what are ur thoughts on the new netflix show ATYPICAL?

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Now I've finally watched all the epidoses. I agree with those who critizised Sam's inexpressiveness regarding his special interests: most aspies, if not all, are often visibly excited about them and, in my case at least, my special interests are what have always helped me bond with the rest of my family. The other criticism I'd like to make is that I hate to see autism portrayed as a valid reason for an otherwise fairly good parent to walk out on spouse and children.

Some of the things I did like were the critical way in which they showed mothers' support groups with their condescending "people first" language, the overprotective mother and the relationship between Sam and Casey, which was mainly positive in spite of Casey's mild teasing and the lack of attention she received because of her brother. I think that relationship is similar to the one I had with my younger sister during our early teenage years.

We just finished it and loved it. It is interesting in both the exaggeration of Sam's behaviours (which we all expected), but also the respect for them (which I didn't respect).

As both someone who is on the spectrum enough to relate, and a parent of someone else on the spectrum, I am forgiving of the isn't-it-hard trope that has been lamented here. The show isn't about Sam, it is about the family. In the same way that Sam's quirks are amplified, so is the families'. It is overplayed on this show so far, to be sure, but being the parent to an asd kid is rough, and the show would be less interesting if the parents got it right the first time. The JOY of having an ASD kid is marginally touched on, and that is the biggest hole for me.

I love that he has systems that work, and when they don't it is a problem.
I love that the scale to which he reacts to things varies and does not match what an NT might predict.
I love that his special interest isn't math or physics or space.
I love that he has a sense of humor and especially how it is portrayed (drop the punchline like a boss and keep rolling like it didn't even happen, let everyone laugh when they catch up), though I think it is TRAGICALLY underutilized.
I love that he is mainlined in school, but... I don't like that we don't see how that works.
I love Tinkerballa
I love that his dad is "discovering" him... which is a conceit of storytelling, it is unlikely he would start experiencing this when Sam is 18... but the feelings are good to explore and real.
I love the horrible parent's group.
I love that Casey gets a free pass for behavior and contact. She does things (touching/teasing) that other people don't get to do, not explained, not justified, it just is. Very real thing that hollywood generally doesn't deal with.

I agree that something is off about his talking about his special interest. It is intrinsically boring and he isn't excited about it. For the first 5 minutes, the energy and passion in a special interest monologue can often be interesting... it isn't until we don't stop talking about it that people get annoyed or bored with it. In my experience anyway.

I thought there should more consequences to breaking into the therapists house.

Why is EVERY show about an autistic person about them trying to find a relationship? Maybe if he developed a friendship with a girl who liked penguins and Antarctic stuff and it developed into a relationship over the course of a few years. But no, a relationship just for a relationship is going to go nowhere. Why is Sam so obsessed with wanting a girlfriend in the first place? They really should have at least explained it. But anyhow, I despise these type of shows where the person gives up everything for a relationship. What exactly did he see in Paige? If I had someone give me cards and try to tell me I couldn't talk about my special interest, I'd drop that f****r like a rock. He needs to find a girl who shares his interest in penguins and Antarctica, not one who makes him shut up about it.

I saw all but the last episode. I couldn't empathise with any of the characters, so it didn't interest me very much. I've no idea how realistic it was, though I suspect it wasn't very. The Aspie's behaviour seemed like a crude caricature by somebody who doesn't really understand autism very well, they didn't show anything positive about him, not that I noticed anyway. The other people just seemed like jerks most of the time. Sorry to give such a shallow appraisal of it, for all I know it could be doing a good job of explaining ASD-NT issues to a lot of people, but I wasn't thinking "wow, they're really telling it like it is," I was more thinking "what a boring mainstream American show this is, I can't see how it's going to do us any good." I'm not in any hurry to see the season finale.

Me and my parents watched the whole first season. they said the character reminded them of me a lot.

It looks life-affirming, ugh. I will not be watching.

Elliot Alderson from Mr Robot is the closest I've come to feeling represented in a TV series. Actually inspired me to come here. If there was a fictional character with a loneliness so similar to my own, I could probably find real people, too.

This is just another idea that Hollywood got a hold of and like all ideas in Hollywood, they're going to squeeze that dishrag until there's absolutely nothing left and it's going to be dirty and twisted.

It'll be completely inaccurate. It won't show the true experience of an ASD. They'll try to end it with a happy ending and there are no happy endings with ASDs. It will miss the mark completely, totally and utterly.

In short, it will be insulting to all of us.

_________________
*** High Functioning Autism - Asperger's Syndrome ***

ADHD, OCD, and PTSD.

Keep calm and stim away.

Can't wait for the next series. Really enjoyed it. Was a bit infuriated with the cliffhanger to be honest. Much better than the A word that the BBC have done. Atypical and the Chris Packham documentary by the BBC a couple of weeks ago, was also very good.