Penelope
Penelope is an immersive and quiet coming of age story, about a 16 year old girl who, seemingly on a whim, leaves her family, friends, and technology behind and decides to live a hermit-like life in the woods of the Pacific Northwest.
The 8 episode Netflix series (about 1/2 hour each) begins with Penelope who is at some kind of camp with a lot of other folks, including her parents. The first episode begins with a ‘silent dance party’, where a large group of teenagers are dancing near some cabins, wearing headphones to dampen the noise. Penelope spies a wolf on the edge of the party, and is stunned. She appears to be the only person to see it. She looks away for a moment, and when she looks back, it is gone. The next morning she wakes early and goes out to the spot where the wolf stood, and now there is a rabbit there, which hops off into the woods. Penelope decides to go for a walk, and walks into town, where she finds a kind of general store that sells camping gear. She buys a bunch of gear and sets off, eventually leaving her parents a voice message, telling them that she is not running away from them, she is moving towards something, and wants to figure out what that is. Then she turns her phone off.
From there we follow as she finds her way to the deep of the forest, where she learns the dangers and triumphs of living without technology in such a remote place. The photography is beautiful, and the story is so quiet and immersive, you may find yourself considering such a life.
My only issues with Penelope (aside from how terrified her parents must have been when she effectively disappeared) were that her clothes stayed astonishingly clean, and the final two minutes of the last episode. I’m not sure why the writers decided to end it that way, but it left me very unsatisfied. I think it would have been a 10/10 for me otherwise. Completely bingeable (I watched the entire series yesterday while nursing my head cold.)
16 Comments
Maya
I think you’ve nailed it:
It sounds beautiful if I imagine it for myself and terrifying if I imagine it for my kids…
I’m going to take a peek…
J
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. The setting, the peace, her joys when she triumphs are so lovely.
NGS
I would be so stuck on her poor parents and their worry that I wouldn’t be able to think of anything else. What a weird premise for a show!
J
That was definitely in my mind the entire time, but aside from that BIG THING, I found it to be gorgeous.
Margaret
It reminds me of several books I’ve read lately.
J
Interesting!
Suzanne
Oh my goodness, this sounds terrifying. WHY would she do that? Did her parents just… let her go? Or did they spend the whole series trying to find her? I am completely overwhelmed by the idea of immersing oneself in woods where there are KNOWN WOLVES.
J
The series is entirely from Penelope’s point of view, so you get nothing of what the parents are going through. Terrifying though, right?
Ernie
Oh my gosh. What an interesting concept. Yeah, her parents had to be freaking out. The clothes would’ve thrown me off. Coach and I just started watching A Man on the Inside or something. Ted Dansen. We watched a few episdoes and liked it. It’s the perfect easy breezy, light show with quick episodes for those of us who are old and tend to fall asleep at night or are too busy doing other things to really sit and watch something lengthy.
J
Suzanne just posted about that show today as well. I’m going to have to check it out.
Alexandra
Oh, now this reminds me of a movie I saw last year starring Robin Wright who after the loss of her husband and kids in a car crash, secludes herself up in the mountains, during winter and, well, nearly dies. It was a bit of a stretch in parts for me, but this sounds vaguely similar.
J
I like Robin Wright, I’ll have to look for that one.
Alexandra
It’s heartbreaking but also uplifting. And I cannot for the life of me remember the name.
J
I haven’t watched it yet, but I found the name on IMDB, it was Land.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
Ok now this sounds very weird and at the same time very intruiging.
A show my husband most likely has no interest in watching but I might like it.
J
I really liked it! Give one episode a try, it’s only 1/2 hour. If you don’t like it, DNF.