Atypical

Peter McGinn10/10

Apr 24, 2021

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This show was recommended to us b a relative who have a daughter who resides in the autistic spectrum. Our daughter is atypically autistic herself, but with deafness and a learning disability, she doesn’t resemble Sam much at all. It is a very good program overall. We watched the three seasons fairly quickly. I must admit that having Sam talk into the camera at the beginning of every episode, and sometimes during the show, got rather old for me. But it serves the purpose of introducing the theme of each episode, and can fill in details rather quickly. A few of the supporting characters are interesting and they all do a good job, even if a couple of them are nearly stereotypical rather than just Sam’s ‘atypical.’ So I recommend the show and am looking forward to the next series. *** Having watched the fourth session now, I am adding a few more words. This season (the last maybe?) is more of the same as what came before, which is mostly a good thing. It centers around Sam still but continues to develops subplots around everyone except Evan, who was perhaps too nice a person to continue writing dramatic material for and who is a very minor character now. Everyone else shares in the excellent writing and grow as characters; sometimes in subtle or complex ways, as with Elsa, who clearly exhibits character growth, but who is still who she is. I know there are a lot of bad reasons to hate good movies and shows: racism, misogyny, class snobbery, a stubborn anger about any kind of change or progress, and so on. But I am having trouble thinking of a reason to hate Atypical. Doing so would perhaps reveal a lot more about the hater than about the program. I wonder if there is any potential for human growth in that type of person.

The heartwarming story of Sam, a boy with autism, and his over-protective mother, dependable father, caring sister, and loyal friend. The character development is solid and the predicaments Sam finds himself in are natural and uncontrived. A welcome and unjudgmental look into the daily operation of an autistic person. Sometimes he's right, sometimes he's wrong, and the show does a good job of showing the impact he has on others and the impact others have on him.