As We See It: Season 1 (All Episodes)
January 22, 2022 9:08 PM - Season 1 (Full Season) - Subscribe
Amazon: "Finding love, making friends, getting a job, adulting. Watch as three roommates on the autism spectrum navigate their early 20s with all its joy, tears and laughter. From the Emmy award winning Jason Katims (Parenthood, Friday Night Lights) comes the new series As We See It, launching January 21st, only on Prime Video."
It's only eight half-hour episodes, so I figured it made more sense to just package this together in one full-season post. I'll get to my own thoughts in the comments.
It's only eight half-hour episodes, so I figured it made more sense to just package this together in one full-season post. I'll get to my own thoughts in the comments.
Thanks for getting this post up! I really enjoyed seeing the range of autism representation and the care that went into casting and writing a dramedy series like this. So often, well-meaning people in my life will cite Atypical or The Good Doctor as their main points of reference to ASD, which is so problematic and limiting to me.
RE: the show itself,I don't think Mandy is supposed to be set up as an ideal aide or caretaker - she's clearly emotionally over-involved and invested in the trio's lives and makes mistakes, which makes for good television!
That being said, I am curious to hear other's thoughts and perspectives on the show.
posted by WedgedPiano at 10:21 PM on January 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
RE: the show itself,I don't think Mandy is supposed to be set up as an ideal aide or caretaker - she's clearly emotionally over-involved and invested in the trio's lives and makes mistakes, which makes for good television!
That being said, I am curious to hear other's thoughts and perspectives on the show.
posted by WedgedPiano at 10:21 PM on January 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
There's a nice article about the show here, including this bit:
“I have a son who’s on the spectrum who was in his very early 20s at the time, and I was starting to think about what his future would look like,” Katims said. “I started to realize that a lot of what we read about and see about autism is about children with autism, including my own work with ‘Parenthood.’ I did 100 episodes about a boy with autism.”
His agent told him about “On the Spectrum,” an Israeli comedy series about three 20-something autistic roommates living in Tel Aviv. Katims became determined to create an American adaptation. Unlike in the original show, he wanted actors on the spectrum to play the roommates, but he wasn’t sure if that was a possibility.
“Honestly, I had no idea what the talent pool was for actors who were on the spectrum,” he said. Four days into the search, the casting director Cami Patton (“The Americans,” “Goliath”) brought Katims a self-made tape from Pien, who read a short but pivotal scene from the series pilot.
“I was weeping within 30 seconds of watching her audition,” Katims said.
I found the show to be a funny, engaging, enjoyable and emotionally satisfying watch, and generally respectful of the 3 main characters. I can relate to both of the above comments about Mandy - she's not perfect and struggles to get things right, but I think the show intends for us to see that? Well worth the 4-hour binge. Just have a couple of tissues handy for the finale.
posted by mediareport at 6:32 PM on February 21, 2022
“I have a son who’s on the spectrum who was in his very early 20s at the time, and I was starting to think about what his future would look like,” Katims said. “I started to realize that a lot of what we read about and see about autism is about children with autism, including my own work with ‘Parenthood.’ I did 100 episodes about a boy with autism.”
His agent told him about “On the Spectrum,” an Israeli comedy series about three 20-something autistic roommates living in Tel Aviv. Katims became determined to create an American adaptation. Unlike in the original show, he wanted actors on the spectrum to play the roommates, but he wasn’t sure if that was a possibility.
“Honestly, I had no idea what the talent pool was for actors who were on the spectrum,” he said. Four days into the search, the casting director Cami Patton (“The Americans,” “Goliath”) brought Katims a self-made tape from Pien, who read a short but pivotal scene from the series pilot.
“I was weeping within 30 seconds of watching her audition,” Katims said.
I found the show to be a funny, engaging, enjoyable and emotionally satisfying watch, and generally respectful of the 3 main characters. I can relate to both of the above comments about Mandy - she's not perfect and struggles to get things right, but I think the show intends for us to see that? Well worth the 4-hour binge. Just have a couple of tissues handy for the finale.
posted by mediareport at 6:32 PM on February 21, 2022
(I see WedgedPiano linked the same NYT piece!)
posted by mediareport at 6:46 PM on February 21, 2022
posted by mediareport at 6:46 PM on February 21, 2022
I dunno. I didn’t see any editorial viewpoint in the show re: her abuse of Harrison at all.
posted by bixfrankonis at 6:48 PM on February 21, 2022
posted by bixfrankonis at 6:48 PM on February 21, 2022
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She's mostly pretty great with Violet (including begging her not to apologize for a meltdown) but she:
- pushes Harrison to get outside the apartment into the bright light and loud noise and just tells him it will be all right (it's only neighbor AJ who later thinks to give Harrison sunglasses and headphones)
- tells Jack to make eye contact when he goes to apologize to his boss and then when she touches him before he goes in and he says he doesn't like to be touched she just says "I know" (because apparently Jack has to apologize for inappropriate behavior but Mandy doesn't)
- actively dislikes that Selena tells Violet that she shouldn't have to go on any date she doesn't want to go on (because, sure, let's teach a woman who's desperate to be "normal" that she should do very personal things she doesn't actually want to do)
- says "I know" when Harrison says he doesn't want to wear a suit and he hates them and then says "pretty please, for me?" (because, sure, let's emotionally manipulate autistic people)
- makes Harrison put on a shirt and tie for some set period that she's timing while he complains that it's all too scratchy
She literally at one point late in the season tells Jack that he is normal and shouldn't have to "pass" or pretend for anyone, and yet she basically manipulates and tortures Harrison.All of this in a show where Jason Katims said he was going to "do better". (A comment I don't personally understand the story behind, but I gather it has to do with autism depictions in Parenthood.)
Full disclosure: I pretty much deliberately avoid all shows with autistic characters in them, even if (like here) they are depicted by autistic actors (who are all pretty good), and I guess this is sort of why?
posted by bixfrankonis at 9:22 PM on January 22, 2022 [2 favorites]