PEN15 is a comedy about being thirteen again, and it does not smooth over the rough edges. Created by Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, who also star in the show, the series follows two adult women playing versions of themselves as thirteen-year-old outcasts in the year 2000. They are surrounded by actual thirteen-year-olds, and the show makes no attempt to hide the awkwardness of that pairing. It is a cringe comedy, but it is also a deeply specific portrait of a particular moment in American middle school history.
The premise is simple: Erskine and Konkle play Maya Ishii-Peters and Anna Kone, respectively, two girls who have never quite fit in. The show takes its name from a school prank involving tricking someone into writing the word “PEN15” (which looks like the word “penis”) on their hands by asking if they want to join the “Pen 15 Club.” That joke is the show’s mission statement. Everything in PEN15 is about the small humiliations of adolescence, rendered with full adult perspective and delivered through the bodies of thirty-something actresses.
Trailer, via Awesomeness.
Erskine and Konkle’s Lead Performance
Erskine and Konkle share the lead roles, and their chemistry is the engine of the show. They play the kind of girls who are always one step behind the popular crowd, always one joke too late. Their performances are physically precise, with exaggerated movements and facial expressions that capture the way teenagers carry themselves through social disaster. The show’s success rests on their ability to inhabit the characters fully while never losing the adult perspective that makes the humor sting.
The supporting cast is made up of actual thirteen-year-olds, which is the show’s boldest move. Taj Cross plays Sam Zablowski, Dallas Liu plays Shuji Ishii-Peters, and Taylor Nichols plays Curtis Kone. These young actors deliver fully realized performances, and their presence anchors the show’s emotional stakes. The contrast between the adult performers and the teenage actors creates the show’s central tension, and it is a risk that pays off.
The Year 2000 Setting
The year 2000 is not just a backdrop. It is a character. The show is set in the early aughts, and the details matter. The clothes, the technology, the slang, the social norms — everything is specific to that moment. The show is a period piece, but it is also a personal one. Erskine and Konkle are playing versions of themselves, and the show draws on their own experiences of middle school. The result is a show that feels both universal and intensely personal.
The year 2000 is also a moment of transition. The world is changing, and the show captures that anxiety. The characters are caught between childhood and adulthood, between the innocence of youth and the complexity of the world. The show does not romanticize this period. It shows the pain of it, the loneliness of it, and the occasional triumph of it.
The Cringe Comedy
Cringe comedy is a genre defined by discomfort. PEN15 earns that label. The show is funny because it is honest about the worst parts of growing up. The jokes land because they are based on real pain. A scene where a character is humiliated in front of the class is not just a punchline. It is a memory, and the show watches it happen without blinking. The humor is sharp, but it is also tender. The show understands that the things we laugh at are often the things we are still processing.
The show’s humor is also physical. There are scenes of embarrassment, of rejection, of failure, and the show watches them all unfold. The result is a show that is both uncomfortable and compulsively watchable. You will wince, and you will laugh, and you will keep watching.
The Second Season and Its End
PEN15 ran for two seasons. The first season premiered on February 8, 2019, on Hulu. The second season was announced in May 2019, and it was renewed for fifteen episodes. The first half of the second season premiered on September 18, 2020. In November 2021, it was reported that the series’ second season would be its last.
The show ended on December 3, 2021. The final episodes deal with the characters’ growth, their friendships, and the ways they have changed over the course of the series. The ending is not a cliffhanger. It is a conclusion. The show leaves its characters in a place of peace, even as it acknowledges the messiness of their lives.
The Show’s Legacy
PEN15 is a remarkable show. It is a bold choice to cast adults as teenagers, and it pays off. The performances are excellent, the writing is sharp, and the show has a genuine emotional core. It is not a show for everyone. It is a show that requires patience and a willingness to sit with discomfort. But for those who stick with it, the payoff is significant.
The show is a masterclass in specificity. It is not a generic teen comedy. It is a show about two specific people, in a specific time, in a specific place. That specificity is what makes it work. The show trusts its audience to understand the stakes, and it rewards that trust.
What Made It Work
The show succeeds on several fronts:
- The casting of Erskine and Konkle as teenagers, with actual thirteen-year-olds around them, creates a unique tension that drives every scene.
- The writing is grounded in real memories and specific cultural details from 2000, making the show feel both nostalgic and painfully accurate.
- The performances are nuanced enough to carry the emotional weight of the cringe comedy, balancing humiliation with genuine warmth.
- The show’s willingness to let its characters fail and grow, rather than offering easy redemption arcs, gives the ending its power.
The Final Word
PEN15 is a show about growing up, and it is a show about the people we were. It is a show about the things we regret and the things we are proud of. It is a show about the friends we made and the friends we lost. It is a show about the world we lived in and the world we left behind.
The show is a reminder that the past is not a place we visit. It is a place we carry with us. The show does not offer easy answers. It offers honesty. It offers laughter. And it offers the rare gift of seeing yourself, warts and all, on screen.
PEN15 is a show that deserves its audience. It is a show that rewards attention. It is a show that stays with you. It is a show that earns its place in the canon of great comedies.
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