On August 11th, Netflix premiered the comedy show Atypical. The main character is Sam (Keir Gilchrist), an-18 year-old boy who is autistic. This information was already enough to make it interesting to watch, but there is more… a lot more.
Atypical is a coming of age story that follows Sam is on the autistic spectrum as he searches for love and independence. While he is on his funny yet emotional journey of self-discovery, the rest of his family must grapple with change in their own lives as they all struggle with the central theme: what does it really mean to be normal?
There is a focus on every single character, like his sister Casey (Brigette Lundy-Paine). It is shown what she has to do – or not do – to make the life of her brother easier. There is also Sam’s best friend, who always give him some weird advices, Sam’s parents and his therapist, who tells him it would be nice to try to date.
Atypical has only eight episodes, however, it is a show pretty easy to fall in love with. Sam, for example, is such a nice guy that makes you want to hug him. In fact, a fun thing about him is that he loves Antarctica and penguins, so he is always talking about it, which is kind of cute – and makes you learn a lot about the continent.
Because he is autistic, there are obviously some parts in the show when he has difficult to communicate with people. That’s one of the parts that I most liked. To see the struggle that he has, when sometimes he doesn’t even realize what is socially acceptable. It’s great for you to stop, think about it and put yourself on his shoes – or on anyone’s who’s autistic.
The nice thing about the show is that it’s not focused on the parts of the autism you already know. It shows the part you would never expect to see if you don’t have contact with people who are like that. For example, the search for a girlfriend, the relationship with the family – apart from them taking care and the jokes his friend makes.
However, that’s not the only thing that is approached. Sam’s parents have a complicated relationship and part of it is because one of them can’t really accept the son’s condition, so it’s interesting to see how they deal with it and how they try to overcome it.
To summarize, Atypical is nice, light and funny. There are parts so sweet which will make you cry if you’re sensible, but in the end you will feel glad for watching it.