Atypical: The Essence of a Penguin

“There are no rules!”

It’s an interesting problem for Sam this time- he can draw an anatomically perfect penguin, but how does someone so literally minded manage to capture the essence of a penguin? Some of his fellow students are excited by the assignment, but Sam’s response- to set about recording in great detail the daily habits of his favourite penguin- shows, as ever, his capacity to miss what’s in front of him by being distracted by the little details. That is, perhaps, the essence of Sam. And yet he succeeds brilliantly, saving a penguin’s life while he’s at it.

Paige, on the other hand, has hit rock bottom. She’s suffered a massive knock in dropping out of uni, something which happened to me- but failure is often the secret of success. A few years later, after a while working in a factory amassing savings and playing at being working class, I got into a slightly better uni and thrived- propelled onwards by a great fear of my own potential laziness and procrastination. I’m sure the same will happen to Paige- that horrible waitress job isn’t her future; it’s something which will spur her to future awesomeness. And yes, Elsa is being quite brilliant in her meddling by telling Paige that. Meddling can sometimes be a good thing.

This is so for poor Izzy, too- it’s Elsa’s suggestion that leads Casey to lift the lid on her chaotic home life. And it’s clear that Izzy’s feelings towards Casey are more than just platonic... but not reciprocated.

Fortunes elsewhere are mixed. Evan impresses Doug on his ambulance practice. But Zahid is besotted with a nightmare of a woman in Gretchen- someone who wears her ignorance smugly and is a conspiracy theorist- and conspiracy theorists are a real beet noir of mine. Yes, the Moon landings happened. Yes, Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. Both of those things are clear and obvious. And no, I could never be in a relationship with someone who insisted on changing my dress style and that the “joie” as in “de vivre” was pronounced “joy”....

This is a particularly strong episode. The writing in particular is superb.

Atypical: Only Tweed

“I saw Zahid’s penis.”

Another beautifully constructed episode this time as Sam struggles with the concept, in ethics at uni, of a “Socratic seminar” where one researches a topic and discusses it in class- up preparing from 3.49am but failing the assignment through not speaking. There’s a different but equally stressful morning for Casey as the and Evan wakes up together and she resorts to rather amusing extremes to get him out of the house unseen.

And then there’s Elsa- after that revelation last time to Izzie about her shitty childhood she randomly meets her mum in the street and random small talk ensues, leaving her in shock. There’s a story there which will, I’m sure, emerge. And we also now know that Paige has serious problems- so her suggestion of a dinner party into which she Skypes is the much needed comfort of someone in a very brittle place- and it goes badly. Zahid’s new girlfriend Gretchen clashes with Sam and is an annoying know-nothing know it all who thinks she knows what she needs to know from YouTube, that uni is a waste of time that produces “drones”, and other such very wrong things. Also, Izzie and Evan clash badly, and Evan chickens out of ambulance practice with Doug because of nerves about potential failure arising from his dyslexia- something he hasn’t even told Casey about until now.

No one is having a happy episode. Until Sam realises that debating with Gretchen is exactly what he needs to do in the seminar- and he passes, returning home in triumph... to a teary Paige, who has dropped out, her dreams shattered. This is an episode where most of the characters are in difficulty of some sort, and it’s a masterly crafted episode. Superb

Atypical: Season 3, Episode 4: Y.H.G.G.

"Sorry, would you mind turning down your backpack?"

Right. You know how I started off blogging this season by suggesting that something was missing, that it was still very good but, perhaps because of the sheer amount of necessary early-season exposition, it wasn't quite catching fire in the way the two previous seasons had.

Well, forget that. At this point the season has fully reached peak Atypical. This is an episode that mixes perfect plotting and pacing with heart and humour in exactly the way this show does at its best. I think the jitters are over.

The use of Paige is as clever as it is sad- we begin with her on Skype to Sam describing her uni social life to Sam, encouraging to make friends or suffer the terrible social death that a friend of hers did. The fact that Sam does indeed have a good time at some kind of drawing jam party is nice but, more importantly, the final reveal is devastating- the "Burrito lab rat" is Paige herself, and she's miserable, bullied, and at the end of her tether.

Things are more bittersweet for Izzie, hanging around Elsa in a blatant attempt to escape her clearly dysfunctional family- and the two of them bond over their shit childhoods. Both of them are suddenly much deeper characters.

But there's happiness for Zahid who, after an excruciating party experience, randomly meets a girl by a rubbish skip and falls in love. And there's more bonding after the recent rough patch for Casey and Evan as they visit his shit estranged dad with his sister and they, er, kidnap a dog. And Casey's magnificent bollocking of a shamefaced Evan's dad is a wnder to behold- no wonder Evan kisses her.

THAT is how to do character drama.