The End of The F***ing World is a television adaptation of the comic book, The End of The Fucking World. It was released on Netflix worldwide on 5 January 2018. I'm usually not a fan of Westerm dramas (I prefer reading or watching Taiwanese movies) but The End of the F***ing World's dark humour caught my attention. What do you know? I finished all eight episodes in one sitting.

It’s a bit of an aged-old story now: boy who doesn’t understand feelings, therefore, doesn’t believe in love meets free-spirited girl. They fall in love until tragedy strikes. Nicknamed modern day Bonnie and Clyde, The End of The F***ing World takes things up a notch with James notoriously proclaims his fantasy of murdering someone, namely Alyssa, the girl with an uncensored mouth.


I love The End of The F***ing World! I announced it on Instagram immediately after finishing The End of The F***ing World's season finale and persuaded all my friends to watch it. In fact, I love it with such a burning passion, I'm writing an entire post about what I love about The End of The F***ing World, and already wrote another on my favourite quotes from Alyssa and James.

The Good

1) The actors Alex Lawther (aged 22) and Jessica Barden (aged 25) were appropiately aged. Unlike most Western teenage dramas, Lawther and Barden were convincing as Alyssa and James — the supposed-outcasts and socially awkward teenagers.



2) James' dad, oh good lord, I love him. He started out a prick, like Alyssa described. But you slowly get to see that he was just lonely, and awkward as hell. He didn't know how to make conversations with James, or how to make things better for the guy who witnessed his mother's suicide. Throughout the series, you see James' dad having nothing but absolute faith in his son: "He's weird, ok? But he's not dangerous."



3) I love the ending. Ambiguious, but we can all guess what happened. More about the ending later. Contrary to popular belief, I don't want a second season for The End of The F***ing World. Season 2 would try too hard to explain everything, ruining the ending. I love the show, but it should end here. Too much of something good turns it bad.

4) The soundtracks were appropiately used in The End of The F***ing World. Right time, right ambience, right lyrics.


5) Alyssa thought James' disfigured hand was disgusting at first and refused to hold it but towards the end of the show, she reached out for his hand, accepting all of his weirdness.

The Heartbreaking

1) Alyssa never belonged. Neither at home, where her stepfather is an abusive asshole and her mother doesn't care, nor at school, where she doesn't understand teenagers and their obsession with technology. Even her dad betrayed her. She found comfort in James, who didn't saw what's wrong with owning a smartphone. She ran because she wouldn't be in the same place as James if they got arrested. But even her safe haven was taken from her.


2) Alyssa ended up with a twisted view of how men view sex, that all men just want sex.


3) James' dad is going to spend the rest of his life wondering if he made a mistake with James' 13th birthday gift — the murder weapon — and regretting his gift. That's on top of suffering the heartbreak of losing his wife, and bearing the guilt of being the one who convinced James' mom to bring him out to feed the ducks (giving her the chance to commit suicide in front of James).



4) Alyssa's innocence was only magnified when she wished James happy birthday, instead of realising that being 18 means James will be trialed as an adult.

The Bad

1) Teri and Eunice's relationship (almost-relationship?) was a mess. Like The End of the F***ing World trying too hard to show that hey, we're cool, we're a show targeted at millennial so we need some LGBT love — it could have been done in a better way. Teri and Eunice was awkward together and, not to mention, unprofessional. Their relationship was redundant, and didn't add value to the storyline.


2) People nowadays get their sensitive ass all bunch up over the most minute things so The End of the F***ing World could’ve taken some time to explain why James wasn’t a psychopath. James evidently did lots of research for everything — it wouldn’t have been out of character for him to explain some psychopath characteristics he didn’t resonate with. Although I think it was implied that he didn’t think he was a psychopath anymore because he was beginning to feel things.

The Ending

We know James was shot, but where? It'll be convenient to assume in the head, and the black screen ending implied so, but I doubt James was considered so dangerous that he had to be shot in the end.

I believe if James had died from the gun shot, the police would have some answering to do too. Besides, he was literally running towards nothing. He wasn't threatening another life. It is much more possible that James was shot in the leg to prevent him from running any further.


Also, Alyssa's narration is in present tense, James' narration is in past tense. In English lessons, we learned that you always use past tense for someone who passed away. Food for thought.

The Questions

1) Will Koch's mom be arrested for onstruction of justice because she burned those photos of the assualted girls?


2) Why did Debbie lie to the police that she hasn't seen James and Alyssa?

3) What happened to Leslie after he took the knife out against Eunice's advice? Because I hope he bled to death.

So, you run away, then? From your ma's? You're my blood all right.

4) Did Alyssa's dad abandon Alyssa and her mother, as he implied?

Conclusion

The End of The F***ing World was my first foray into Western / indie shows and it lived up to its hype. The show is more than just your typical murder thriller and I would recommend it to everyone above 18. There's a bit of coarse language and content involved, and The End of The F***ing World doesn’t shy away from controversial topics like rape, consent, depression, suicide.