Pen15 is the 90’s show I wish I’d written.
(The first season of Pen15 is streaming on Hulu. It’s rated M).
First, the title is brilliant.
The only thing that might come close is an image of an upside down calculator with 58008.
Second, the 90’s references are right on. The toys, the fashion, technology, the food, the school supplies. . .
Third, the SOUNDTRACK is perfect.
There should be a warning that Pen15 may cause nightmares even if middle school is decades behind you; the type of nightmares where you find yourself back in grade school where you can’t remember your locker combination or carrying a lunch tray desperately searching for a place to sit in the cafeteria.
Even so, Pen15 captures the heartbreak, humor, awkwardness, and beauty of that best friendship I remember from growing-up in the 90’s. As an awkward Asian girl who grew up in the suburbs, I related to Maya.
Here are seven of my favorite references that brought me back:
