Stars: 5/5

Hulu’s popular new series “PEN15” allows viewers to remember the ups and downs of middle school in a cringey and hilarious way.

The comedy stars Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle playing themselves in seventh grade. The show is interestingly cast with Erskine and Konkle playing their middle school selves, while the rest of their co-stars are actually middle schoolers.

This makes the show even funnier and more authentic. The show wouldn’t be nearly as entertaining if Erskine and Konkle got teenagers to play themselves as well. The fact that they are re-living their experiences and telling their stories themselves is the best part.

It’s like watching your current self live through your middle school years. Yes, it’s as uncomfortable and amazing as it sounds.

The idea of two grown women playing seventh graders and acting with teenagers may sound strange, but I promise it’s so worth it. In fact, the show probably gives the most accurate depiction of growing up in the early 2000s that I’ve ever seen. The show might be telling Erskine and Konkle’s stories, but they did a great job of allowing everyone to relate and see themselves through them.

From matching with your BFF, to carpool, to Bagel Bites after school and AOL chat rooms, “PEN15″ has all the nostalgia you never knew you needed.

I had so much fun watching this show. It felt like my friends and I were looking at ourselves living in the past. The show became so relatable at times it was shocking. The sleepovers, R-rated Blockbuster movie nights, choir and band/orchestra recitals where everyone fought over solos, and inappropriate middle school dances.

There were so many more relatable moments, like the show opening to “Candy” by Mandy Moore, which is still one of my favorite songs today and mentioning “S Club 7” which was one of my favorite shows to watch as a young teen. The teenagers also obsess over B*Witched, which was more of a high school moment for my friends and I, but still brought nostalgia, nonetheless.

Female friendship was of course one of the main focuses of the show and I love how they showed how seventh grade impacted Maya and Anna’s friendship.

At the beginning of the season, the girls vowed to take on seventh grade together and experience everything there was to be done as best friends. Things like middle school love and wanting to be popular while trying to remain true to themselves sometimes got in the way of this. Watching Maya and Anna go though these things makes you realize how big you thought your problems were when you were younger.

With this came some actual big girl issues that Maya and Anna had to overcome, with the show showcasing situations throughout the season with bullying, drugs, peer pressure, racism and self-love.

My favorite episode dealt with racism and Maya struggling to love herself and appreciate her heritage because most people around her didn’t and she was different than they were. In one way or another, I think many people have found themselves in a situation like this in their childhood.

Like a good best friend, Anna tried to reach out to adults and tell them she felt a change should be made to allow Maya to feel more included. This episode did a great job at showing that teens really do notice problems in society and care about them. They realize when adults do nothing, and this allows them to think that it’s ok to do nothing too.

In the episode, Maya expresses that she just wants to choose what Spice Girl she wants so be, and as a teen who claimed Baby Spice in a world that told her she had to choose Scary Spice, I knew just how she felt. With the help of Anna, Maya realized she could spice up her life any way she wanted to, and that my friends, is real friendship.

“PEN15” proves that the power of friendship can overcome the toughest moments one has to experience in any year, girls still rule, and the best friend you’ve had since middle school is meant to be in your life forever.

This is a show that you’ll binge in one night and never want to be over, but once it is, you’ll call your middle school BFF and thank her for all of the memories.