Homeschooled is one of CBC Gem’s March additions to their web-series lineup. The YA dramedy series comes from co-creators Gwenlyn Cumyn and Karen Knox, inspired by Cumyn’s experiences with home education.
What starts as an amusing window into the world of two homeschooled best friends, Greta (played by Veronika Slowikowska) and Farzanah (played by Eman Ayaz), as they make a documentary highlighting the benefits of homeschool education, shifts when its revealed Farzanah is going to enroll in a traditional high school, becoming a dreaded “trad” (what they call such students, their counter insult to the “homeschooled freak” that often gets tossed around).
The series leans hard into weird comedy effectively. From the Miyazaki style “Story of Job” barn art to a commedia dell’arte themed party. What makes it work, is that it finds over-the-top people in both the homeschooled and the traditional education setting, thus drawing more parallels than lines in the sand.
The pilot episode introduced the central conflict between the “trad” and the homeschooled student. It did so with an outdoor concert performed by Gunter (played by Logan Aultman), the also homeschool younger brother of Greta. During it, he gets laughed at by some “trads” led by Aekesh (played by Siddharth Sharma). This sequence served as a great way to set up the conflict for the rest of the series once Farzanah goes to a traditional high school. Especially as during the scene despite trying to “takedown” Aekesh, she’s hoping he finds her cute. It also did a good job of setting up complex characters because, despite Aekesh taking a video and having a laugh with his friends in the scene, he took their suggestion and found Gunter on Instagram. It is revealed in a later episode by Gunter that Aekesh has been messaging him song suggestions.
Both creators appear in the series as characters that draw stuff out of the two protagonists. Karen Knox as Ms. D (the Vice Principal) who convinces Farzanah to pursue comedy, and Gwenlyn Cumyn as the documentarian Greta admires and seeks to impress. The hand of the creators on the subjects guiding them along is usually not this literal, but I think it adds a nice additional layer for those that see it (AKA those that read the credits).
While this storyline was neatly wrapped up and concluded, the world and characters certainly have space to explore. I would particularly like to see Greta and Farzanah navigating university applications. Would Greta decide to go for traditional education or find some alternative? Is this a chance to bring them back together or drive them further apart?
The beautiful thing about streaming series is that, unlike traditional TV, the episodes can be the length they need to be to tell the story. So, the 10-episode series has episodes ranging from just under 10 minutes to just over 15 minutes. You can watch all of Homeschooled right now on CBC Gem.