EVERY ONCE IN a while, Netflix give us something really special to watch.
From Stranger Things to Bojack Horseman to Black Mirror, Netflix know exactly what we want to binge on. This month, they’ve exclusively released a series that premiered on Channel 4 in October 2017 and people are absolutely mad for it.
The show’s called ‘The End of the F***ing World’, asterisks included, and the eight-part series is based on a graphic novel of the same name by Charles S. Forsman. The episodes are only twenty minutes long, so checking out the first episode to see if it’s your thing isn’t a major commitment. However, you may want to free up a few hours afterwards, because it’s hard to tear yourself away from.
The cinematography makes it look like some kind of quirky American coming of age story, but in reality, it’s a dark comedy about two really bizarre English kids who love to curse.
James is a 17-year-old boy who has convinced himself he’s a sociopath. For most of his childhood and adolescence, he has been killing animals and gearing himself up for the big day when he finally kills a human. One day at school, he’s approached by a girl called Alyssa and decides that she’s the girl he’s going to kill.
James pretends to fall in love with Alyssa, so he can prepare to kill her.
Despite the fact that James is fairly weird, Alyssa enjoys spending time with him because her family life is quite grim. One day, she gets sick of it all and storms into James’ home and tells him they’re running away together. He thinks this is finally his chance to murder her, but then, for the first time in his life he begins to have feelings for another human being.
Because they ran away without preparing themselves, they’ve no money, no clothes and no tampons. They quickly turn to crime in order to survive. As a result, there are two lesbian detectives trying to hunt them down.
For many viewers, these ladies stole the show.
The series is being compared to a lot of huge cult films and series.
A Wes Anderson movie, Pulp Fiction, Bonnie and Clyde, The Virgin Suicides, Lady Bird and Submarine.
People are rating it 11/10.
If Twitter hype isn’t enough to sell this series to you, the critical reception is also huge.
The CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings called it the “most engaging, addictive, original, wild show in a long time.” At present, the show has maintained a steady score of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes with 29 of 30 critics hailing the show as fresh, thought-provoking and perfectly balancing misanthropy and humour.
The ending’s a bit of a cliffhanger could be set to get a second season, but many viewers think that it’s so perfect that it shouldn’t be touched again, just to protect its integrity.
If you’ve got any reservations, top critic Jenny Jaffe from New York Magazine and Vulture did too. But she was pleasantly surprised. She wrote:
The likeability factor of The End of the F***ing World, as far as I’m concerned, is nigh zero on paper. But it’s astronomical onscreen. I’m genuinely excited to see where it goes.
Twenty minutes. That’s all you need. Watch the first episode while you’re waiting on your hair to dry, or while your dinner’s in the oven. You probably won’t regret it.
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