Magic on Normal Street
Amazon’s original series, Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street, follows the title character and his best friends through the tribulations of growing up. On the one hand, Normal Street is an ordinary, even boring place to live. On the other hand, it’s a place where extraordinary events break in. The show uses a combination of magic and realism that depicts real life far better than any other family television show I’ve seen.
Gortimer (Sloane Morgan Siegel) lives with his mom and younger brother. His core trio of friends includes goofy, enthusiastic Ranger (Drew Justice) and dreamy, brilliant Mel (Ashley Boettcher). The fresh, unaffected performances of all three young actors conjure up that time when children are ineluctably but mysteriously transforming into adults.
Each episode contains a focal point, a piece of heightened reality that manages to tell the truth about the hard, ordinary work of growing up. In one episode, for example, the kids create a permanent rainbow that represents permanent happiness. Soon, however, the friends realize that the unrelenting happiness is eerie and uncomfortable.
