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Anjuly Mathai
Anjuly Mathai

SERIES

Some serious badass-ery

The End of the F***ing World

The End of the F***ing World makes you work hard to see what it’s really about. Because it’s not really about what you see. You see two dysfunctional teenagers—a self-diagnosed psychopath called James and a supposed nymphomaniac called Alyssa. But, they aren’t really who you think they are. Or even who they think they are. You see the violence and it’s easy to miss the humour. You hear the profanity and it’s easy to miss the vulnerability. But once you get settled into the narrative, the story becomes enjoyable and you feel yourself championing these thieving, murdering oddballs.

The show is based on a comic by Charles Forsman, and follows the lives of James and Alyssa, played by Alex Lawther and Jessica Barden. James decides he’s got to progress from killing animals to humans. He settles on Alyssa as his first victim, while she decides to make him her partner in crime while running away from her family. They steal James’s father’s car and make their escape. After they unwittingly commit a murder, they’re on the run from cops and what ensues is an epic road trip, a growing friendship and a show that’s hard to stop watching.

The eight-part series was released internationally on Netflix on January 5. Since then it has received tremendous acclaim and a 100 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with many debating whether it is Netflix’s best-ever show. A large part of its appeal is because of the brilliant performances by Lawther and Barden, both of whom are utterly convincing in their roles. The show is very minimalistic; everything that’s there—people, dialogue, landscape, music—is what must absolutely be there. But, its real triumph is the self-deprecating humour with which it treats its lead characters, both of whom are trying very hard to prove to the world that they’re the pricks that they really aren’t.

Review: The End of the F***ing World: Season 1

Rating: 4/5

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The Week

Topics : #entertainment | #review

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