After patiently waiting for over a year, “The End of the F***ing World” has finally returned to Netflix for its second season. Fans were excited to see what was next for James and Alyssa, after being left on a cliffhanger at the end of season one.
However, what I feared came true after watching season two. The second season did not live up to the astonishing first season and felt too predictable. However, it wasn’t completely horrible and still had some aspects that I came to love from season one.
In season one, the audience gets introduced to James, a boy who thinks he is a psychopath and kills animals for fun. He meets a girl named Alyssa, an empty, emotionless girl who claims to feel nothing. James decides to change things up and instead of killing animals, he targets a human and deems Alyssa to be the perfect person to kill.
Alyssa and James prepare to spread James’ father’s ashes. Photo courtesy of Netflix.
As the series goes on, James starts to develop feelings toward Alyssa. This dynamic duo’s weird chemistry was what made the show so entertaining to watch.
Additionally, with the great story and the number of surprises and excitement, “The End of the F***ing World” is everything I look for in a TV show. James and Alyssa were wildcards, and the show always had tricks up its sleeves, never knowing what was going to happen next.
After season one ended, I was craving more content to see how the writers would continue the story. In the end, season two was unfortunately mediocre, and left me expecting more after how extraordinary season one was.
Season two delivered a way too predictable and only somewhat entertaining story. This season did not have as many unexpected twists and turns as season one did. The events of season two were foreseeable. I already knew what was going to happen next before the show even got there itself.
The new season starts out introducing Bonnie, a young woman with a traumatic past. From the second they introduced her it was clear that this season was going to revolve around her. Bonnie looks for revenge on the people that killed her lover, Dr. Clive Koch, the man who tried to rape Alyssa in season one. In order to protect Alyssa, James had to kill Dr. Clive Koch and that is when he realized he wasn’t a psychopath, as he thought he was.
The season starts off slow after Bonnie is introduced. The first few episodes show what Alyssa and James have been up to after the events of last season. Alyssa moved away to get a fresh new start after season one’s traumatic events to forget about her past, while James is recovering from being shot and mourning the death of his father.
The first few episodes seemed unnecessary and dragged out the story. The writers could have combined these episodes into one and save the audience their time.
After the first three episodes, the story began to pick up. Bonnie meets James and Alyssa for the first time, pretending to be a hitchhiker whose car has broken down. During this time, James and Alyssa have a lot of tension between them, leaving them clueless on Bonnie’s true intention and how truly awkward and strange she is.
Things finally start to accelerate once James realizes Bonnie is not who she says she is and he goes to warn Alyssa about her.
Alyssa, James and Bonnie in “The End of The F***ing World.” Photo courtesy of Netflix.
Bonnie proceeds to keep James and Alyssa hostage demanding them to tell her why they killed her lover. James and Alyssa tell Bonnie the truth of what kind of man he truly was. After denying the facts, even though deep down she already knew what kind of person Clive was, Bonnie takes her gun and points it at herself because she can’t accept the fact of what really happened. Before she can pull the trigger, James and Alyssa tackle her and save her. From all the episodes in this season, this was easily the most exciting and thrilling part.
The creators did the best they could when it came to delivering another season. But, I truly feel that no matter what they did, season two was never going to be superior over season one.
Besides the lack of a story to keep me on the edge of my seat, the acting was phenomenal. Jessica Barden, who plays Alyssa, and Alex Alawther, who plays James, were an incredible duo together and both characters brought back the weirdness the audience loved from season one.
Naomi Ackie, who plays Bonnie, put on an extraordinary performance that kept up with the eeriness of her character. The show has a talented cast, making it a shame that the creators couldn’t keep the momentum going from season one.
A series that is carried by an amazing season one and followed up with a dull season two, I would recommend it to anyone that likes to be let down and wants to waste their time. Overall rating for season two is a five out of 10.
