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Stuff I'm Seeing

 This is a rave for "As We See It," the new Amazon drama.


Jason Katims is a major TV power-player--he seems to be in the ranks of Dick Wolf, or the Kings, or close by--and he now has three big triumphs ("Friday Night Lights," "Parenthood," "As We See It").

The Katims "formula" can become wearying. Major characters will gather in the season finale at a graduation, competitive event, or awards ceremony--and plotlines will intersect. At some point, the hero will receive an offer for a prestigious out-of-town job--and the offer will get rejected, because "ambition isn't everything." (I tend to dislike this plotline!) Secrets and lies and rumors will spread--and well-intentioned adults will struggle with privileged information, and sometimes innocent people will shoulder the burdens of injustice (as in actual life).

"As We See It" is a weak title, but I understand what Katims wants to do: He wants us to grasp that his living-with-autism protagonists are front and center; they are not objects, but subjects. Katims also wants to emphasize the idea of "seeing": We're all presented with one world, but our perceptions and interpretations can vary greatly, and that's what makes life interesting.

Even as I become well-versed in the main Katims strategies, I'm still sometimes surprised by the writing. In "As We See It," a Billy Bigelow-esque ne'er-do-well seduces our heroine, Violet ("My favorite color is violet") ....and the ensuing heartbreak leads to an eruption at Arby's. Violet loses her job, and her coach advises her to tell new interviewers: "I had a miscommunication, and that's all, and it won't happen again." But Violet rejects the silly codes of polite America, and she tells a prospective boss: "I fucked a guy, and he dumped me at Arby's, and then I threw shit at him." It's hard not to cheer for Violet in this moment--but you also sympathize with the person conducting the interview.

Marc and I were especially fond of the character Jack--who has some form of autism, and who watches manipulative TV commercials in an effort to "learn how to cry."

Katims smartly gives us three people whose lives are half-unformed; these characters haven't made romantic commitments, or found secure careers, or even made a definite plan to stay in one place for the next few years. Plus, the characters are understandably eccentric (and the show asks, powerfully, "What is so great about being normal?") .....

All this is enough for me -- and I'll certainly watch when Season Two is unearthed.
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