Your Next Quarantine Fix--The End of the F**ing World

While you’re taking a bathroom break, let me fill you in on the next Netflix show you should be binge-watching.

This show is based on an award-winning comic, just so you know -- if you’re the type that starts watching things because other people give it an award. If you’re not, stay with me. You absolutely don’t want to miss this.

The comic book series is by Charles Forsman, following the lives of two 17 year olds, James (Alex Lawther) and Alyssa (Jessica Barden). They’re both students at the same school. And out of boredom, Alyssa approaches James in an effort to change up the monotony of her routine.

Eventually, they go on a road trip, supposedly to find her father who left when she was a child. It starts off kind of slow, but you’ll be happy you stayed.

The Humor

The humor is original, subtle, and at times, downright dark. My favorite humorous moments are the social interactions that we suffer through every. single. day. In the show, these social interactions are painfully awkward, and from the perspective of the storyteller, absolutely pointless.

The humor comes from the lack of participation in the interactions, which require participation. And without participation, you’re sort of just one person talking…to yourself.

I love that they highlight the awkwardness of it, which makes you wonder why these sorts of interactions take place at all. Who are they for? What value do they have? Where does the obligation to participate come from?

Help me, and all of the other introverts of the world understand. PLEASE.

The Characters

The main characters are Alyssa and James. Alyssa is the oldest child of a woman who’s presented as a bit insecure. She relies on her husband, Alyssa’s stepfather, and allows him to steer the ship. We’re told early on that the guy is an a-hole. And Alyssa doesn’t like him.

Alyssa is bored with her life, and probably a bit depressed. And as her life becomes increasingly complicated, we notice that she’s teetering on the edge of her sanity — she describes it as having her batteries taken out.

James is an only child. His mom died when he was a child, and we get the sense that the trauma stuck with him. It’s probably why he thinks he’s a psychopath. His dad is this fleeting, ineffectual character that probably also has something to do with James’ temperament. Because James is bored with his life, and because he wants to kill her, he happily accepts Alyssa into his life.

Bonnie (Naomi Ackie) is an interesting character only introduced nearer the end. She’s hard to diagnose, but she’s lived through trauma as well — a severe, abusive mother, lack of real connections (like James and Alyssa), and was taken advantage of by a sexual predator, Professor Clive Koch (Jonathan Aris).

It’s interesting how they laid these characters side-by-side, and allowed us to see the similarities between them. By the end of the show, they’re all dealing with mental pain, and each of them has no idea how to manage it. We get this image that they’re all just peeling away, like layers of chipped paint. And how many of us have felt similarly?

The Tone

Overall, the tone is complex. It’s a compelling mixture of comedy, adventure, and thriller. I loved that the show let us see reality as it really is -- unfiltered, and unromantic.

Life is just a series of ripples in water after we’ve thrown our stones. No one is special. No one is the cure for your pain. And we’re all in pain, in some form, to some degree.

Still, the show didn’t end on a negative note, per se. It was measured, and logical. It made sense. There are no happily-ever afters, but there are maybes.