Atypical
BOXSET
This comedy-drama series from Netflix focuses on the domestic ups and downs of one ordinary, loving family, the Gardners, living in Connecticut.
Eldest son Sam (Keir Gilchrist) is an 18-year-old high school student who is on the autism spectrum, his younger sister Casey (Brigette Lundy-Paine) is a promising athlete, mother Elsa (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is a homemaker and former hairdresser and gentle, bumbling dad Doug (Michael Rapaport) is a paramedic.
In the early episodes we see how
Elsa’s overprotective parenting of Sam may have had an effect on the rest of the family – and impacted on her relationship with both her husband and her daughter. And when Sam announces that, with encouragement from his therapist Julia (Amy Okuda), he has decided he would like to try dating girls, Elsa is none too happy.
Sam is pretty determined though and he enlists the help of one of his colleagues at the electrical appliances store where he works part-time, worldly womaniser Zahid (a hilarious performance from comedian Nik Dodani). Meanwhile Casey is tentatively beginning her first romance with local boy Evan (Graham Rogers) and is hoping to get a sports scholarship at a highly regarded private school.
Much of the family’s life has revolved around what is best for Sam, all carefully managed by Elsa, and when it appears that Sam is starting to need her less than he used to, she feels a bit lost and embarks on an ill-advised affair with young bartender Nick (Raúl Castillo).
The scriptwriting effortlessly melds the humorous with the poignant – and it makes for very engaging viewing.