The End Of The F***ing World: Season 2 - All Episodes
November 17, 2019 9:41 PM - Season 2 (Full Season) - Subscribe
The story of James and Alyssa continues with a new third party involved...and deeply aggrieved.
I loved the filming locations this season. Very Twin Peaks inspired. And the soundtrack! I just learned that Graham Coxon from Blur wrote half of the songs, I've been listening to them while driving. They're all so different.
posted by mollywas at 11:50 PM on November 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by mollywas at 11:50 PM on November 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
Oh my God, I loved this SO MUCH.
The music, the cinematography (so many great shots!!) but more importantly they managed to continue a story I thought is impossible. Like, the first season was this perfect little self-contained thing!
And yet the second season absolutely justifies its existence. (I am glad that the creator said the will definitely not be a third one, though.)
I loved how our protagonists matured this season, I identified with them a lot (sans murdering people of course) and it was a good story.
Bonnie's transformation from "I wanna murder them, professor loved me" to "okay so maybe not and also there was something off about the professor" could have used more work but that's just me nitpicking.
Anyways, again, loved it. One of the best things on television in 2019.
posted by KTamas at 12:09 AM on November 18, 2019
The music, the cinematography (so many great shots!!) but more importantly they managed to continue a story I thought is impossible. Like, the first season was this perfect little self-contained thing!
And yet the second season absolutely justifies its existence. (I am glad that the creator said the will definitely not be a third one, though.)
I loved how our protagonists matured this season, I identified with them a lot (sans murdering people of course) and it was a good story.
Bonnie's transformation from "I wanna murder them, professor loved me" to "okay so maybe not and also there was something off about the professor" could have used more work but that's just me nitpicking.
Anyways, again, loved it. One of the best things on television in 2019.
posted by KTamas at 12:09 AM on November 18, 2019
A second season was always going to be problematic, but the addition of Bonnie does a decent job of furthering the story, while maintaining the light-hearted dark vibe. Naomi Ackie is wonderful in the role, imbuing it was a sad pathos that is mesmerizing to watch.
Season 2 continues with an absolutely great soundtrack, combining it with dreamy cinematography that does a great job of transporting us to another world. None of those could quite happen in real life, but man that soundtrack makes us believe that somewhere, somehow, it did.
Sadly, the soundtrack just points to how fucked up the music industry is, because it doesn't seem to exist as buyable thing. Instead it's a Spotify list (season 1, season 2). Which works for me!
We didn't need a Season 2, but a lot of us wanted one and what we got is a surprisingly good continuation of this beautifully disturbing teenage angst love story. It's gets major props for trying to come to terms with what happened in Season 1, namely that James killed someone to protect Alysa and ended up shot for his troubles.
There's a lot of trauma that has occurred with the two leads and it's fucked up their already warped minds and how they're dealing or not dealing with it is fascinating.
But.
This season tries to walk the line between fairy-tail and real life and it doesn't quit land it. Basically there's no strong reason for James and Alysa to wind up together at the end. They're badly damaged and badly damaging to each other, enabling in the other some of their worst aspects. It's sweet that they do wind up together, at least for now (it can't last, right?), and after all they've been through, it's good to see them get a piece of mental and emotional peace.
Yeah, I'm interested in a season 3, even though the creator has already said there won't be one.
Finally, the series loses some points for the fake killing of James and Alysa. It felt cheap and manipulative in the most banal of ways and should not have been done. Had they actually gone that route, it would have been a real twist and a exciting, if bleak, way to to definitely finish off the series. But then I probably still would have wanted a season 3 to see where it goes with the fallout for Bonnie.
In closing, an amazing season, but a bit ham-fisted with pushing the James and Alysa together.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:59 AM on November 18, 2019
Season 2 continues with an absolutely great soundtrack, combining it with dreamy cinematography that does a great job of transporting us to another world. None of those could quite happen in real life, but man that soundtrack makes us believe that somewhere, somehow, it did.
Sadly, the soundtrack just points to how fucked up the music industry is, because it doesn't seem to exist as buyable thing. Instead it's a Spotify list (season 1, season 2). Which works for me!
We didn't need a Season 2, but a lot of us wanted one and what we got is a surprisingly good continuation of this beautifully disturbing teenage angst love story. It's gets major props for trying to come to terms with what happened in Season 1, namely that James killed someone to protect Alysa and ended up shot for his troubles.
There's a lot of trauma that has occurred with the two leads and it's fucked up their already warped minds and how they're dealing or not dealing with it is fascinating.
But.
This season tries to walk the line between fairy-tail and real life and it doesn't quit land it. Basically there's no strong reason for James and Alysa to wind up together at the end. They're badly damaged and badly damaging to each other, enabling in the other some of their worst aspects. It's sweet that they do wind up together, at least for now (it can't last, right?), and after all they've been through, it's good to see them get a piece of mental and emotional peace.
Yeah, I'm interested in a season 3, even though the creator has already said there won't be one.
Finally, the series loses some points for the fake killing of James and Alysa. It felt cheap and manipulative in the most banal of ways and should not have been done. Had they actually gone that route, it would have been a real twist and a exciting, if bleak, way to to definitely finish off the series. But then I probably still would have wanted a season 3 to see where it goes with the fallout for Bonnie.
In closing, an amazing season, but a bit ham-fisted with pushing the James and Alysa together.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:59 AM on November 18, 2019
I watched both seasons over the course of a few days. I liked Season 1 better, because in Season 1 Alyssa was genuinely happy from time to time, while Season 2 Alyssa had just shut down. Understandably so, of course, but less fun. And I missed Gemma Whelan, who was the only adult in Season 1 I feel I would have enjoyed meeting (that role goes to Gwen's half-sister Leigh in Season 2, but not so much). Season 2 is so much darker, not only because of Alyssa, and the death of James's father, but also because of the introduction of Bonnie, who makes us appreciate the advantage (to the rest of the world) of James's and Alyssa's lack of direction. I felt like James and Alyssa were just the results of poor parenting, but Bonnie is seriously deranged. But both seasons were strong, I'm glad I got to watch it and sorry there (apparently) won't be a third season.
posted by ubiquity at 12:06 PM on November 18, 2019
posted by ubiquity at 12:06 PM on November 18, 2019
I missed Whelan as well. Re: what Brandon Blatcher said above, I get the feeling that the showrunners may have had a split about what to do with James and Alyssa, and basically gone with both. Also, I'd like to see more of Bonnie, too.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:07 AM on November 22, 2019
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:07 AM on November 22, 2019
Just watched all of season 2...
The first season felt like an insane adventure/ride, where you have no idea where it's going, but you're pretty sure you should get off before it gets there. The season season lacks that exuberance... Trading it out for 'I don't know where we're going, or why we're going in the first place.' "Existential" indeed.
A lot of the romp of season one also comes from the outright rejection of society. Parenting and expectations so fucked up that there's really not any good reason to stick around. Season 2 by contrast is like a meditation on accepting squareness but hating every second of it. Alyssa as the waitress, Alyssa arguing for the good of the other waitress, Alyssa getting married but not really believing it. Going through the motions, because, well, where are we going, again? And why were we going at all?
I did love hearing Florist (whose singer/songwriter is one of my absolute favorite artists of the last couple years). And Josephine Foster, who I used to listen to endlessly, but haven't revisited in a bit...
posted by kaibutsu at 1:41 PM on December 7, 2019
The first season felt like an insane adventure/ride, where you have no idea where it's going, but you're pretty sure you should get off before it gets there. The season season lacks that exuberance... Trading it out for 'I don't know where we're going, or why we're going in the first place.' "Existential" indeed.
A lot of the romp of season one also comes from the outright rejection of society. Parenting and expectations so fucked up that there's really not any good reason to stick around. Season 2 by contrast is like a meditation on accepting squareness but hating every second of it. Alyssa as the waitress, Alyssa arguing for the good of the other waitress, Alyssa getting married but not really believing it. Going through the motions, because, well, where are we going, again? And why were we going at all?
I did love hearing Florist (whose singer/songwriter is one of my absolute favorite artists of the last couple years). And Josephine Foster, who I used to listen to endlessly, but haven't revisited in a bit...
posted by kaibutsu at 1:41 PM on December 7, 2019
The season season lacks that exuberance...
I think it felt like them crossing the threshold of adulthood. In the first season, they were just making huge moves and seeing what the consequences would be and maybe expecting that the consequences surely wouldn't be that bad...all these bad things that adults say will happen like, they're just exaggerating assholes, right? And then they get walloped right in the face.
Being stuck as a criminal in a hospital as your body is barely making its way back from death's door is a huge consequence. Alyssa wants to feel like a whole person and she doesn't have a model for how to get there. I felt so much love for her about 3/4 of the way through when she was doing her typical massing stomping toward her destination and you just know if she could hulk out and flatten the earth, she would. I don't know if that was the actor or the character choice but I loved it.
The want of hulking out belongs to Season 1 but the reality that you can't hulk out and in fact you have to just deal with shit even when the shit is really shitty is... some parts of adulthood. Not exuberant, for sure.
posted by amanda at 7:46 AM on December 9, 2019
I think it felt like them crossing the threshold of adulthood. In the first season, they were just making huge moves and seeing what the consequences would be and maybe expecting that the consequences surely wouldn't be that bad...all these bad things that adults say will happen like, they're just exaggerating assholes, right? And then they get walloped right in the face.
Being stuck as a criminal in a hospital as your body is barely making its way back from death's door is a huge consequence. Alyssa wants to feel like a whole person and she doesn't have a model for how to get there. I felt so much love for her about 3/4 of the way through when she was doing her typical massing stomping toward her destination and you just know if she could hulk out and flatten the earth, she would. I don't know if that was the actor or the character choice but I loved it.
The want of hulking out belongs to Season 1 but the reality that you can't hulk out and in fact you have to just deal with shit even when the shit is really shitty is... some parts of adulthood. Not exuberant, for sure.
posted by amanda at 7:46 AM on December 9, 2019
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Open question, what impression did you have about what was on Clive's videotapes? I thought I understood but then something in this season left me a little confused.
Has there ever been a creepier, more character-driven way to drink from a glass than Bonnie's childlike, two-handed technique?
posted by amanda at 9:47 PM on November 17, 2019 [1 favorite]