Drama
The Pitt
Max’s new hospital drama The Pitt strives to be medically accurate. But while that’s a noble goal, this show comes with a whole lot of content, too.
There’s nothing like unstable, questionable advice from adults. Ten-year-old Tom knows that quite well.
As a student attending Shady Oaks Elementary in New Jersey, Tom longs for stability, just as most other children do. But he never finds it.
Not in the dramatic ramblings of his teacher, Mr. B. Not in the biased advice of the school’s principal. Not in his friends, Dakota and Nelson’s, irrational parents. Not even in his own impulsive mother.
For Tom, logic and reason are constantly out of reach. And although he is basically 10 going on 50, the same can’t be said for even one adult in his life.
If I haven’t said this before, let me say it now: Animated adult shows feel like the lowest form of entertainment on every level.
Most of these shows are filled with sexual innuendo, insanely inappropriate content, mind numbing, crude dialogue and an offensive amount of profanity.
Just like Ten Year Old Tom.
This pessimistic, animated, Max original is currently in its second season and it’s all about a very smart, logical boy surrounded by idiotic parents (and friends) who can never seem to muster any common sense or rational, sound advice.
Tom’s school days are filled with insane happenings from an appearance from Homeland Security to rigged spelling bees. None of it has any meaning, nor does it connect to any of the other 25-minute, inescapably crass episodes.
And the worst part, which is also the crux of this series, is that every adult is selfish, self-absorbed, misguided and narcissistic. No matter how often Tom turns to any adult in his life, he always comes back empty handed, belittled and bewildered.
Just like most animated shows on HBO, this shouldn’t be suitable for anybody. Especially not for families.
Tom finds out that he was born in Mexico and is, therefore, technically an illegal immigrant. So he must go to Mexico to try and straighten out his mother’s mess while navigating his friends and their parents who also happen to be at the same resort.
Mr. B (Tom’s elementary-school teacher) accuses Tom of trying to assassinate him after giving him an apple that others say has been “laced with E Coli.” A “homeland security agent” frisks Tom and slaps a grown man. Tom remembers an agent who “pointed a gun at [his] penis.”
Dakota’s mother says that she cannot spend another minute with her husband or she will “blow [her] brains out,” so she asks Tom to find her alcohol and cocaine to get through her vacation. Tom leaves to find her these things but meets his Mexican “brothers” along the way who offer to help him. Instead, they get Tom caught in a scam. Mr. B asks Tom if he’s on drugs or dope. Adults drink alcoholic beverages.
Tom’s mother reveals to him that she gave birth to him in a hot tub in Mexico. She later is restrained at the same resort for destroying the hotel years prior and never paying her bill. A woman shows Tom a picture of his father urinating on a couch.
Many women, including Tom’s mother and Dakota’s mother, sport cleavage-baring tops and wear bikinis. Dakota’s mother offers to flash a worker to get what she wants. Tom finds out that he has nine brothers in Mexico from his promiscuous father. Tom’s brothers want him to go and party.
A man laments that his wife constantly belittles him.
Jesus’ name is misused twice. The f-word is heard once and seen once on a screen while the s-word five times. Other profanity includes words such as “h—,” “b–ch” and “son of a b–ch.”
Kristin Smith joined the Plugged In team in 2017. Formerly a Spanish and English teacher, Kristin loves reading literature and eating authentic Mexican tacos. She and her husband, Eddy, love raising their children Judah and Selah. Kristin also has a deep affection for coffee, music, her dog (Cali) and cat (Aslan).
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