Detailed summary Here..
A cringe worthy show to say the least.
Just finished binging this over the past three days. It c an be creepy at times. But it’s very real and NOT a feel good series.
Anyway, I enjoyed the series and was wondering my fellow Dopers thoughts on this show were.
If you like nostalgia, you should check this show out.
ETA: It’s on Hulu
I’m loving it. Makes a good companion for Big Mouth.
It’s weird. I’ve watched the first three episodes and I’ll probably finish the rest, but I like feel-good stuff and this sure isn’t it!
I started watching this weekend. I love those period comedies like The Goldbergs and now they have a spin-off from the 90s called Schooled so I figured this was right up my alley, something I could watch with my 14 year old.
YEAHHHH…NO. The first episode I realized this pretty fast, and she wasn’t too interested thankfully. I was intrigued though. I had no idea what this was about other than early 2000s, middle school girls. First thought was, “Why in the world did they pick these actresses. They look so freaking OLD to be 13!” I assumed they were just going for realistic normal girls, like not the fake look so many of these comedies offer. It wasn’t until the masturbation episode and me thinking WTF am I watching here, a child is masturbating in front of me this is so creepy. That’s when I decided to look this up on IMDB.
OH.
After that I loved every minute of it and binged on the whole season in two days. It kind of makes me think Broad City: The Early Years.
LOL.
Netflix has a similar show called Big Mouth.
In one episode, the characters were reminiscing about the show (Big Mouth). They basically said something to the effect of: “This show HAS to be animated or else everyone involved with the show would get arrested”
Well, I guess Pen15 found a way to get around that problem by casting adult actors.
I finished all the episodes and they did get better at the end. I LOVED the episode where they signed onto AIM for the first time. It brought back a lot of memories of how exciting IMing was in the beginning. I remember listening to the modem tones with great anticipation… 
It was about the third episode when I realized that yeah, this ain’t a millennial version of The Wonder Years.
Loved it.
I paused it at one point and googled the ages of the two main actors. Whew–they’re both 32. Didn’t know it was only 10 episodes, so I was surprised when it just ended.
Pen15 has concluded with the second half of the second season. Probably for the best. While I enjoyed most of it, parts of it–sometimes large swaths–bored or annoyed, and I don’t think the actors could have pulled off being teenagers much longer. Plus, the real kids have been visibly growing up.
I liked the way it ended. Lots of threads weren’t tied up in pretty bows, but that’s how life goes. The middle school kids banding together to support Maya and Anna in a giant fuck you was great. And the girls’ reflections on what the future might hold for them rang pretty true to my own teenage experiences.
Highlights of the final episode:
13-year-old Maya
gave her first blowjob. It was about as graphic as her masturbation scenes, which is to say that much more would have made it soft-core porn.
And she
got her first kiss shortly thereafter.
All in all, I enjoyed the series.
And this post was written before there was a crossover episode.