My teen son has autism. Here's what Netflix's new dramedy Atypical gets wrong.

To me, Sam feels "written," not lived

A scene from Atypical.
(Image credit: Erica Parise/Netflix)

Later this month, my son Archer will turn 16 years old and start his junior year of high school. My wife and I are already nervously watching the calendar, knowing in two short years, he'll be a college freshman — a milestone most parents dread. Adding to our anxiety is that Archer has an autistic spectrum disorder. He's high-functioning and excels academically; but his personal quirks and shaky social skills will complicate his adulthood, in ways that sometimes keep us up at night.

That's also a fairly common experience for modern moms and dads, especially as we enter an era when the surging wave of kids diagnosed with autism at the start at the 21st century begin to come of age. That dynamic is mainstream enough to be the subject of a new eight-episode Netflix dramedy, Atypical.

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Noel Murray

Noel Murray is a freelance writer, living in Arkansas with his wife and two kids. He was one of the co-founders of the late, lamented movie/culture website The Dissolve, and his articles about film, TV, music, and comics currently appear regularly in The A.V. Club, Rolling Stone, Vulture, The Los Angeles Times, and The New York Times.