Atypical pushes Sam out of his comfort zone as he embarks on his first sleepover away from home.
Atypical is helping Sam grow as a person this season and it’s nice to see him constantly push out of his comfort zone. While I can’t claim to know or understand much those on the spectrum, it seems very inspiring to see a character such as Sam’s excel in whatever way they can.
The episode begins with a flashback to 1999 when Elsa was pregnant with Sam, and both her and Doug were hanging out with Arlo’s parents. Yes, the same Arlo who beat up Sam in the last episode. Their parents go way back but Arlo’s parents stopped inviting Doug and Elsa after Sam started getting older and difficult to deal with.
In the present, Casey and Doug are understandably pissed off regarding Arlo pushing Sam but Sam doesn’t seem to care all that much because his focus is on the penguins, as always. He gains some traction with the awkward phase him and Paige seem to be stuck in and tells her he isn’t actually hooking up with anyone and the two seem to make up for time being.
Credit: Netflix
When Paige asks him to come with her to the senior lock-in because she’s worried about sleepwalking, Sam realizes he’s never stayed away from home before. Considering he plans to go away to college, this is something he will have to do eventually.
Zahid comes to the rescue as always and tells Sam to come stay over at his place with his “roommates” aka his parents. This will give Sam the practice he needs staying elsewhere and hopefully push him out of his comfort zone of being home.
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To tackle the Arlo situation head-on, Doug and Elsa eventually decide to talk to his parents together. While Elsa and Arlo’s mom make up, the night ends in Doug fighting with Arlo’s dad, Theo over a rude comment he made about Sam.
There is still trouble in paradise between Evan and Casey who got into a fight over her and her new friends. He won’t respond to any of her messages and calls so she directs her attention on Izzie who has run away from home. While their friendship continues to grow stronger, something awkward happens when Nate comes over during their girl’s night and tries to kiss Casey.
Sam’s night at Zahid’s seems to be going pretty well thanks to Zahid who has set up everything according to Sam’s comfort. However, when the laptop is left on and the sounds begin overwhelming Sam, he leaves Zahid’s house and starts walking home.
On his walk home, a cop finds him assumes that he has been doing drugs because he keeps whispering words under his breath. Even though Zahid shows up in time, they both are escorted to the police station despite Zahid telling the cop that Sam is autistic. Luckily, they are let go eventually but not before Zahid shares a heartfelt story about not letting setbacks determine the outcome of your future.
It appears that Zahid once had aspirations to go to nursing school which were squashed by a teacher’s off-hand comments about his ability to do so. The night ends on a great note for Atypical because Sam makes it through his first night away from home (past midnight at least) and it seems like Doug and Elsa may be on their way to making amends.
Not to mention, Zahid is applying to nursing school!