On Friday, we will have to say goodbye to one of television’s smartest comedies when Hulu’s Pen15 wraps up its two-season run with the release of its final seven episodes (dubbed Season Two, Part Two). While I can report that the story itself does come to natural resolution at the end of the series (the girls are ready to move onto 8th grade – although we won’t get to move on along with them), the loss of this wonderful series about the trials and tribulations of being a tween girl in the late 90s will leave an s-thing shaped hole in my TV watching schedule.
When we last left Maya (played by series co-creator Maya Erskine) and Anna (played by series co-creator Anna Konkle), they had just finished a vacation down to Florida with Anna’s dad*, which saw the duo get drunk for the first time – and end up in a precarious situation through their own naivete and desire to act older than they actually are (a common theme throughout the series – and something that will continue as a thread in the final seven episodes as well). The pair continue to struggle with body image issues, worries about popularity, boys (including the pressures of sex – which is a new wrinkle this time around, and a plot point that provides some of the most emotionally complex scenes in the series to date), and their changing relationship with each other and their families as they continue to push through puberty and head into young adulthood.
*The road trip episode – “Jacuzzi” – was released over the summer as an animated installment, helping bridge the gap between the first half of season two and the second. Filming on season two was cut short/delayed as a result of the pandemic, necessitating the year split between the halves.
While Maya and Anna remain the center of the series, the final string of episodes does allow one of the show’s more interesting supporting players to have a chance to shine. In “Yuki,” the third episode of the lot, Maya’s mother (played by Erskine’s actual mother, Mutsuko Erskine) is given an entire episode to herself, wherein we are allowed to better understand who she is outside of her family. While Maya may find her insufferable at times – why can’t she just get a sandwich like her friends?? – giving us this brief look into her own journey to where she is today (mother of two young teens, an immigrant, and what led to her leaving Japan with her son and marrying Maya’s father) gives us a look into Yuki’s life that we couldn’t get through the eyes of her children. It’s a really lovely episode and a nice break from the stress of teenage life portrayed throughout the rest of the series.
But, of course, what makes Pen15 so darn great is the truth at the heart of its comedy. For those of us who recall with clear specificity being Maya and Anna’s ages at that exact time – which includes me – the series has just enough nostalgia to trigger memories and more than enough truth to allow us to recall our own middle school disasters. Our crushes, first relationship, the fear of losing your friend to their first significant other, the worry over whether or not you’re popular enough or if you’ll be cool enough for your peers, and just the general terror that comes with being a young teen in a world populated by adults – it’s all there, layered underneath the overarching storyline of the season. And it’s all true to what life really is like when you’re a 13-year-old girl, desperate to be older but still clinging to childhood (in one great scene, Maya and Anna play with dolls while discussing their dating lives – the perfect encapsulation of this desire for adulthood and the need to stay a kid). Most of all, however, the show remains funny. Yes, there are deep emotional beats (particularly with Maya’s season arc) and frank dives into the pain, confusion, and power imbalances of teenage life, but I found myself laughing out loud on many occasions throughout the season.
I’ll wholly miss Pen15 now that it has wrapped up its run, but I can’t wait to see what Erskine and Konkle do next – the series wouldn’t have worked at all without them, and they’ve certainly got a bright future ahead of them. But until then, watch the Pen15 swan song, ruminate on your own middle school experience, and say one final goodbye to Anna and Maya, two badass 13-year-olds.
Pen15’s final seven episodes premiere Friday, December 3 on Hulu. All seven episodes were provided for review.
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