The coming of age fiction and heartfelt comedy-drama is a recently new Netflix original series that has been talked about. Atypical premiered on August 11, 2017, a full season with eight episodes on Netflix. Now going onto the 3rd season, Atypical has had a season come out every year since it premiered. The series was created and written by Robia Rashid and Academy Award-winning producer Seth Gordon. The show has been nominated for a few awards, some including a 2018 Satellite Award for best television series, comedy or musical and a 2019 Peabody Award for entertainment. 

Atypical is a show based on the life of a teenage boy, Sam, that is on the autism spectrum. Through every episode, we see different obstacles that come his way, whether it’s through him trying to explore love, family issues, his dad trying to get a better understanding of him or school/college things. Sam is trying to be more independent, as his mom, in particular, hasn’t let go. This show provokes laughter, heartwarming moments, arguments and different climax.

 The purpose of this analysis is to critically examine an episode of the television program Atypical for its context, critical orientation, the look of the program and its code, and analysis of emotional appeal and the influences the program has on viewers. 

I chose the following questions from the analysis from the guidelines for television criticism to achieve the purpose stated at the beginning of this chapter. I then put the questions into four headings: (1) Context, (2) Critical Orientation, (3) The Look of the Program and its Codes, and (4) Analysis of characters. There are other ways to analyze this program but these will reveal the most important aspects of Atypical’s opening season. 

Looking deeply into the characters, the buildup of each character in season 1 is extreme. When focusing specifically on episode 5, we see different sides of characters coming out. As the episodes go by we learn more about the type of person Sam is, as he is on the spectrum. The whole storyline being about a family with a kid on the spectrum and on top of that having family issues, reflect on real people and events. It is clear that they are no perfect family, as there are many problems that evolve just between the family itself. Problems like the dad having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that his son is on the spectrum. The mom is a cheater and sleeping around with the bartender Nick, sneaking around with him until her daughter catches her in the act. Not to mention the fact that the mom can’t let go of Sam and is constantly worrying about him and on top of him. And Casey having the responsibility to look after Sam at school and just, in general, make sure he’s okay at all times. When viewing all the events that happen just between the family, it reflects a lot of what any average family could be going through. The show puts out realistic conflicts that can come between any family. Especially just the task of having a son or sibling on the spectrum, the way the family has to overcome and handle different challenges that have to do with him, working around his needs, can reflect any family with someone on the spectrum.  

Atypical can be viewed as reinforcing mainstream and cultural values. The program touches upon many different values throughout the different characters portrayed in the program. One of the cultural values that are reinforced throughout the program is individuality. Sam being on the spectrum shows a lot of individuality traits. He is his own individual person, he likes to be independent and do things for himself. Although this can sometimes be challenged by those around him, in particular, his mom, he still does what wants to do and what works best for himself. He doesn’t like to be told what to do and he’d prefer to do things by himself, making decisions for himself. Another event that happens in the show that reinforces cultural values is when Casey starts catching feelings for her best friend Izzy.  This confronts all values of society and its culture, shining a light on the LGBT community. Not to mention all the cultural values portrayed through the family, due to the fact that family is the central idea in the program. Just having the program be about a kid that’s autistic is a reinforcement in cultural values itself. 

The personalities that come with each actor in the show differ. One of the people I enjoy watching the most is Sam. Sam is obviously the main character on the show, as he is the main focal point at all times. Because he is on the spectrum, the way he thinks is very different and interesting to follow. An example of this is, he is obsessed with Antarctica and penguins and all the different animals, so when something happens that is unusual for him or hard for him to understand he compares it to something that has to do with penguins or Antarctica. Giving himself this analogy, he finds comfort in viewing things through different perspectives. It’s enjoyable to see his mind and what he has to offer to every individual in the show. It’s also enjoyable to watch him grow and expand his mind to things that are more mature and different  to him. Not to mention his unintentional humor, that also brings a lot of joy into watching the show. 

What caught my eye about this program is the fact that it was about a boy with autism, as I have always been very involved with people who have disabilities. A very big part of my life was spending time and hanging out with friends who were on the spectrum, so to see that a show running on Netflix has a main character with someone on the spectrum excited me. Every show that goes by, episode by episode, it interests me to see how Sam gets through his everyday life with being neurotypical. One of the other things that attracted me to this show is that it’s a family-based show. I love to watch shows that portray realistic, average families going about their lives, not to mention all the problems that come their way/ are built up throughout the episodes. 

Looking at season one, episode five, most of the physical actions of the characters reveal a lot about their personalities and their motives. To start off, because of Sam’s character being on the spectrum, his personality depends on his physical actions. Sam is someone to memorize everything about people, he is always carrying a notebook and writes down what he hears. He remembers everything anyone tells them and will recite it back if needed to be. Like in episode five when his boss asks him about Paige, his girlfriend, Sam gave a full descriptive explanation of who she is, basically telling him everything he knows about her. He is also very blunt with what he says, he is brutally honest and will say anything and everything that is on his mind, unless someone tells him he’s not allowed to say something. As mentioned previously, Sam is obsessed with Antarctica and penguins specifically. When he is put in a situation he doesn’t really understand the purpose of, or when he is uncomfortable or upset, he compares it all with penguins and Antarctica. It’s almost like a coping mechanism to make himself understand a situation better or even just make himself feel better. In episode five, he brings Paige over his house. When he brought her to his room,  she starts touching and picking up all of his things around his room and he got very bothered by it so he locked her in the closet. This specifically shows a lot about his character because it shows the way his brain works. He didn’t think anything bad of it, he just thought that was the way to stop her from touching his things. Moving on to Casey, Sam’s sister, her physical actions also show a lot about her personality. She is a very caring and overprotective person when it comes to her brother, but doesn’t really like showing her feelings or doesn’t like having any attention on the fact that she cares about her brother. An example of this is, in episode five Casey was visiting Clayton Prep, a private school she got an offer for, for track. Through the visit, she had to have an interview with someone from the school to basically decide whether she would be accepted into the school or not. During that interview, she got a call by the girl that was supposed to give Sam his lunch money  and so she got up in the middle of the interview, without saying anything and answered the phone immediately. The guy that was giving the interview said: “seriously, answering the phone in the middle of the interview and now your texting, are you trying to blow this”? This goes to show how important this interview was, but even with that she stopped what she was doing to make sure Sam was okay. She later goes to explain that it’s almost like her job to take care of Sam and that she just always has to be aware of what’s going on with him because he takes up so much space. Throughout the episodes it almost seems like Casey is emotionless until it has to do with something with Sam, then she reacts. Another example of this is when she punched a girl in the face for making fun of Sam. Moving onto the mom’s character, Elsa, episode by episode more of her character and personality is built up by her physical actions. A major example of this is when she went to the bar one night after being stressed with everything going on at home with Sam and getting into an argument with the dad, Doug. At the bar, she met the bartender Nick and they ended up talking and getting each other’s number, she then later ends up cheating on her husband by getting with Nick. At the end of episode five, we see Elsa at Nick’s house about to sleep with him for his birthday. She lies a lot to her family to get around the fact she was talking to Nick and seeing him. This shows how inconsiderate she is and how dishonest her character is. She knew what she was doing was wrong, but she still continued to do it, for her benefits. Another thing about her personality is that she is always on top of Sam trying to make decisions for him and basically taking over him. She gets scared to allow Sam to make decisions for himself and almost treats him like he is still a baby. I think overall, her character is shown as being insecure and worried just by her actions. Lastly, the dad, Doug, has a few incidents that define his personality. Doug is overall a very caring person and cares about his family, but it is clear that he is still trying to get a better understanding of Sam and is a little embarrassed to tell people his son is autistic. In episode five, he has one of his coworkers, Chuck, to come over with his wife for dinner. At the table, they were all talking and Elsa mentions Sam being autistic and Chuck was brought by surprise because he never knew that. Doug stayed quiet and didn’t say anything and when they left Elsa says “you have worked with Chuck for five years and you never decided to tell his Sam has autism”? He quickly stutters with what he says and responds with saying it was never a topic of discussion brought up. Although his actions towards Sam say differently, because he is always nice to Sam and very caring, he does have a hard time accepting the fact his son is autistic and it shows. 

Looking at the indoor settings shown throughout the show, they are for the most part very realistic and natural looking. To start off with Sam’s house, it looks like any typical house, it’s very natural looking. Starting with the kitchen, there are plates, bowls, cups, and mugs inside of the cabinets, there is a knife rack, wooden spatulas, coffee maker, microwave and it’s all in place as if it would be in a normal house. There are small decorations around the kitchen that makes it look very natural, there is a calendar with writing all over it hanging on a wall in the kitchen and small paintings, again, that you would typically see in a house. Every window around the house has curtains. The living room has a couch and a TV, and a coffee table. Around the house, there are plants and things on the walls like paintings and small decorations that give the house a realistic homey feel. In Sam’s room, there is a bed, desk, drawers, closet, his turtle’s tank, posters all around his room, lamp and other decorations that are apart of his character. In the parent’s bathroom, there is shaving cream, toothbrushes, toothpaste, lotion, hair gel on top of the sink counter, again making it look as realistic as any bathroom would be. The main thing about their house that makes it look so natural and realistic is that it’s not perfectly clean and perfectly aesthetic, there are some messy areas in the house that are not always clean giving it that natural feel when compared to any home. Moving onto Sam and Casey’s high school, there are lockers, classrooms with desks, whiteboards in the rooms, posters throughout the classrooms as seen in any high school class, any basic item someone would see in a classroom or in a school, is shown throughout the school making it look realistic. Sam works at Techtropolis, an appliance store. In the store there is a cash register, there are posters with signs that say discounts and deals, all the workers have uniforms with name tags on them, and there are a whole bunch of different appliances one would find at these stores. Atypical does a good job making their settings look natural and realistic overall.

The main person that has domination over others in the program is Sam. In episode five of season one, while Casey is in her interview with the guy from Clayton Prep, she says “Sam takes up so much space, that everybody around him needs to be empty”. This a prime example of the dominance Sam has over others. People cater to Sam’s needs, he receives more attention than others because that's what he requires being on the spectrum. It’s almost as if people walk around the ice with him constantly making sure they don’t tip him off in the wrong way or do something that will trigger him. Another example of showing that Sam has dominance is Casey and the parents questioning whether it’s a good idea for her to go to Clayton Prep as she wouldn’t be at school with her brother anymore and she would be hours away from him. This shows that they do things revolving around Sam and what benefits him the most. Casey second-guessing throwing away the opportunity to go to school for track just for the sole purpose of Sam and worrying how he’s going to make his way without her shows the issues given importance too. Sam asks all the questions and all the answers are given to him by the people he surrounds himself with.

The program has the potential to influence many different types of viewers. One of the types of viewers specifically that it might leave impact/ influence are those who have disabilities and are on the spectrum. Seeing someone they can potentially relate to, being the main character, could attract them to the show, which could later cause them to see Sam as an influence. It could influence people like Sam to be more out there and it could show that they could get through different struggles in their life even with the disability. It could also allow them to see things from different perspectives. It could show them that people around them really do care about them and that having a disability is normal. The program could also impact families with kids on the spectrum, giving them insights that not every family is perfect and there are hardships with having kids on the spectrum. Even just with the example of the dad, him trying to work his way into trying to relate to his son and accept the person he is could have an impact on family members dealing with the same things. Going off of that, the program does have the capability to influence attitudes, values, and behaviors. It has the capability to influence the behaviors people have towards people with disabilities. Since in the show, for the most part, it is shown that many people are nice to Sam and accepting towards him even with him being autistic. This show could have a positive impact on its viewers, simply because it is relatable and doesn’t just portray the picture-perfect life of a family.