“To be mad in a deranged world is not madness, it’s sanity”

It is 9:30 on Tuesday night. I’m considering what to write about this week. There are so many programs I’ve started watching on Netflix and so many more getting ready to start. Scrolling down I see one show that has been trending since the beginning of the year. I watched it the week it premiered. I must have already discussed this because it was so perfect. I scroll through the GW1 website—nothing.

Maybe it is the end of the f***ing world because I haven’t written about The End of the F***ing World! 

Based on a graphic novel by James Forsman (very acclaimed though difficult to find now for some reason), the program follows two teenagers. James (Alex Lawther) thinks he’s a psychopath because he has no feelings, doesn’t like people, and once intentionally tried to deep fry his hand. Also, he wants to find somebody to kill. Personally, I see this as more of a sociopath, but even then I try not to consider this since I relate too much to him as the series progresses, aside from his love of killing animals.

Alyssa (Jessica Barden) is rebellious and decides to make friends with James in part to annoy those around her, including her mother and stepfather who don’t notice in the first place. James decides she will be his target. Make her believe he’s fallen in love with her and be done.

So what do the two do to escape the daftness of life? Steal a car and run away.

The couple’s feeling for each other change throughout the series as more about each other is revealed through the hunt for them as well as their own actions. Murder, deceit, and humor throughout are what make the 8 episodes perfect though. This is no making a murderer—nobody is hiding anything, or even want to see sometimes. The cops aren’t even perfect as the two detectives on the search for James and Alyssa are dealing with their own relationship more than the hunt.

Having not read the book yet I don’t know how the story ended originally. After the show’s cliffhanger ending however, I hope for another season at some point. There is no word yet as to whether Netflix and Channel 4 have decided to renew the series. If it does, as many short British series go, we may still have to wait a while.

The End of the F***ing World can be found on Netflix.