PEN15
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PEN15gets this experience intuitively, because it gets disappointment intuitively.
Thats what makes it so goddamn good.
The episode opens with Anna and Maya at loggerheads.
Anna wants Maya to hurt as much as she does, and the strategy works beautifully.
But they can also be miraculously revived, especially when everyone else has let you down.
Shes been lied to, and shes understandably disgusted.
Besides, they were only nice to her in the first place because of the whole divorce thing.
Go fuck a dick til it comes, you suck-face!
(Maya Erskines ability to curse like she just invented cursing never ceases to slay me.)
Theyve gotten one of their passport stamps to adulthood, and theyve gotten to do it together.
Thats not to say that the disappointment doesnt still linger.
Maya decides its time to break out that cigarette theyve been stashing.
The performances, the editing, the music choices: everything reflects obvious intelligence, craft, and care.
Its an act of radical empathy, and one I wont soon forget.
