WARNING: This article contains spoilers from season 1 of The End of the F***ing World.
Based on the 2013 comic book of the same name by Charles Forsman, this is a bitingly funny adaptation of the original.
The show follows teen outsiders James (played by Alex Lawther) and Alyssa (Jessica Barden), who run away together on a road trip across the South of England in a bid to escape the monotony of suburbia. What unfolds is a series of hilarious misadventures.
The End of the F***ing World creates a balance between comedy and poignancy, which is down in no small part to its two leads.
Both Lawther and Barden capture that nihilism of adolescence, their performances are pitched just right and their chemistry works. You’re rooting for this teenage couple to make it against the odds and their burgeoning romance is completely endearing.
Lawther is every inch the awkward, socially-inept James. After his turn as James and also his role in the Black Mirror story Shut Up And Dance, he could end up habitually playing these misfits, who seem to hold up shops and banks. Then again, he has a versatility having starred in Howards End last year. But he excels as these strange characters.
Meanwhile, Barden owns Alyssa with her angry, hard exterior that hides a vulnerable and brittle side. While James is more abstract, Alyssa is much more recognisable and relatable.
She doesn’t seem to have a penchant for homicide either which probably helps make her tangible. Barden is no stranger to this role, she portrayed the teenage tearaway in the 2014 film version TEOTFW opposite Craig Roberts as James.
Stylistically, The End of the F***ing World is unique, drawing upon Americana in its aesthetics with a muted, Seventies palette all of which gives it a cinematic quality.
There are gorgeous sweeping landscapes, the likes of which are seen in US shows and pays tribute to the original source material which is set Stateside. Who would have thought that the Isle of Sheppey and parts of Kent could invoke driving through the Midwest of America?
The makers have also thrown in little references to American films and TV shows: Fargo and True Detective spring to mind. But it can’t be coincidence that James post-Oxfam makeover looks like Leonardo DiCaprio in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet, or that Alyssa seems to be channelling Juliette Lewis in Natural Born Killers.
This show is not your average British comedy. While it has those zinging one liners and that awkwardness, it’s a different beast. The show falls into the road trip genre – something that’s not often seen on British TV and is more of an American trope – The End of the F***ing World gets it right.
The series went under the radar following its broadcast on Channel 4 but is getting a new lease of life thanks to its international release on Netflix in the new year.
Whether there should be a second season is another matter. The ambiguity of the conclusion gives the series is a nice close. But fans will have to make up their minds about whether they want to see James and Alyssa go on another journey.
Either way, The End of the F***ing World is a perfect and unique piece of comedy that shouldn’t be missed.
The End of the F***ing World season 1 is available to watch on Netflix now
