Obviously, audiences are accustomed to a complicated storyline. If you look at any of America’s favorite TV shows you’ll quickly notice that each character has complex motives, relationships, and personalities. That is to say that I can understand how the creators of Netflix’s newest original series, Atypical, believed that a highly detailed plot was the path to success. However, this notion is challenged by the fact that Atypical revolves around Sam, a high school senior with autism.
The premise of Atypical is ground-breaking. When it comes to representation, characters that exhibit autistic behavior are almost exclusively used as a halfhearted pass at comic relief, never main characters.
However, where Atypical could have painted a clear and accurate picture of what it’s like to grow up with autism, it focuses most of it’s energy on the cliche subplots you can find in almost any family-based dramedy. The thoughtlessness is intensified by flimsy subplots.Despite, the potential to expand and emphasize on the complicated inner-workings of teenage friendships, that’s the end of the storyline. Atypical is littered with these cheap storylines and easy resolutions.
While the plot is convoluted and understated, the series’ most redeeming quality is the writing of Sam’s character.
Where there are moments in which he’s trivialized or made a punch line, the show does make a genuine effort to represent autism in an honest way. The audience is given a peek into his head by way of his therapy sessions. Often, the sessions are a way of foreshadowing the outcome of an episode by exposing his motives and feelings.
Sam’s ongoing obsession with Antarctica becomes a way for the audience to understand his innermost workings. Parallels are frequently drawn between the Antarctica facts he intermittently rattles off and the most personal details of his own life. During one of the many voiceovers within the series, Sam says “Antarctica is the most remote continent on the planet. It has 90% of the world’s ice, but it’s considered a desert because the annual rainfall is only about eight inches. You wouldn’t think it was a desert when you looked at it. That’s why I like it. It’s not what it looks like.” These introspective moments are not only the most moving aspect of the series, but also the best effort to really understand autism. There’s a common misconception that being autistic is synonymous with having no feelings at all. Small moments such as these in Atypical serve as an induction of realistic depictions of autism into mainstream media.
The creators were attempting to please as many viewers as possible with several small subplots as opposed to one focused plot. Instead, the convoluted, anticlimactic matter of the series can make it unpleasant to watch. It seems that a parallel can be drawn between the relationship between Sam and Paige and the relationship between the creators and the show. They don’t really love it, but they might as well pretend to.