Teen dramas with a dark underbelly have been having a moment for a while: Skam, Stranger Things, Riverdale, and the hinted-at Sabrina the Teenage Witch reboot. On paper, it would seem like the new Netflix series The End of the F***ing World would squeeze into the backseat with this lot just fine, but that would be a huge mistake. It walks a much sharper knife's edge, and would sooner give you lip than share your lipgloss.
A British adaptation of the American comic by Charles Forsman, which was serialized between 2011 and 2013, The End of the F***ing World trains its razor-sharp eye on the lives, and inner worlds, of a pair of teenagers named James and Alyssa. They're both 17, and they're both loners. As the trailer above sets up, James secretly thinks he's a psychopath, and has a collection of dead animals to prove it. Alyssa has no time for pricks, and a perv of a stepdad to contend with. (Side note #1: Yorkshire actor Jessica Barden shines — s h i n e s — in this role. Side note #2: the acerbic script, which takes a lead from Forsman but adds a very English twist, has me homesick as hell.)
When the two troubled teens meet, it sets in motion a part-hazardous, part-heartwarming string of events that I'm not about to spoil here. All I'll say is that it's a bittersweet reminder of the person you can be when you let someone, who genuinely gets you, in.