Few rejoinders sting fairly the way in which “touch grass” does. For individuals who aren’t chronically on-line, the phrase basically means it’s good to log out and go exterior, however the deeper undercurrent is that you’ve got misplaced contact with the actual world and desperately must reconnect to one thing tangible. It is “get real,” minus the classic attraction. But in Mel Eslyn’s pilot for the YA drama Penelope, the idea of touching grass proves a healthful jumping-off level for a contemporary teen’s journey of self-discovery.
Written and directed by Eslyn, who additionally created the under-sung sci-fi gem Biosphere, Penelope facilities on a 16-year-old woman (Little Fires In every single place‘s Megan Stott) who abruptly decides to log out of all the things and wander into the wilderness. Nevertheless, whereas Penelope is basically seeking to contact grass (and bushes and bunnies), the present is bled free from the vitriol that sometimes accompanies such a stinging sentiment. As a substitute, Penelope relishes the marvel and freedom of slicing unfastened from cell telephones and social media.
‘Biosphere’ spoiler-free evaluate: The most effective 2023 film you simply would possibly overlook
Penelope is a comfy fantasy set in the actual world.
Although that is the story of a runaway fleeing from her household and all she is aware of, Penelope will not be pressing with drama. There is not any grim inciting incident that spurs its younger heroine to strike out on her personal. As a substitute, the pilot, which is premiering as a part of Sundance’s Episodic Pilot Showcase, begins with Penelope fortunately bopping round at a silent disco, the place headphones enable the dancers to really feel linked whereas not disturbing the animals of the encircling forest. Penelope is not just like the others, although. Whereas they’re caught up within the music and one another, she makes eye contact with a wandering wolf. Identical to that, she appears destined to depart her household’s tenting journey for elements unknown.
The script from Eslyn and Mark Duplass (who co-wrote and starred in Biosphere) is scant intimately, purposefully sketching Penelope’s backstory as certainly one of a child with loving mother and father who verify in together with her by way of textual content to remind her she’s bought SAT prep arising. As she’s performed by Stott, Penelope does not appear burdened by tech or the pressures of her mother and father; she simply appears bored by them. So, she goes on a “solo hike” that leads her to a store to purchase tenting provides. She turns off the “share location” possibility on her cellphone and hops onto a prepare automobile like a Mark Twain hero, giddy at her daring.
Mother and father — or these of us who grew up in the Stranger Hazard age— would possibly flinch at her decisions, as she hitchhikes, places her belief in randos, and goes out of her solution to ensure that her of us cannot monitor her down. A lot of it looks as if a recipe on methods to develop into the topic of a future 20/20 particular report, however Eslyn is not making a harrowing drama about isolation or teen homelessness. The could-be threats of the actual world are softened by a colour palette that’s breezy and alluring, and the rating, which reverberates with electronically filtered girls’s voices, seems like a synth-y siren luring Penelope ahead. The strangers she meets within the first episode present assist and heat smiles or curt recommendation, however by no means a purpose for worry. Penelope provides us all of the dream of strolling into the nice and cozy woods and never trying again.
Megan Stott is pitch-perfect in Penelope’s pilot episode.
Megan Stott and Austin Abrams play kindred spirits in “Penelope.”
Credit score: Sundance
The place a lot of YA exhibits and films are stuffed with snarking Imply Women or emotionally overwrought heroines, Penelope blooms from a spot of quiet reflection. As its protagonist strikes out on her personal, the present does not provide flowery speeches about her motivations. As a substitute, Stott’s wide-eyed expressions talk the marvel, curiosity, and pleasure of every step of her journey. Deceptively easy cinematography lingers on her fingers as she reaches for tenting provides in a retailer, all on her personal. The chances of the world are simply at her fingertips! A honest grin splashes throughout her apple cheeks as she overcomes a monetary impediment with a intelligent resolution. Her physicality is alive however by no means anxious, like a child ready their flip at a diving board. And so, via her each movement, Stott urges us to dive in with Penelope.
Mashable High Tales
Nonetheless, as a grown-up watching the present, it is simple to slide into our considerations in regards to the risks we all know lurk exterior Penelope’s dreamy tunnel imaginative and prescient. Maybe we marvel what was so dangerous that she needed to run away to start with. The one concrete clue the pilot provides is a textual content that she does not ship: “Mom… Was I a happy kid?”
Implied right here is that regardless of seeming to have all of it — a cellphone, Apple Pay, loving mother and father who help her training and take her to issues like silent discos — Penelope feels forlorn for some purpose she will be able to’t put her finger on. So, she follows a path again to nature to find who she is exterior of social media and societal expectations. Who would possibly she be within the woods with herself as her solely firm?
We’re invited to share in Penelope’s awe and pleasure as POV pictures enable us to vicariously expertise the joys of actually hopping onto a rushing prepare, watching the world rush by. However there’s nonetheless a distance between us and our eponymous heroine.
Mel Eslyn provides Penelope her area.
It is a thrill to look at a TV present that does not really feel the necessity to spell all the things out for you. (See additionally: True Detective: Evening Nation). By way of her path, Eslyn provides us entry to Penelope’s unstated considerations and desires, however she additionally permits the character some area for thriller. A scene the place she walks into the woods and out of focus reminds us that this journey is hers, and we’re witness solely to what she permits us. When she takes a photograph of nature on her cellphone however appears to be like dismayed on the outcome, there isn’t any dialogue explaining why. Later, a dialog with a touring musician (Austin Abrams) provides us some readability.
Penelope asks gently why he is bothering touring at tiny espresso outlets when Spotify exists. Why not “join this century”? Because it seems, his expertise with on-line communities has additionally felt missing. He explains that taking part in music stay versus distributing it by way of the Web is the distinction between visiting a river and seeing an image of a river. The distinction is being there, a romance with the actual that’s undeniably beguiling via the eyes of those kindred spirits.
Primarily based on the primary episode, it is onerous to guess the place Penelope would possibly go subsequent. Will this play like a street journey story, bringing the woman from one curious location to a different? Will the main target shift away from Penelope and to her mother and father, who’ve been left behind to fret and marvel? Will it mix these could-be threads as a way to enable fantasy conflict with nervousness? I could not say, however I can not wait to seek out out. As pilots go, Penelope is totally enchanting.
Penelope, all eight episodes, are actually streaming on Netflix.
UPDATE: Sep. 23, 2024, 10:53 a.m. EDT Penelope was initially reviewed out of Sundance, January 22, 2024. The evaluate has been up to date to mirror the collection streaming debut.
