Ugh! I feel like eons have passed since the first season of this delightful comedy aired, and now I learn this is the only other season I’ll ever get of Special?! Not cool. But, I mean…it is cool there are new episodes to be had. Brilliant in it’s own unique way, Special follows Ryan, a gay man with mild cerebral palsy and how he navigates life professionally and personally.
Picking up right where it left off, Ryan and his mother are not speaking after they fought about her new relationship. That’s really hard for both of them since they have always been incredibly close. Now, they do mend their relationship in the end, but you can tell it’s not how it used to be. There are moments when they are short with each other and things are a little tense, but ultimately, they come to understand what they need from each other in this new phase of life and their relationship.
Most of the season finds Ryan going on a bunch of dates with some seriously cute guys! The problem with most of them though is they fixate on his disability in some way, and Ryan isn’t really cool with that anymore. Despite a string of flops, he does form a really strong relationship with a guy named Tanner. They are so cute together, but the problem is that Tanner is in a open relationship and Ryan is not cool with that. Before the two reconcile and really give a romance between just the two of them a shot, Ryan meets Henry at a disability group. There, he makes a lot of friends with disabilities which he’d never really done growing up because he was so high functioning. Him and Henry hit it off, so you can tell it’s a real struggle to choose who he wants to date more seriously.
Ryan’s best friend Kim is going through her own relationship drama. At first, it really seems like she’s won the lottery when she meets a really sweet millionaire. I really thought they were going to last, but he’s committed to work and she realizes she’s got too many other personal problems to work through first. The most debilitating one being her massive amount of credit card debt. This forces her to move back in with her parents and search for a better-paying job. The job doesn’t pan out because it’s clear she’s just the “diversity hire,” but she vows to her parents that she will pay it off on her own. While there, she also reconnects with one of her oldest friends who she’s also been having casual sex with for the past ten years. They are so cute together and thankful it works out between them!
Unfortunately, things don’t last between Ryan and Tanner because of his mom’s opinion of him and also the fact that Tanner is not really that sensitive to Ryan’s disability. Ryan’s not perfect either though, so it’s a shame they couldn’t work, but the moral here is that Ryan wants to spend some time not in a relationship. Thankfully, he also quits his job, which was so toxic it made me cringe. Finally, after Ryan’s grandmother died, his mother realizes she doesn’t really have much of a life at her home anymore, so she decides to move. It all really ends in a full-circle kind of way, and for that it was perfect.
This show is seriously hilarious, while also being heartwarming all at the same time. Ryan O’Connell is indeed a genius and I hope to see more from him in the near future. In the meantime, I definitely need to go check out his book because I am almost positive it will be as good as his television writing. If you’ve got Netflix (or someone else’s password), go watch this gem of a show!