I Am Not Okay With 'I Am Not Okay With This'

I Am Not Okay With This is the hot new Netflix series capitalizing on the success of Stranger Things staring that one girl from IT and that one boy from IT that was also in Guardians of the Galaxy. It is essentially a remake of a Steven King property, but I can't say which one without spoiling the entire plot. So this is your spoiler warning.

I Am Not Okay With This is Lesbian Carrie. It's a teenage drama about a girl who has telekinesis and doesn't really fit in at her high school, and at the end, shit hits the fan and she gets covered in blood at prom. The twist here is that she is also gay. I am probably making this show sound worse than it is, because it is actually really good. But I have one major problem with it, which comes from the fact that it doesn't end. And also there is some structural things.

Episode 1: The show starts with our main character Sydney running down the street covered in blood. "Yup, that's me. You're probably wondering how I got here." Then we go back and we see how she got there.

Now, this troupe isn't a problem by itself, but how it is executed here is what becomes a problem for me.

So the first problem is that I almost immediately guessed what was going to happen. Here's my thought process: She's covered in blood at the beginning, also she has physic powers, so this is Carrie. Ok now we're at the prom, so I bet something is going to go horribly wrong. They can't do the pig's blood thing, because that's too specifically Carrie. So how is she going to get covered in blood? What if, something crazy happens like the main bully's head explodes?

That's exactly what happens.

Wow, that sure was crazy. And yeah, I may have guessed it, but at least we are caught up to the intro teaser now, and I am super excited to see what happens next.

The End.

What? This can't be the end. There has to be one more episode. I'm only on episode 7 and Netflix series usually have 8 episodes. Wait, what? There's only 7 episodes? Where's the 8th episode? How does this show end?

It doesn't.

Let me try to explain how weird this cliffhanger ending is. Imagine if the original Carrie ended with the prom massacre. It would be so unsatisfying because the real ending is where she confronts her abusive mom back at her house. Or perhaps a better analogy, imagine if Stranger Things only had seven episodes. All the main characters and storylines finally converge at the school gym, the Demogorgon is on its way and... credits.

And yes, lots of shows end their seasons on cliffhangers, but this feels different. It feels like there should be one more episode that wraps up the story and ties everything together. It feels like there was supposed to be one more episode, but it got cut out of the season for some reason.

I think it's especially frustrating because it wouldn't be nearly as bad if they didn't have the "Yup, that's me" moment at the beginning. If they just cut that part out, I wouldn't have guessed the head explosion. They actually set it up organically in the first episode too. There's a moment when she's trying to make the bully character shut up, and his nose starts bleeding. Then, in the last episode the same thing happens but she blows his head up.

It also wouldn't be as much of a let down when you get to the cliffhanger, because you don't know the crazy head exploding moment is coming. So it would be more like, "Oh man, that sure was crazy! And a cliffhanger? Wow, I cannot wait for the next season!" Instead of just, "That's it? I have to wait for a whole other season?" It's still not complete, but it at least doesn't tease you that you might get some resolution. What happens next is always going to be more interesting then what is happening now. So when we don't find out what happens after the very first scene of the show, it becomes extremely frustrating.

There's an episode in the middle of the season that is basically just the plot of The Breakfast Club. It's a really fun episode, maybe even one of the most memorable episodes of the show, but you could probably cut it without effecting the main story. Which becomes really annoying because I would much rather see a final episode that actually concludes the story, if you could only make seven episodes for whatever reason.

Good things about the show: I love the cinematography. They do this thing where a lot of the scenes of Sydney are shot straight on with close ups of her face in the centre of the frame, and I think it really works. It puts you directly into the headspace of her character so in every moment you can relate to what she is feeling. It's the type of motif that would be really easy to mess up if you didn't have the right actor in the part or the right director behind the camera. The characters are excellent. Both IT veterans to an excellent job playing very different characters that are extremely well defined. I also like the show's premise of self discovery of super powers as a metaphor for self discovery of sexual identity. There's also a healthy dose of mental illness thrown in for good measure, but it is done very effectively too. And I liked how Sydney's relationship with her friend Dina is developed. Towards the end of the season they hint that Dina may actually be bisexual, or at least that she may have feelings for Sydney as well. But it's like, of course she would! Sydney genuinely cares about her, and her douchey boyfriend is only in it to get some and... oh. I am invested in these fictional characters lives, which is probably why I'm so frustrated that the show didn't end.

In conclusion, good show, but it would be more satisfying to watch if they didn't do the "Yup, that's me" thing at the beginning, and more satisfying still if the show actually ended.

One more thing: This show has a terrible title. It's not very memorable, and not only did they not say the title at any point in the season, but it's incredibly similar to a lot of other Netflix properties that it just all starts to blend together. I Am Not Okay With Feeling at Home in this F***ing World. A Netflix Original. Which is why they should've leaned into it and called the show Lesbian Carrie.