Atypical Season 2 Episode 4 Review

Atypical follows a teenage boy named Sam who is autistic. As this a blog about autism, I thought I would share my opinions on it, as there are lots of vocal people who don’t like this because it doesn’t display autism correctly. I will say I am bad at emotions, so I do guess until they state what they are feeling. The way I do my reviews is slightly different to most. I will describe each scene and may interject my thoughts or opinions there and then. That is because I would like most people to read this, even if they can’t watch the program. I then sum up and give my overall opinions about the episode/s. On the final episode, I will sum up the whole season as well.

Atypical Season 2 Episode 4 Review

It starts with Ms Whitaker talking to Sam about his college essay, she explains that he can’t talk about things with an adult theme. Sam asks why not? They asked for my greatest achievement. She carries on reading some of it and points outs that he says in the essay that he doesn’t do any extra-curricular activates because they are too crowded and they he opted out of PE because the mesh shorts ride up his butt. She asks why did he say those things? Sam replies because its true.  Ms Whitaker points out that just because it’s true doesn’t mean its appropriate. She tells him to talk about his autism. As he has good grades and has kept the same job for over a year. Sam says no. Autism isn’t an accomplishment, it’s something I was born with.  Then Ms Whitaker says take another crack at it.  It goes back to Sam ranting about what did Ms Whitaker mean by ‘take another crack at it’ at Casey whilst he is walking around the dining table.

We see Casey looking at a text message from Izzie about Quinn, one of the other team members, looking for their vodka what Izzie and Casey drunk. Sam then calms down slightly. He asks her what he should do, Casey points out that he is being too honest. He has to say what they want to hear, not what is true. Casey says he has to lie a little. As someone who can’t really lie this is going to be either really good or really awkward. Anyway, Casey says that lying is an important survival skill, she then lies to Sam to prove her point. Casey points out how easy it was for her to lie and that she had learnt it all from her mother- just another sucker punch for Casey to add for her beating down mother tally.

So, Sam goes to Elsa and says, “I need to learn how to lie, and you’re the biggest liar I know.” -Ouch Sam low blow, first Casey and now Sam it seems like its gang on Elsa episode.

*titles*

Elsa wonders why Ms Whitaker would tell him to lie on his college essay and then Sam points out it was Casey who told him to. Elsa points out the bad side of lying like lies tend to snowball.  Sam points out that she is a good liar her whole life was a lie when she was cheating on Doug.  Elsa just stands their gobsmacked for a few seconds. Then points out that she isn’t proud of her behaviour and that she wants Sam to learn from her behaviour. Sam says that it is obvious and says that it unhelpful for him now.

It goes to Casey where she gets a phone call by Evan. Evan asks how she is. Evan also asks if she understands why he phoned Elsa and not Doug. Casey did and points out she is technically grounded but because Elsa and Doug aren’t talking to each other Doug doesn’t know a thing. Evan reminds her about some of the things she did whilst being drunk. So, Casey ends the call through embarrassment (I think). Then Doug walks into the room to give her some of her washing then leaves.

It cuts to Elsa where she is talking at the group. Mainly about Sam calling her a liar, she admits that she does lie and like most of them, it is sometimes out of respect if they are uncomfortable or actually don’t like something. She’s said that it is ironic that she has a son that has practically no ability to be fake. She says she couldn’t go a day without lying, which she thinks is kinda sad. So, say says to the group that she is going to be more like Sam.

We see Julia having a scan, the doctor points out lots of things about the baby and Julia isn’t listening. She then regains her focus when the doctor asks if she wants to know the gender of the baby? She then rambles on about how much she feels lost. The doctor points out that its normal, it from the hormones. Julia then realises that why she might have yelled at a patient- Sam. The doctor says she is going to put the info and picture of the baby in an envelope just in case she wants to know what the baby is.

We then go to Techtropolis. To point it short Sam asks Zahid to lie. He agrees, Zahid shows Sam a way of lying which he calls the Pants On Fire technique, or POF for short. P is for Praise, so he has to compliment the person on their personality or appearance. O is for Obviously, if people are sceptical of the lie just keep say obviously. F is for Flee the scene, to stop any follow-up question leave as soon as they have bought the lie. Zahid then shows what he means on their boss... not the best idea but its Zahid he doesn’t have many.  Zahid also points out to start lying to someone like an ex.

So, when Sam is in high school he finds Paige. What you show know first is that Paige is using a guillotine, not the tool to lose your head over but the one that cuts paper, and these are sharp to my own knowledge. She says to say that she is making a visual presentation for a gift idea to pitch at the PTA. Sam then goes straight into trying to lie. So, he praises Paige on her bow, Paige thinks that Sam wants to get back together and points out that she isn’t ready yet. Sam uses obviously twice.  The Paige asks if he is seeing someone else, Sam says obviously. Paige’s tone changes so I’m guessing she wasn’t too happy? Then she clarifies what she meant, and Sam goes, you guessed it, obviously. Then he decides to flee. Paige’s cutting with the guillotine has sped up somewhat and as Sam is fleeing Paige cuts her finger off.

Naturally, Sam tells Zahid what happened, when he talks to him at Techtropolis. Sam thinks after that lying is awful. Zahid tries to steer him back and to try again. The boss then catches Zahid smoking he really shouldn’t be smoking and warns him if he catches him doing it again he will be fired. 

We are at a new location this time it is called The Autism Resources Place or TARP. In it, we see Elsa and Luisa. They talk about how the different classes in this location. Luisa points out that she has two children on the spectrum, so she is here quite often. Another mother as them how their child’s haircut is, as he couldn’t sit still in the char whilst having his haircut. Another parent cuts in and says it isn’t so bad. Luisa says its cute and Elsa says its one of the worse haircuts she has ever seen. Elsa says that without trying to be judgemental and points out the issues she had with Sam and cutting his hair. The mother thinks that she cuts hair for kids on the spectrum. Elsa goes to say that she doesn’t cut autistic kids’ hair, but she changes her mind and goes with it. The mother asks how much does she charge. Luisa cuts in before Elsa can speak and say $35. The mother says that is perfect and then leaves.

We then see Casey and Sam on the couch watching Tv. Casey asks Sam if he is meant to be working on his college essay. Sam says no he doesn’t want to, whilst looking at penguins on a live feed camera on his laptop. Doug walks through the front door with a pizza. Sam points out that it is the third time that week that they have had pizza. Doug says unless you want to cook for the whole family then we have pizza. Sam declines to cook and goes back to watching the penguins. Casey then gets a text from Evan say that he wants to see her. Casey replies back and there is a back and forth between them but with every message, Casey either laughs or makes a noise.  Sam asks her to be quiet in his own way. So, Casey picks on him slightly. Doug then gets a phone call from Elsa, she mentions that Casey is grounded. Doug asks what happened for Casey to be grounded, Elsa says she can’t say because she promised Casey she wouldn’t say. So, Doug chooses not to listen to Elsa and hangs up on her.  We can hear Doug panting a lot and a loud heartbeat plays whilst Doug walks around the kitchen. As he goes to put the milk away he starts to collapse. The milk drop from his hand and the milk carton hits the floor and spilt. Casey stops picking on Sam and rushes over to the kitchen to see if Doug is okay. Doug covers it up saying that he is okay although he is breathing very heavy.

We go back to the TARP where Elsa is waiting for someone and she bumps into Julia and her brother Jesse. Julia decides to speak to Elsa, whilst Jesse leaves and heads to Julia’s car. Julia then tells Elsa that she is pregnant and that it may be why she lashed out at Sam. She says she is sorry and wished that she could take it back. Elsa admits that she didn’t make it easy for her at times, but she was good for Sam. Elsa also says that she really helped Sam. They then hug then Julia goes to catch Jesse up.

It goes to Techtropolis where again Zahid is smoking you really shouldn’t. The boss catches Zahid, but Sam lies to save Zahid for getting fired. Zahid is amazed that Sam uses his lying technique that he hugs Sam, not realising that he had forgotten to put out the cigarette Zahid’s pants were literally on fire.

Casey goes to see Evan, but she is still embarrassed (I am amazed I got it right). So, Evan decides to show her something that is embarrassing him. It was a video of him doing an advert for martial art dojo. Then Evan points out that it’s okay to do embarrassing things.

We then hear Sam talk about how he isn’t good at a lot of things like being around other people, wearing hats and lying. Which he finds funny because people lie to him all the time. Sam continues to say that because of my autism people think I can’t handle things. We then see Doug looking out of a window. Elsa knocks on the back door and comes into the house. You can see Elsa is happy. Doug asks why she is so happy. Elsa says it was because she had a good day, but also because she is really trying to be more truthful with people. Doug praises her but then questions her about it more because he doesn’t quite believe it. Doug then questions Elsa about the affair, Elsa says she doesn’t know the answer to Doug question. We then hear Sam talk again talking about how over people around him are really good at lying and that they are so good at it that they lie to themselves. We see Julia, staring at the envelope the doctor gave her and then she looks back at her work. She then chooses to open the envelope. She sees the picture of the baby and starts to cry. She then phones her parents to say that she is pregnant, and we find out the baby is a boy. We then hear back from Sam he says that there is always one person who always tells him the truth. His friend, Zahid. He talks about one of Zahid’s theories where people with autism are the normal ones because we see the world how it really is. We come to see Doug and Elsa are still talking about the affair. Then Sam continues Zahid’s theories, it is only neurotypicals who put an extra layer of meaning on everything, so it makes sense to them. Sam voice changes to Ms Whitaker's voice and she continues to finish off what Sam was saying, where he doesn’t see an autistic person who is friends with a neurotypical, he just sees two friends. We then find out what Sam and Ms Whitaker were saying was from Sams college essay. Ms Whitaker says it is very good, Sam lies slightly saying that it was easy.

Then we join back up with Casey and Evan. Evan says he is sceptical of Izzie because he hasn’t seen them together and that she gets Casey drunk. Evan teases Casey slightly, then Doug comes out of the front door after talking with Elsa and we hear the heartbeat again and Doug collapses and Casey and Evan run to him. It goes to black and all we hear is Casey saying dad over and over until the credits.

Review: It was different. We saw lots of humanity in this episode. Elsa is trying to become more like Sam and be truthful. Sam is learning new things to ‘fit in’ more with the neurotypicals. Casey and Evan were mainly sorting out their relationship, as Casey didn’t want to be embarrassed in front of Evan.  Doug is trying to look after Sam and Casey, the housework, his job and trying to keep Elsa away. So, no wonder why he collapses. We also see Julia come to terms to being pregnant. We do see a lot in this as the bond between Casey and Doug is very close. As soon as he collapses she was there. We also see how close Sam is to Zahid, it is odd for autistics to have friends or call them that. We saw places like TARP, these places aren’t really around the UK. So, they look really good, but I can’t see people doing this here unless they have forms saying they are autistic. We also get a better look at Ms Whitaker, she seems like someone who is going to be guiding Sam through this series, last season it was a mix of Elsa, Doug and Paige. This time I think it is going to be Ms Whitaker and maybe Zahid at times. Zahid seems to have more time with Sam this season so who knows. I also like the way this episode works where it started with Sam’s essay with something not appropriate and ends with Sam’s essay being appropriate. The underlying tones seem to about connections and being with someone. Apart from Elsa, she seems to be righting all the wrongs left from last season. Overall it is a good episode, but I can see this being a turning point for most of the characters although. I do wonder what arc Doug is going to take after this episode. Also, how is Evan going to handle Izzie and the rest of the group?

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