'Everything's Gonna Be Okay' Episode 10: A trip to New York gives fresh perspectives to the dedicated siblings
Spoilers for 'Everything's Gonna Be Okay' Season 1 Episode 10
In the season finale titled, 'Discoid Cockroaches', the sibling trio Nicholas (Josh Thomas), Genevieve (Maeve Press) and Matilda (Kayla Cromer) explore New York city to help Matilda prepare for Julliard after senior year.
A sad yet wholesome perspective to how living with autism isn't all rainbows and butterflies, but there's ways to overcome the stress. This episode shows how family members of children with autism also need a support system because sometimes the dependency is the straw that can break the camel's back.
Having found out from Matilda's teacher that she isn't preparing for a life alone in a new city, Nicholas takes it upon himself to take his siblings to New York to help Matilda get familiar. The trio visits St. Bartholomew's Church, eats street hotdogs, and explores a subway route. Matilda, who isn't ready to try another route yet suggests that they take the same route over and over till she's comfortable riding the route alone.
In the middle of the episode, we see Genevieve attend and perform at a low key stand up comedy club in New York. Her comedy bit will bring you tears and laughter as she goes on to tell the story of Matilda - both uplifting her sister and revealing sibling annoyances. She mentions how far her sister has come and how she's yet to go places and we sensed a bit of resentment towards Matilda, who has the spotlight on her at all times.
Nicholas also has a conversation with his boyfriend Alex (Adam Faison) about how they'd miss Matilda when she goes to New York but that they are thrilled to have a life outside of their home. Although, they mean no harm, we can see how the walls are slowly cracking as Genevieve and Nicholas have to focus all their energy making sure that their sister is alright. Yes, they are family, and so will always be there for her, but her dependency on them has started to affect their emotional state.
However, when Matilda tries to go through the subway route herself, she realities that she can't do it alone. The loud noises, the crowd, intense light, riding the subway etc all seem to get to her and she breaks down and is ready to go home. From the looks of the ending, it doesn't look like Julliard will be an option for Matilda after high school, but we can see that a gap year might not only give her time to prepare but help her explore a world outside her repetitive route of home and school.