Animation
Thomas & Friends
Over 24 seasons, Thomas & Friends has taught young viewers important lessons about being helpful, teamwork and admitting your mistakes.
Justin Edwards: talented athlete. Even more talented music producer. Recognized for neither. Struggling through his elite prep school classes due to ADHD but expected to attend a top university. Close with his parents but terrified of letting them down.
Keisha Clark: talented athlete. Even more talented student. Recognized for both, but struggling through her own elite prep school since she had to transfer her junior year. Close with her mom but terrified of letting her down.
Justin hasn’t seen Keisha since elementary school, and he hardly noticed her then. But when they meet again on New Year’s Eve their junior year of high school, it’s like he’s seeing her for the first time. He’s completely smitten.
These two set out on a journey of teen romance … and heartbreak. Perhaps they’ll be together forever. Or perhaps they’ll just remember each other forever.
Either way, the teenagers find ways to help each other through their personal struggles. And ultimately, they also find ways of making their parents proud.
Inspired by the novel of the same name by author Judy Blume, Netflix’s Forever is a story about teen romance, but one that I certainly wouldn’t want my own teenager watching.
Forever, the book, has frequently been banned from schools and libraries due to its detailed depictions of sex. And unfortunately, Forever, the TV series, is very graphic, too.
Teenage characters (played by adults) are depicted nude and having sex. And the parents here can be a little too cavalier about teaching their kids about the emotional and relational repercussions of premarital sex: A father teaches his son about contraception and encourages him to “have fun.” Elsewhere, a mother emphasizes the struggles that come with teen pregnancy but fails to teach her daughter what a sex tape can do to a young woman’s reputation (which is what happens to Keisha).
The inappropriate content doesn’t end there, either. The very first word we hear—before we even see a single person onscreen—is the f-word.
Justin, Keisha and their families are Black, and we also get a glimpse at the fears and anxieties their parents feel for them—in part because of their race. Justin’s mom, for example, is terrified that her son could get shot or arrested simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Both sets of parents are trying to get their children into top-rated colleges, too. And they worry that racial prejudice could prevent them from achieving that goal, which is why they are often so tough on their kids.
Perhaps the series would work better if it cut out the negative content and just focused on the lessons it’s trying to teach, like the fact that teen romance is rarely forever. Or even the notion that teens shouldn’t tie their identities to another person, that they need to figure out who they are and want to be on their own.
I do think Forever aptly demonstrates what loving parents look like. Justin and Keisha’s parents are willing to do just about anything to protect their children and prepare them for life. Yes, the moms and dads here make mistakes, but they learn from those mistakes. And they try to teach their kids to do the same.
But those positive intentions don’t outweigh this series’ significant negative content. Which sorta makes Forever … for never.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
Justin and Keisha are excited to reconnect at a New Year’s Eve party after not seeing each other for several years. But on their first date, Keisha takes things too fast (sexually speaking), leading to some misunderstandings and an argument.
Justin and Keisha kiss several times. Sitting at the back of a movie theater, the two teens start to grope each other and engage in a sex act. Justin, who has never done that before, stops Keisha, wondering if she actually has feelings for him. But Keisha misunderstands, believing Justin thinks she’s a “ho,” and storms out hurt.
Later, Justin learns that Keisha had to transfer schools the year before due to harassment after a sex tape of her got leaked. His friends send him this video, and he watches it (it’s offscreen, but we hear sexual dialogue). Elsewhere, a teenager watches pornography (we see a couple kissing on his phone screen before the camera pans away).
Keisha and several other teenage girls wear very revealing outfits that often expose their undergarments. We see Justin in boxers and a T-shirt. Teenagers make crude references to sex. Keisha’s grandfather asks if she is having boy troubles or possibly even girl troubles, which Keisha says is “progressive” of him.
Keisha yanks the hair of a classmate after the girl insults her. (And she’s disciplined for her actions later.) Before a party, Justin’s dad gives him a talk about sexual assault, telling his son not to do anything with a girl if she is drunk or hesitates in any way.
Teenagers drink alcohol at a party. Adults drink wine with meals. A teenage girl says she needs an edible to help manage pain from menstrual cramps.
Justin argues with his parents over their rules after he fails to give them details of a party he wants to attend, bringing up the fact that many of his classmates don’t have the same restrictions. But Justin’s mom defends her actions, telling her son that since he is Black, he has to be more careful than his white classmates. (She says that she’s worried he’ll get shot by a cop just for his race.) They later change their minds and allow Justin to go to the party, but his dad reminds him not to get involved with any white girls, since he might get accused of assault if he does. There are some jokes about race elsewhere.
Keisha and her mom are close, but Keisha never told her mom about the leaked sex tape, since she didn’t want to burden her with that. Her mom works two jobs to pay for the tuition at Keisha’s new school, and Keisha doesn’t want to let her down. But as a result, Keisha is dealing with the emotional and relational repercussions on her own.
Justin is (rightly) grounded from using screens after forging an email from his mom to his school excusing him from classes. A student sticks gum on the bottom of her desk.
There are more than a dozen uses each of the f- and s-words (and background songs contain even more instances of these profanities). We also hear “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “d–k” and “p—y.” God’s name is misused six times. A woman jokes that someone else’s kids are “bad” because they swear.
A woman prays over her sleeping daughter’s bedside, thanking God for her daughter’s safety, health and well-being. Keisha’s school is Christian (we see an altar with the chi rho symbol engraved on it). And after she gets into trouble, the principal encourages her to put God at the center of her life so she’ll be “anchored in peace.”
Over 24 seasons, Thomas & Friends has taught young viewers important lessons about being helpful, teamwork and admitting your mistakes.
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