Season One of Atypical was one of my favorite surprises so far this year. Robia Rahsid's show about autistic teen Sam Gardner (Keir Gilchrist) and his family hit a massive home run with its debut and while it was a tough act to follow, the show largely succeeded in continuing the highs in its second season.
Note: There may be some Season One spoilers below, but if you haven't seen the second season, I'll try to avoid ruining much.
The foundation for much of the plot of Season Two was set up during the prior season's falling action, so there were natural places for the show to go. Sam has to cope with life without regular visits with therapist Julia (Amy Okuda), Casey (Brigette Lundy-Paine) makes the move to Clayton Prep to continue her track career and has to cope with a generally hostile environment, and mom Elsa (Jennifer Jason Leigh) has to reckon with the consequences of her affair with the bartender from last season and try to get back into the good graces of husband Doug (Michael Rapaport, whom I recently discovered is in the middle of a weird tiff with Bartsool Sports).
As the season progresses, we witness Sam's attempts to become more independent as he looks ahead to going to college. Life is complicated between Sam and ex-girlfriend Paige, as the latter attempts to draw boundaries on their complicated relationship, which typically does not go according to plan. Similarly, Doug's (understandably) mean-spirited attitude toward Elsa results in rules for when she can and cannot see her children. The strictness of those rules gets tested once the reality of being a single working father begins to set in.
As in Season One, however, the heart of the show is Casey, who's stuck between the challenges presented by living with Sam, fully loathing her mother for cheating on her father, and having to attend a confusing school where she has absolutely no allies. She has to deal with Izzie, the captain of the track team, who is initially a major jerk, but inevitably the relationship between the two evolves over the course of the season. Casey's boyfriend Evan seemed almost too perfect in Season One, and sure enough, we begin to see some cracks in that foundation. Casey finds herself in the middle of two love triangles during the course of Season Two -- one predictable, the other far less so.
One of my favorite parts of Season Two was that we got to see and understand a good deal more of Sam's friend/co-worker Zahid (Nik Dodani), whose obnoxious (yet often very funny) schtick in Season One was carefully balanced out by his genuine affection and concern for Sam. Zahid's loyalty to Sam and willingness to help him in any way continues to be endearing, and we learn a little more about his family and ambitions, which is a welcome development. Zahid scenes were consistently highlights for me, and while Casey and Sam are the clear best characters on the show, Zahid is probably the most entertaining and the one I look most forward to seeing on screen.
The second season wasn't flawless, particularly with its minor characters. For example, I didn't buy Izzie's abrupt character shifts throughout the season, and given the way Evan was drawn in Season One, the few moments where it seems like he's being a dick feel somewhat fabricated. However, they largely did better with Paige this time around (which readers may recall was my lone real gripe about the first season), so that kinda made up for it.
Atypical continues to be a charming show that has a way of investing you in its characters (except Elsa. Elsa sucks). Dramedies seem to be pushing themselves more and more toward the drama end of the spectrum these days, but Atypical does a good job of keeping the laughs involved, even during the more serious episodes. I rate Season One higher, but Season Two was still very, very good.
Season Grade: A-
