Everything's Gonna Be Okay: Tv Show Review
- Brina B
- Apr 15, 2021
- 9 min read
Everything's Gonna Be Okay is a comedy created by Josh Thomas that airs on Freeform. The show centers on three siblings navigating life after the death of their father. Nicholas, the oldest son, lives with his mom in Australia and occasionally visits while his younger sisters Matilda and Genevieve live with their dad full time. Matilda is on the autism spectrum, Genevieve is emotionally closed off, and Nicholas is dealing with feelings of inadequacy.
When I sat down to watch his show I wasn't sure what to expect because trauma comedies can go two ways IF there's NO balance between storytelling and humor. First, they could lean so hard on the comedy that the trauma gets lost in the sauce. The show essentially becomes more about delivering a clever dark humor punchline or trying to earn the gold in the who can be more edgy Olympics. Second, the trauma becomes a plot device to force character development. Have you ever watched a movie or TV show and felt like the writers just randomly added a story line just to make you like or dislike a character? Plot device.
Was Everything’s Gonna Be Okay going to try and deliver edgy comedy at the expense of the story? Was it going to slap me in the face with trauma just to force me into a certain direction? Or would I be pleasantly surprised and get a balanced trauma comedy?
Well, let's take a closer look at the first two episodes and find out…
While I’m not going to provide a play by play of both episodes, I will talk about the scenes that stood out to me and why. Therefore, spoiler alert!
Episode 1: Seven-Spotted Ladybug
The episode begins with Nicolas having a conversation and making out with a guy (we later learn his name is Alex) at a local bar, on what is supposed to be his last day visiting his sisters and dad. During their conversation it comes out that Nicolas’s dad left him and his mother and stayed in the United States after getting Matilda and Genevieve’s mom pregnant. Throughout this conversation there are jump cuts between the guys talking about Nicolas’ family and shots of them making out. What I gathered watching this scene is that Nicolas was attempting to distract himself from thinking about his family while still wanting to talk about them. Oftentimes Trauma Survivors have this back and forth between wanting to talk about their trauma and not wanting to talk about it. This scene does a nice job of providing a visual of what that can look like.
As the show progresses closer to the main focus of the show, the pending death of the father, we get a glimpse of the dynamics between the siblings and their father. It’s filled with sarcasm and bluntness. I have to be honest, watching the family scenes felt familiar because that’s exactly how my family interacts. Their interactions as a family put my guard down because it’s hard to explain how comforting it was to see a family on TV interacting like that, with trauma as the backdrop. This isn't the first sarcastic family on TV and won't be the last, but the trauma backdrop made watching this feel a bit more intriguing. Yes, even at my big age representation matters.
Moving on, Nicolas is the first to learn that their father will die after catching him at home when he was supposed to be working. His father awkwardly stumbles over his words before telling him that he has a form of cancer and will die soon. Upon hearing this Nicolas says no and then leaves the room. When he returns there’s brief conversation between the two before Nicolas gets a notification saying that Alex is outside. He tells his dad that Alex is a guy he loves even though he’s not sure he knows what love is (pause: that’s another post for another day...) and he still wanted to spend time with hi. He ends up asking the dad if he can go somewhere else. Now, this is where the comedy vs story balance was tested. While on the surface Nicolas still wanting to entertain Alex would seem heartless and insensitive, this is also where trauma comedies differ from standard comedies. Trauma comedies are challenged with bringing heart to a situation while also low key poking fun at it, which is a very fine line that some don’t get right.
What I think this show does well in the scene between Nicolas, Alex, and the father is that they used the dad to deliver his jokes from a “I only have so much time left, so there’s no point in hiding anything anymore” frame of reference...and it was funny! It was a nice balance between him wanting to meet the guy his son might love and the reality of needing to make final arrangements whether Alex was there or not. Between that and the awkward facial expressions from Alex, I was chuckling the whole time. The best part of this scene is that it never lost the heart. I didn’t feel like I was laughing at the expense of the dad, I felt like I was laughing with him. Well done.
Another aspect in this episode is the dynamic between Matilda and Genevieve. I’m not an expert on the autism spectrum so I will share my thoughts on what was presented in the show (note: I will leave some resources at the end of this post if you’re interested in learning or helping). One thing I enjoy about the relationship between the sisters is that they both have their identities. For instance, there’s a moment when Matilda is telling her sister about a guy she likes and how she’s going to talk to him. At first Genevieve is trying to talk her out of it by saying do you even know how to flirt and all the girls like him. That doesn’t stop Matilda who ends up talking to the guy anyway. The interaction was nice and I love that Matilda made her own decision on if she was going to talk to the guy or not.
Again, I’m no expert but something I’ve noticed quite often in the media when it comes to autism and other developmental disabilities is that the person gets lost. We don’t learn about who they are, what they like, or what they dislike. One thing I love about social media now is that I’ve come across several parents and families who share their kids' stories and the focus is on how they manage and cope, as well as what they enjoy. I love that Everything’s Gonna Be Okay gave Matilda space to be herself while also acknowledging that she is on the autism spectrum. I got a chance to get to know her from the beginning which gave me hope that she won’t get lost as the show progresses. On the other hand, Genevieve was giving me young Brina vibes...can’t even lie. She was sarcastic and snippy, and has this aura that says I care but I won’t let you know anytime soon. Not to mention she had a moment of being bullied. Man! Young me down to the shoe strings. This show has represented me twice in this first episode so far and I wasn’t ready! I was not prepared in the slightest. Okay Josh, I see you.
Now, we come to the climax of the episode, the girls find out about their father dying. The four of them go out for banana pudding and the dad tells them that he’s going to die soon. Matilda is asking questions to gain clarity on the type of cancer, duration, and what to expect while Genevieve is not saying anything and crying. This is another moment where the balance between comedy and story was tested, just slightly, because the girls finally find out about their dad and Nicolas is trying to ease their concerns about who will take care of them. He’s talking about the qualities that will make him a decent guardian and he’s not really selling it if we’re being honest. Genevieve is saying a lot of things could go bad if he were their guardian and Matilda is just shaking her head. The girls reluctantly agree to live with Nicolas, and the scene ends with the dad asking if they were going to miss him. I chuckled. That’s the balance I look for in trauma comedies, pull me into the serious then lighten the mood without dismissing the serious dialogue I just sat through.
The last scene I want to talk about in this episode is the funeral scene. Throughout this scene the siblings are managing in different ways. Matilda is off to herself listening to music with her headphones, Genevieve was whisked off by her “friends,” and Nicolas is being approached by a lot of people he doesn’t know expressing their condolences. The BEST part of this scene for me is the eulogy delivered by Matilda. I don’t want to give anything away because it does a nice job giving you more of a glimpse into her world and who she is. Throughout this scene you can also see the siblings starting to rely on each other a bit more, Genevieve telling Nicolas she’s not sure where to stand and Matilda saying kind words about them during her eulogy. It served as a decent launching pad to show that this new arrangement could work. On the flip side, there were also moments where the ups and downs of this arrangement were highlighted and the reality of what could go wrong came back. For instance, Genevieve was being her emotionally closed off self and Nicolas was attempting to engage with her and she wasn't having it. It was endearing that he was trying because he isn’t the most connected with his emotions either. It was a case of I don’t know what the heck I’m doing, but I want to try for you. In my opinion, the reality of the emotional toll this could have on the siblings is one of the biggest things that could go wrong, so I'm curious to see how the show addresses their mental health moving forward.
The only person who appears to have herself somewhat together after the funeral is Matilda. There’s a moment when Nicolas walks away from trying to connect with Genevieve and instead asks for comfort from Matilda. Exercising her right to refuse physical contact, she says that whenever he wants the feeling of a hug from her she will dance with him. They begin to dance it out and who peaks her head around the corner? A hesitant Genevieve who resists but ultimately joins her siblings in a comfort induced dance party.
Overall, this episode was a good introduction into the characters and the dynamics of the show. It was also a good idea to have us follow the siblings when the trauma occurred instead of it happening off screen because it challenged the writers, and creator, to pay more attention to the balance of funny vs story. While the Trauma Survivor in me connected to the first episode, I’ve watched shows that started out strong and lost it’s fizzle in episode 2. So, let’s take a look at episode 2 and see if the magic continues.
Episode 2: Greenbottle Blue Tarantula
In episode two I felt like I got to know more about Nicolas and how his mind works. He is still spending time with Alex and I must say, Alex is a pretty cool character. Alex balances Nicolas out and challenges him to acknowledge his feelings. For instance, there’s a moment when Nicolas is questioning if he should sleep in their father’s room like they’ve been doing since his death or stay in his room with Alex, all before acknowledging that his vulnerability with Alex isn’t something he’s used to. Alex reassures him that he’s having a nice time and says that Nicolas should do what he wants. Nicolas then announces that he’s going to run away now. I appreciate this moment because Nicolas and Genevieve are similar in the sense that they both try to close themselves off from their feelings and Alex does a nice job of providing support for Nicolas while making him feel safe and comfortable enough to let his guard down. Nicolas is still all over the place, but I love that the show has moments, at least between episodes one and two, where we focus on the back and forth/should I-shouldn't I energy Nicolas often has.
Overall, this episode wasn’t packed with as many memorable scenes as the first episode. It wasn’t a bad episode, the focus was just different. The first episode focused on introducing the trauma so emotions were a bit high. The second episode felt like things were calm and the audience was getting to know the siblings more. We get a chance to see more of the sarcastic banter between them and we even have moments where we see how Genevieve and Matilda are trying to cope when they return to school. All in all, it was an enjoyable episode and left me wanting to see episode three.
Final Thoughts
Although I’ve only seen two episodes, I have to say I enjoyed both of them. I like the flow of the show and the balance between serious and funny. I didn’t feel like I was swimming in trauma the whole time. I felt like I was getting to know the survivors as well as their trauma. I will say that this show is an acquired taste because it’s VERY sarcastic and it does have some moments that are part cringe and part "did they really just say that?" I think this show does a decent job showing the audience that you can cope and manage trauma with some flare. And honestly...I’m here for it.
Until Next Time ~Brina B
Autism resources (note: this is only a few options, not a full list)
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Disclaimer: This blog post doesn’t serve as therapy or professional help. If you’re in need of professional help, visit the resources section of the website.
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