With Netflix releasing trailer after trailer almost every day, 2019 is going to be an interesting year for sure. With the myriad of Netflix’s original content, choosing one out of many can really seem to be a tough job. But one ‘pack of sunshine’ you don’t want to miss this summer is Netflix’s Special season 1. All we can guess from the trailer is that it feels as fresh as dandelion and utterly joyous like a warm hug.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8S9Gxrp-uI
The star, writer-creator of the series Ryan O’Connell astounds anyone with his hilarious yet touchy performance. The show ‘Special’ is a semi-autobiographical series. Ryan O’Connell plays Ryan who is a gay man with cerebral palsy, decides to rewrite his identity and go after the life he wants. For about some time he pretends that his limp was a result of a car accident at 20. Finally, he came out with the truth in 2015 with his memoir book- I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves. Something that Jim Parsons moulded into a big break.
“If you could get rid of the thing you hate most about yourself, the thing no one else understands, wouldn’t you do it?” asks Ryan in the trailer. Hitting straight to the viewer’s soul, the question successfully finds a place in connecting to the sentiments of each person. (And relating deeply we want to scream yes!!)
Ryan says in an interview- “You don’t have to have cerebral palsy to relate to my story”. As rightly said, the plot-line connects through humour and makes audience comfortable. Audience will often find themselves watching the show through Ryan’s eyes although differing from him. The show not only talks about his journey of ups and downs, of deciphering the key to self-love but also directs us to our journey of self love. A closing line of trailer says,“I was in the closet about being gay, and then i was in the closet about being disabled, and now……no more closet”. Special already makes us feel special by addressing to every person’s urge come out of different walls (or closets) that we build around.
Although the show is stupendous in its own way, the matter of this kind is not new. The pattern of uncovering stories of disability and self deprecation through humour has been channelized in entertainment industry earlier as well. For example, Netflix’s Atypical which revolves around a high schooler with autism. In much similar way, ABC’s Speechless is a comedy about a teenage boy with cerebral palsy. Strikingly similar content was produced by Bollywood too in ‘Margarita with a straw’ which is the story of a teenager with cerebral palsy and her coming of age, minus the humour effect.
The trailer was the best gift by Netflix on Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day - 25th March. It is also Netflix first foray into 15 minute long episodes. All the episode will be released on 14 April.(Mark the date if u don’t want to miss a breath of fresh air).
For now, we only wait for Netflix to uncover its feel-good brilliance this summer.
