When we first meet Harriet Manners in Netflix\u2019s Geek Girl<\/a>, she\u2019s doing her level best to seamlessly blend in. But that\u2019s easier said than done.<\/p>\n She falls over in public, a lot<\/em>, hitting the deck twice in the first episode alone \u2013 once on the school coach in front of her peers while en route to London Fashion Week, before stacking it again shortly after arriving, dragging an entire display of headpieces down with her.<\/p>\n Without warning, her\u00a0nickname \u201cHats\u201d suddenly takes on a whole new unfortunate meaning.<\/p>\n But even when she\u2019s not engaging in unintentional physical comedy or donning a spider costume for a meeting with a top model agency, Harriet can\u2019t help but stand out.<\/p>\n Academically, she\u2019s light-years ahead of her classmates, mastering every subject with ease and winning every scholastic competition she enters. Harriet also freely acknowledges that her social skills are \u201cnon-existent\u201d, with casual conversation often replaced by spouting the many fascinating facts she\u2019s hoovered up while her peers are distracted by social media and school gossip.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no one quite like Harriet Manners, but rather than wearing her difference with pride, it is the albatross around her neck.<\/p>\n Even when she swaps physics for photoshoots and catwalks, she cannot escape Lexi\u2019s taunts, Poppy\u2019s sneers or Jude\u2019s judgement.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t changed my life at all,\u201d she says after another setback leaves her completely at a loss once more, the little confidence she had gained evaporating instantly.<\/p>\n Harriet internalises her perpetrators\u2019 disdain and, in turn, it becomes her own. And however far or fast she runs, the way she perceives herself is dictated by how others define her.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n That takes on a particularly sinister and distressing dimension when you consider that Harriet is autistic. It isn\u2019t something that\u2019s explicitly stated in the series, but it\u2019s alluded to in a conversation between fashion agent Wilbur and her dad Richard, who is reticent to give his daughter a label for fear of restricting her.<\/p>\n Harriet moves through the world differently because she is<\/em> different, and although there are ways of managing her disability, which isn\u2019t without its benefits, she cannot change that fact. Unlike so many of her peers, who can morph into any number of different forms depending on the time or place, Harriet cannot pretend to be something she is not, however hard she wills it.<\/p>\n But as the series progresses, there are rumblings of self-growth, evidenced by Harriet\u2019s response after Poppy forces her to the side of the catwalk in Canada, causing her to fall.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to run away,\u201d she says initially, before changing her mind.<\/p>\n \u201cIs that who I really want to be? Be brave, Harriet. You are<\/em> brave. You\u2019re part T rex.\u201d<\/p>\n But those same old fears rush in and she\u2019s carried away on the tide of her emotions.<\/p>\n She then curtsies, before scuttling off, heels in hands. A few moments later, she\u2019s squirrelled away behind a curtain as she sobs her heart out.<\/p>\n In the finale, however, following multiple setbacks, several heartfelt conversations with those who champion her, and numerous moments of self-reflection, there\u2019s a marked shift.<\/p>\n Poppy attempts to sabotage Harriet\u2019s runway return by covertly attaching a sign to her back that reads \u2018geek\u2019, which momentarily derails Yuji Lee\u2019s latest dazzling display. As she notices the crowd whispering the very word that has been weaponised against her all her life, Harriet falters.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe they\u2019re right,\u201d she says, her anxiety building as she once again questions her place in the world. \u201cMaybe I don\u2019t belong here after all.\u201d But this is not the Harriet Manners we were first introduced to. This is not the girl who kept a detailed list of everyone who hated her, a list which also included her own name.<\/p>\n No, this version of Harriet Manners has shown the world exactly who she is, time and time again, and she\u2019s not only still standing, she\u2019s more brilliant and vibrant than ever \u2013 because she finally<\/em> experiences that pivotal lightbulb moment: she is exactly where she needs to be.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m different,\u201d proclaims Harriet, both acknowledging her own singularity, and the metamorphosis that she has undergone. She\u2019s owning her difference and reclaiming the word \u2018geek\u2019 from her oppressors.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s even more impactful given the absence of a reaction when Nick informs her that Poppy\u2019s scheme is responsible for distracting the crowd.<\/p>\n Whether the audience were labelling her a \u2018geek\u2019 or simply reading the piece of paper attached to her dress, Harriet is unmoved either way. It doesn\u2019t matter, because she understands that the only person that matters to Harriet Manners is Harriet Manners.<\/p> Geek Girl began as one teenager\u2019s journey to change her life, and there\u2019s no denying things are different. Harriet\u2019s face is now plastered on giant screens in central London, and she\u2019s dating The<\/em> Nick Park.<\/p>\n But the nuts and bolts that maketh the woman are still very much the same. There\u2019s no change there, thankfully, and Harriet has stopped trying to tinker, at least for now (she will, of course, have wobbles if the show does return) as she learns to embrace who she is for the first time in a very long time \u2013 something that Holly Smales, the writer of the show and the books on which it\u2019s based<\/a>, wants you to hold onto.<\/p>\n Whether you\u2019re neurodivergent, as Harriet is, or doing your level best to blend in, whether you\u2019re 16 or 60, don\u2019t. Geek Girl wants you to come as you are, because sometimes, \u201cto change your life, you have to stand out\u201d.<\/p>\n All ten episodes of Geek Girl are available to stream now on Netflix<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0sign up from \u00a34.99 a month<\/a>. Netflix is also available on\u00a0Sky Glass<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Virgin Media Stream<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Check out more of our\u00a0Drama<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>\u00a0to find out what\u2019s on.\u00a0<\/strong>For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to\u00a0The Radio Times Podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n Harriet Manners experienced a profound moment of self-realisation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":52418,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/05\/geek-girl-ending-explained-why-that-moment-is-so-pivotal.jpg",1620,1080,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/05\/geek-girl-ending-explained-why-that-moment-is-so-pivotal-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/05\/geek-girl-ending-explained-why-that-moment-is-so-pivotal-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/05\/geek-girl-ending-explained-why-that-moment-is-so-pivotal-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/05\/geek-girl-ending-explained-why-that-moment-is-so-pivotal-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/05\/geek-girl-ending-explained-why-that-moment-is-so-pivotal-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/05\/geek-girl-ending-explained-why-that-moment-is-so-pivotal.jpg",1620,1080,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Harriet Manners experienced a profound moment of self-realisation.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/52417"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Wilbur](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2024\/05\/geek-girl-netflix-9b9f11e.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"Geek")
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