Critics and audiences can agree Hulu's comedy series Pen15 is one of the strongest comedies to come out toward the end of the 2010s. With two seasons under its belt, the series is an honest and quirky portrayal of adolescence in early 2000s America. The series masters cringe humor and will make any millennial shriek with its endless flashbacks to the horror and joy of butterfly clips, scented gel pens, and bucket hats.
Two of Pen15's creators, Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, play seventh-grade versions of themselves, also named Maya and Anna. It's difficult to narrow down who the true protagonist is among the pair; they go together so well that a world where Maya and Anna are not BFFs, is a world that should cease to exist. However, like the politics of middle school, one has to reign supreme.
Between her parents' divorce and her experience as an only child, Anna has to grow up fast. Her maturity helps balance out Maya's childish nature, which is one of the reasons why their dynamic is so great. Although the two exhibit co-dependency, when Anna stands on her own she is full of independence and self-reliance.
While it's always fun to see what kind of hijinks Maya encounters, at the heart of the show is a message about growing up and the tough transition from childhood into adolescence and Anna embodies that.
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