MerPeople

At this point, with so many docu-series under its belt, Netflix has cracked the formula for compelling 'character' arcs in projects like these.

It may seem crazy to think that professional mermaiding is a thing, but after you watch MerPeople and see the happiness coming from the people who are doing this work, you way want to do that work, too.

It is a splash around in the shallows, charming and melancholy by turns, but still a testimony to the endless ingenuity of humanity and how much it yearns to heal itself.

As these kind of programming oddities go, though, this docuseries doesn’t work either as train-wreck TV or an anthropological dive into what motivates people to engage in this activity. Based on that and the three-hour viewing commitment, there’s just not enough here to merit making “MerPeople” part of your world.