‘Penelope’ Recap: ‘One’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Still from ‘Penelope’ Courtesy of Netflix and Duplass Brothers Productions

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the Series Premiere of ‘Penelope’.
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One truth about life that we all preach at some point or another, is that modern life can be so supremely overwhelming. After all, we have to maintain full-time jobs that demand so much of us. Not to mention, we have family and friends we need to keep happy, and that’s not an easy task when we are required to stay connected to the world through social media and other digital hobbies that hold our attention, and that all wears on us and leaves us eager to just get away from it all. Which is why so many of us, head to nature. To reconnect and find peace and sometimes… that is so refreshing and so lovely… we dream of a day where we can pack up ourselves or our family and just escape to it forever.

But alas, those dreams are always fleeting. Because bills, commitments and the grind always find a way to call us back. Leaving all of us wonder how we find better balance in life and whether or not our escape plan would ever be possible. Well as it turns out, there happens to be a brand-new series on Netflix that explores such matters, and that makes, Penelope, quite the unique and refreshing series. Since it ponders upon the powerful idea of whether or escaping into nature is plausible, through quite the unique lens. Specifically, through the eyes of a sixteen-year-old girl named, Penelope. Who we learn in ‘One’ is a different kind of teenager. For she is bored with the technology that connects her to her family and connects her to the world. She wants something more, something different, something beautiful. 

Which she appears to find while out on a family camping trip. Because while out there, with nature, she comes to realize there is more out there than post updates and texts from everyone. There’s a living and breathing world, that embraces silence and is seething with life and that prompts Penelope, to do something drastic. Wherein she opts one morning to borrow her mother’s credit card to buy a massive camping haul… so that she can leave the world behind. Which sets in motion a grand adventure for Penelope, one where she meets a kind friend along the way before settling into the heart of a national park. A place she wishes to call home so that she can understand a peace she’s never known and connect with a world that doesn’t require a password.

Which informs us the exploration in question won’t take place over a singular episode, but over the course of the entire season and that’s a wonderful thing. Because as much as we want to do what Penelope does here, we don’t know if it is feasible, and we don’t know what it would be like to do so. So, instead, we get to live vicariously through this teenager and this ambitious project, to learn those answers and explore a story that is unlike any other. Because there is no story this writer can think of, that ponders upon that kind of desire from a teenager instead of an adult, but it is welcome, and it is an exciting prospect to enjoy a story this original and this refreshing.

Simply because of how we are all craving the freshest ideas possible right now, and also because… there’s some powerful potential here, storytelling wise, to do new things with the coming-of-age genre of storytelling, and a real chance to ponder deeply upon our current relationship with nature and technology. All of which brings forth a stunning and refreshing series premiere. One that really does draw you into Penelope’s life and compels you to see what lie ahead for her, for she is truly about to take us on a fascinating journey. One brought forth by a powerful creative duo consisting of Mark Duplass (co-writer) and Mel Eslyn (co-writer and director), and it will be incredible to learn at last if getting away from it all will fix us, as season one of this story continues along. Until next time.

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