Geek Girl follows Harriet Manners, an awkward girl flung into the glamorous world of high fashion. The series is streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary:
Harriet Manners is an awkward teenager with social anxiety who is often bullied at school by the popular kids.
She has her best friend, Nat, and her neighbor and fellow weird kid, Toby, for the cruel world of high school.
Harriet is labeled a geek and prefers not to be in the spotlight because she often makes a fool of herself.
She goes with Nat and the rest of her class to an event during the London Fashion Week after they won a competition. Nat is obsessed with fashion and hopes to get discovered there.
Instead, Harriet is the one who is discovered by famed fashion agent, Wilbur Evans. She also has a meet-cute with Nick Park, the stunning model of the Infinity Models label.
Harriet refuses Wilbur’s offer to become a star and returns to her life without telling anyone about the interaction.
She lives a happy life with her father, Richard, and stepmother, Annabel, and doesn’t want to upset that balance.
Meanwhile, Lexi from school continues to constantly bully her for no reason other than she’s different from the rest.
Iconic designer Yuji Lee has a show coming up and days before it, she changes her mind about the female lead.
Wilbur and his boss, Jade Paignton, scramble to find a new model with the “essence of Yuji Lee”. Nick is Infiniy’s top model and Yuji’s nephew.
Wilbur and his assistant Betty travel to Harriet’s school to give her one more chance in the fashion world.
She agrees to go there as long as Nat can accompany her because fashion is Nat’s thing, not hers.
They visit the firm with their parents, but Annabel declines the offer and says Harriet is not ready for this exposure.
Harriet meets Nick on that day and he gives her some modeling tips. She begins to like the modeling gig and is disappointed with Annabel’s decision.
When she cannot convince them otherwise, she disobeys them and skips school to go to the trial day with Nat.
They make it to the final round and there is more flirting with Nick before Yuji Lee shows up herself to pick her lead model.
Harriet gets selected, but she doesn’t tell Nat because she doesn’t want to hurt her more after Nat’s rejection.
Richard finds out but isn’t angry with Harriet for lying to them. He is just looking for distractions from work that he’s been putting off.
He and Harriet travel to Canada for Harriet’s first show, while keeping it a secret from Annabel who is out at a business conference.
Annabel finds out that she is pregnant and is stressed about breaking the news to Richard. Harriet gets to spend more time with Nick, and the model she replaced as the lead, Poppy Hepple-Cartwright.
Poppy and Nick are in a fake relationship for social media engagement, but Nick has taken a liking to Harriet.
Harriet’s first runway walk is almost a disaster when she stumbles to the ground partly because of Poppy.
However, she picks herself up and continues to walk, making a ginormous impact on the press. Even Yuji is impressed with Harriet’s je nais see quois.
Nick takes Harriet on a date to the museum and some other kids spot them and grab a picture. It goes viral along with all the other moments involving Harriet.
Wilbur does his best to keep her in the dark about her newfound fame so that she doesn’t get overwhelmed, but it comes rushing through when she returns to school.
Nat feels betrayed by her and doesn’t talk to her, while Lexi and her minions pretend to be nice to her for favors.
Annabel is frustrated with Richard for being so childish and not taking things seriously, so he decides to make a change.
Harriet goes on her second date with Nick but then is late to Nat’s interview for a fashion school internship and loses her chance to apologize.
Jude is thrilled because Harriet is getting booked for all the big gigs, but Wilbur doesn’t want her to burn out.
During a perfume shoot with Nick and Poppy, she has to deal with Poppy’s nasty tricks. She ends up posting a video about the shoot which was supposed to be confidential.
This destroys her brief career in fashion and she voluntarily leaves Infinity. Jade is grateful for that and is trying to smooth things over with Yuji, while Wilbur quits.
He still believes in Harriet and so does Nick, who tries to convince Harriet that leaving was the wrong idea.
Harriet is ready to leave the fashion world behind and focuses on the upcoming school talent show.
She makes up with Nat and gets some great advice from Toby about drowning out the noise of others and being proud of who you are.
Lexi and her minions are the last act, and they do a dance number dressed up as Harriet as a prank. Harriet chooses to stand up for herself and drops a can of paint on them.
She leaves a message to Jade asking for a second chance, but Jade tells her that it is over.
Ending explained:
Newfound courage
Richard and Annabel are proud of Harriet for standing up for herself and letting her know that she did nothing wrong.
Harriet is a hero at school for doing what she did, and the bullies are forced to apologize to her.
She continues to get calls from Wilbur and Nick but she ignores all of them because she doesn’t want the drama of that life.
Pulled back in
Wilbur and Nick gather to plan what to do next. Wilbur goes to Harriet’s place to convince her, while Nick goes to convince his aunt that Harriet should be the lead.
Harriet doesn’t know about Wilbur quitting and is sold on doing the show. Nick doesn’t know this yet, and even though he makes a compelling case to Yuji, he cannot guarantee that she will show up.
Harriet turns up at the big event dressed in what Nat made for her interview. She confronts Jade on live television and gives her a telling-off that impresses everyone.
Time to shine
Yuji meets Harriet and hires her back on the spot while firing Jade’s agency. Poppy isn’t done with Harriet just yet and pretends to be nice to her.
She hugs her and sticks a piece of paper on her back with the word “geek” written on it. Harriet gets some final words of encouragement from Yuji and then walks down the runway.
She doesn’t realize the paper on her back, but she gives herself some time to breathe and then owns the runway.
Nick joins her and the two of them kiss in front of everyone. Months later, Harriet is with Nick and enjoying life as a huge fashion model.
Yuji even released a new line of fashion labeled “Geek”, after Harriet’s iconic moment.