Big Neurodivergent Energy Shows: 11-15

Mostly sitcoms today. I feel like sitcoms in general lend themselves well to neurodivergent interpretations, with lots of quirky characters who have outsized reactions to things. But there’s a difference between “yeah, I could see that” ND interpretations and “omg, autistic/ADHD AF!!!” ND interpretations. And these shows? Far more the latter!

 

Abbott Elementary

I went into this show knowing that a lot of autistic folks claim Gregory, and he’s positively spectacular—episode about safe foods! Not a drill! But I wasn’t prepared to get bowled over by the rest of the cast, especially my beloved Janine. She and Gregory are my favorite workplace sitcom will-they-won’t-they since Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt (surprise, surprise!) A beautiful show with room for all kinds of brains, including Melissa being canonically dyslexic!

 

Community

It’s not just Abed, which it is. It’s not just some of the other characters, which it is. It’s the lovingly intricate pop culture references and long-game commitment to bits. It’s the theme of broken, lonely people who are better when they’re together. It’s the turn of the jokes and the depth of the existential crises. A beautifully autistic show that’s often brilliant and sometimes messy, one that resonates with me on so many levels.

 

Good Omens

Production on season 3 has paused for now, which is good (ugh, Neil Gaiman, why?), but even if my feelings about the show have grown more complicated due to behind-the-scenes issues, I still really love these characters and their relationship. I love how Aziraphale and Crowley both feel autistic to me in completely different ways, which contributes to them fitting so well together despite having such different sensibilities. Really excited to see these two find their happy ending!

 

The Good Place

Like Community, this is a show with a great “freebie” autistic-coded character in Chidi, but he’s just a gateway to discovering how neurodivergent the show feels as a whole. I love every single one of the characters and how they interact with one another, the wordplay is delicious, and I love the notion that people aren’t “good” or “bad” but are always capable of better, especially with the love and support of those around them. And come on, this is a network sitcom that regularly features ruminations on moral philosophy! You love to see it.

 

We Are Lady Parts

I feel like there’s some strong overlap between neurodivergence and punk, so this show might’ve had Big ND Energy no matter what, but the neurodivergent coding is definitely strong with this one. Most of the characters give off a vibe, but most especially Amina and Saira. Like Aziraphale and Crowley, they have such polar-opposite traits but fit together so well. I love both of them so much, and I adore the show’s heart, bite, and quirkiness.  

A Few Thoughts on “Jianyu” (The Good Place)

It’s hard to say much of anything about The Good Place without getting into spoiler territory, and this post will definitely get into spoilers. Consider yourself warned.

Before I begin, let me clarify that I do very genuinely enjoy the heck out of Jason Mendoza. I love that sweet, dumb, Molotov-cocktail-throwing Jacksonville DJ. He gets all the best dumb-funny lines that are so cartoonishly dumb, you don’t even mind that the character would be too stupid to actually live, but he’s also a character that can be underestimated by the rest of Team Cockroach. Whenever he comes through in a clinch, it never fails to surprise everyone. In no way does what I say negate my love for Jason.

All that said… when it was first revealed at the end of episode 3 that Jianyu the Buddhist monk was actually Jason the Jacksonville dope, I was a little disappointed. Understand, I’m all about breaking stereotypes – amid the Model Minority myth of Asians, it was cool to have Jason join Josh Chan in the (very) small club of fictional dimbulb Filipino bros. However, it bummed me out a little that, in order to get Jason, we had to lose Jianyu.

More clarifying. I’m not saying that the “Jianyu” we get in the first three episodes is a prize of a character. Since Jason apparently arrives at the Good Place having swapped places with a Buddhist monk and, in a bid to keep that secret, decides to continue Jianyu’s decades-long vow of silence in the afterlife, Jianyu never speaks and his interactions are mostly limited to significant nods. There are a few points of interest with his character – I note how Michael derives all kinds of “deep meaning” when Jianyu places a hand on his chest, and characters generally wax philosophically about what a wise/beautiful soul he is despite really not knowing him at all, both of which point to their preconceptions about Buddhist monks – but overall, he’s not a character in his own right. He’s a silent presence for other characters to react to.

In light of all that, I totally understand viewers who breathed a deep sigh of relief when Jason revealed himself to Eleanor. Trading in a voiceless stock character for some stereotype-busting comic relief? Why not? My issue, though, is this: in order for the show to make their Buddhist monk a three-dimensional character, they had to make him… not a Buddhist monk.

In recent years, I’ve been paying attention to the difference between archetypes and stereotypes, and I’ve come to realize that a stereotype is much less about the “what” than the “how.” An Asian martial artist, for instance, isn’t an inherent stereotype. Sunny on Into the Badlands isn’t a stereotype, because he’s a character with depth, goals, and conflicts. The Hand on Daredevil, in contrast, are stereotypes, because they’re hordes of nameless, faceless ninjas who only exist to give Daredevil baddies to fight. In much the same way, Jianyu is a stereotype because he’s a near-nonentity who’s there mainly to facilitate the twist of the Jason reveal. But he wouldn’t have had to be.

Watching the early episodes of the show, it occurred to me that I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Buddhist monk portrayed as a three-dimensional character, and I was hopeful that that was what The Good Place was going to give us. Again, the actual depiction we get of Jianyu remains firmly in stereotype/plot device land. I’m not arguing for more of that. But I hoped the show would go deeper with it. In the first few episodes, Eleanor the Arizona trashbag, Chidi the anxious moral philosopher, and Tahani the insecure philanthropist all start rounding out as characters. They’re at once broad and intimately-specific, revealing foibles, secret fears, and surprising depth at every turn. I thought that the show was going to do the same for Jianyu, and we’d start getting into the inner life of this Buddhist monk that was far more than the bland wisdom other characters projected onto him.

Instead, we got Jason (who, once again, I do love – I’m not saying I don’t!) Which made me wonder what the show could have done if it had chosen to get more creative with Jianyu, defying the stereotype they initially set up without need to change the basic premise of who the character is. How would we get to know him without any dialogue (I’m sure the show would’ve eventually had Jianyu move past his vow of silence, but what would they have done in the meantime?) In what ways would he start to interact with the other characters? As someone who devoted his life to achieving a place of utter selflessness, what would he make of an afterlife that revolves around personal indulgence? And even though I adore the show and will miss it when it’s over, there’s still a part of me that wonders what it might have done.

The Good Place (2016-Present)

It was with some surprise that I realized I’ve never actually talked about The Good Place on the blog, and I’m not sure how that happened. It’s a terrific comedy, endlessly smart and delightfully absurd, and one of the best new network shows I’ve seen in years. In many ways, it feels like a spiritual successor to Pushing Daisies – in other words, I’m all about this show. This coming season will be its last, but 1) it feels like a show that knows what it’s doing/how it’s ending, so I’m okay with that, and 2) even if I’m late to be talking about it, that’s why the phrase “better late than never” exists (premise spoilers.)

Eleanor Shellstrop wakes with a hazy memory and finds herself greeted by Michael, who tells her she died and made it to “The Good Place” (as opposed to The Bad Place, natch.) Eleanor is one of the select few virtuous enough to come out ahead in the universe’s complicated point system of judging souls, and Michael, as a higher being, is there to help her and others like her get acclimated to their eternal reward. The only problem? The good deeds Eleanor is being rewarded for were done by a different Eleanor Shellstrop: she’s in the wrong place.

That’s really all I can say about the specifics of the plot. This is a twist-turny show that constantly surprises, whether it’s with dropping a big twist or simply defying expectations of how much time it’s going to spend following a particular plot thread. It’s a dynamic animal with a mind of its own – Compare any random episode from season 1 with any random episode from season 3, and it somehow feels like two completely different shows while at the same being remaining utterly cohesive.

The show comes from the mind of Michael Schur (The Office (U.S.), Parks and Rec,) and it’s a doozy. In addition to the astoundingly-intricate plot for a sitcom, it also comes armed with a repertoire of comic gags ranging from stellar sight gags to amazing food puns to comic riffs on moral philosophy. There’s so much fun to be mined from every scene, and the series trusts the audience to keep up with all the goodness it packs into its episodes.

The character work is also fabulous, both in terms of the writing and the acting. Kristen Bell’s Eleanor and Ted Dansen’s Michael are the heaviest hitters, but the whole ensemble is equal parts hilarious and affecting. I was going to say “special shoutout to…”, then realized I couldn’t single out any part of the main cast without naming them all, so that’s what I need to do. Joining Bell and Dansen are William Jackson Harper, Jameela Jamil, Manny Jacinto, and D’Arcy Carden, and they’re all wonderful. (I will, though, give a special shoutout for diversity: the show’s diverse cast is the reason I decided to check it out in the first place, and I’m so glad I did.) I love watching the characters grow and learn, seeing their relationships change, and finding out how they deal with the continuing curve balls the universe throws at them.

Warnings

Thematic elements, sexual references, drinking, some violence, and implied language (no swearing in The Good Place, so characters are forced to say things like “son of a bench.”)