>>113657514I feel like there's also a difference in that the other episodes are there to teach the viewer something. I haven't seen the 6teen one, but the Braceface episode is very matter-of-fact about puberty. It's almost something they'd show in a health class. A Twelve Forever episode about menarche would be fundamentally different because of the impact it would have on Reggie, who has so many hang-ups about growing up. It's like when they went to the mall and Reggie was unable to bond over dresses and make-up the way Esther and her mom did, so she ran away and hid on Forever, except this is something she wouldn't be able to run away from.
That is not to say that they wouldn't have done it, they probably would have, but I think it would have played out very differently from the usual slice-of-life period episodes. In practical terms I imagine they would have given Esther her period first and shown how it distanced her from Endless, much like Todd's relationship with Gwen did.
>>113652248Judy's part of what makes me like the show myself. She's a single mother, and her daughter's a weirdo. She doesn't know what to do about it, and she doesn't even have personal experience to fall back on because she was a normal kid growing up. She doesn't get Reggie and can't communicate with her in a way that makes her open up, and that's what makes it feel so real. Selling off her toys is exactly the sort of well-intentioned thing you'd see a clueless parent doing in real life. It reminds me of Clarence that way, another show with a very real-feeling mom and a kid who's an oddball.
