The second season of Netflix’s original series “Atypical” came out a few weeks ago. This season builds and improves upon the first season. In the first season, the audience is introduced to the Gardener family.

It is a coming of age story, highlighting an eighteen-year-old high school senior named Sam with high-functioning autism. Sam is depicted by actor Keir Gilchrist.

The first season has gotten some criticism for having a lack of autistic actors and writers and instances of inaccurate depictions of people with autism. This has been addressed in the second season; the showrunners hired people with autism to act and to write for the show making the show feel more genuine.

The main draw of this show is to bring to light what it is like to be autistic and how it affects those around the person with it. For example, when Sam was diagnosed, his mother Elsa, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, threw herself at taking care of her son and devoted her life to him.

Now that he is getting older and does not depend on her as much, she starts to feel like her life has no place. This leads to her feeling alone and not knowing what to do with herself and searches for meaning now that her son does not need her as much.

His father named Doug, played by Michael Rapaport, is unable to emotionally connect with his son. At the beginning of the series, this bothers him. He loves his son but has nothing in common with him, making it hard to bond with him.

Over the course of the series, they do develop a bond. After Sam’s therapist encourages him to start dating, his father finally has something in common and jumps at the opportunity for anything to bond over with his son.

This leads to him and Sam finally having the relationship he always wanted. Their relationship develops even more as the series continues.

Although Sam is the oldest child of the family, his sister Casey, played by Brigette Lundy-Paine, is the protective one. She always looks out for him, making sure that he is safe while still being a normal sister. She makes fun of him about his obsession with penguins and moves his things around even though she knows it will bother him.

Casey often feels left out or not being heard for the majority of her life due to her parents having to pay more attention to Sam, but she does not resent her parents or brother for it.

The main protagonist of the show, gives the audience a unique perspective on life. In the first season, his portrayal was criticized for being stereotypical because of him being white, male and being incredibly neat and orderly.

Besides these criticisms, the character of Sam is a round character, growing during the course of the series. It is about finding himself and his place in the world.

“Atypical” is a very unique show being both a comedy and drama. It takes a misunderstood group of people and shows what they are really like. That is, for individuals with high-functioning autism.

This leads to the only real criticism I have: this show only reflects on people that are considered high-functioning and no other people with autism.
Other than this, the show is very good if you want a show that tackles sensitive subject matters a little differently.