I had not previously heard of social media content creator Benito Skinner before I saw his new series Overcompensating, scrolling through Amazon Prime on a rainy Saturday afternoon. And aside from seeing a few targeted Instagram ads showcasing the show’s connection to musician Charli XCX (she is an executive producer and guest star in one episode of the series’ first season…and there are a lot of Charli XCX needle drops), this show was not really on my radar. And as someone who prefers to watch movies instead of TV shows, I constantly find myself behind on whatever the new and popular TV series is. For instance, I never finished the first season of The Last of Us, let alone the second season, and The Handmaid’s Tale was too depressing at the jump for me to want to continue it, and I always meant to and just never did.

But occasionally, I’ll start a new show and something about it will claim my full and undivided attention. And even though I will typically write about movies here, I feel compelled to give the hilarious, heartfelt, wild and weird-ass world of Overcompensating its moment. A quick note about spoilers – I will not be doing that here. I will tell you about the main story and subplots, and speak vaguely about where we end things, but one of the central joys about Overcompensating is relishing in the way everything unfolds, so I want to preserve as much of that experience as I can for you, the viewer. Still with me? Okay, let’s talk Overcompensating.

Benny (Benito Skinner) has just graduated high school and is preparing to move away from his hometown in rural Idaho. Benny was a football player in school and he’s deeply in the closet. He aims to reinvent himself or at least figure out who he is in college. His older sister Grace (Mary Beth Barone) also attends courses there and her boyfriend Peter (Adam DiMarco) runs the school’s main frat. Benny finds presumed chemistry with Carmen (Wally Baram) who has her own interesting backstory that has colored the way she sees the world, but the charming and British Miles (Rish Shah) keeps catching his eye. How will Benny navigate the tumultuous world of college while finding the courage and inner strength to finally be true to himself?

Overcompensating sort of plays like a queer American Pie for the current generation. It’s not exactly clear if this takes place in 2013-2014-ish (around the time Skinner would have been in college living this experience), or if it lives now. The way the show integrates pop culture and social media tells you that it really could have taken place over any time within the last decade. And as someone who has been a college student during that time, I saw a lot here that felt familiar to me. And as someone who can find something to relate to in not only the lead character’s experiences but those of many other people being explored here, I found a lot of the emotional terrain we travel through here to be very heartfelt and genuine. The show is snappy and brash, but it’s not afraid to wear its heart on its sleeve. And beyond that, there’s so much fun in this viewing experience – so many laughs, so much romance, so many star-making performances, the whole experience proved to be kind of irresistible as a whole. And the fact that the show is able to keep up its momentum throughout and escalate its sense of drama and urgency, while never losing the broad comedy, is very impressive from a structural perspective.

Benito Skinner got his start making short-form social media content for YouTube and TikTok, but somehow I had never heard of him prior to hearing about this series. After doing a deep dive into his social media presence since the pandemic, a few videos here and there seemed familiar to me but I never followed him as a creator. I think this is one of our few cases where the career trajectory of social media content creator to actual creative presence, might be a clearer and shorter path than it might be for others. Benito Skinner is a star, full stop. Put simply, he’s got that thing the camera likes. He’s endlessly charismatic, he’s funny as hell, and he handles the show’s more emotionally challenging moments with grace. He also serves as a series creator, producer and writer on every episode. I’ve watched some interviews with him from Overcompensating’s press tour, and it’s so clear he has brought every piece of himself and his experiences to this at least partially autobiographical series, and I will follow his career where ever it goes moving forward.

Early on, we meet Carmen, played by Wally Baram. Carmen enters Benny’s life as a potential love interest until she begins to piece together his secret, at which point she becomes his main confidante. Baram is also an immediately compelling performer, and has a ton of personality. The attention paid to her backstory and her point of view is a strong point in the writing’s favor, but it would all fall apart if Baram was not doing the work, and she’s fantastic. Holmes also stars as Carmen’s roommate Hailee and she is bringing an intense, gonzo, go-for-broke comic energy here that is repeatedly hilarious and exciting to watch. She just about walks away with this entire show. Mary Beth Barone is also a total breath of fresh air as Benny’s sister Grace. She’s very funny and certainly knows her way with a deadpan expression, but I also enjoyed her backstory, and her character evolution was compelling to follow. 

Adam DiMarco, who I knew from season two of The White Lotus, is also doing great work here as the quintessential shallow dudebro type, which is the polar opposite of what I’ve seen him in before. He’s a great comedic presence, but is fascinating to watch as his world begins to crumble. Rish Shah as the character Miles, has a ton of charisma and electric chemistry with Skinner, however his character is kind of an enigma at this point. We’re only learning about him as Benny is, and he’s a little underdeveloped at this point. But there’s a lot the writers could do with this character in the future. James Van Der Beek, Lukas Gage, Bowen Yang, Matt Rogers and Andrea Martin also pop up in guest roles, and they effectively keep this party going. Oh! And how could I forget? Connie Britton and Kyle MacLachlan also appear in recurring roles as Benny and Grace’s parents, and it’s always a pleasure to see them.

The way this show evolved for me as a pleasant-enough way to kill a rainy afternoon to something I became increasingly invested in, is a testament to the craft, the writing and performances on display here. Since watching this series initially, I’ve already done a full-season rewatch and I feel like I might be doing another sometime soon. It’s going to sound hyperbolic or disingenuous but I genuinely mean it when I say that if I had Overcompensating when I was a college student, there is a strong chance I would be a better adjusted adult human being in general today.

Overcompensating very quickly became a new comfort series for me, and I would be devastated if Prime Video chose not to continue this series. The cliffhanger we end on is brutal and left me gasping and shouting at the screen. I would love to see a world where a show like this went on for about 8-10 seasons and we got to follow all of these people to fully realized adulthood, but I need to be realistic here, and appreciate what this series has already brought to me. I would always make fun of the people who would cancel a streaming service when one of their favorite shows got the ax. However, if Amazon does not renew this series, I will absolutely become one of those people. Overcompensating is one of the best new shows I’ve seen this year – a hysterically funny, impeccably acted and emotionally insightful delight, and I hope we all get to see what Benito Skinner has lined up for part two.