A Family Story With a Son on the Spectrum
"People think autistic people don't have empathy, but that's not true," Sam Keir Gilchrist says in Netflix's new family comedy Atypical. "Sometimes I can't tell if someone's upset, but once I know, I feel lots of empathy. Maybe even more than neurotypicals.", That's an apt summation of the strengthsand some of the weaknessesof this charming eight-episode addition to the streaming service. Sam, whose difficulty picking up on social cues has deeply affected his family's life, is also a loving and engaged part of his family's life. Even so, his parents, played by Michael Rapaport and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and sister Brigette Lundy-Paine begin spinning away from one another with not unjustifiable selfishness.