Embrace the Cringe with a new Summer Show

Looking for a new summer flick? Check out the delightfully playful and often painfully awkward Pen15! The MTV original show that premiered on Hulu in 2019 brings light to a pivotal and excruciating time in a young girl’s life: middle school. While the title may be raunchy, and the show certainly leans into its crude humor, it also offers a surprisingly nuanced and heartfelt exploration of the universal adolescent experience.

Creators Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle step into the roles of their 13-year-old selves—Maya Ishii-Peters and Anna Kone—lifelong best friends navigating the chaos of seventh grade. The comedy series places the duo in a variety of embarrassing and personal situations that test the boundaries of their relationships and amplify their internal anxieties.  As the girls deal with crushes, heartbreak, and the rigid expectations of middle school hierarchy, Maya and Anna offer a refreshingly optimistic and relatable look at what it means to be one of the “weird girls” in middle school.    

As a retired “weird girl” myself, this show holds a very special place in my heart. Throughout its run, I saw pieces of myself reflected in both Maya and Anna—sparking memories of all the cringeworthy conversations and questionable decisions I made when I was 13. Erskine and Konkle’s performance fully transported me back into middle school. I could feel their excitement, their sadness, and their embarrassment to my core—there is no show that encapsulates that uniquely awkward phase of life quite like Pen15.

It may be jarring at first to see two women in their mid-thirties portraying 13-year-olds among actual adolescents, but their charm and incredible performance quickly dissolve any disbelief. By the end of the show, you’re fully convinced they’re simply two young girls—fearful of rejection yet deeply inspired by one another.

Pen15 spans two seasons and is available to stream on Hulu. I highly encourage you to give it a watch. Fair warning—there will be moments so awkward you might want to hide behind a pillow—but that’s part of its charm! The honesty, humor, and heart packed into every episode far outweigh any secondhand embarrassment.