Picture this – you're walking into college orientation. You don't know anyone, and it is more than a little disorienting. All you want to do is find the best chicken tenders on campus, but you did that before orientation. Your name is Sam Gardner, and you are the star of the Netflix series “Atypical.”
“Atypical,” which was released in August 2017, currently has three seasons with a fourth and final season on the way. While the show’s first season has been critiqued by Rotten Tomatoes as “surface-level” and “uninspired,” the show does an excellent job portraying the family of a teenager with autism spectrum disorder.
Just because ASD can cause major adjustments to an entire family’s does not mean that ASD is their entire life.
Sam is an 18-year-old high school senior with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the oldest of two siblings. Casey, his 16-year-old sister, is a scholarship-level runner, Doug, his father, is an EMT and Elsa is a stay-at-home mom. Throughout the first three seasons, the family experiences turmoil due to Elsa’s affair with a bartender, Casey and Sam’s relationship trials and Doug’s panic attacks. All of these humanize the family instead of keeping them supplemental to Sam’s life.
Just because ASD can cause major adjustments to an entire family’s does not mean that ASD is their entire life. The series debunks that myth, but also shows the dangers of letting one diagnosis take control. Elsa struggles with letting Sam be a teenage boy, who wants to get a girlfriend and, eventually, go to college. Elsa insists that Sam live at home after graduating high school and take a few classes at the local community college.
Instead, Sam ignores his mother’s maternal wishes and enrolls full-time at a college. He tries to live in the dorms but finds it overwhelming and moves back home. Lucky for him, the drive to and from is not far. Throughout season three, which focuses on Sam’s transition to college, Elsa learns how to step back and not “drown” her family, much like the succulents she takes to caring to when Paige, Sam’s girlfriend, moves cross-county to college.
...the show’s portrayal of the effects ASD has on families is on full display by incorporating real components of day-to-day life.
One of the most unique relationships in the show is not between Sam and his numerous romantic interests, it is with him and his sister Casey. Casey does not treat Sam like he’s fragile, unlike their parents. She treats him like she would any neurotypical brother, even going so far as to move his toothbrush enough times that Sam has a full-scale meltdown. Even though it’s something no one likes to talk about, meltdowns are a common aspect of ASD and are more than just a temper tantrum.
As a whole, ‘Atypical’ struggled with portraying autism in the first season, but season three gets to “live and breathe” as Sam grows up, according to Forbes. Regardless, the show’s portrayal of the effects ASD has on families is on full display by incorporating real components of day-to-day life.
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