Hulu Original: PEN15 season 1 episode 2 recap: Miranda

In the first episode of PEN15, Maya and Anna made it through a rough first day of middle school where Maya was labeled the Ugliest Girl In School (UGIS) by two guys she had a crush on.

PEN15 opens its second episode with Anna and Maya playing out a dramatic scene with Sylvanian dolls (anthropomorphic animal figures) on the bedroom floor. They vow to keep playing like this until they’re old.

This moves to Anna and Maya at lunch at school. Anna asks Maya to grab something out of her bag and Maya is surprised to pull out a new set of Sylvanian toys. Others around them start to look at them weird as Maya gets incredibly excited about the new toys.

From a few seats away, Sam and his friends tease Anna and Maya about the fact that they’re excited to play with dolls. Anna and Maya then call the boys out for still playing with G.I. Joe’s (which, of course, the guys try to pretend is completely different).

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Sam, feeling attacked about his G.I. Joe’s stands up and brings the entire cafeteria’s attention to the fact that Maya and Anna have dolls at lunch.

Thoroughly embarrassed, the girls grab their bags and finish their lunch in the bathroom. They still agree that they want to play with the Sylvanians that night anyway—it is their Friday night tradition, after all.

Just then, three girls burst into the stall next to them and start talking about their plans to hang out with boys that night. One of the girls asks if Anna and Maya have a lighter (which they don’t, of course) and accidentally drops her cigarette on the ground. It rolls into Anna and Maya’s stall.

Before Anna can give the cigarette back, a custodian comes in and the other three girls run out. Anna tells the custodian that the cigarette isn’t hers and the custodian says she’ll let Anna throw the cigarette away.

Instead, Anna pockets the cigarette.

Outside after school, they see the three girls who were in the bathroom with them—Miranda and her friends. Clearly, Maya and Anna think they’re really cool. Even when Sam tries to come up and apologize for what happened at lunch, they tell him to shut up and leave because it’s how Miranda talks.

Later, things are off when Maya and Anna try to play Sylvanians. The shine has worn off. Maya especially seems uninterested in playing with them anymore. They decide to do something else.

They decide to play dress up and act out a scene, but Maya is still bored with this idea. As they lie on the bed trying to figure out what to do next, Maya pulls out the cigarette and pretends to smoke. They also prank call Sam pretending to be Miranda and dress up and put makeup on to be more Miranda-like.

Maya then suggests they get a lighter, to make the pretend smoking more realistic. They get money from Anna’s dad (claiming they’re going for a walk) and buy a lighter from a store.

As they walk back, they come across Miranda’s house and they wrestle over whether or not to spy on the sleepover going on inside. As they push each other around, they wind up in front of the garage door, which opens and Miranda and her friends awkwardly catch Anna and Maya.

Maya tries to play it cool and say she and Anna were about to smoke. Miranda, saying that’s what she and her friends were about to do, invites Anna and Maya to smoke with them.

Things start to get a little too real for Anna when one of the girls pulls out a beer. After unsuccessfully getting Maya to get out of there with her, Anna goes to the bathroom to compose herself and convince herself that everything is fine.

Once she gets back to the group, Anna’s hurt to find Maya drinking beer without her. The group chants for Anna to take a sip. Anna downs the rest of the beer and crushes the can.

With the beer gone, Miranda suggests they all try inhaling compressed air computer cleaner. Maya goes first and immediately passes out. She wakes up to Anna freaking out. Even though she had only been out for 10 seconds, that was enough to convince everyone else that it’s too scary for anyone else to try.

Maya gets mad that Anna didn’t try it with her even though that was the promise. But before she can get too mad, she realizes that it’s 9 p.m. and she rushes off to call home.

She goes into Miranda’s brother’s room and asks to use his phone. As she lies to her mother, saying she’s about to go to bed at Anna’s, she starts to zone out looking at an owl wearing glasses that Miranda’s brother has in his room.

Back in the garage, the five Fields brothers have arrived to hang out. The awkwardly start pairing off with the five girls with Maya and Anna ending up with the two youngest (the youngest of whom is only eight).

As Miranda and her friends make out with their individual Fields brothers, Anna tries to find a good spot to be with hers. She tries to be in the same place as Maya, but Maya tells her that they can’t do everything together. Anna breaks down and cries to her Fields brother about the fact that everything between her and Maya is changing.

In a closet, Maya is freaking out about the prospect of kissing her Fields brother. She’s avoiding him and even goes so far as to pretend to be a scarecrow. Before things can get any more awkward, there’s a commotion in the garage. Miranda’s mom is home.

Even though they scramble to clean up, hide evidence and get the boys out, Miranda’s mom still finds the crushed beer can on the ground when she comes in.

Seeing it’s a non-American beer, she accuses Maya and tells Maya to let her smell her breath. She then says she’s calling Maya’s mom. After Miranda’s mom storms out, Maya looks to Anna for support, but Anna just looks at the ground.

Back home, Maya recovering from being yelled at for an hour by her mom. As she sits at her dining room table drinking water, Anna knocks on the window.

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They sneak up to Maya’s room and argue about how each of them felt slighted by the other that night—it was a night where both of them felt like the other didn’t have their back. Eventually, they make up.

They find that cigarette that started it all and then they promise each other that smoking it will be a first that they’ll definitely share.

This episode of PEN15 ends with Maya hiding the cigarette for later.

How did you like the second episode of PEN15? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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