We've all gone through those awkward, middle school years where we were just figuring out who we thought we wanted to be. Memories from that time of our lives will forever haunt us with all of the cringeworthy, awkward things we did as pre-teens. As much as it hurts to think back to all the cringey things we did, there's something about looking back at this moments and laughing at them.
The Hulu original show, PEN15 does just that. PEN15, was created by Maya Erskine, Anna Konkle and Sam Zviblemand. Erskine (Maya) and Konkle (Anna), both in their 30's, star as middle-school versions of themselves where they very welly portray believable versions of their 13- year-old selves. Although it is clearly obvious that the two are much older than their actually middle-school-aged co-stars, the show gives viewers a nostalgic feeling.
At first glance, two 31-year-old women playing roles as 13-year-olds surrounded by actual 13-year-olds, is a little weird. However, when you start to get further into the first episode, it is fascinating how quickly viewer can forget Maya and Anna are played adults. The two have such a great grasp of what it's like to be 13 that by the second episode, it becomes almost unnoticeable. To top it off, their co-stars do a great job at seemingly being unaware of the real life age difference.
Following the two inseparable best friends, the show highlights how the girls progress from being the two invisible girls who were just trying to fit in during the first season, to becoming boy crazy and desperately looking for a boyfriend during the second season.
While the plot of the show is mainly comical, It touches on some more serious topics in the background. During all the awkward, pre-teen drama the two girls are going through, Anna's parent's are getting a divorce. Going through middle school while your parents are getting a divorce creates many mental problems for a kid. The writers create a comical way to touch on the topic.
The name of the show, PEN15, is a play-on- words for Penis. While the I personally think the show could have gone for a different name, I completely why they chose to go with PEN15. The title itself brought me back to middle school when kids would ask others to join the "pen club". You'd write Pen 14 on your hand and walk up to an unsuspecting class mate and ask them if they wanted to join and telling them they could be Pen 15. Ultimately, the goal of the prank was to try to get class mates to write "penis" on their hand.
While the title itself does the job of taking you back to middle school days, it doesn't do the show justice. For one, the prank itself has yet to make an appearance in the show. The title makes the show seem like it has dry humor when it's really much more than that.
The intro song, Demirep by Bikini Kill, really did it for me. Something about the sound of the song just takes me back to middle school days. The sound track is filled with songs from the 2000's adding more to the nostalgic feel.
If you're looking for more shows like PEN 15 that will bring you back to the old days when you were in your teens, I would suggest the show Awkward, which can be watched with regular subscription on Hulu or Never Have I ever, which is a Netflix original. Like PEN15, both shows touch on the awkward moments we go through while growing up and trying to figure out who we are.
Something about shows that bring back nostalgic memories if very comforting. Plus it helps when you see other people going through the awkward things you faces during your middle school years.
You can now start streaming season 2 on Hulu with the basic subscription plan.
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