Violet Wu (As We See It)

Violet Wu

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Portrayed by	Sue Ann Pien
Appears in	As We See It
Debut	season 1, episode 1: "Pilot"
Year	2022

Violet Wu is a main character in the coming-of-age comedy-drama series As we See It.

Character creation

As We See It is based on the Israeli series On the Spectrum. Creator Jason Katims has a son with Asperger's and had previously created Parenthood, a series about a family with an autistic son. Contrary to Parenthood, where the autistic character is played by a non-autistic actor, Katims wanted to cast autistic actors for the autistic roles As We See It. All autistic characters are played by autistic actors, and some autistic actors play neurotypical characters. Aside from the actors, there were also neurodivergent people among the behind-the-scenes crew, including in the writers room. Elaine Hall, an autism consultant, worked to support neurodivergent cast and crew and to answer questions from neurotypical crew. She also had a small role as the acting coach for the drama club.Shooting days were short and the set was kept as calm as one can reasonably keep a TV set.

Actress Sue Ann Pien is autistic. She was the first to audition for the role.

Biography

Violet lives in an apartment with her 2 roommates Jack and Harrison, who are also autistic. They've known each other since preschool. They are supported by their aide Mandy. Violet's parents are dead, and her older brother Van is the one who pays for her share of the apartment and aide. Initially Violet works at an Arby's in a customer-facing position, but gets moved back to the kitchen after flirting with a customer and asking him out on a date and sex. Despite Mandy's and Van's ban on her using dating apps, she uses Bumble to go out on a date with a guy. However, he is put off by her forwardness and leaves her with the bill, so she has to call Van to get her some money.

Van confiscates her phone because he thinks she cannot be responsible with it. Meanwhile, at work, Violet falls in love with the delivery guy Julian.

She also meets Salena, Van's girlfriend. Salena wants to get to know Violet, despite Van's protests (some previous girlfriends have left because Violet wants to be friends with them but can be overwhelming in her approach to friendships). Douglas, a guy from her drama club who has a crush on her, asks her out on a date. Though initially opposed because she only wants to date "normal" guys, Mandy talks her into trying it, but Selena talks her out of it again. This culminates in Violet rejecting Douglas on-stage during a drama recital.

At her 26th birthday party, she's bummed because she thinks the people from the drama club are losers and because her hip friends from work have bailed. The night keeps on getting worse and when Salena also bails despite having said she'd come, Violet has a meltdown.

At work, she finally kisses Julian. She's still mad at her coworkers for not coming to her party, but they make it by giving her a gift and inviting her to a girls' night out at the club. She has sex with Julian in the back of his truck.

Violet is deeply in love with him but when the next day at work he says it was just a fling, she has a meltdown and gets fired. Van is distraught when he learns that she had sex and takes her to get the morning-after pill because they weren't sure if they had protected sex. He worries for her and wants to protect her from being taken advantage of and getting her heart broken. Mandy comforts Violet by saying that it's perfectly normal to fall in love with a jerk.

Douglas asks her out on a Zoom date and shows her his apartment. She's very impressed that he lives by himself.

She tours a residential facility with Van and it's suggested most people stay 2–3 years, which greatly upsets her. She brings Douglas as a +1 to the graduation party of Harrison's sister—Douglas thinks it's a date though Violet insists it's not. Since Douglas lives independently, and because she considers herself to have superior skills to Douglas, she decides that she wants to live by herself and goes to Van to claim her half of the inheritance of their parents. Van says there is no inheritance. At the same time, Mandy is talking about resigning because she has broken Harrison's trust by kissing Van, and Violet starts melting down because she considers that everyone wants to leave her (her parents, Van, Mandy). Her and Van reconcile when he gives her phone back and confides that he doesn't really know what he's doing. She doesn't have to go to the Grayson center, they'll figure something out together. After the party, Douglas confesses that he's not as independent as she thinks he is: he lives in his parents' guest house, and they pay his bills and clean for him. They finally kiss.

Autism

Violet desires to be seen as normal and stemming from that desire, wants to have a relationship (since that is something a lot of people her age are getting involved with). She is very open about this and can come off very strong on people who show her affection. This also leaves her vulnerable to having her heart broken by people who do not view their relationship the same way she does. Her brother Van is very protective of her and does not want her to get hurt; he eventually proposes she moves to a supported living facility for a few years to learn the skills she'd need to be independent, though Violent is staunchly opposed to this and thinks he's doing it to get rid of her.

Cancellation

Despite stellar ratings, As We See It was cancelled after its first season. Amazon did not provide a reason for its cancellation.

External links

• "Actress Sue Ann Pien on How ‘As We See It’ Is Authentically Portraying Autism on Screen"
• As We See It on Wikipedia
• As We See It at IMDb