When Netflix began parceling out viewing data for 2017, we were fully prepared to learn just how many people binged the “Rise Of Steve”—sorry, Stranger Things. But the streaming platform wasn’t content to release such standard info, instead tweeting out shocking revelations like the fact that a few dozen people are obsessed with A Christmas Prince. Netflix has a long memory, though, so it also shared info on the most prolific “re-watchers,” i.e., folks who haven’t been able to get enough of Okja, for example. And it looks like someone streamed 2007's Bee Movie 357 times this year alone.
Who was this budding apiarist or Renee Zellweger voiceover fanatic, the public wondered. Netflix indicated it was a UK-based subscriber, which ruled out the guy who runs the @Seinfeld2000 Twitter account. But in what is easily its most impressive investigative work to date, The New York Post has learned it’s Gemma Chalmers, a mom in Scotland whose infant son just loves watching Jerry Seinfeld get justice for bees everywhere. Chalmers is pretty certain that she’s the Netflix user in question, though the company hasn’t confirmed one way or the other.
Apparently, Bee Movie is “the only thing” that stops baby Jaxson from crying. It was Jaxson’s grandmother who stumbled upon this animated panacea, which is about a landmark legal victory for the world’s declining bee population as depicted by a tiny, winged Jerry Seinfeld in a turtleneck. “He watched it from beginning to end completely fixated. When it stopped, he cried, so we put it back on.” Since then, it’s been nothing but Bee Movie all day, every day. Chalmers believes her son is transfixed by the colors and shapes, but we’d like to think that Jaxson already has a finely developed sense of humor, the kind that appreciates decades-old lawyer jokes and visual gags like Ray Liotta-brand honey.
Chalmers calculates that they’ve watched the movie four to five times a day since the discovery of its calming effect on Jaxson’s psyche, which he only needs to watch at home. He’s not preoccupied by real-life bees, and he has no trouble being out in public. But at home, Jaxson cries when the movie ends, which is why Chalmers has seen it so many times that she’s memorized all the dialogue. The mom has tried to wean her son off bees with Cars and Trolls, but we recommend moving onto Curb Your Enthusiasm, since Jaxson will probably enjoy the humor as well as the bald protagonist.