No matter your age, Sunday Scaries — that creeping sense of dread that starts to settle in around late-afternoon every Sunday, when you realize that your glorious weekend is nearly over and another week of responsibilities is before you — is a very real phenomenon.
We’ve found that one of the go-to methods of holding those weekly anxieties at bay is by watching something comforting and, extra important, hilarious. And for this writer, that’s “Pen15.”
One of the best shows on Hulu, “Pen15” is a time-capsule, coming-of-age sitcom that will take millennial viewers (or anyone who wants to revisit the turn of the millennium) back to the year 2000, when radio stations were full of Britney and boy bands, when jeans were concerningly low-rise, and when it took 3-5 business days to download anything on your computer. (Remember those colorful Macs?!)
“Pen15” follows the all-too-relatable middle-school adventures (or misadventures) of 13-year-old outcasts Maya and Anna, cleverly played by their adult counterparts, Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, who co-created the comedy series alongside Sam Zvibleman. Adding to the absurd hilarity is the fact that the rest of their schoolmates are portrayed by real-deal pre-teens.
As Maya and Anna navigate everything from braces to bad haircuts to boy crushes to their own changing bodies, the hidden gem show will have you blissfully forgetting all about that upcoming Teams meeting, overdue project or ever-growing pile of laundry.
Need more convincing? Here’s why you should add binge-watching “Pen15” to your Sunday to-do list.
What is ‘Pen15’ about?
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Creators, writers and stars Anna Konkle (“The Afterparty”) and Maya Erskine (“Mr. & Mrs. Smith”) play fictionalized, school-reject versions of their own 13-year-old selves in “Pen15” as their characters experience the universal struggles and everyday awkwardness of being teenagers.
The series picks up on the girls’ first day of seventh grade in the year 2000, “where the best day of your life can turn into your worst with the stroke of a gel pen,” per the show’s official description.
In the two seasons thereafter, Konkle and Erskine tackle everything from the early days of AIM culture, complicated family dynamics (especially among first-generation immigrants), confusing sexual desires and the hilarious horrors of puberty with equal parts raw humor and decades-honed wisdom.
Why should you watch ‘Pen15’ on Hulu?
Along with offering up one of TV’s best depictions of female friendship, “Pen15” is also a so-precise-it-hurts send-up of what it was like to be a middle-schooler in the early aughts, not only because of its on-point cultural references and wardrobe choices, but also its exceptionally honest and frankly funny depictions of young girlhood.
Both seasons of the Emmy-nominated Hulu comedy, which aired from 2019 to 2021, were deservedly praised by critics. “Stirring up plenty of yucks and pathos amidst the farce” of Erskine and Konkle reprising their adolescent selves, season one earned a very strong 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
And season 2 managed to best that, with a perfect 100% approval rating on the review aggregator site; critical consensus called it “an excellent showcase for Maya Erskine, Anna Konkle, and their well-cast classmates” that “goes deeper into the nuances of middle school life without losing any of its cringey charm.”
Watch ‘Pen15’ on Hulu now
