The End of the Fucking World is a slightly disturbed, eccentric version of any teenager’s hormone-induced inner thoughts. It portrays the warped love story between two mismatched teenagers: James, a self-claimed psychopath who aims to kill Alyssa, a mouthy, out-spoken teen, in order to ‘finally feel something’. The story starts when the couple run away from home together and find themselves in disastrous situations, including a murder, robbery, a near rape, blowing up a car and a dead dog.
The show also approaches very teenage, very awkward everyday situations like periods, awkward fumbling sex scenes, and snarky miscommunications. The amusing commentary that runs over their interactions, exposes a sense of vulnerability, something truly endearing that allows the viewer to empathise with otherwise slightly odd, psychopathic characters. This especially applies to Alyssa, who at the beginning I wanted to violently slap around the face, before I came to the uncomfortable realisation that she is pretty much my 16-year-old self (minus the murder). Her inner thoughts contradict her mouthy dialogue: “I’m going whether you come with me or not,” she demands to James, before immediately thinking, “Please say yes.” The mismatched juxtaposition of what she thinks and what she says is so teenager yet also so human.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbiiik_T3Bo
The beautiful cinematography stands runs in contrast to the awkward British nature of the characters, as the show is set in South-East of England, along woodland paths and the beach. Director Jonathon Entwistle pans out on an open, rural landscape and somehow manages to Americanise the British southern suburbia by filming the long, open roads reminiscent of Into the Wild. Equally as beautiful, is the soundtrack which has some absolute bangers from Janis Ian, Bernadette Carol’s Laughing on the Outside and Fleetwood Mac. This combination of rural landscape and Stevie Nick’s eye-wateringly beautiful voice makes interaction between these two confused delinquents something you can’t to stop watching.