The Big Picture

Mel Eslyn’s Penelope is a new series about a 16-year-old girl who leaves civilization to build a new life in the wilderness. The pilot episode shows promise, blending exploration, humor, and melancholic realities of the world. Megan Stott delivers a wonderful performance as the titular character, capturing the thrill and uncertainty of youth.

In 2007, director Sean Penn released his passion project film Into the Wild, well… into the wild. Based on the nonfiction book of the same name by the great writer Jon Krakauer (Under the Banner of Heaven), it recounted the story of the troubled young Christopher McCandless as he cuts ties with the life he had known up until then to set off on his own. The film and the story have resonated with those feeling a similar sense of unease about the trajectory of their lives and the world writ large. It is the type of uncertainty that transcends generations and may have found its successor in another — only this time, her name is Penelope. Though we’ve only just got to know Penelope in the pilot episode that bears her name, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, there is already a sense that she is going places.

Penelope A sixteen-year-old who feels alienated from contemporary civilization is pulled into the uncharted wilderness and starts to build a new life for herself there. Release Date January 24, 2024 Creator Mel Eslyn Main Genre Drama Seasons 1

What Is ‘Penelope’ About?

Created by the great producer turned director Mel Eslyn, who hatched up last year’s spectacular sci-fi dramedy Biosphere, and co-written by her longtime collaborator Mark Duplass, the initial look at this series is defined by exploration. The world we’re dropped into has points in its favor right from the jump as one of the unfortunately rare productions to actually shoot in Washington state (while others frequently try and fail to pass themselves off as doing so). There is already a confidence in the way things unfold in the life of the young Penelope (Megan Stott) as Eslyn wastes little time in getting things moving. When the 16-year-old goes for a walk on her own, away from the campsite where other families, including her mother, have all gathered, it tells us all we need to know. We can feel her desire to get as far away as possible from the others. Still, this walk ends up being quite a long one when Penelope realizes that she could just keep going. Said realization is almost one that she stumbles upon, but soon becomes committed to in pursuing this new path as far as it will take her. Where that goes remains to be seen, but the series’ first steps are bursting with promise.

In particular, while the comparison to Into the Wild remains a fitting one, Penelope has plenty of its own unique ideas to explore, with this feeling merely like an initial entry point. There are elements of growing up that remain familiar across generations, but the fictional Penelope is living in a vastly different world than McCandless was. In an early scene, she rushes out to a store to buy a bunch of supplies to get on the road. Discovering at that point that she doesn’t have any money that isn’t tied to her phone, she acts fast by using said device to buy a digital gift card instead. This plays as a humorous acknowledgment of her relatable impulsiveness that has left her largely unprepared as well as her capacity to think quickly on her feet. In lesser hands, this could easily feel like the “old man yells at cloud” meme in highlighting her reliance on technology, but Eslyn doesn’t simply go for the easy laugh. Instead, she turns the joke on us when we see how resourceful Penelope is. Later, when the character tries to jump on board a speeding train, this becomes a more fun sequence as she determines a clever way to get on board with all the possessions she will now be carrying on her back.

Though there is only limited insight into the full sense of why Penelope is taking this leap just yet, as the pilot takes a more refreshingly gentle approach, it doesn’t shy away from the world’s more melancholic realities. For every nice encounter with a fellow drifter that turns out okay, there is a sense that this life might not be such a magical one full of similarly nice vignettes. Later, near the end of the episode, just before its most joyous moment, there is a reminder that Penelope will still likely need money to carry on and that she can’t just quickly purchase a digital gift card every time she does. Complimented by a sweeping yet subtly profound score, there is already the foundation being built for a thoughtful journey to come.

The worst thing that could happen with a series like this is that it loses a handle on striking the balance between the romanticism of youth striking out on their own and the reality they must soon face. In Penelope’s pilot, this balance is decliately struck as we get swept up in the joy of its lead being finally free from the looming pressures of the world. While some details are only sketches at this point and thus can’t be evaluated about how they will become defined as the series goes on, what Eslyn is establishing proves intriguing even amid the unknown. What is known is there is plenty of promise — both in the story being told, and the star at its center.

Megan Stott Is Wonderful in ‘Penelope’
Image via Sundance 

Though not a total newcomer by any means, having first made herself a name to watch with a great performance in the hit-and-miss series Little Fires Everywhere, Stott shines bright here. There is an understated honesty in how she views the world — from the thrill in her eyes while the world rushes by beyond the train to the rather affecting uncertainty about what she will do next. As the first page in this portrait of youth, it feels lived-in and genuine in a way that draws you in. Credit must also be given to both Eslyn and Duplass, as other works about young people can often feel like they’re not really in tune with the same generation of today. What they rightly do is just show Penelope as she is, without talking down to her or approaching from the outside looking in. Instead, Penelope is already operating from the inside out, in all the ways that truly matter. While there is still a lot to uncover in the road ahead, wherever the series goes next, we’re right there alongside Penelope for every subsequent step she’ll take.

Penelope REVIEWMel Eslyn’s Penelope is only just beginning, but it is a series that is already bursting with promise. ProsEslyn and her co-writer Mark Duplass never talk down to the central character, building her up from the outside in. Megan Stott shines bright, giving a performance that brings us into a lived-in world. Eslyn drops us into the life of the 16-year-old protagonist with a confidence that sets a strong foundation for more to come. ConsThere aren’t more episodes yet to get lost in this world.

Penelope had its World Premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.