It's Not Like That

Amazon Prime’s It’s Not Like That took me straight to TV shows I used to watch when I was a teenager. The atmosphere and how it is filmed look like the shows in the ‘90s/‘2000s mixed with today. It made me nostalgic and happy, even though the show isn’t about happy experiences.

It is about a recently widowed father and pastor, his children, and his late wife’s best friend, who goes through her divorce. It is about how parents and teens go through grief and divorce and how two families’ lives can change in an instant and be very different from what they were used to.

The show shows that healing is about acceptance and time, but very much about communication as well. As long as emotions are hidden under the surface and not talked about, they can’t change.

Faith plays a very important part in this show, because church is a very important part of the families’ lives. But what I like is that it shows that even people with strong faith go through difficult times, and I like that this is shown very realistically. It shows that we are allowed to mourn and to be angry, even with faith and God by our side.

The show is very good to start conversations with our teens about changes and grief and how we can communicate and avoid shutting friends and family out, even if this seems easier at the moment. We can talk with them about what they would do if one of their friends experienced grief or divorce and what they think about how they could support them in a healthy way.

And what is really nice is to see that the parents are not sure about their actions either and that adults are not perfect and don’t know everything either. They don’t even try to pretend they are, and this is so important for our teens to see.

It’s Not Like That shows very well how individuals and families heal and that this can happen on different timelines, and it is healthy for each family member to set boundaries and look out for themselves and for their family at the same time.