In this week in which Gay Pride will take place in many cities, the series to be seen on Netflix, also because passed over in silence, Special, based on the 2015 autobiographical book I’m Special and Other Lies We Tell Ourselves by Ryan O’Connell, who is also a screenwriter, director, co-producer and performer, in short, the soul of the operation. All of his sack’s flour. And excellent quality flour. Ryan, the protagonist, a 28-year-old homosexual boy suffering from mild cerebral palsy: not officially disabled, but just enough to make life busy and difficult for some motor difficulties, for which he stumbles, falls, prevented in some trivial movements such as tying his shoes. But otherwise a nice guy (he looks like the young Jerry Lewis), nice, intelligent, goes to the gym, he would like to write (he works with some success at a blog directed by a vaporous social media, Maria Mindelle) and can’t wait to get engaged.
In the first season, 8 very short episodes, the best (about 15-20 ‘) we witness his first, timid attempts also to dissolve the heavy bond that binds him to his mother who is a nurse and single, obviously a protective red nurse for good (very good Karen Hayes). Great Oedipus. At work, Ryan fakes a car accident and only later confesses his condition. Meanwhile, she has some sex adventures (the first, clumsy, paid), some free infatuation, often misses her sights but in the end when she meets the dancer Tanner (Max Jenkins) she elects him as a partner: unfortunately for not the first on the list in a mnage a trois. The diagram of his sentimental and sexual adventures is not easy, but the beauty of the series is not fossilized here, even if everything has a lot of psychological space: Ryan meets Kim (Punam Patel) a nice Indian colleague who is spendthrift and size XL with whom he shares some social humiliations (she has a feminine body and beauty different from the stereotype), as well as another possible boyfriend Phil (Patrick Fabian). But his life becomes autonomous when he goes to live alone.
The series broadens the objectives, it also takes an interest in the Indian girl and the Indian family and boy, the disabled club arrives with a high school party; then the grandmother dies, a suitor of his mother enters the scene, who has a heart in the winter and then a meddlesome friend. In short, the variety of American types (we are in a suburb of Los Angeles) makes the funny and colorful tale, always on the verge of melancholy because it is not easy for anyone to match hearts, but with the express purpose of observing the double difficulties of a boy who has behavioral difficulties and who, if he plays cards, cannot be a dealer. But the author himself, who speaks in the first person, is keen to let us know that he does not feel marginalized, it just takes commitment: we must overcome the wall of prejudice or indifference. Very well acted, not only by the protagonist who plays the master without a moment of commiseration, but by the whole family who composes a perfect puzzle of remorse & regrets, the series (16 episodes in all, in the second part released on May 20, another 8 up to 35 ‘long) one of the original contributions that the platforms offer to the LGBT + cause and therefore to DDL Zan.
Both Netflix (with beautiful titles such as The Tales of the City, AJ and the Queen, Pose which we will also talk about for social interest) and Disney, already very sensitive to the theme even in Cruella (soon the colorful series Pride arrives), therefore they fight for civil rights and against moral and material crimes against diversity. As for Ryan O’Connel, a force of nature, he collaborates with the New York Times, kills the most common lies and fears in the bud, often cites cinema and gay icons (Streep in the Devil wears Prada) and has also participated in the writing of other successful series (Will and Grace), while on a blog he talks about his daily motor skills, therefore about not good muscle coordination. But he continues to smile and look us straight in the eye, he in a kind of limbo, not entirely normal but not heroically prevented either, so much so that her love life will be as bumpy as any, but bright and not without opportunities, so much so that it will take a new online magazine, together with her best friend Kim, to tell it.
June 23, 2021 (change June 23, 2021 | 08:33)
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