By Robert Scucci | Published
Growing up in the suburbs can be an isolating and stifling experience, and I can’t think of any media that captures the lonely reality of teenage life better than 2024. I saw the TV glow. Set in the mid-’90s in what might as well be any suburban town, the film follows parasocial relationships, friendship, and coming of age while questioning your identity every step of the way. Written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun, I saw the TV glow is the second entry in their Screen Trilogy, following 2021’s We’re all going to the World’s Faira microbudget project that addresses similar ideas in a very different context.
Although transgender themes feature prominently I saw the TV glowAt the forefront, its emotional core is easy to connect with for any teenager trying to carve out an identity against the pressures of conformity. The internal pushes of growing up are palpable in every scene, and if you’ve ever felt out of sync with the world around you, this is absolutely a must-see as it handles that struggle with rare sincerity.
The show within the show
I saw the TV glow centers on Owen (Justice Smith) and Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), two isolated teenagers who bond over a TV show called Opaque pink. Owen lives with his sick but controlling parents, while Maddy is more of a free spirit in that we never actually meet her family, suggesting that she is mostly left to her own devices.
Sneaking away whenever he can to watch the show at Maddy’s house, Owen becomes engrossed and Maddy explains the complicated story to him because she is so attached to the show that it seems more real to him than his real life. The show itself is a stylish homage to teen scream staples like Buffy the Vampire Slayerwith a big bad named Mr. Melancholy (Emma Portner) and a monster-of-the-week structure spanning five seasons.
Maddy ends up running away, hoping that Owen will join her, but he is too afraid to follow her. He falls back into his solitary routine, clinging to Opaque pink and rewatching the tapes Maddy had made for him on the nights he couldn’t sneak out. The series has become comfort food over the years. When Maddy suddenly returns, convinced she lives inside Opaque pinkOwen wants to believe her but isn’t sure he can. Meanwhile, she explains that she was buried alive like the show’s heroes, Isabel (Helena Howard) and Tara (Lindsey Jordan), and that breaking that suffocating experience allowed her to emerge as herself.
Firmly convinced that she is a character from the show, Maddy fails to convince Owen that he is trapped in the same limbo. When he refuses her offer to help him get to the other side, they separate again and Owen grows old wondering what his life could have been like if he had followed her path.
The struggle to find yourself
I saw the TV glow conveys its message through vibrant neon colors across an oppressive beige world. As Owen and Maddy’s lives intersect Opaque pinkthey use the show’s mythology to explore who they are, and it becomes clear that Maddy sees the light while Owen is paralyzed by fear. As an analogy to coming out as transgender, the film draws a stark contrast between Maddy’s escape from suffocation and Owen’s inability to break free from the expectations placed on him. Both characters face similar internal battles, using media as a coping mechanism in their isolated suburban lives.
Even though the message resonates strongly in this context, I saw the TV glow speaks to something much broader. I found it easy to connect with Owen and Maddy because it’s incredibly common to lose your sense of self when your worldview is narrow and television becomes your window to possibilities you don’t see in your everyday life. It becomes a substitute for community, identity and hope.
Surreal, stylish and sometimes stifling, I saw the TV glow is a visually arresting take on identity, alienation, and the hope of getting to the other side, whatever that means to you. It’s a crazy emotional journey, and you’ll never look at your TV the same way again after watching it properly.
I saw the TV glow is broadcast on Max.
