User Score
Generally favorable reviews- based on 60 Ratings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 42 out of 60
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Mixed: 3 out of 60
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Negative: 15 out of 60
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PEN15Your Score0 out of 10User ScoreGenerally favorable reviews- based on 60 Ratings
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Feb 28, 2019As a 32 year old man I absolutely love it. Took my wife a couple episodes to come around but now she cry-laughs every episode. Can't wait for season 2.
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Feb 23, 2019Just the right amount of intentional cringe, every scene comes with floods of nostalgia.
The show is a perfect hilarious slice of life comedy. -
Mar 2, 2019Thought the premise sounded weak but I was surprised how good this show was. Maya Erskine is the undisputed MVP of Pen15, she is phenomenal! Huge things in her future I'm sure. Not every episode hits the mark, but certain situations just feel real and authentic to both the growing pains of adolescence and to that 2000 era. Highly recommended.
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Feb 13, 2019Hilarious and confident cringe comedy. Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle are incredibly convincing as 13-year-olds. Best new comedy of 2019.
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Feb 10, 2019An astonishing feat of nostalgia and modern comedy, PEN15 nails the realism and style of Eighth Grade while providing belly-bursting laughs. You forget you're looking at 30 year-olds playing 13 year-olds almost immediately, and Erskine brings the effortless charm and skill she showed in Hulu's Casual to every scene.
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Feb 10, 2019PEN15 manages to wrap up everything that is about 7th grade, into 7th grade. It's incredible how our first impressions of these two cringe-y and sometimes unbearable bffs (played by grown woman) turn into our love and sympathy for them. The first few episodes of the show are, indeed, hard to get through, but over time, it gets easier to adapt, and is definitely worth watching through to the end.
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Mar 8, 2019Here to add a new demographic. I'm an older age metalhead, I watched the whole season 3 times in one week. I think this is one of the best shows i've seen in many years. I rewound the Lunch/Dolls scene at least 25 times. A lot of laughs, sad scenes, everything was great. For all who made this, Thank you :)
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Mar 27, 2019
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Apr 5, 2019One of this year's best comedies. I was skeptical as it seemed like Freaks and Geeks for millenials, but this show has genuine emotion. Good stuff. Hope they do a second season.
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Apr 19, 2019Takes you back in time to 100% self-conscious grade 7 when your best friend was your universe. A great balance of laughs and tenderness at the same time. Nothing like it on TV.
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Jun 3, 2021Original, honest, disturbing, touching, hilarious but it's ability to be relatable is it's greatest strength.
Awards & Rankings
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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.
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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.
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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]