'Pen15' Season 2 Preview: Maya and Anna deal with raging hormones, pool parties and parent divorces this time
It has been a long wait for Season 2 of the teenage cringe comedy 'Pen15', but good news, the show is back on September 18 with its awkward lead protagonists, Maya Ishii-Peters and Anna Kohn (played by Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle). In the first season, the girls struggled with being "uncool" in middle school, battled the usual mean girls' squad and discovered the thrills of masturbation. It was a stark and yet harrowingly relatable portrayal of adolescence with two girls trying to understand themselves in an ever-changing world.
The story isn't over yet and there's a lot in store for Maya and Anna, apart from pool parties that they consider too cool to attend, of course. Maya seems to be going places with her newfound crush Brandt (Jonah Beres) while Anna sees her parents on the verge of divorce. The season seems to explore the travails of burgeoning sexuality and puberty as well as the themes of female friendships.
The series is inspired by Konkle and Erskine’s own school-age experiences. During the show's CTAM Press Tour virtual panel, Konkle said she was always an outsider but tried hard to adapt to her surroundings. "You’re holding a lot of secrets of how reject-y you feel… I feel like I had multiple personalities," she said.
"You can have a certain perception of yourself," said Erksine, who was an outcast without any friends. "Inside you're hiding all the freaky parts of yourself," she said. However, after she found her love for theatre in school, it allowed her "freakier" side to come out in a positive way. They had a tough time with this season, according to Konkle, as a lot of ground had already been covered in Season 1.
"This season was a gray area," she said. Erskine and Konkle were certain that they would only have one season, so they had gone "all-out" with storylines. "What I repressed was the pain associated with these stories," Erskine said. Season 2 will have 14 episodes, which is four more episodes than the first, and will begin streaming on Hulu on September 18. Knock yourself out!