Skip to main content

Is season 2 of “Special” still special?

 

Special - Season 2


Ryan (Ryan O'Connell) wants to forget about his disability. He is more than that, and this second season starts by showing precisely that. The disability matters less now, and the focus shifts to relationships. They are difficult. For everyone.  

The disability isn’t gone, but it's moved to a second plan. It is less central than it was in the first season. Ryan isn’t a disability; he’s a regular guy with extra challenges in his life. 

They get me!

In this season, however, Ryan interacts more with other disabled people. Something that he seems to avoid in his eagerness to be “normal”, whatever that means. I think it was a good upgrade to the show.

It shows how unintentional things we say can be hurtful, and it affects Ryan. And all the things that impact us, positive or negative, make us grow.

It was interesting to watch how they make him feel safe. They know what it’s like; they get him; they have similar experiences. That's why they give him a kind of protective bubble against the rest of the world; it’s “us against the world.” That is appealing; that makes him feel good, yet Ryan wants more than that. He wants to fit in. 

Ryan’s mom

Karen (Jessica Hecht) is a very important character in the show, but she was only Ryan’s mom until recently. In this season, she gains a new, independent identity, and the character grows. I loved that.

Her being only Ryan’s mom wasn’t a mistake, though; it was so realistic! Unfortunately, that happens to so many mothers of disabled children. But Karen was able to recover herself, and that was wonderful to watch.

While the show focused on all of Ryan’s struggles, his relationship with his mother was one of the best parts. How do you spend your whole life taking care of someone else? How do you get on your feet again when that person flies away? What comes next? I loved it. Karen has her own battles, and she is so strong! She is a fighter in every aspect of her life.

Disabled people aren’t victims; they are people 

This was a great show. A light comedy teaching many lessons to a society where most people are blind to what’s happening outside their little bubbles.

Ryan is a disabled gay man, but that’s not who he is. I loved the fact that he is never a victim. Actually, Ryan can be selfish and inconvenient sometimes. He isn't some source of inspiration people look to, the kind of thing that dehumanizes the person in question. Ryan is not that; he is real.

Problems? They happen to all of us. They are hard on everyone, and the author doesn’t try to fake it. Ryan doesn't achieve something absolutely remarkable. He just lives, one day after the other. Sometimes in a good mood, other times in a bad mood, but always with funny stories.

I was sad to find out this would be the last season, but it was a good one. It had a bit of a happy ending, and I loved it. 


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gangsta Granny – Hilarious and Surprisingly Moving

  I have a ten-year-old daughter, and one thing we like to do is read the same books so we can talk about them afterward. Gangsta Granny was a birthday gift for her, and she read it so quickly that it immediately made me curious. When a child finishes a book that fast, you know something is working. When I finally read it myself, I was pleasantly surprised — and completely charmed. A Story That Is Funny and Moving At first glance, Gangsta Granny is a crazy, over-the-top, and very funny story. David Walliams clearly knows how to make children laugh, using absurd situations, exaggerated characters, and a fast-moving plot that keeps young readers hooked. But beneath the humour, the book is also sweet, touching, and emotionally rich. What starts as a wild adventure slowly reveals a story about family, loneliness, empathy, and learning to truly see the people around us. This balance reminded me of Roald Dahl’s books , where outrageous humour and emotional depth coexist effortles...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Handmaid’s Tale – From Brilliant to Frustrating

  When The Handmaid’s Tale first aired, it felt sharp, terrifying, and painfully necessary. I wrote about the first season as a dark and brilliant adaptation, one that used restraint, symbolism, and dread to tell its story. Now that I've finished the third season, my opinion has shifted — not wholly, but noticeably. The show is still good . Sometimes very good. But it also became frustrating, uneven, and less powerful than it could have been. June Osborne: From Survivor to Exhaustion Let’s talk about June (Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men ). I understand the idea behind her arc. She was meant to evolve — to become more confident, more assertive, more dangerous. A woman shaped by trauma who stops surviving and starts fighting back. On paper, it makes sense. On screen, however, it often doesn’t work. June becomes reckless to the point of irresponsibility. She repeatedly puts others in danger without seeming to fully care about who might be caught in the crossfire. Her actions feel impuls...
Post a Comment
Read more

Breaking Bad: When Desperation Redefines Morality

  Breaking Bad is often praised as one of the greatest television series ever made—and I definitely agree. Beneath its gripping plot and intense character arcs lies a deeply unsettling exploration of morality, identity, and the human capacity for self-justification. At its core, the show asks a haunting question: what happens when an ordinary person is pushed past their limits—and keeps going? Walter White: From Victim to Architect of Chaos Walter White (Bryan Cranston) begins as a man we instinctively sympathize with—a struggling high school chemistry teacher facing a terminal illness. His initial decision to cook methamphetamine is framed as an act of desperation, even sacrifice. He wants to provide for his family after his death. But that justification doesn’t hold for long. As the series progresses, Walter’s transformation becomes less about survival and more about control, pride, and power. The tragedy is not just that he becomes a criminal, but that he chooses to contin...
Post a Comment
Read more