“Pen15” just got weirder… if that’s even possible. The surrealist “traumedy” — which hasn’t aired new episodes since September 2020 — is back, with an animated special that picks up where the first half of Season 2 left off.
A new trailer has dropped, giving us a taste of what to expect from the episode, titled “Jacuzzi.” In it, we see that middleschoolers Maya and Anna (portrayed by co-creators and writers Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle) are heading on vacation with Curtis (Taylor Nichols), Anna’s father. What begins as a live-action shot transitions into hand-drawn animation — and a mystical change that occurs halfway through alters their appearances again, as the girls deal with self-doubt and insecurities.
Armed with a camcorder, Maya documents every last cringe-y moment of their trip.
The show — which operates on the conceit of having two adult actors portray versions of themselves as 13-year-old outcasts, surrounded by actual 13-year-olds — is gearing up for the back half of Season 2. When the coronavirus pandemic precipitated lockdowns across the industry, the show’s creatives decided on an alternative method for telling their story. Like “One Day at a Time,” which released an animated special last year before its eventual cancellation, they opted for the animation route.
Konkle, who wrote and directed the episode, explained in an interview with Vanity Fair, “We had the choice when COVID happened: Should we try to wait and do this when things open up, or should we get this out sooner and just do it animated? We needed to be passionate about it being animated to do it; it couldn’t just be like second fiddle to the ideal. So we started digging in creatively.” If the hilarious trailer is anything to go by, their decision paid off.
“Jacuzzi” launches on Hulu August 27. The premiere date for the rest of season 2 has not yet been confirmed.
