Special - General Discussion

[starri]

Quote

A young gay man with cerebral palsy branches out from his insular existence in hopes of finally going after the life he wants.

Very cool concept.  Very little promotion that I've seen.

Drops on April 12th.

[starri]

A trailer at last.  I like it, I think?

[auntiemel]

I'm loving this show!

[starri]

I really liked it too.  I was kind of annoyed that the episodes were so short, but it made it an easy binge.

Plus, since it is kind of niche, it probably wasn't a huge investment for Netflix (I'm sure the copious Microsoft product placement also helped), so that probably makes the pressure to get Stranger Things-like ratings less.

[Door County Cherry]

15 hours ago, starri said:

I was kind of annoyed that the episodes were so short, but it made it an easy binge.

I kind of loved that the episodes were short.  I started with the intention of watching only one or two before I was going to watch something else but just had to get through. 

I thought the guest cast was wonderful.  I loved Jessica Hecht and Patrick Fabian in this.  And I thought the scene with the sex worker, who plays Jack's husband on Will & Grace, to be really well done. 

[auntiemel]

I liked the short episodes. I didn't think I would at first, but then I realized it's basically the same length as an A plot on a regular sitcom, and they just didn't have a B or C plot.

[ruffy666]

I *never* binge, but I watched all of it this weekend.  Of course the short episodes make that really easy to do but it was just a generally charming show.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

I find it hard to believe that none of the people he came across, although young, realized that he had cerebral palsy. I thought perhaps Carey knew and just wasn't saying anything, but I guess not.

[lovett1979]

11 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

I find it hard to believe that none of the people he came across, although young, realized that he had cerebral palsy. I thought perhaps Carey knew and just wasn't saying anything, but I guess not.

Oh I don't know about that. My best friend has CP, so I recognize it in others (and some of Ryan's movements were very similar to hers, which was interesting) but he's told everyone that his accident caused his physical differences, so why would anyone have reason to question that?

[non sequitur]

I found it both charming and cringey. Kim and Phil were almost too aggressive at times, and Carey was like a fantasy perfect boyfriend. It was sweet and funny though, and I hope they get another season with longer episodes.   

[xander874]

I really liked this, especially the shorter episodes. It just flew by. Felt almost like a web series.

Of course it ended on a very depressing note. I really thought Karen and Phil would reconcile but it did make for a good scene between Ryan and his mom. And I am with her on the cake thing. He dropped the ball.

[Armchair Critic]

It was easy to watch all at once, it was about movie length. Ryan ticked me off at the end with his mom, though I realize he is going through the teen type rebellion (a little later in life) where you separate from your parent. His mom has lived her life taking care of him and now her mother also and I hope she can get her own life too. I don't know if Phil the neighbor is a selfish jerk or if he will come around, but I can understand about being leery to get involved with a woman who has had a codependent relationship with her son. Also I was wondering if Carey was just being nice kissing Ryan.

[Blakeston]

I enjoyed this a lot. The characters were mostly likeable, and it's subject matter that I've never seen explored in a TV show before. I especially liked the positive depiction of a sex worker - I was fully expecting something horribly embarrassing to happen in that scene, and it never did. It's a huge deal for a sitcom to suggest that going to a sex worker can be a good way to lose your virginity.

I do have some questions/complaints, though.

1. What was Ryan doing between the time he graduated from college and the start of the show? Was he really just sitting at home all day for years, with barely any social interaction besides his mother?

2. The best friend was a bit too stereotypical for me. A nerdy gay guy with a plus-sized, sassy woman of color who tells it like it is as his best friend/fairy godmother? It was all too much.

Realistically, I could see her liking him and offering him some words of encouragement, but someone that outgoing would have a great social life, and sitting in Ryan's bedroom with him would bore her to death.

3. The boss was nowhere near as funny as the writers thought she was, and the actress was kind of awful. I think they really thought they had a Karen Walker-type of character on their hands, and....no. (Also, would an online rag like that really have everyone working out of a brick-and-mortar office?)

4. Carey seems like a wish fulfillment fantasy in a lot of ways. Don't get me wrong, Ryan is physically attractive, and he could do well for himself. But realistically Carey would be juggling lots of fun, gorgeous guys - he's supposed to be "the glue that holds gay LA together" - and I'm not buying that this horribly awkward, recent virgin would be his cup of tea.

Especially not after seeing his buff, macho, crossfit-loving boyfriend. I know lots of people are into a wide range of types, but....come on.

If there's a season two, I'm guessing we'll find out Carey's relationship is open, and he and Ryan will have some fun together, but eventually Ryan will realize he wants more than just something physical.

5. Up until he dumped her, the mother's boyfriend also seemed like a wish fulfillment fantasy. A handsome, charming retired firefighter with a freewheeling life decides to pursue a shut-in whose life revolves around her adult child, even though she spends her days spying on him through her blinds?  I'm glad she got her groove back, but she needs to get her shit together before she can be a good match for him.

[Guest]

As someone with [severe] CP (...and Ryan's age...and an incredibly late bloomer...) this cut very close to the bone. I thought he was a little on the self-pitying side for someone whose disability is mild enough not to require help with daily care. His mom made me so sad and she's like the inverse of Maya from Speechless - so broken and worn down and no one gives her a break. No amount of hot dudes going down on you is going to fix your family. The harsher side of special needs families - codependency, control issues, arrested development, compassion fatigue, loneliness, isolation - were on full display in ways that were really painful. I've snapped at my parents many times, but he was just a raging dickhead in the finale. Both Carey and especially Phil (Mom's bf) were manic pixie dream guys - from extensive personal experience, no one is going to dump their hot able-bodied SO for an awkward disabled virgin with no social connections (me!). People do stuff like that all the time (invite you to third wheel dates, take you drinking, sometimes even kiss you/give you lapdances for "fun") to make you feel included and you're so hungry for social interaction that you take it all seriously, but you're a novelty at the end of the day. Ryan probably thinks Carey is his bf now, but Carey will write it off as a drunken kiss or still be dating that other guy. Re: Phil, as @Blakeston said, mama needs love too, but the idea that some hunky neighbor who looks like he just waltzed off the set of a Gillette commercial would materialize out of thin air and become so infatuated with a low self-esteem hermit that he can barely keep it in his pants long enough to get through the door....yeah, no.

Kim is a delight. She and Brian Jordan Alvarez were both on the web series The Wondrous Gay Life of Caleb Gallo, which I highly recommend!

And wow, that scene with Brian Jordan Alvarez as the sex worker was phenomenally well done and very tasteful. Normally the "disabled person hires a sex worker" trope devolves into a sappy "brave and selfless sex worker provides suffering, touch-starved disabled person release" narrative, but you can absolutely tell that scene was told from a disabled man's perspective. I loved that it was more or less a "cool, thanks for showing me how sex works!" before turning the focus right back to daily life. No pity, no nonsense self-loathing, no big deal.

Here's hoping for a season 2 to resolve that fucking depressing cliffhanger. Ryan needs to step up his acting game, because his mom acted circles around him in that last confrontation.

[galaxychaser]

I love the short episodes! I found the show enjoyable.

[kathyk2]

On ‎5‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 12:06 AM, SnarkEnthusiast said:

As someone with [severe] CP (...and Ryan's age...and an incredibly late bloomer...) this cut very close to the bone. I thought he was a little on the self-pitying side for someone whose disability is mild enough not to require help with daily care. His mom made me so sad and she's like the inverse of Maya from Speechless - so broken and worn down and no one gives her a break. No amount of hot dudes going down on you is going to fix your family. The harsher side of special needs families - codependency, control issues, arrested development, compassion fatigue, loneliness, isolation - were on full display in ways that were really painful. I've snapped at my parents many times, but he was just a raging dickhead in the finale. Both Carey and especially Phil (Mom's bf) were manic pixie dream guys - from extensive personal experience, no one is going to dump their hot able-bodied SO for an awkward disabled virgin with no social connections (me!). People do stuff like that all the time (invite you to third wheel dates, take you drinking, sometimes even kiss you/give you lapdances for "fun") to make you feel included and you're so hungry for social interaction that you take it all seriously, but you're a novelty at the end of the day. Ryan probably thinks Carey is his bf now, but Carey will write it off as a drunken kiss or still be dating that other guy. Re: Phil, as @Blakeston said, mama needs love too, but the idea that some hunky neighbor who looks like he just waltzed off the set of a Gillette commercial would materialize out of thin air and become so infatuated with a low self-esteem hermit that he can barely keep it in his pants long enough to get through the door....yeah, no.

Kim is a delight. She and Brian Jordan Alvarez were both on the web series The Wondrous Gay Life of Caleb Gallo, which I highly recommend!

And wow, that scene with Brian Jordan Alvarez as the sex worker was phenomenally well done and very tasteful. Normally the "disabled person hires a sex worker" trope devolves into a sappy "brave and selfless sex worker provides suffering, touch-starved disabled person release" narrative, but you can absolutely tell that scene was told from a disabled man's perspective. I loved that it was more or less a "cool, thanks for showing me how sex works!" before turning the focus right back to daily life. No pity, no nonsense self-loathing, no big deal.

Here's hoping for a season 2 to resolve that fucking depressing cliffhanger. Ryan needs to step up his acting game, because his mom acted circles around him in that last confrontation.

I thought Ryan acted like he was 28 going on 14. I didn't like Olivia until episode seven when it was clear she saw through Ryan. I loved Kim and Ryan's mom. I was glad they showed Ryan struggling with basic things like tying his shoes and shuffling a deck of cards which are two things I've never been able to do. I was annoyed with Ryan hiding his disability as well. I have moderate CP not as severe as JJ but worse than Ryan I've never hidden the fact I had CP.

[MVFrostsMyPie]

I’ve been following Ryan since I started reading his articles on thought catalog about 8 or so years ago (before the site became as shallow and obsessed with lists, astrology and other bullshit as buzzfeed) and connected with the things he wrote both with humor and depth even before he came out of his gay and disability closets. Even then, he was one of that site’s better writers. It’s cool to follow someone who went from internet blog writer to acting on a show based on his experiences, and also, I love the Kim character. 

[dmmetler]

I have mild/moderate athetoid CP at a similar level to Ryan, and a lot of people seem to assume that I've been in an accident or something similar (and that I have a weird accent) so that rings true to me. I think the public impression of CP is more like JJ on speechless, and unless they know enough about it to recognize the more subtle characTeristics, they don't think of it. 

[starri]

[screengem]

I love Special and I LOVE Ryan.  He's sweet, loving gay life, and exploring it with a sense of thrill and naivety.

Thanks @starri for posting that Special has recently been renewed for Season 2

Special is a quiet little gem which will get better acting in each episode.

I especially want to thank Netflix for having the wisdom and guts to give it a second season.  Can't wait to see more intimacy and more day to day challenges explored with humor and compassion.

Edited December 18, 2019 by screengem

[OldButHappy]

Loved this show - looking forward to the second season!

[starri]

 

[AngieBee1]

So happy the series is returning and at closer to a half-hour instead of 15 minutes.   The hiatus has been interminable.  My only disappointed is that Augustus Prew is unlikely to pop up as he was overseas filming Amazon's "Lord of the Rings" series. 

[AngieBee1]

Second season airing now. It's still a delightful show. Sad to see it end.

[possibilities]

Binged season 2 today. I liked it more than season 1. I wish they were getting another, because there's a lot more to be explored.

I have a lot of thoughts about things I wanted to see more (or less) of, but I don't want to get too spoilery so soon after the episodes were released. 

I saw this interview with Seth Meyers, where he talked about his intentions for this season and how it felt to film it during the pandemic. I wish the show got more publicity, but at least it got a little. While I was looking for the link to this interview, I saw there were actually quite a few articles about him, and about the show, but I had not seen any of them. 

https://www.nbc.com/late-night-with-seth-meyers/video/ryan-oconnell-is-passionate-about-specials-realistic-gay-sex-scenes/4365972

 

[Door County Cherry]

I thought the first half of the season was better than the last half.  It was kind of funny that they didn't even try to hide that Tanner was pretty much a direct swap for the guy Ryan was kissing at the end of last season.  Overall, I thought most of his story beats were pretty predictable.  I did like where he ended up. 

I was more invested in Kim's ride and her ending made me the happiest.  I"m a sucker for love and professional success.  

I liked seeing Ana Ortiz.  I like Patrick Fabian so I wanted to see more Phil.  I wonder if the pandemic shut down who we'd be able to see in the second half of the season.  I find Karen's future story kind of fanciful--but may she will be able to afford to live in Carmel after selling two LA area houses.  I don't know that moving is really the answer.  Did she even keep in touch with the people she partied with on vacation? 

[lgprimes]

Ok just binged this entire series today.

So good to see content from a point of view I hadn’t seen before.

 But I have one really shallow note that intruded every time a certain character was on screen:

 Does anybody here also watch Grace and Frankie? Did you not think that the character of Olivia in this show was such a direct copy of Breanna from that show that they even cast a doppelgänger actress? Weird

 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

2 questions (trying to be to be too spoilery for those who haven't finished watching yet):

If Ryan emptied out his room, how likely was it that his HS tux was still there? ( or maybe he just took the boxes his mother and Kim had started packing but nothing else.)

More importantly,  doesn't Karen work as a nurse? What will happens to her job after the events of the finale?  Surely she can't afford to retire. 

Edited June 16, 2021 by ItCouldBeWorse

[Door County Cherry]

1 hour ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

More importantly,  doesn't Karen work as a nurse? What will happens to her job after the events of the finale?  Surely she can't afford to retire. 

I would think she should be able to find another job wherever she goes.  That's a skill that will travel. 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

20 hours ago, Door County Cherry said:

I would think she should be able to find another job wherever she goes.  That's a skill that will travel. 

Agreed, but I thought it was strange that it was never mentioned-as if she suddenly has stopped working.  No wonder she was bored and lonely.

[Blakeston]

Is this supposed to be the final season? That really felt like a series finale. (Maybe it was just done that way so that if it's cancelled, it will seem complete? I'm not sure.)

I enjoyed watching this season, but I came away from it really, really annoyed with most of the characters.

Are we just supposed to gloss over how awful Ryan was to Tanner in their breakup fight? He had a few valid points about Tanner, but he was over-the-top nasty about other things (mocking his career, judging him because the anal sex wasn't 100% spotless, etc.) After the fight we were supposed to feel sorry for him, but I had zero sympathy.

Olivia may be a psycho, but it was ridiculous for Ryan to use her wedding as a place to get on a soapbox to declare that he's above working for her. Leaving this job that he desperately needs is crazy - just like it's crazy for debt-ridden Kim to give up $100K a year.

Meanwhile, Karen seemed to spend most of the season being angry with Ryan for her lack of friends. Sorry, Karen, but you were the one who chose to have no life beyond your son. I get that being the single parent of a child with a disability is difficult, but during Ryan's adult life there had to have been opportunities to have a life of your own.

And did she ever apologize to her ex for sabotaging his relationship at that restaurant, or are we just supposed to think that can all be blamed on her friend?

 

[Door County Cherry]

15 hours ago, Blakeston said:

Is this supposed to be the final season?

Yes, it was.  

[Empress1]

On 6/23/2021 at 12:08 AM, Blakeston said:

Leaving this job that he desperately needs is crazy - just like it's crazy for debt-ridden Kim to give up $100K a year.

I was like, Kim, girl, now is not the time. Take the bro-y job and live at home for a year or two, pay off the FORTY-SIX-THOUSAND DOLLAR credit card debt (!!) you owe, and then you can do what you want. The internet isn't going anywhere, you can start your site when your slate is clean. Or do both - work and blog on the side. And when Ryan was like "I'll work for you" I thought "and get paid with what?" Like, don't these people have bills? Don't they need health insurance? Kim's credit score is probably bad; who's going to give her a small business loan?

I was glad Kim didn't take her parents' money, because when her mom said her new boyfriend (I forget his name - I love the actor though) had help from his parents, I thought "there's a difference between paying for your kid's education and paying off your kid's credit card debt she racked up entirely on bullshit." And then when she was all "you don't understand the pressure to fit in!" to her father, I was mad. Like, don't try and cute this up or make it deeper than it is: you spent a whole lot of money you didn't have on shit you didn't need, and now you're fucked. That's it.

On 5/22/2021 at 7:26 PM, Door County Cherry said:

I don't know that moving is really the answer. 

Yeah, I can understand her looking up and realizing "holy shit, I have no life," but I wondered why she didn't try to cultivate one where she is. She could join a choir in LA. Maybe she thought moving would sever the codependency she had with Ryan, in addition to enjoying her time in Carmel.

[starri]

I get Ryan ending up single was perhaps the mature choice, but damn it, I really wanted him with Henry.  Who is apparently queer and on the spectrum in real life, and I appreciate the diversity of casting.

[lovett1979]

On 7/3/2021 at 5:14 PM, starri said:

I get Ryan ending up single was perhaps the mature choice, but damn it, I really wanted him with Henry.  Who is apparently queer and on the spectrum in real life, and I appreciate the diversity of casting.

I believe they were very intentional about casting people who were queer in real life and/or have disabilities (as the role indicated). In the background of the prom scene, I saw Joshua Castille who I know to be a Deaf actor (he was in Deaf West's Broadway production of Spring Awakening). Even though he had no lines in Special, and one would never know that he is not just a hearing background actor, they made the effort to cast as many people with disabilities as possible. For all I know, every actor in that scene had a disability, even if that fact is not obvious.