Max Braverman

Max is the youngest kid in the sprawling Braverman clan, a bright, literal-minded boy whose fixations—bugs, rules, routines—run his days. Early on his parents get the diagnosis that explains why school and friendships keep going sideways: Asperger's syndrome. He says exactly what he thinks, wants what he wants, and doesn't perform around anyone.

The show refuses to make Max a lesson or a saint; he's stubborn, funny, occasionally cruel in the unthinking way kids are, and the camera stays with his logic instead of correcting it. Max Burkholder plays him without a trace of cute, which is what lets the family's love for him feel earned rather than assumed.