The series has covered a lot of middle school ground so far — from unrequited crushes to popularity woes and friendship fights, PEN15 has thoughtfully and successfully tackled many issues that we can all remember dealing with as 13-year-olds. With the characters still in the 7th grade, there is undoubtedly still a lot to cover going forward. The first half of season 2 ended with both friends in distress. Maya was left heartbroken after being broken up with by Gabe (Dylan Gage), her co-star in a school play. Meanwhile, Anna, who has been struggling with her parents' divorce, must decide which of her parents she wants to live with post-split.
Erskine and Konkle spoke with Harper's Bazaar about what's coming in the second half of season 2, stating that new experiences are coming their characters' way. Konkle said, "They're experiencing more firsts again. There were a ton of firsts in the first season. This block of seven episodes, it's the blow back from all the firsts. It's like, 'Who am I? What is this? Am I a teen? Am I a kid?' And then this next leg is like, 'Okay, I'm a teen. Here are my firsts. Now I can handle anything.'"
With these new experiences lined up for the next set of episodes, it seems as though season 3 may feature the "blow backs" of these events that are yet to come. Also, the show will likely be wrapping up 7th grade soon, so the third season may push the show's plot into the next grade. Whatever lies ahead with PEN15, it will almost certainly be as awkward, hilarious, and poignant as everything we've seen so far.
