New Heights: A Swiss take on family struggles with just a touch of gay
New Heights dropped on Netflix in May of 2022. It’s a Swiss production both set and filmed in Switzerland, and we just have to say, no one is doing it better than the Europeans right now. There is something compelling and brilliant that exists in European television at the moment that is lacking from content created in other parts of the world. Especially when it comes to queer content.
The entire premise of New Heights is not an exploration of queer life. The gay aspects of this show is not at it’s center. The driving force behind this narrative is definitely the complexities of family dynamics, however, Michi (Julian Koechlin) – the main character – just so happens to be gay. This show is absolutely brilliant, but we’re not quite sure that calling it queer television would be fair.
New Heights is more accurately described as riveting and excellent television that just so happens to have a side of gay. The creators of the show slide the gayness right on in, as if it was supposed to be there all along. The gay aspects just happen to be part of the show, like queer people just happen to exist everywhere in reality! Here are all the reasons why you should watch New Heights on Netflix.
*Trigger Warning: Mentions and graphic depiction of suicide.
The dramatic plot
Michi is a high profile, successful advertising executive that makes a bucket load of cash and lives a lifestyle that shows it. He comes from a traditional Swiss farming family from a small farming town outside of Zurich. Despite this, Michi hasn’t ever felt like a farming kind of guy and definitely prefers his fast paced city life instead.
But then Michi’s dad does something that no one was expecting and hangs himself in the barn on the farm. Michi is forced to go home and deal with all of his family issues that he’s been running from.
Without the patriarch of the family around, the future of the farm is in jeopardy. The family is in disputes over whether they can continue to run it without him, especially considering all the debt that he wracked up before he died. And so the story moves forward: will they lose their family legacy, or will they manage to save it? More to the point, is it even worth saving anymore?
Although he looks like he has it all together on the surface, Michi is far from the posterboy of togetherness. He has a massive coke problem, hasn’t told his family that he’s gay, and has an unhealthy relationship with his job.
But he isn’t the only one. Everyone in his family is some kind of unhappy or screwed up. His mother is cheating with the neighboring farmer, his sister has deep emotional trauma that she never dealt with and makes many questionable decisions, and his brother, despite being an excellent farmer, can’t pass the required exams to actually become licensed to do so. They’re all a mess, and they’re all colliding and goodness, it’s just endless drama, drama, drama in every episode.
Horrible characters, binge worthy television
Don’t get us wrong, despite the fact that we watched all eight episodes of New Heights in one sitting (seriously folks, we couldn’t stop watching), don’t expect to come to this show and root for many of the characters. At least not completely, anyway.
There were moments where we were so invested in each character’s storyline, where they garnered our sympathy and we wanted to see them make their way through the fog, but honestly, those moments are fleeting.
New Heights has kind of a Wuthering Heights feel about it, in that, the characters are all so horrible and they do such horrible things to each other that you just can’t stop watching/reading.
We felt for Michi’s mom, because she was trapped in an unhappy marriage, but the way she deals with it is not great. We really wanted to understand Sarah (Sofie Hutter), Michi’s sister, but despite her trauma, her actions are completely inexcusable. We really, really wanted Lorenz (Jerome Humm) to win for the farm, but the kid plays victim way too much.
This family full of horrible people doing horrible things to each other just to get ahead, and is on the verge of imploding for the entire series. AAEven so, it’s unputdownable.
The gay
Of course we’re always going to advocate for folks to watch for the side of gay that’s served with this show, but don’t expect it to make you feel good about it all. The gay aspects of this show are not its redeeming qualities, but it definitely left us shouting at the television more than once.
Although Michi is out in Zurich, he isn’t with his family, or the farming community that he comes from. He treats his boyfriend terribly and refuses to introduce him as anything other than a coworker (but we all know how that particular storyline goes).
Michi cheats on Joel (Benito Bause) with his childhood crush, who now happens to be straight and married with a kid. Then he outs both of them to the community in a drug and alcohol fueled binge and destroys the dude’s life.
Not cool, Michi. Not cool. We don’t out other gays. Joel finds out and leaves him, but somehow Michi miraculously convinces him to take him back and just when they’re about to fly off into their forever life together, Michi abandons him on the side of the road.
Michi is a gay disaster.
Despite this, as we’ve said, we couldn’t stop watching. New Heights does not have a classic, storybook happy ending. The farm is saved though, so at least there is an opening for another season where this family can do more things to destroy each other!
While no word on whether a second season has been announced yet, there also hasn’t been an official cancellation. We definitely want a second season so if the Netflix gods happen to be reading this, throw us a bone and spill the tea! We’ve never been more invested in such a dysfunctional family as we are in the Wyss family.
New Heights is available to stream on Netflix now. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff!
