I watched this series as soon as it came out, and I did not let it go until I saw all episodes. So, there I am back to enthusiasm with Netflix’s programme and I clearly seem to be a fun of TV programmes based on really good and detailed research by their directors and writers (Seth Gordon is a director of this series written by Robia Rashid).
Like I said, I watched this as soon as it came on Netflix, but I did not write a review because I simply had no words to describe this beautiful series. I still don’t have any special words so I just have to get on with it and write a review. I suppose we could say that Netflix again championed diversity like it already did with the series Touch I already wrote about here.
While in Touch we meet a boy who can’t speak and can’t be touched, and who communicates with his father through numbers (read review here), in this series we meet a boy called Sam (excellent Keir Gilchrist). He has a diagnosed autism and is attending regular meetings with his therapist Julia (Amy Okuda). In that, we learn he is growing up and wants to start dating. This causes issues for his protective mother Elsa (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is not happy with this new development, as she fears he will only get hurt. In some of her arguments with her husband Doug (Michael Rapaport) she reveals how it is to deal with autism, i.e. when you have a child who does not smile and who takes everything literally.
Julia encourages Sam to date and do what all other teenagers do as part of his therapeutical programme to be as engaged with the society as possible. However, this does not go easy for Sam realises he likes Julia. Thus, he engages with planning how to get together with her by deciding to wait for her relationship to fall apart. This happens due to his fault, even though he did not plan it and it takes until the end of the series for this to be discovered and resolved.
He meets Paige (Jenna Boyd) who is not autistic but genuinely likes him and wants to be his girlfriend. Her affection goes that far that she organises a silent Winter dance to help him attend this important social event, as Sam does not like noise (throughout the series we see him with headphones to minimise noise). Thus, we get to see how Sam deals with relationship matters and what bothers him. His brutal honesty and lack of ability to understand that some things should be left unsaid are vividly portrayed in the series.
I do not want to go into too many details not to spoil it, as this is something everyone should watch. The series is painfully educational and also entertaining because sometimes one simply needs to laugh to brutal honesty of Sam even though nothing he does is really funny.
What makes this series interesting is the ability of its producer and director Seth Gordon to produce both serious content such as Atypical as well as hilarious films such as Horrible Bosses and The Goldbergs, one of my favourite series (see review here).
Horrible Bosses (especially the first one but the second one too) are the only comedies I watched several times, and Horrible Bosses 2 is the only film I ever pre-ordered on Amazon. I guess it is the time for my own research into the work of Seth Gordon to make sure I watched everything he has ever done, because this bloke certainly knows how to both move me and make me roll on the floor laughing.
Thank you for reading.