PEN15

:

Season 1
  • Network: HULU
  • Series Premiere Date: Feb 8, 2019
Season #: 2.5, 2, 1
User Score
6.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 60 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 60
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 60
  3. Negative: 15 out of 60
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User Reviews

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  1. truerock
    Nov 23, 2020
    6
    Trying to remember what it was like when I was 13 was too difficult. I had to look at home-movies of my kids when they were 13 in 1998 2000 and 2002 to get a better feel of what it was like to be a young teen in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
    My experience as a 13 year old in the 1960's was more similar to PENU15 where things were not highly controlled by the parents.
    But, in the late    Trying to remember what it was like when I was 13 was too difficult. I had to look at home-movies of my kids when they were 13 in 1998 2000 and 2002 to get a better feel of what it was like to be a young teen in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
    My experience as a 13 year old in the 1960's was more similar to PENU15 where things were not highly controlled by the parents.
    But, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, school and church dances were highly controlled by the mothers and youth sports were highly controlled by the fathers (and some mothers in girls sports).
    I don't feel PEN15 represents accurately what was going on in 2000 for most 13 year olds.
    But, sure - I imagine a lot of 13 year old kids had experiences similar to PEN15.
    Likewise, I'm thinking the Maya character was too over the top to be anywhere close to realistic.
    So, there is nothing wrong with a series like PEN15 not being extremely realistic. Regardless, my feeling is that the Maya character should have been written, directed and acted in a more realistic way and the other casting could of also have been more realistic. Maya's older brother Shuji (played by Dallas Liu) was a more realistic, better written, directed and acted character and I felt more interesting to watch.
    If there is a 3rd season of PEN15, I hope the Maya character is re-written and re-formulated into something better.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

35
#35 Best TV Season of 2019
48
#48 Most Discussed TV Season of 2019
57
#57 Most Shared TV Season of 2019

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
82

Universal acclaim - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 19
  3. Negative: 0 out of 19
  1. The Guardian
    Reviewed by: Adrian Horton
    Dec 3, 2019
    80
    Erskine and Konkle so convincingly effect the “no duhs” and knee-jerk emotions of the tweener years that I genuinely forgot they were adults for most of the series. ... “You’re my rainbow gel pen in a sea of blue and black writing utensils,” Anna tells Maya by the end of the first episode. It’s an insight into lockstep friendship, one of many joys over of the course of the series.
    Read full review
  2. Reason.com
    Reviewed by: Glenn Garvin
    Mar 21, 2019
    85
    But it's the eternal internal world of adolesence that's mostly the concern of Pen15, and that's not always a good fit for nostalgia. Erskine and Konkle do not skip past the mindless cruelty of teenagers, and it's possible that for all its rip-roaring daffiness, Pen15 is at its best when it's most lacerating.
    Read full review
  3. Time
    Reviewed by: Judy Berman
    Feb 12, 2019
    75
    Though some episodes read as millennial nostalgia trips or rehashes of teen tropes, standouts that challenge the best friends' relationship("Ojichan," "Community Service") suggest that this sharp duo has much more to offer. [18-26 Feb 2019, p.108]
See all critic reviews »