, “it’s nail it or die” or “behind you” and sweating so many bullets, you think she might faint.
According to an interview Czeresko four months after the series aired in Canada in 2019, her life has changed in more ways than she could ever imagine.
“I have newfound notoriety created by the success of Blown Away,” she told the outlet. This has given me an opportunity to step up to the next level in my career. The challenge is to translate that into something more permanent. Blown Away has been a springboard for me to redefine my artistic goals and work strategically on achieving them. A door has opened for my career and to continue to progress I need things that are longer-lasting like gallery shows, and a way to keep making art such as residencies.” Incredible.
Currently, there is no word on whether a second season is in the works, however, we can only imagine that Netflix, with its power to turn a small show into a worldwide success (ahem, Cobra Kai), might just foot the bill for another one.
After watching this series you will never look at a glass vase, or even a water glass the same way again because you will quite simply be, well, blown away.
Blown Away is now streaming on Netflix.
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