As We See It is a comedy-drama series created by Jason Katims (
Friday Night Lights,
Parenthood,
Roswell) for
Amazon Prime about three autistic adults, Jack, Harrison and Violet, who live together in a group room run by support worker and post-grad student Mandy.
Jack Hoffman (
Rick Glassman) is a program developer at a tech company who has trouble socializing in at work, a constant worry to his father Lou (
Joe Mantegna) who had recently been diagnosed with cancer. His roommate Harrison Dietrich (Albert Rutecki) struggles with his weight and has trouble venturing outside due to his anxiety and sensory issues. Violet Wu (Sue Ann Pien) meanwhile, wants to get on the dating scene and meet the man of her dreams, but faces disapproval from her older brother Van who worries she will be taken advantage of. Looking after them is Mandy (
Sosie Bacon), their live-in aide whose boyfriend Joel wants her to further her career despite her attachment to the live-in group.
It is inspired by the Israeli series
On the Spectrum (
Al Haspectrum). On November 5, 2022, it was announced that the show had been cancelled after one season.
Tropes found in this series:
- A-Cup Angst: Violet worries if her breasts, which she states are small, make her desirable and thinks about buying a lacy bra.
- All Girls Like Ponies: Averted with Violet who thinks unicorns are hideous and infantilizing.
- Big Brother Instinct: Van is prone to this towards Violet, often to the point of becoming overprotective.
- Birthday Party Goes Wrong: Violet becomes very distressed and despondent when her birthday does not go as she imagined.
- Brutal Honesty: All three of them to some extent due to their autism making them disregard normal filters but Jack is easily the most blunt and often rude about it, to the point that he's been fired from work over it.
- Fanservice Extra: The exercise instructor in "The Violetini".
- Hollywood Autism: Averted, the cast are autistic themselves and even though the characters display easily stereotypical traits such as Jack's genius-level expertise with computer programming, this is balanced with how his social difficulties make it hard for him to work in groups with colleagues.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Violet struggles with this most of all the cast, wanting sex and relationships like every other woman her age but always being held back by Van's strictness and her autism.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Between the adult Harrison and child AJ.
- Literal-Minded: One of the most common traits in depictions of autistic people; particularly Harrison, who is extremely blunt at times and disregards social niceties.
- Mistaken for Pedophile: AJ's mother assumes Harrison might be one when she finds out him and AJ were hanging out together on the apartment stairs.
- Money Dumb: According to Lou, Jack has a bad history with credit cards.
- No Social Skills: Each of the main autistic characters have this to some degree:
- Jack is a genius with technology and software, but has trouble reading social cues and does not see the value in politeness.
- Harrison is capable of making friends and shows a lot of compassion for others, but does not see the problem with an adult being friends with a 10-year-old.
- Violet wants to have a social and romantic life, but anticipates that the men who take an interest in her might only want her for sex.
- Promotion to Parent: A downplayed example with Van acting as Violet's familial caretaker following their mother's death, but both are adults and they do not live together.
- Roommate Com: Is largely one set in a group home for autistic adults.
