I just finished “The End of the F***ing World” today from 6 AM to 11 PM. I finished the series in one day, and most of it was while working.

Watching “The End of the F***ing World” opened up a whole new world for me, it introduced me to more creative opportunities for…

Well…

I guess I was either procrastinating or multitasking. Mainly because I finally got to use my second monitor while working.

Anyway, this is not the point of this writing.

It was pretty cute and fun to watch. I love the actors that played James and Alyssa.

In my opinion, Season 1 was probably better than Season 2. The story seemed better laced together with purpose, while Season 2 felt like an “out of duty” kind of product.

In Season 1, the characters were introduced nicely with each of their perspectives being shown in first-person. Their personalities had backstories that weren’t fully introduced early in the series, and it paid off well. As I finished more episodes, more and more of their motivations and origins were unveiled.

Right from the start, I had a hunch that James wasn’t really a psychopath. In fact, it felt like Alyssa was more of a psychopath than James was.

Alyssa trying to get a reaction from James was a cool gimmick. While James’ reluctance to take initiative was pretty well-done.

On one hand, there were moments when James was “dead” and these moments were usually paired with his inner monologue. On the other hand, his moments of taking action or initiative such as striking a conversation with the stranger who gave them a ride or when he attempted to save Alyssa from the gas store employee.

I don’t know. I didn’t really think much about the story. They were both charming and I liked the story enough.

Season 2 was the same, although the absurdity and scatteredness of its story was more pronounced.

While Season 1 explored James’ “psychopathy,” trauma, and redemption, Season 2 tried to explore the trauma of Alyssa and the idea of “love” with Bonnie.

Bonnie’s introduction felt a bit unnecessary, to pad out run time with some extra “side” story that felt just a tiny bit underexplored.

Bonnie was given a backstory and motivation, but her redemption felt instant and unrewarding as we did not see the eventual consequences of her actions.

Alyssa’s trauma was hinted at all throughout Season 2 and in the latter half of Season 1, but it felt like it did not have enough impact until the end of Season 2.

I personally feel like there could have been a more contained story even with Alyssa’s trauma alone. I think one of the reasons this also felt weird was the fact that she was able to have sex with Todd and become his girlfriend, but then felt appalled at the idea of sex and intimacy when he was with James.

This could easily be explained as James is a reminder of the incident, but I feel like the way it was explicitly portrayed in the latter half of Season 2 didn’t make it seem that way. In other words, it did not feel like it had enough consistency on how Alyssa was stunted by her trauma.

Conceptually, I like the idea of trauma exploration with both Bonnie and Alyssa. However, their stories felt rushed, and more compelling story arcs or events could have been created in place of those presented in the actual series.

Anyway, nothing too deep. This was not meant to be a serious review. It was super cute, fun, and entertaining. Alex Lawther played James’ quirkiness and fearfulness pretty well. Jessica Barden played Alyssa’s brazenness seamlessly with her subtle fondness that only showed when James was around.

I would recommend it, but there are graphic themes that some people should probably avoid. I wish there were more seasons, I just want to see Alex Lawther and Jessica Barden together in a series again.