Under no circumstances would I want to go through middle school again. I’m not saying it was the worst time of my life. But only because I’ve mostly blocked out my memories from those years. And yet, I can’t wait to experience junior high again through the eyes of Pen15‘s Maya and Anna. The Hulu series about that awkward age is one of television’s best. Fortunately I won’t have to wait much longer for school to be back in session. The show will return with new episodes next month. And Pen15‘s new trailer has all the heartbreak and humor fans want and expect from the show.
Everyone’s favorite adults playing 13-year-old versions of themselves, Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, are heading back to the year 2000. But this isn’t season three of the series; rather, it’s the second part of season two. Pen15 will pick up right where episode eight of the show left off. (Hulu labels the show’s recent animated special as season two, episode nine. The next live-action episode will be episode 10.) Anna and the (way-too-old-for-her) high school boyfriend she met while doing tech for the drama club are getting serious. It’s causing friction between the best friends as Maya feels more and more like a third wheel.
That will lead Maya to also start seeing someone who should not be dating a junior high student either in a season that will once again mix real emotional stakes with absolutely absurd comedy. This trailer promises that, like with the first part of the season, we’ll be crying a lot during episodes. Sometimes from laughter. Other times, from sadness. Sometimes from both at the same time.
So it will be a lot like actually being in middle school. Minus the part where a dog eats a hamster. Pen15, which Hulu perfectly calls a “traumedy,” returns on December 3. Fortunately, none of us actually have to return to junior high ever again.