Screen Queen TV reviews: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing, The Last Of Us, The Narrow Road To The Deep North

Bad Influence: The Dark Side Of Kidfluencing

Streaming now on Netflix

It wasn’t until I had kids that I realised … I don’t actually like children. No, that’s unfair, I should qualify: I absolutely love my own. I think the sun rises and sets with him and I like (most of) his friends, too. It’s other people’s irritating kids I have an issue with — and the parents who make being the mum or dad to those kids their entire personality.

I KNOW you know the ones …

This is why I absolutely cannot stand all those Nickelodeon and Disney tween shows my kid is currently obsessed with. While he’s watching, I just sit there imagining what those precocious kids are like behind the scenes. Are they happy? Just how toxic ARE the fame-hungry momagers and managers pushing them into the spotlight, making millions off their progeny?

Which brings me to all those ‘kidfluencer’ channels on YouTube. For the most part, this platform is banned in our house, and when I do allow my son to watch, it’s only under supervision, and only a small number of pre-approved creators (mostly science-adjacent, and mostly the ones I can stomach watching myself). But left to his own devices, he’d hoover up all that awful tween-created content and honestly: gross.

Because of my strict rules, I am not the most popular mum among my son’s friendship group, but I don’t care, and after watching this doco, I’m more resolute than ever. This three-part series examines the “shadowy world of child influencers”, focusing on the accusations of abuse and mistreatment surrounding popular social media youngster, Piper Rockelle and her momager Tiffany Smith, both of whom vehemently deny wrongdoing. If you’ve already watched it, you’re no doubt feeling as ick as I am about the whole thing — it pretty much confirms everything I’ve been thinking as I watch those videos. A quick google search reveals that Piper is still only 17, making my skin crawl all the more.

This is a nauseating watch, but worth it — if only to confirm that, for the most part, your gut instinct is bang on the money.

The Last Of Us, S2

Monday, streaming on Max

This series was one of my favourites back in 2023 — it came out of nowhere and blew me away, mostly thanks to the incredible performances of Bella Ramsey playing Ellie and Pedro Pascal as her gruff protector, Joel.

Season two sees us return to their world, five years on. Ellie is now 19, and living with Joel in the gated and relatively safe community of Jackson. But something is about to completely shatter their world — if you’ve played the video game you’ll know what’s afoot.

This remains an engrossing series, and boasts some truly jaw-dropping moments. Whether it scales the heights of season one still remains to be seen, but I’ll be watching regardless.

The Narrow Road To The Deep North

Friday, streaming on Prime Video

This is an astonishingly beautiful piece of television. But a word of warning: it’s also difficult to watch at times. Jacob Elordi and Ciaran Hinds are mesmerising. A fantastic adaptation from the novel.

Breeders S4

Tuesday, 8.30pm, ABC

The final two episodes of the fourth season of this great British series air this week — and it reminded me that I’d totally forgotten to catch up! So straight to ABC iview I go! If you’ve not discovered this yet, dive in — worth your while.

The Secret DNA Of Us

Thursday, 7.30pm, SBS

Marc Fennell, aka Mr Everywhere, is fronting this series, which sees four Aussie towns given the chance to do mass DNA testing; it’s so interesting to see what they unearth. Really enjoyed this one.