The growing genre of cringe-inducing coming of age comedies may have finally reached its peak with PEN15. What series co-creators and stars Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle are able to accomplish in 10 episodes is nothing short of astounding. You’ll laugh during PEN15, but you’ll probably be shielding your eyes a lot, too.
And… despite how outrageous and weird this show can seem on the surface, you’ll find yourself getting emotionally invested in the story and characters. At times, it’s truly painful to behold – especially if you grew up in the late ’90s or early 2000s. But… it might just be the best show of 2019 so far, and one to remember once Top 10 season comes around in the spring.
At a glance, PEN15 looks like an extended YouTube sketch. Erskine and Konkle, both in their early 30s, portray their 13-year-old counterparts, surrounded by age-appropriate child stars in an eerily detailed recreation of an early 2000s classroom. But this is not a one-joke sitcom; once the initial image of two adult women dressed as children gets an initial laugh, the show wisely stops relying on the visual gag. Instead, it becomes a genuine coming of age story, just with two fully grown women leading the show.
But in addition to starring in the show, Erskine and Konkle serve as writers and manage to provide adult insight into these often hilarious high school adventures. The show finds the perfect balance between crude humor and mature cleverness. These writers are clearly all too aware of their middle school traumas (aren’t we all?), and know how to mine them for humor and make them feel totally universal. Yet there is a knowing sense of warmth here. PEN15 allows viewers to look back at the trivial things that dominated our worlds in middle school but are really just ridiculous in hindsight. It’s a great balance of jokes, and makes for a consistently compelling comedy.
Some episodes are largely nostalgia driven, which comes as no surprise since nostalgia for the late 90s and early 2000s is largely in vogue at the moment. There is a full episode devoted AIM, which will serve as a genuine comedic masterpiece for anyone who built their social lives on the chat service. Another episode finds the kids bonding over their shared excitement for the 1998 erotic thriller Wild Things, while a different chapter features a recurring subplot about the one-hit-wonder girl group B*witched. But the writers are clever enough to know that these subplots can’t sustain a full series.
And that’s why the direction this show heads in is genuinely startling and impressive. This show gets serious, and becomes not just about the pop culture phenomenons we all share while growing, but about the universal experience of being forced to grow up. PEN15, like Lady Bird, Boyhood, and other critically acclaimed teen films before it, wants to focus on the moments that turn us into adults. First dates, first fights with friends, and casual experimentation with liquor and weed gets some airtime, sure, but this show dives into something deeper than that.
One brilliant episode finds Maya Erskine’s character of the same name, who is Japanese-American, becoming conscious of the racism she’s experienced and internalized throughout her life. This serious subject is sensitively explored, but is paired with a hilarious B-subplot where Anna Konkle’s character (named Anna), who is white, stages a hunger-strike until racism is solved. It’s a hilarious way to show a young child’s understanding of race and racism, but it’s more serious-minded than any show like it on TV, and is genuinely powerful.
Konkle and Erskine also do a remarkable job playing these characters. They’re both very funny, yes, and know how to deliver humorous dialogue in a way that feels genuine, and fully commit to some hilarious physical gags. They perfectly recreate the awkwardness of merely existing between the ages of 12 and 14, whether they’re tripping over backpacks, trying out terrible new hairstyles, or attempting to dress like a grownup. But what’s really remarkable about both their work here is that they actually disappear into these characters, so much so that any laugh the sight of them playing kids might produce completely goes away. By the end, where both are forced to sell entirely dramatic scenes, they kill it. It’s remarkable work.
I’m maybe five years younger than the writers of this show, so while our coming of age experiences don’t totally line-up, there is a lot of overlap. There is a lot I can relate to here, and the horrific moments from middle school that these two main characters experience often hit so close to home that PEN15 felt like a horror film. But it got me thinking: I love to reminisce about my middle school traumas with my friends. There’s something therapeutic about sharing these stories and, of course, they’re often fun to laugh at. But… I’m mostly just happy that people my age are starting to write for television, so they can share their stories onscreen. It certainly makes for a great binge.
Overall rating: 10 out of 10
Pen15 is currently streaming on Hulu.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLkEpO3k514
