The Mothers of Penguins review: Polish series about parents

The Mothers of Penguins (Matki pingwinów) is a heartwarming Polish series about parents with differently abled children who must find a suitable school for their kids. The are four families featured – three led by moms and one led by a dad.

The Mothers of Penguins concentrates mostly on Kama (Masza Wagrocka), an MMA fighter who struggled to accept her son’s diagnosis on the autism spectrum.

Kama’s son was kicked out of his school. She tried him temporarily in a school with many other differently abled children. She didn’t think he belonged there at first, but by the end of the series she had finally accepted his diagnosis. She found a tribe of other parents there, too. They all bonded and worked together to improve things for their kids.

Ula (Barbara Wypych) had 3 children, one with Down Syndrome. She had a big following on Instagram (as did the fighter Kama) where she talked about her family and parenting. She was the kind of mom who welcomed everyone and took care of everyone. When she met Kama, she outed her son as autistic on Instagram and alienated Kama immediately.

Titiana (Magdalena Rózczka) had a son with Muscular dystrophy. She had a husband but he wasn’t much help. She had to wait outside the school in her van all day in case her son needed to use the restroom.

The dad in the group was Jerzy (Tomasz Tyndyk). His daughter was also on the autism spectrum. He was a gay man living with his horrible mother who treated the little girl with disdain.

This well written series managed to tell meaningful stories about each family as they struggled with personal problems, school administrators, and health issues. I thought the characters were well developed and their situations were compelling. The performances were uniformly good, including from the many children in the cast.

The 6 episode Netflix series had women directors: Jagoda Szelc and Klara Kochanska. Klara Kochanska was the writer as well.

The season ended on several cliffhangers which makes me hope for another season. I’d happily watch it. If you watch this beautifully done series, please share your comments about it below.