So, last night, after reaching a emotional point in NCIS (more on this in a future post), wanting to continue relaxing, I decided to start the Netflix show, The End of the Fxxxing World. Now, my plan was just to watch one episode and then go to sleep early so I can wake up early and be productive.
Whelp, that did not happen. I ended up binge-watching the ENTIRE 8-episode season, staying up until 1am (I'm a grandma so I rarely stay up past midnight). Obviously, I was not expecting to be so captivated by this show, and I think the reason is because I had very little idea of what this show is about.
If you watch the trailer for The End of the Fxxxing World, all you really glimpse is that James is a self-proclaimed sociopath who wants to kill someone and sets his mind on killing Alyssa, who could see herself potentially falling in love with him. Alyssa then decides to run away, and James goes with her, keeping his murderous plan. Apart from this, we don't get much more insight in the plot, but we get a sense that this will be an obscene show containing a lot of cursing (surprise there) and sexual content.
But this show is so much more complex than that.
We see these two teens dealing with and reacting to different family issues, abuse, mental illness, sexuality, and more, all while trying to find out who they are as human beings. Despite these hardships, we see James and Alyssa grow as characters, become suddenly and unknowingly loyal to and trusting of each other, something they never thought was possible because of their pasts.
And frankly, its twisting and suspenseful, adventure-filled 'road-trip' didn't hurt in keeping me interested.
As you can tell, I thoroughly enjoyed this show, I give it a 4.5/5 stars, and highly recommend you watch The End of the Fxxxing World if you haven't already.
If you haven't watched it yet, stop now because
SPOILERS AHEAD!
You've been warned...
So, where do I even start?
James' homelife. We learn that James lives with his father; it's just been the two of them since his mother killed herself. We don't get an exact 'reason' for why she killed herself, but it is hinted that she might have had depression, and a serious form at that, which wasn't really acknowledged by husband or son. We do know that she kills herself, seemingly without any preparation, by driving her car into a pond/lake/body of water and drowning herself. The worst/saddest part? She does this in front of little-boy James. It's from this incident that it looks like James started 'acting weird', as his father would describe; James loses all emotion, and seems to become a sociopath (I mean killing all those animals? especially the cat!? And he put his hand into hot oil...just to feel something). And like I said, his dad doesn't really help him (he openly calls him weird) nor does it seem like he really pays attention to James. Now, that being said, do I think James' father deserved to be punched in the face by James? No. But I think it was necessary for James to start feeling again, especially because he has been kind of pushed to the side by his father.
When it comes to James' sociopathic self-diagnosis, it was really cool to see im evolve from that, because it went towards a completely different direction. At the beginning, I seriously though he was going to kill Alyssa, and that he would enjoy it, becoming a serial killer. I mean, his brutality towards animals definitely made me think he was headed that way. But when he actually kills the true serial killer (and rapist) and got sick afterwards/couldn't cope with it, that just showed a whole new level of his character. It made him seem more normal in a sense? And I think that was when he started to really show that he did have emotions. As well, it was really telling when he couldn't even kill that dog that was injured really badly. Here's a dude who was ready to kill a then random girl for no reason, who saved said girl from a rapist-murderer, yet he couldn't put a dog out of its misery! If that's not character development, then I don't know what is.
Now, as for Alyssa, her home life is just as complicated, but before I get into that I want to bring up one thing: I totally agree with her in that first scene where she receives a text from someone who is sitting RIGHT NEXT TO HER. I really hope this doesn't happen regularly in real life, because its so stupid (I could get into a tirade on my opinions on when a phone should be used and by whom but...that would just be so long). Anyway, we found out that Alyssa's father left her and her mother when she was young, and all has left of him are some birthday cards (bit more about this later on) and his old leather jacket. Now as for her mom, she really pisses me off: she married a douchebag of a human being who controls her life, and is just shitty to Alyssa (I mean he touches her inappropriately, making me question whether he has done worse things to her). AND he does this while Alyssa's mom is there. Now I understand she acts submissively (we don't know if this is because of her husband or just her nature) and might be afraid of her husband, but it really sucks that she doesn't choose Alyssa's 'side'. I think a perfect scene that encapsulates this is when the two cops come to their house to find out more about Alyssa, and they see no pictures of her, just pictures of the rest of the family. It's even more unfortunate that her dad is almost as shitty a person; I was really hoping he would be so much better than he actually was. But nope, and really, that's not surprising.
A really great scene I think that we get from Alyssa is where she decides not to have sex with that Topher dude, even though she initially wanted it. But let's back up first. From the beginning, she was really sexual, but I think that was more of a facade, and her wanting to take control of her body when she couldn't control her mother's weaknesses, her step-father's inappropriateness (again, we don't know the full extent, but I wouldn't be surprised if he did take it super far), and her father's absence. Even though she says a lot of sexual things and brings them up a lot, Alyssa doesn't really go through with a ton of it, at least in the beginning. And James, despite being a 'sociopath' he really doesn't care. It's when she picks up Topher, and says she wants to have sex with him, and changes her mind that we see the (sadly) 'normalized' reaction. And the way Alyssa combats his comments is just perfection; she doesn't let anyone change her mind, and I really admire that about her character.
I think the most important aspect of this show is how James and Alyssa are able to better each other. In most cases when this 'trope' is used, I'm annoyed: a girl doesn't need a guy to feel whole, and vice versa. But the way The End of the Fxxxing World implements it is totally well-done and not cliche (at least that's my opinion). Alyssa helps James to feel alive, something he hasn't felt since his mother dies. Her spontaneity forces him to live in the moment and push down some of his compulsive tendencies. Additionally, she teaches James not to just go with what everyone else wants from him; we see that when he punches his father, stealing his car and running off, and when the army dude forced James to jerk him off. On the flip side, James provides Alyssa with someone she can depend and rely on, and gives her attention, something she clearly lacks within her family. And although he doesn't tame her wild nature, he unknowingly helps Alyssa to be more considerate and mindful: in one of the earlier episodes, she mentions how saying sorry is hard for her, even when she knows she should apologize. Towards the end of the series, she actually empathizes with James. In both cases, their bettering of each other is amazing and really a great aspect of the show.
The final thing I want to mention is the ending. THAT ENDING THOUGH, I MEAN, SERIOUSLY!?! That's a bit over dramatic because I can see the ending from two different perspectives. On the one hand, having James potentially shot and killed by the police is a fitting end for the shit show that was James and Alyssa's crazy adventure. They did commit a lot of crimes throughout this escapade, so it is understandable, but what makes this ending more masterful is the fact that he is running away in order to potentially PROTECT Alyssa, the person he originally attended to kill! I just think that's really poetic, even if it does suck. On the other hand, IT TOTALLY SUCKS! We don't really know if James was actually shot and killed, it fades to black when the last gun shot is fired. So he might be alive?!? But if he's alive, what does that mean? What will happen to him? I mean, I'm sure if he is alive he's got a really good chance of going to jail for a long time. But what, then, will happen to Alyssa, whether he is dead or alive? Will she get any time? This ambiguity makes me desperate for a second season, but at the same time, I don't want it to be ruined. Apart from my own desire for stories to be endless, this was an amazing stopping point for the given plot.
So I'm not really sure if I would like another season. All I know is that I truly and unexpectedly enjoyed The End of the Fxxxing World.