Rotten (2018–2019) User Reviews

Illuminating and frustrating docuseries on industrial food practices...

[mdw0526 · 8/10 · 19 December 2019]

The second season of this show was similar to the first, focusing on the industrial processes and environmental harms of so much of what we consume. The first had episodes on honey, peanuts, garlic, chicken, milk, and fish, while the second season covered avocados, chocolate, water, sugar, wine, and marijuana edibles. It's a really good show, well produced and thought provoking, and made me think twice about the products I buy in the supermarket. I do take umbrage, however, with the tone of the last episode of S02, on pot edibles in Amsterdam and in the U.S. While I'm sure they were aiming for impartiality, too much of the episode ended up being like "Reefer Madness", using scare tactics to convince viewers that pot legalization is moving too fast. That's balderdash and one quote alone shows the fallacy of the "war on drugs":

"...enforcement of federal and state marijuana laws costs eight billion dollars a year..."

It's pure insanity that we waste so much money, and incarcerate way too many black and brown people, for something that should never have been illegal in the first place. All the money that's spent fighting a plant that is patently less harmful than alcohol is asinine. Soapbox rant aside, I'd definitely recommend watching S02; all the episodes are illuminating and interesting (and infuriating and frustrating).

Not your usual food documentary

[koofasa · 8/10 · 29 January 2019]

Each story is a deep dive into a narrow industry segment like poultry in America. It is educational and informative. I like programs like this that are presented honestly and without an agenda.

The 2nd coming of "Food Inc."

[joshua_begin · 8/10 · 11 January 2018]

Tl;dr: Read the last paragraph, and if that's tl, then my recommendation is to watch the garlic episode.

This series is definitely a slow burner. I stopped watching the first episode multiple times because I could not get into it but trudging through the tedious parts gives way to some of the best documentary work I have ever seen. This is the worst part about this series, the irregularity of the quality. Certain sections will be completely vapid and devoid of emotional investment from the audience whereas the best Rotten has to offer is a surprisingly touching and emotional story paired with legal and legislative conflicts.

The Peanut episode for example, is extremely boring. Easily the worst, I don't understand how they went through with this topic. Someone must have realized at some point that they were pretty much saying the same thing for 30 minutes during the episode.I feel like I could spoil everything that happens in this episode and it would change anything because most of the revelations and ideas brought up are extremely basic. If you have any experience with food borne allergies, be it personal or stuff you've seen on TV, this episode is a waste of time. The next episode, however, is completely different.

Now I may be biased because I love garlic (try chopped garlic with sardines and avocado on toast), but this episode is my favorite. In the description of the episode they bring up their a lawsuit. I could not have been more turned off but after watching it, this episode was the one that stayed in my head the longest. This episode could have been released by itself and I would be completely satisfied. The development of the plot is paced very well and it leaves so many questions unanswered. This episode leaves you frustrated in the best possible way. If you are going to watch any episode of this series, this one should be it.

An argument could be made for the chicken or cod episodes but if you've seen Food Inc., the chicken episode isn't as powerful as it could be although it is still one of the best. I should mention that this episode is definitely seperate from Food Inc. in a lot of ways, but it still touches upon similar topics. The Cod episode is good but it puts the legal controversy front and center whereas the garlic episode builds up to it which makes it more satisfying.

Plot-wise, there are three great episodes two good ones, and one bad one. The two good episode (dairy and honey) were still very good but not as well paced as the others.

The rest of what makes good TV is flawless, which is why I give it such a high score. The cinematography and overall directing is very good. The image itself is very crisp, and I noticed no errors in the sound design. Overall, the production quality is great. If I had to have one issue it would the song for the intro. It's starts very brutal and fits the rhythm of the video and I love it. But then, they bring in what I assume to be a brass instrument and it kills the vibe completely! They should have kept the ominous rhythm by itself and it would be fine.

After Food Inc., which to me was the pinnacle to food documentaries, I haven't had the same eye opening experience with any other documentary. Until Rotten. It tackles these issues from so many angles that you are bound to learn something new, be it from a human perspective, or a business or legislative angle. There are slow parts and one particularly slow episode (and it's a shame because I love peanut butter) which prevents this docuseries from reaching perfection but the parts that shine will leave you blind (in a good way???). This along with the production value is why I highly recommend this series.

Mostly boring

[seronjaa-797-313124 · 6/10 · 19 March 2018]

The first episode about bees was mostly interesting. But there was no conclusion, not enough information and no tips for what little people could do about it (like growing wild flowers in their garden, buying local honey,...). The second episode about food alergies was ok, but again- nothing new, nothing shocking, nothing we can do about (unless we own a restaurant). The third about garlic was boring to death. I love garlic, but come on! China is the bad guy in every episode and who cares if prisoners peeled the garlic. So peel your own garlic, people or don't buy chinese garlic at all! I've heard much worse stories about chinese garlic than in this documentary series, that is supposed to be shocking and truth-telling. I thought this documentary would be something like "Food inc." or about the global food market, our consuming habbits, propaganda, fake food and so on. And not about some specific lawsuit scandals in the USA, that mostly concern only the food producers.

Lovely series with the human side of food production

[artwind · 9/10 · 22 April 2019]

I really liked Rotten, a tile that suggests a dramatic exposé which it is not, The drama is in its close-up look at real people working in the growth/ production of peanuts, garlic, milk, bees/honey, fishing (cod), and chickens. in the U.S. as well as the current state of these particular fields with regard to regulation, trade, consumer demand, profitability, etc.

It's very engaging, fascinating even, with honest and caring attention to the foods and those who produce them. I totally enjoyed it and highly recommend it.

My humble review of season 1

[roxlerookie · 6/10 · 11 October 2019]

The garlic episode was great. Idk what resources Netflix allocated to making those, but I often felt frustrated with the finished product. The issues tackled are huge, but all those do is scratch the surface, basically, and it's neither very satisfying or informative. A bunch of problems are dug out, 2 sides of the story are presented, the editing doesn't help, and there's nothing really helpful coming out of it. Sometimes it felt they weren't even talking to the right people, for eg taking a step back and thinking of Option C, when neither A nor B seems to work.

Interesting Docuseries

[kenyae-cagle · 9/10 · 6 January 2018]

This series was very interesting to see. It was crazy to see that we humans are under governments that will lie to us about what we ingest or digest. I'm a vegan and out of this entire series I enjoyed watching the first episode about learning how the honey was imported from China however we found out a lot of this stuff was not honey, but was combined with other chemicals and maple syrup. Seeing this entire docuseries not only showed me that we humans must be careful, but slavery plays a huge part of what we eat when it came to the garlic episode it was such a shame. Whenever I think we are being progressive it seems we're not being progressive entirely in the way that matters. It was also, deep to watch about the chicken industry or poultry industry with how Chickens only live for 6 weeks before they're murdered. I do not approve of the industry, but I was sad when I found out about the psycho path that killed over 300,000 chickens. It seems everything will be done to animals or anyone for profit and money.

Significantly better second season

[Nekravol · 7/10 · 3 August 2021]

First season is hit-or-miss. The milk and the peanut episodes are particularly bad. A lot of the episodes rarely get beneath surface level. But there are also some really good ones, like the garlic one and the chicken one. The first season is also way too heavily focused on the USA.

The second season however is a significant improvement. The documentary expands beyond the borders of the USA, to countries like Mexico, Côte d'Ivoire and France. It also dives deeper into the issues and does so in a more coherent manner.

The show isn't overly dramatic. It looks to different view points during it's presentation of the issues and lets you form your own opinions without pushing an agenda, which is a big plus these days. I also like that it doesn't place the onus on the viewers to address these problems or try to guilt trip them into action. It paints a bleak picture of corporate greed and the callous disregard for anything but profit margins. I've definitely become more cynical after watching it.

Well done, people dissappointed it doesn't tell them what to do LOL

[Navon9000 · 8/10 · 30 May 2021]

Some episodes are better/more interesting than others, but overall it's a good docu. It has some major focuses and unlike other wannabe docus out there lately doesn't try to create a false image of the world and what YOU should do to follow their idea of fairness. It informs and does so well as it should be. Not some highly biased individual experience based "idea" of a docu. Good stuff and worth/enjoyable to watch.

You Really Should Care!

[chrissso · 9/10 · 3 January 2020]

Most folks couldn't care less where their food comes from ... as long as it's cheap and tasty and readily available. Yet when you think about it ... is there anything more important than where our food comes from ... the quality of that food ... and the negative consequences associated with bringing that food to our tables?

These are things we need to be aware of and I applaud Netflix for shedding some light on these issues. In many ways this is a series that that follows in the footsteps of the great documentaries "Food Inc" and "Cowspiracy"

Feeding the people of our planet is big business. It has traditionally been the livelihood of millions of individuals around the world, but this is changing. There are billions of Dollars at stake and anytime that kind of money is on the table we need to be watchful as the profit motive can be a very evil force that crushes the individual.

I enjoyed this series and I learned a lot from it (whoda thunk that drug cartels were taking over the avocado crops). I hope Netflix will produce a 3rd season because there's a lot more to talk about. Sustainability, livelihood and food safety are huge issues for us all.

Great idea, but too unfocused to shine as a series.

[nissebror · 5/10 · 17 March 2018]

The concept for this show is really quite brilliant. Looking at the shady underbelly of food manufacturing, and trade is a compelling idea. The first episode dips into this potential by looking at how Chinese honey exporters dilute their honey with various syrups made from rice, corn, and other food products. The fourth episode about garlic taps into part of the concept as well by looking at how Chinese garlic producers use prison labor to peel garlic that they then sell to the U.S.

However, despite moments of thoughtprovoking brilliance, this series only scratches the surface of most topics, and is increadibly unfocused in several of the episodes. The episode about chicken for instance deals more with a series of chicken coup attacks in the Southern U.S., then it does looking at the payment structure for farmers and the globalized scale of ownership with chicken companies.

So while the core idea is terrific, the execution of the series leaves a lot to be desired. They should've dug deeper into the issues, focused their episodes a lot more, and ensured that the finished product is just as engaging and thoughtprovoking as the idea itself.

Episode: The Peanut Allergy

[annika-34577 · 8/10 · 16 June 2020]

As someone who suffers from numerous food allergies, such as peanuts, I understand the difficulty and fear that is associated with eating at restaurants. In this documentary about peanuts allergies, they discuss how the rapid increase in this particular allergy has changed agriculture, the restaurant business, science, and almost every aspect of society. Peanut allergies have become the most common type of allergy in children, with ½ of kids with allergies specifically having a peanut allergy. The peanut allergy is also one of the most severe allergies, making is increasingly more difficult for individuals to eat at restaurants. In the film, they discuss how negligence of this allergy by one Indian restaurant lead to the death of one man and the hospitalization of another girl. As a result, the owner of this restaurant was sentenced to 6 years in jail, simply because he had switched from almond based cooking to peanut based, for cost purposes. Peanut allergies are a severe and very common illness that cripples the lives of many, making it hard for them to eat out, attend baseball games, and even go to school (although schools have actually become much more cautious and even banned peanuts from the premises). Although not much is known about allergies, one allergy scientist in the film noted that the increase in peanut allergies may be an impact of low exposure to germs and bacteria. In recent years, society has become much more focused on cleanliness and sterilization. Similarly, young children play outside much less frequently than children who grew up in the 90's. As a result, the human microbiome has changed, or become less diversified. From a scientific viewpoint, genetic diversity allows mutations and adaptions to occur over time. In relation to peanut allergies, as the allergy has become more common, is has been wildly removed as a household item, from schools, and from general consumption and production. Similarly, in 2000, the American Academy of Pediatrics strongly advised that parents refrain from exposing their children to peanuts until the age of 3, in attempt to avoid fatal allergic reactions in children. As a result, many peanut agricultural industries suffered greatly. However, in 2008, it was discovered that Israel had the lowest number of peanut allergies because their children were commonly snacking on Bamba, a peanut based product. Consequently, the United States then advised parents to start introducing peanuts at a young age in order to allow their children's immune system to learn to recognize the substance. In general, this is a great film that highlights the challenges faced by individuals with peanut allergies and proposes a communal solution for how to address these problems. Based on the expert advice of the scientists in this documentary, I think that introduction of these foods will not only allow children to develop antibodies that recognize foreign substances, but it will diversify the human microbiome. Similarly, this consumption of this low-cost product will be more environmentally friendly than almonds and will also benefit the agricultural industry.

Fair bit of munch but not much crunch

[iotaonaspinningrock · 5/10 · 19 January 2018]

Rotten is predominantly an American-centric documentary aimed at creating awareness around food-related crimes and scandals, particularly those which impact upon American food producers. Generally less emotionally 'shocking' than many similar 'food revolution' films, Rotten somewhat lacks information around how individual consumers might take meaningful action towards a better system, and acts instead to expose crime and corruption occurring, leaving viewers to draw their own conclusions. The series has a limited approach to tackling serious global food issues as, instead of looking at each issue from a broader perspective and investigating all components, it directs itself more towards discussing specific cases and individuals within each industry. Though only narrowly addressing the greater issues, the cases within themselves are interesting 'food for thought' and in the least the series may help to promote important wider awareness and discussion around sustainability, ethical food production, mass-scale production issues, food quality and responsibilities of producers and consumers.

Lacking focus

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 27 May 2019]

"Rotten" is, at times, a very interesting and worthwhile television series. And, at others, it seems directionless and confusing. In other words, some episodes are well worth seeing...and others not. The problem is that the underlying philosophy of the program seems difficult to determine.

Episode one, about honey production and the adulteration of honey coming from China is the best of the six shows. It presents a strong case and is quite compelling. But, this isn't the case with other shows...which often seem to contradict themselves. For example, in the episode about garlic, the show spends much of the time attacking one particular mega-corporation....and then, in a big switcheroo, then attacks its competitors and makes you wonder WHO is the bad guy. Another example is the show about the poultry industry. The first half of the show is about some local chicken producers who were attacked by an unknown culpret and their chickens killed....but then, suddenly, it becomes an attack on a Brazilian mega-corporation! To make matters worse, after spending all that time attacking the Brazilian corporation, the show admits that there was a huge shakeup in the industry and this same Brazilian corporation had to divest of many of its companies around the world! Talk about a lack of focus!!

I wish the show had chosen to simply dealt with food adulteration like the first episode. And, oddly, one of the most famous adulterated products, olive oil, is never even mentioned in the series.

Overall, some good, some very bad....a series that can be compelling and frustrating.

Not that good, Waste of time

[bcikasa-96482 · 5/10 · 7 January 2018]

I was hoping for an expose but instead it's a rather bland, non impacting TV show.

What I learned from episode 1: China and other Pac. Asia nations try to dilute Honey with corn and rice syrup but, those who oversee this fraud are on top of it. My reaction: Like anything fraud occurs but oversight seems to be working. What I do with this information: Nothing.

What I learned from episode 2: Nothing My reaction: People with food allergies should not trust establishments when they say the food is safe for a certain allergen. What I do with this information: Nothing. I don't have food allergies and I don't really care about the diet challenges of those who do.

This is when I stopped watching. The first two episodes were boring and didn't do anything to educate me on things I didn't suspect or already know. Moreover, upon reflection I can honestly say I didn't care about any thing there were presenting. Documentary "Fat Head", interesting and educational. "The Sugar Movie", interesting and educational. "Rotten", boring and nothing to learn if, at the very least, a slight portion of your brain pays attention to current events and nutritional news.

Presentation adjusted for american viewers

[yowandb · 5/10 · 7 December 2020]

Some good info in the series, but the way it is presented is just as some "crime scene investigation" channel or similar. Accent is not on the food but on the way people act. I'm used to the BBC standard and this way of presenting put me off. This could be much more quality program.

Humm..sounds like lobbying..

[saskiou · 3/10 · 9 March 2018]

Sounds like theres a lot of lobbying behind that serie...For me the worst episode was definitely the one about raw milk. I mean common! what was that unnecessary drama part with the poor-little-white-only-chlid that got E coli. Really just looked like the USA milk industry needed an argument to attack what ever farming that's does not have any lobby representation... Honestly Netflix, I'm pretty disappointed..!

Disappointed

[sandrarib · 4/10 · 4 February 2019]

Episode after episode I kept being disappointed. You just missed the point Netflix.

Editing in a documentary

[nikness90 · 3/10 · 24 February 2019]

The commentary provided by the bee keepers is obviously/audibly been edited together within(!) sentences, thus leaving me with doubts. Is this really what the interviewed intended to say? Is this series unbiased? When in doubt, leave it out - was my conclusion. 1 Episode was all I could watch. 3 stars because it seemed mildly informative, but missed its ultimate goal from what I initially gathered in the trailer.

Each episode has its own rating. Some worth it, some not.

[rchosen-193-5535 · 5/10 · 9 February 2020]

I'm almost done with season 2 and then I'll watch season 1. So far its a mixed bag. Like with many "underbelly" things you find out about, you could go on about it for much longer. More time then the episodes can fit into an hour long episode. Though again it depends on the episode.

I just finished the episode on wine (I don't drink wine mind you). It left me not sure of what view to have. I guess you are left to decide really. Think of this whole series as Food Inc really. I think many will find somethings shocking, others who may tend to focus online alot may know about some of these issues or things going on.

Give it a shot. Or at best just watch episodes that may sound appealing to you.

boring, uninformative and waste of time

[nijwmzen · 3/10 · 25 July 2018]

I really wanted to like this doc. there were some really big issues in the food industry that need to be exposed. however, i was utterly disappointed by how episode after episode, the documentary looked at the wrong issues.

this documentary might as well be produced by american govt in collabration with american companies. In the episode on Chicken, there was no mention of the problem of antibiotics in chicken at all.

Rotten was Rotten

[randyunseen · 1/10 · 30 October 2019]

I find biased shows like this, extremely one sided with the normal Corporations are bad.... Not once did they have another option. It's extremely obvious the Producers are anti business... Boring

Incomplete and rather PC picture

[rds_1 · 4/10 · 12 January 2018]

I had hopes for this documentary show. But in the end it only sniffs at the subjects and then focuses on the wrong thing. Dare I say that it is to distract from the real issues surrounding the subjects?

The first one about bees: Real issues like bee colony collapses are mentioned but in the end isn't much more than a footnote as it ends up focusing on honey fraud. It's mostly about the commercial side of things. Let alone that it informs us of the main culprit in bee colony collapses which if you have followed "real news" you already know it to be the (over) use of pesticides.

The second episode about allergies: The most probable cause for this increase we've seen the last 30 years is vaccination. There is a very strong link peanut allergy and vaccines in particular. But even though this episode mostly focuses on peanut allergy vaccines aren't even mentioned (as big pharma wouldn't want that of course). Again sniffing it but not daring to go further, disappointing.

I haven't watched any more episodes yet. Not sure if I will, probably not as I doubt that the rest of the episodes are any better.

Very One-Sided

[williampmcmullin · 1/10 · 2 August 2018]

The episode on fishing is disturbing. It's slanted towards the fishing industry. Fish feel pain. Us stealing food away from marine mammals is wrong. The fishermen can get into a more ethical business. Rotten tries to make you feel sorry for these unethical fisherman. I don't feel the least bit sorry for them.

The episode on the dairy industry shrinking doesn't pull on my heart strings either. People are drinking healthier milks such as soy, rice, coconut, etc. The times are changing. The industry needs to change too. It's their choice.

If you enjoy blaming businesses for the ills of the world, watch this

[dle-54509 · 1/10 · 26 April 2020]

I tried watching the episode on bottled water. Apparently Nestle is the bad guy for supplying Flint-a city that due to poor government management of its infrastructure was poisoning its citizens thru lead-tainted tap water-with free, emergency supplies of water.

According to the "experts" interviewed, Nestle is the bad guy because the water is bottled a hundred miles north of Flint in another town where they (apparently shockingly) only pay for the water at the same cost as residents yet turn around and sell it to make a profit.

One "expert" says that Nestle pays, "next to nothing" for the water before stating how much they pay and then sell it for. Conveniently he left out the cost of the pumping & storage infrastructure, bottling raw materials and production costs, employee salaries, transportation costs, etc. Next to nothing? Riiiiiiight. Quality analysis there. Not to mention the dozens of jobs produced, the community and school improvements made and the free water supplied to Flint and numerous other communities in nearly every humanitarian crisis in America and other parts of the world.

Why the hubbub to start with? Because water should be a basic human right, so how dare anyone charge for it, according to the narrative. I agree that everyone should have access to clean water. And in places where it is actually scarce, there are multiple organizations and charities at work to provide just that. I personally support two of them. But the missing connection for these experts, and at least this episode of the Rotten documentary, is that consumers are freely choosing to buy bottled water. And can freely buy bottled water from whatever company they prefer, even finding and purchasing from ones that provide donations and support to help people in places without clean water access.

And for people in places like Flint-where trusting the local government supply of water is a gamble with health-thank God they do so that the private sector can once again prove that the free market and valued-run companies are far more efficient, effective and economically sustainable than government bureaucracy who despite the time and access to a nearly inexhaustible supply of forced revenue (our tax dollars) could not even keep the aging pipe system up-to-date for their own people.

I'll be honest, maybe I would have heard other points of view had I continued watching the episode. And perhaps the others in the series are more factual and balanced. But after the corporate-bashing-disguised-as-documentary kept drilling on, I just stopped.

For the record, this is maybe my second review I've ever written for a TV or Streaming series, and I have zero connection with anyone in the water or beverage industry. I'm just a water drinker and tired of the corporate bashing dé jur that seems to be served by ideologs as news and swallowed by viewers as fact not opinion.