Penelope

Oh, I'm absolutely loving this show. As I was scrolling through all of my paid channels, all I saw were things dealing with death and war and misery and pain and negativities or someone killing someone else or some type of terrible sex crime. And then I happened upon this... How refreshing that Netflix has put something like this out. Please keep it coming. It's absolutely relaxing and engaging and interesting. It's so refreshing to see something positive. The music is pleasant and I like the theme and the plot, although it is slightly unrealistic, but that's OK, because it's making me feel very nice. The young lady does look slightly under age, maybe 13 or 14, but I think she's doing a really good job. A few things are slightly disjointed and don't make a lot of sense, but that's OK, because I love this show. I could watch season after season. I hope it gets good reviews. And although I don't have a family, this would be an amazing show for young adults and teenagers. Absolutely amazing for families as well. Something for the whole family to watch.

It is to believe in a world where a young girl lives in the forest alone without terrible things happening. Who meets only wonderful people and manages to survive only on what the forest gives her.

We have become so used to violence that at any given minute we expect something to exhaust her and hurt her. Also the fact that she chose to make the journey not because of escape bad situation or violent parents is difficult. Why would she do that? Her wonderful journey for me is to return to believing in the goodness of man.

And I find it almost magical in the posibility that this world and forest that bring only the good of mankind exist.

I pray it does.

The actress made you feel her connection to nature. The trees and forest were the supporting cast. It is a beautiful portrayal of a young woman trying to find her own mental peace and stability through nature. I loved everything about this show. Her interaction with the forest and learning to live with nature and survive all while trying to figure out her emotional stability was beautifully captured.

This actress was able to make you feel her various levels of emotions throughout this journey. I don't want to get into specifics and give away the details of the end but she made you feel her emotional growth through the season.

I just watched the first episode, and here's my review:

It starts with a young girl listening to music on her headphones at an outdoor party. She sees a wolf and then a rabbit and feels that nature is calling her. She then goes to a grocery store to buy things for her escape journey, but the cashiers don't use Apple Pay. She thinks they must be from Mars or Jupiter because everyone uses Apple Pay. Even though her parents seem loving, with her mom always chatting and sending kiss emojis, she decides it's time to leave them. She turns off her location, and that's it-she's invisible and can go anywhere. She jumps on a random train, traveling illegally, and she's super happy, screaming because obviously no one will notice. She sends her parents a goodbye recording and starts her journey. She then meets a random adult singer, hangs out with him in his van-because clearly, the world is completely crime-free-and even sleeps in the van, which is obviously safe for girls like her. And this goes on.

Positives: The direction is superb, the background music and locations are good, and the young girl has done a fine job and is likable. The best part is the short duration, less than 30 minutes, as most shows nowadays are over 40 minutes. The first episode was fast-paced and not boring at all.

Negatives: The story doesn't make sense. If her parents were shown as bad or abusive, it would make sense for her to leave. But she's just leaving for fun and to explore, without any money or a place to live, and hangs out with a random guy. It just doesn't send the right message.

Overall, it's a good concept-someone leaving their regular, boring life to explore what's out there, something many have thought about. But I hope the remaining seven episodes portray it more realistically, showing the challenges, since the genre isn't fantasy. For now, I'd give it a 2/5. I'll update the review if I watch the rest of the episodes.

First episode they lay out the background for Penelope to embark on her adventure. Many reviewers are taking a shallow look at the premise and assuming she is just running away for no reason. It is made somewhat clear in episode one and more so in subsequent episodes that she is having a crisis of meaning. She is looking at her life and seeing nothing there or at the very least feeling like she is missing something and, right or wrong, running away and entering nature is her answer to that.

Now the unrealistic... By analyzing her actions from episode two it's pretty clear she would have been dead by day four. That said I'm somewhat familiar with what to do in the woods and I don't believe I'm particularly the target audience. There are multiple more actions in subsequent episodes that definitely would have had her dead or in a very bad way all of which is ignoring the fantastical bits where she makes a forest friend, but like I said, maybe I'm not exactly the target audience.

Even though it for sure does not stand up on realism it has a good message and worth the watch, even if I wasn't particularly happy with the ending.