As We See It review: A slice of life on the spectrum
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The word "normal" gets thrown around a lot in As We See It, the new half-hour dramedy on Amazon Prime Video. "What's the big deal about normal?" asks Douglas (Andrew M. Duff), who has a big crush on Violet (Sue Ann Pien), but she has her heart set on finding a "normal" boyfriend. Violet's roommate Harrison (Albert Rutecki) just wants to be able to do things that "normal" people take for granted, like walking to the corner coffee shop to get a croissant. Their other roommate, Jack (Rick Glassman), hopes to pass as "normal," but his indelicate bluntness — like informing his boss (Robby Clater) that he has "inferior intelligence" — makes it clear that Jack's brain works a little differently than others.
Based on the Israeli series On the Spectrum and adapted for Amazon by sentimentality specialist Jason Katims (Parenthood, About a Boy), As We See It offers a sweet and funny window into the lives of a group of twenty-somethings living with neurodiversity. Heartstrings are tugged and tears are jerked, but the immense likability of the cast keeps the show from descending into mawkishness. (Pien, Rutecki, Glassman, and Duff all identify as living on the autism spectrum.)
Violet, Jack, and Harrison have known each other since preschool, and now share a modest three-bedroom apartment in LA. They maintain their independence with the help of an aide named Mandy (Mare of Easttown's Sosie Bacon), an aspiring neurologist whose boyfriend (Omar Maskati) wants her to move with him to Berkeley. Loving and preternaturally patient, Mandy helps the roommates organize their days around attainable goals — like having a three-sentence conversation with someone new at work or finding a plus-one to bring to Violet's birthday party. But modern life is rarely simple, especially for people who have difficulty deciphering the maddening nuances of social norms. Violet's flirtation with the long-haired delivery guy she meets at work (Casey Mills) proves to be more than she can handle, while Harrison's new friendship with a kid in his building (Adan James Carrillo) is unkindly mischaracterized by the boy's mother (Angela Fornero), among others.
Ali Goldstein/Amazon Studios Sue Ann Pien, Vella Lovell, Chris Pang and Sosie Bacon in As We See It
As We See It never minimizes the significance of these setbacks for its central trio, and it's particularly effective at illustrating the emotional toll their struggles take on the people who love them. When Jack's father, Lou (perennially lovable silver fox Joe Mantegna), receives a cancer diagnosis, his stress is compounded by worries about who will advocate for his son once he's gone. After spending years centering their lives around Harrison's needs, his parents (Paula Marshall and Steven Culp) are finally ready to put themselves first. Violet's devoted brother, Van (Crazy Rich Asians' Chris Pang), has trouble maintaining romantic relationships because he's always on high alert for any threats to his sister's well-being. And Mandy is dogged by fears that she won't make a real difference in the autism community until she becomes a doctor, even as she helps her charges achieve victories that are small — riding the bus, navigating a job interview — but nonetheless profound.
Jack is brusque and abrupt, prone to harsh rejoinders like "That makes me want to throw up," but Glassman brings a curmudgeonly charm to his portrayal, underscoring the sheepish heart under Jack's unyielding exterior. Pien captures the tricky contradictions of Violet, a woman who yearns for an adult relationship but is completely defenseless against the routine rejections of the dating scene. Bacon is excellent as Mandy, grounding her near-saintly character with an authentic warmth and vulnerability.
At times, the music swells with a bit too much "cry now!" verve; there's at least one emotionally cathartic heart-to-heart per episode; and the show deploys Rufus Wainwright's version of "Hallelujah" during a particularly important montage. But Katims is gonna Katims, and the showrunner instills just enough acidity into his earnest brew to make the sweetness palatable. It's totally normal, after all, to enjoy a good cry. B
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