![]() The girls believe they are witches, join the boys wrestling team, and feel the self esteem-boosting powers of a stolen pink thong throughout the course of the show as ways to (not) deal with the hard parts of puberty and growing up. “Pen15” is so good at empathizing with its characters while also poking fun at how Maya and Anna’s altered realities obscure the real world while helping them cope. Is our crush really so in love with us that a song plays and life goes slow-mo when he walks by, or is his affection merely a figment of our imagination? “Pen15” unpacks bullying, slut-shaming, sexual exploration and awakening, racism, and navigating precarious social dynamics all within its absurdist conceit without ever feeling like a corny Very Special Episode.Įrskine, Konkle, and their co-creator Sam Zvibleman can create humor in both emotional maturity and the physical ordeal of a girl’s first time shaving in the same scene, making it easier for us to laugh at ourselves and at the lengths we’ll go to end up in essentially the same place. They do this frequently, zapping us in and out of Maya and Anna’s reality to signify how much of the drama and dread of middle school is created and contained without our own consciousnesses. To take such a grounding, intimate moment between friends and turn it completely on its head into something surreally absurd is “Pen15” at its best to me. Maya and Anna’s friendship is the grounding force of the “Pen15.” It enables the absurdist gags and bits, like in “Play” when Anna is comforting Maya and all of the sudden she begins breastfeeding her with a CGI boob in the middle of the hallway. And the show finds this same depth in every topic it touches. This instance of finding the meaning in the mundane made me reflect on how the architecture of my pantry growing up has impacted my sometimes fraught relationship with food since. In “Pen15”, something as mundane as after school snacks take on a world of meaning, using them as a way to discuss cultural and class differences like when the popular girls are grossed out by the Japanese food in Maya’s fridge or when their new friend Maura uses Powerade and Ring Pops to gain social clout. ![]() The show has unlocked memories from middle school that I had long forgotten, opening a vault of feelings both positive and negative that have forced me to reexamine how the context in which I grew up has impacted how I see myself now and the values I hold. ![]() ![]() However, “Pen15” feels like letting the world read my 6th grade diary. It is not necessarily what you think would pull on your heartstrings. And they play opposite actual child actors. This half-hour comedy series is set in the early 2000s and stars Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, two 30-year old women playing middle school versions of themselves (Maya Ishii-Peters and Anna Kone, respectively). Are they laughing at the right jokes? Do they get emotional over the same parts you do? Are they pretending to enjoy it while thinking about what a huge waste of time this is? When you love a show so much that you enthusiastically rewatch it three times with different assortments of friends, their reactions to the show go beyond simple TV preferences-it becomes personal. Staring at someone you care about watching a TV show you love is terrifying.
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