The End Of The F***ing World: Season 1 (all episodes)
January 6, 2018 9:29 AM - Season 1 (Full Season) - Subscribe
Two disaffected teens get in a lot of trouble. An eight-episode adaptation of Charles Forsman's graphic novel. On Netflix.
Oh I was just thinking of posting this! One of my roommates turned it on last night completely at random and we all watched thru the whole thing. I didn’t know anything about it going in and was drawn in the whole time.
Want to watch it again for more reflective thoughts, but: great soundtrack, some obvious plot turns but the characters mostly responded in really smart ways, perfect length, weird tone shifts that somehow worked perfectly.
posted by curious nu at 3:03 PM on January 6, 2018
Want to watch it again for more reflective thoughts, but: great soundtrack, some obvious plot turns but the characters mostly responded in really smart ways, perfect length, weird tone shifts that somehow worked perfectly.
posted by curious nu at 3:03 PM on January 6, 2018
Alyssa (the character) is probably the realist teenager I've seen in a series. She's horrible and so terribly self centered. I sort of loved this show, for all it's faults. The episodes snap along pretty quick.
posted by Catblack at 4:42 PM on January 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Catblack at 4:42 PM on January 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
The white female cop, who is she? Looks so familiar.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:47 PM on January 6, 2018
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:47 PM on January 6, 2018
Got it, she played Theon's sister in Game of Thrones, name of Gemma Whelan.
Watching episode seven now, the series has been really good and pitch perfect in its oddness and dark humor.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:57 PM on January 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
Watching episode seven now, the series has been really good and pitch perfect in its oddness and dark humor.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:57 PM on January 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
OMG, that was *Yarra*? How did I miss that! Wait, also the mousy editor's assistant on The Crown! I need to keep an eye out for this actor - she's a chameleon.
posted by Mogur at 4:46 AM on January 7, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Mogur at 4:46 AM on January 7, 2018 [4 favorites]
This was an unexpected joy and delight. From the soundtrack, to acting, to direction, to the plot, to the various secondary characters, everything was just so wonderfully good here. Hell, even the conciseness of each episode and the entire season in general felt great.
Not sure if I want a second season or not. This first one ended so well, it's feels like a good spot to end things.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:19 PM on January 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
Not sure if I want a second season or not. This first one ended so well, it's feels like a good spot to end things.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:19 PM on January 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
I think I would have liked this more as a 2 hour Heathers for Generation WTAF, but it was entertaining enough.
posted by xyzzy at 8:05 AM on January 8, 2018
posted by xyzzy at 8:05 AM on January 8, 2018
I've seen one trailer for this, and between that and this discussion, I'm in.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 11:21 AM on January 10, 2018
posted by DrAstroZoom at 11:21 AM on January 10, 2018
Finally caught up with this... watched it an ep a night for the first few then watched the last hour in one go.
Thought it was really really good (an improvement on the comic tbh - though it's a while since I read it). The characters seemed a lot more rounded, helped by the brilliant acting (especially Jessica Barden playing Alyssa).
Also loved the direction and the choice of locations - the art deco-ish 60/70s houses and the non-branded shops made it feel like a England that non-longer exists or never did.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:45 PM on January 11, 2018
Thought it was really really good (an improvement on the comic tbh - though it's a while since I read it). The characters seemed a lot more rounded, helped by the brilliant acting (especially Jessica Barden playing Alyssa).
Also loved the direction and the choice of locations - the art deco-ish 60/70s houses and the non-branded shops made it feel like a England that non-longer exists or never did.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:45 PM on January 11, 2018
This felt like a love letter to a certain kind of cinema, the kind where the two young lovers turn into outlaws and drift across a sprawling American landscape filled with wheat fields and trailer parks and gas stations. I think had it actually been shot in the States with American actors, it would not have turned out half as interesting.
posted by cazoo at 12:53 PM on January 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by cazoo at 12:53 PM on January 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
As bleak as it was, it was also genuinely (if darkly) funny in places
Frodo guzzling 2l of milk, you know he's been told not to drink from the bottle so many times, but fuck the system!!! FREEDOM OF MILK!!!
I think Frodo's going to be alright.
posted by adept256 at 5:57 PM on January 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
Frodo guzzling 2l of milk, you know he's been told not to drink from the bottle so many times, but fuck the system!!! FREEDOM OF MILK!!!
I think Frodo's going to be alright.
posted by adept256 at 5:57 PM on January 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
I've been thinking about this a lot since watching the whole thing in one go (definitely the best way to do it, I agree), I thought the tonal shift was really well done, and I think what I liked most was the refusal to waste any time on worrying about morality or judgement with regards to James and Alyssa.
Other people do bad things to them but we're so firmly situated in their weird little heads that there's never like...uh oh Dangerous Teens, they're just interesting characters allowed to exist as they are and allowed to love each other as they are regardless of the actions they take. Something about that is so refreshing and kind of rare. I'm getting really tired of fiction about teenagers where you get a sense that the narrative is hand-wringing over much, much more mild things than anything they think or do. The ending was perfect and definitive to me, I'd be disappointed if they do a second series.
posted by colorblock sock at 7:32 PM on January 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
Other people do bad things to them but we're so firmly situated in their weird little heads that there's never like...uh oh Dangerous Teens, they're just interesting characters allowed to exist as they are and allowed to love each other as they are regardless of the actions they take. Something about that is so refreshing and kind of rare. I'm getting really tired of fiction about teenagers where you get a sense that the narrative is hand-wringing over much, much more mild things than anything they think or do. The ending was perfect and definitive to me, I'd be disappointed if they do a second series.
posted by colorblock sock at 7:32 PM on January 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
Amazing soundtrack. The characters just grow on you. I watched it in two parts. I wish Netflix wouldn't call this a 'TV show'. They need to adjust their categories - this would be better called a mini-series or something like that.
Has anyone read the graphic novel this was based on?
posted by hydra77 at 9:55 AM on January 16, 2018
Has anyone read the graphic novel this was based on?
posted by hydra77 at 9:55 AM on January 16, 2018
Has anyone read the graphic novel this was based on?
yeah, I think it's one of those rare occasions where the adaptation is better than the original. Whilst the spare and spartan tone has an appeal the fleshing out of the characters and the story a bit think works better.
SPOILERs for the GN
Obviously some of the changes were practical (It's a lot easier to do old burn scars from a deep fat firer than missing fingers from a garbage disposal - which are v rare in the UK anyway) but dropping the Satanism stuff was also a sensible move. I love me some satanism/folk horror etc but the story works better without it
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:49 AM on January 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
yeah, I think it's one of those rare occasions where the adaptation is better than the original. Whilst the spare and spartan tone has an appeal the fleshing out of the characters and the story a bit think works better.
SPOILERs for the GN
Obviously some of the changes were practical (It's a lot easier to do old burn scars from a deep fat firer than missing fingers from a garbage disposal - which are v rare in the UK anyway) but dropping the Satanism stuff was also a sensible move. I love me some satanism/folk horror etc but the story works better without it
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:49 AM on January 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
I wonder about the ending and the gunshot. An American audience will probably read it as the police shot a boy running away from the police, because of course.
posted by adept256 at 11:23 AM on January 16, 2018
posted by adept256 at 11:23 AM on January 16, 2018
Loved it. The Fanta editor responsible for bringing the comics to his imprint, an acquaintance, gave a thumbs up on release of this adpation and gradually over time I have noticed other FB peeps posting amazed approval.
The intro to the final episode is intended to provide the audience with unresolved catharsis, I think: he's in the Shrodinger's Cat space.
It still made me sob uncontrollably.
posted by mwhybark at 12:35 AM on January 22, 2018
The intro to the final episode is intended to provide the audience with unresolved catharsis, I think: he's in the Shrodinger's Cat space.
It still made me sob uncontrollably.
posted by mwhybark at 12:35 AM on January 22, 2018
I wonder about the ending and the gunshot. An American audience will probably read it as the police shot a boy running away from the police, because of course.
Honestly, this is probably the weakest part of an otherwise really good series. It reeks a little too much of over writing, because there's no reason for anyone to be shooting or for James to even have the gun at this point, he's literally got no where to go and the series has established that he's not keen on killing anyone.
All we see is him running away towards the sea, the police are on the beach, at his back, and shooting doesn't make much sense. Which may be the point, but it doesn't sit well with me.
If I had to guess, I'd say it's either Alyssa shooting a cop (she seemed more along the psychopath lines) or the black cop shooting James, 'cause she seemed more hardcore about such things. But really, who knows?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:31 AM on January 22, 2018
Honestly, this is probably the weakest part of an otherwise really good series. It reeks a little too much of over writing, because there's no reason for anyone to be shooting or for James to even have the gun at this point, he's literally got no where to go and the series has established that he's not keen on killing anyone.
All we see is him running away towards the sea, the police are on the beach, at his back, and shooting doesn't make much sense. Which may be the point, but it doesn't sit well with me.
If I had to guess, I'd say it's either Alyssa shooting a cop (she seemed more along the psychopath lines) or the black cop shooting James, 'cause she seemed more hardcore about such things. But really, who knows?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:31 AM on January 22, 2018
All we see is him running away towards the sea, the police are on the beach, at his back, and shooting doesn't make much sense. Which may be the point, but it doesn't sit well with me.
Agreed.
And it also took me totally out of the moment, because I sat there going "they're in England? Would English cops shoot a fleeing teenager?" (Irrelevant whether they would or wouldn't, I don't know, but I do know that it took me away from the show.)
posted by gaspode at 2:34 PM on January 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
Agreed.
And it also took me totally out of the moment, because I sat there going "they're in England? Would English cops shoot a fleeing teenager?" (Irrelevant whether they would or wouldn't, I don't know, but I do know that it took me away from the show.)
posted by gaspode at 2:34 PM on January 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
Gutted.
posted by amanda at 9:51 PM on January 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by amanda at 9:51 PM on January 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
This was very good but I just don't know how to go with the ending. I spent the first half annoyed that this show was going to make me feel for these kids and then it just goes off.
I heard about it from the My Favorite Murder podcast and I've been listening to that podcast for the last six months. Somehow that podcast seems to work in this bleak timeline of the last year. The extra killer within the murder plotline was pretty great.
Parents, you are really not allowed to off yourself in front of your kids.
posted by amanda at 9:57 PM on January 22, 2018 [3 favorites]
I heard about it from the My Favorite Murder podcast and I've been listening to that podcast for the last six months. Somehow that podcast seems to work in this bleak timeline of the last year. The extra killer within the murder plotline was pretty great.
Parents, you are really not allowed to off yourself in front of your kids.
posted by amanda at 9:57 PM on January 22, 2018 [3 favorites]
I did really enjoy the trope-subverting side plot with the detectives. I keep thinking about them even more and how they were written and what they added or did not add. The whole piece seemed to stay just enough removed from parable-type storylines to really kind of get under your skin.
posted by amanda at 8:39 AM on January 23, 2018
posted by amanda at 8:39 AM on January 23, 2018
I think what I liked most was the refusal to waste any time on worrying about morality or judgement with regards to James and Alyssa
Agreed. The nonstop, pure-plot action gives a runaway-train feeling that, honestly, feels a bit like authentic teenage thought. You're given enough insight to have some judgments, but there's no time wasted on drawing them out.
I definitely don't need (or want) a second season, whatever that would mean. This was a perfect madcap capsule, and I don't really think that exploring the characters further would add anything.
posted by uncleozzy at 5:05 AM on January 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
Agreed. The nonstop, pure-plot action gives a runaway-train feeling that, honestly, feels a bit like authentic teenage thought. You're given enough insight to have some judgments, but there's no time wasted on drawing them out.
I definitely don't need (or want) a second season, whatever that would mean. This was a perfect madcap capsule, and I don't really think that exploring the characters further would add anything.
posted by uncleozzy at 5:05 AM on January 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
We just watched it all in one go last night, that was such an intense experience. I absolutely would not have predicted at the start that I'd be crying at the end. Agreed about the soundtrack being amazing, they had me at the end of episode one with the Tullycraft song.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 4:36 AM on February 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 4:36 AM on February 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
I want a spinoff about the cops.
I liked how much this internalized Wes Anderson's style (symmetrical shots! nostalgic 1960s/70s AM pop! overhead tableaux!) and then completely subverted it. In the era of Me Too I have ambivalent feelings towards Wes, and this scratched some of that itch.
posted by pxe2000 at 7:22 AM on February 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
I liked how much this internalized Wes Anderson's style (symmetrical shots! nostalgic 1960s/70s AM pop! overhead tableaux!) and then completely subverted it. In the era of Me Too I have ambivalent feelings towards Wes, and this scratched some of that itch.
posted by pxe2000 at 7:22 AM on February 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
I also heard about this on My Favorite Murder and finally started it last night. Of course I watched the whole thing in one go because t was so good. I have to watch again to catch things I'm sure I missed. It felt so real even while it was unbelievable that all of those events and people would come together in a few days.
I wonder about the ending and the gunshot. An American audience will probably read it as the police shot a boy running away from the police, because of course.
I didn't hear that as an actual gunshot but as a sound to accompany the fade to black to signal the end. That's probably not what they were going for but I don't know that anybody shot or was shot. I agree that there really does not need to be a season 2 of any kind but I would like to see something similar from any of the people involved with this one.
It was so nice when James stepped up and took the heat both on the phone and when the cops showed up. Both of the pistol whippings at the end were the most jarring parts to me because I really liked both characters and didn't want to see them hurt. It was more of a punch to the gut than either stabbing because they had it coming; James getting beaten up because he asked for it and I understand exactly what he was doing there; or the mom in the car which was horrible but not as immediate. Speaking of which - I'm glad we don't know what the deal was with James' mom. I don't want to know if she was physically or mentally ill or if something else was going on. It's so much better to have it just happen without much explanation.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 11:28 AM on February 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
I wonder about the ending and the gunshot. An American audience will probably read it as the police shot a boy running away from the police, because of course.
I didn't hear that as an actual gunshot but as a sound to accompany the fade to black to signal the end. That's probably not what they were going for but I don't know that anybody shot or was shot. I agree that there really does not need to be a season 2 of any kind but I would like to see something similar from any of the people involved with this one.
It was so nice when James stepped up and took the heat both on the phone and when the cops showed up. Both of the pistol whippings at the end were the most jarring parts to me because I really liked both characters and didn't want to see them hurt. It was more of a punch to the gut than either stabbing because they had it coming; James getting beaten up because he asked for it and I understand exactly what he was doing there; or the mom in the car which was horrible but not as immediate. Speaking of which - I'm glad we don't know what the deal was with James' mom. I don't want to know if she was physically or mentally ill or if something else was going on. It's so much better to have it just happen without much explanation.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 11:28 AM on February 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
James getting beaten up because he asked for it and I understand exactly what he was doing there
I'm not sure I do. Was it another attempt to feel (like the deep fat fryer), externalized self-loathing, or creating some kind of alibi about fighting the guy he killed?
posted by msalt at 8:43 PM on February 22, 2018
I'm not sure I do. Was it another attempt to feel (like the deep fat fryer), externalized self-loathing, or creating some kind of alibi about fighting the guy he killed?
posted by msalt at 8:43 PM on February 22, 2018
I guess I’m the only one who read the ending as a completely unambiguous suicide?
An American audience will probably read it as the police shot a boy running away from the police, because of course.
Buh? He’s white.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:58 PM on February 22, 2018
An American audience will probably read it as the police shot a boy running away from the police, because of course.
Buh? He’s white.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:58 PM on February 22, 2018
James getting beaten up because he asked for it and I understand exactly what he was doing there
I'm not sure I do. Was it another attempt to feel (like the deep fat fryer), externalized self-loathing, or creating some kind of alibi about fighting the guy he killed?
I read it as him just trying to feel anything. I spent years forcing myself to never feel anything at all and then did similar (stupid) things to just feel something. Those things had to get increasingly extreme because it took a lot to get through the dulled and blocked senses. Maybe that's just me reading too much into it and trying to match it to my experience. All of your possibilities make complete sense though. I like there is just enough ambiguity in several parts of this show to allow for this kind of interpretation.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 6:23 AM on February 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'm not sure I do. Was it another attempt to feel (like the deep fat fryer), externalized self-loathing, or creating some kind of alibi about fighting the guy he killed?
I read it as him just trying to feel anything. I spent years forcing myself to never feel anything at all and then did similar (stupid) things to just feel something. Those things had to get increasingly extreme because it took a lot to get through the dulled and blocked senses. Maybe that's just me reading too much into it and trying to match it to my experience. All of your possibilities make complete sense though. I like there is just enough ambiguity in several parts of this show to allow for this kind of interpretation.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 6:23 AM on February 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
My take on the ending was that they may have shot (or tried to shoot) him because he's a suspected killer, he has a gun, and he's trying to flee. That he has nowhere to actually go may not matter with that particular mindset.
I liked this very, very much, and I'm in general agreement that I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel centered on the cops. The overall tone reminds me of 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank, another graphic novel about kids getting into something way, way over their heads.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:05 PM on February 24, 2018
I liked this very, very much, and I'm in general agreement that I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel centered on the cops. The overall tone reminds me of 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank, another graphic novel about kids getting into something way, way over their heads.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:05 PM on February 24, 2018
I just finished the series in one sitting and I too fell in love within a few moments of the first episode.
As for the scene where he pays to get beat up, I read it as the opposite of looking to feel- he was trying not to feel what he was feeling with Alyssa and the murder and a good old fashioned beat down would be a nice distraction from the silence.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 1:42 AM on March 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
As for the scene where he pays to get beat up, I read it as the opposite of looking to feel- he was trying not to feel what he was feeling with Alyssa and the murder and a good old fashioned beat down would be a nice distraction from the silence.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 1:42 AM on March 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
I finally got around to watching this one, and really liked it a lot. The ending, though, was probably the weakest part of the whole watch for me. The whole “screen goes black just as a gunshot rings out” thing has been done and done and done and done. It was just such a disappointingly ordinary end to what had been a really exceptional show.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:40 PM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Thorzdad at 3:40 PM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
I really liked this after expecting not to, by Alison Brie on 'Late Night' professing to binge it.
The series is also not what you expect, and keeps changing that expectation.
This is kinda like 'Natural Born Killers' if the kids were younger, more rational, less drugged, and British.
posted by porpoise at 10:46 PM on June 18, 2018
The series is also not what you expect, and keeps changing that expectation.
This is kinda like 'Natural Born Killers' if the kids were younger, more rational, less drugged, and British.
posted by porpoise at 10:46 PM on June 18, 2018
Which raises the timeless questions . . .
What?
Why?
posted by Tabitha Someday at 7:36 AM on November 7, 2019
What?
Why?
posted by Tabitha Someday at 7:36 AM on November 7, 2019
guys, s02 is... good?
posted by mwhybark at 10:55 PM on November 9, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by mwhybark at 10:55 PM on November 9, 2019 [3 favorites]
Yes, it's good--as someone who loved S1, the only real disappointment is that Gemma Whalen wasn't in it. It was a good decision to lead with the background of the person who's S2's villain, whose motivation becomes explicable if not exactly sympathetic.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:34 PM on November 10, 2019
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:34 PM on November 10, 2019
Just binge-watched seasons 1 and 2. That was quite something.
posted by bunderful at 5:06 PM on November 14, 2019
posted by bunderful at 5:06 PM on November 14, 2019
I posted a Season 2 thread. I meant to have it be an all-season discussion but I kind of screwed it up. I can't imagine trying to discuss this show episode by episode!
posted by amanda at 9:49 PM on November 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by amanda at 9:49 PM on November 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
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(It works better if you think of it as a movie rather than 8 discrete episodes. I don't know how I would've felt about it if I hadn't watched it all at once.)
I know Charles Forsman and I was an Oily Comics subscriber for a bit (I probably still have some of the original TEOFTW minis somewhere) and he's making really interesting and challenging comics. I'm really happy for him. (It's not that I think everyone's comic needs to made into a TV show or movie -- not at all -- just that I like when good things happen to people I know who deserve it.)
posted by darksong at 2:11 PM on January 6, 2018 [5 favorites]