TV Review: Hulu’s PEN15 Season 2 Gives Yuki Her Flowers
It is so hard for a show to be consistent. There is either a good season or a bad season or a glop of episodes that leave people divided. Out December 10, on Hulu, PEN15 is remarkable to me because it never fails to deliver. It is always funny, thoughtful, and immersive in what it is to grow up as a girl. Sure, Maya and Anna are, technically, a pair of 2000s pre-teens, but real-life inspirations/ creators Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle make them universal. The magic of Part 2 of Season 2 is that I feel like I understood more my experience, as a girl, while the show boldly acknowledges the darkness of childhood.
Kids are just tiny adults, which is why growing up can feel like a yo-yo. One minute you are crushing on this person, you swear throwing shrimp at an “ex” home is protesting, and you will do anything to impress the unimpressed, popular girl. UGH! Being a kid is so strange because you are at both your most exuberant and annoying: equally brilliant and kind of mean. Yet, both derive from your unfiltered nature, and growing up is about learning when you, actually, do need to put a filter, have a guard up, or cut ties. For Part 2 Maya and Anna GROW, but, even more interestingly, we understand how their parents did.
One of the most STUNNING episodes/ immersions we see is into the mind and heart of Yuki (Mutsuko Erskine ). She was always my favorite character because she reminded me of my mom and Maya, for better or worse, reminded me of me growing up. Now, older, I understand my mom was not “cold” or “strict for nothing.” I have more compassion and understanding for her journey as a woman stuck between two worlds/ cultures: never knowing whether she had to or was being forced to renounce one for the other. The richness of Yuki is beautifully explored, AND I NEED TO KNOW WHY THIS ACTRESS IS NOT WINNING OSCARS, YET! #giveyukiherflowers
Between Anna’s parents trying to find their newfound place, as divorcees, in Anna’s life, to Dallas Liu’s Shuji and Taj Cross’ Sam growing at Anna and Maya’s love interest, Part 2 of Season 2 truly feels like Season 3 of the series. So much growth occurs that our two fave middle-schoolers reveal that part of what makes kids’ “tiny adults” is that they have can feel as lost and as existential as “grown adults.” The difference is that they more feelings and less words to understand them.
