The Devolution of "The End of the F***ing World" | TV Review

"If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster," -Isaac Asimov

The End of the F***ing World is brilliant. 

It really is. It's dark and subtle and blunt but also deeply heartfelt. I watched this story in one massive, exhilarating breath. 

However - and if you're a regular, then you saw this coming - it has some problems. If you're here looking for all of the things that TEOTFW does right, then you've come to the wrong place. There are hundreds of other reviews that cover the almost insurmountable good aspects of TEOTFW. This blog post is all about the bad.

You've been warned. 

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The show starts out fantastically. And by fantastic, I mean FAN-F***ING-TASTIC. 

TEOTFW jumps off from the premise that James is a self-diagnosed psychopath and Alyssa is a moody and rebellious teen disillusioned with her family life. Immediately, this intrigued me. It seemed like your typical road trip love story with a dark twist. And to a point, it was. 

James is established as an unfeeling outcast with a dark and ambiguous past. For a while there, there's this strangely wonderful disconnect because you care for him, but you also hate him because he's kind of an awful person. 

Then there's Alyssa. She's tough-as-nails and rude, but also carefree and eccentric. She's the character we identify with the most at the beginning, not just because of characterization or development, but because she shows a full range of emotions, and James is still a bit of a terrible person at this point. 

*Side note: Can we just take a moment and praise the storytelling gods that neither James nor Alyssa were manic pixie dream characters?*

I'd argue that Episodes 1 through 4 are the strongest. They carry a subtle emotional weight, while softening the two hardened characters with an incredible amount of interesting tension. And I think I've narrowed it down as to why the rest of the season falters. 

There's a moment that perfectly verbalizes the problem. James thinks to himself: 

"Having finally murdered a human, I realized something quite important: I was pretty sure I wasn't a psychopath."

After James kills the serial rapist/murderer - and after the aftermath - , the story seems to meander along until they inevitably get caught.  It nearly devolved into a generic teen-love road trip story. 

And it's because that nearly all narrative and character tension disappears. 

The pitch for the story, and what the story hinges on - James being a psychopath and road tripping with this girl to find her father - disappears. Sure, they still try and find her father, but the foundation of the story and what the first four episodes was built upon is torn out from under it. The main concept just falls apart. 

After about Episode 4, James subsequently loses about 75% of his character complexity. Instead of being mostly unfeeling and hell bent on murder, he becomes a shy boy with a tortured past (which everyone has seen before). He loses this complexity because now, James has very little to do other than run from the law. More on that later.

The show also loses its dramatic irony, which is what made the first episodes funny in a skin-crawling kind of way. In turn, it loses it's narrative tension. Back when we believe that James is going to kill - or, at least, attempt to kill - Alyssa, it adds a sense of unease and anxiety to an otherwise strong, heartfelt, and darkly funny teenage 'finding yourself' road trip. And that was extremely engaging, interesting and new in an often contrived but well-meaning genre, and I was disappointed when the whole show unraveled from there. 

Th show's other main problem is it's focus. At the beginning, James is the focus. While Alyssa is his means to an end, she remains a strong and consistent driving force in the story. However, the picture is still painted that James is the protagonist, while Alyssa is one of the two main characters. (Yes, there is a difference. Look it up. Article #1, #2) I digress.

After James' "goal" is reached (killing someone), he ceases being the protagonist, and the mantle moves on to Alyssa, who still needs to find her dad. However, while well executed, her story arc isn't nearly as interesting as James'. 

Ex: "Girl searches out deadbeat dad only to find that he's a deadbeat dad, realizes stuff about life, and falls in love with a boy?" Totally haven't seen that one before. But "teens with emotional baggage embark on a quirky road trip PLUS some psychopathic tendencies and dark humor?" That sounds a hell of a lot more original. 

The story tries to tie it back in, making it James' story with the final moments of the show, but it falls flat since we've spent the last half of the season with Alyssa as the focus. 

TEOTFW seems to be divided into two equal parts. A dark teen comedy-drama with amazing subtlety and a compelling thread of tension to an almost stereotypical teen love story  with the themes of love, deadbeat dads, and quirk. But, like I said, the latter isn't bad, but for a show that starts off so incredibly strong while including the classic elements of the teenage road trip, the last four episodes feel . . . lacking in the dry charm, subtlety, and tension that made the first four episodes so good. 

That all being said, TEOTFW is still fantastic. I still highly recommend it. The characters, direction, dialogue, and emotional and humorous dynamics are all wonderful. I can't stress that enough. Days after finishing this show, the story stuck with me, and I expect it to stick with me for a while. However, it stumbles a bit from dissolving character and narrative tension and focus problems. 

Objective Rating: 8.5/10 would recommend.
Enjoyment Rating: 9/10 would recommend. 

I think I just expected something different. And maybe that's on me, or maybe that's on the show for portraying A, B, and C throughout the first four episodes, but then portraying X, Y, and Z for the rest. 

But I digress. In conclusion: watch The End of the F***ing World so we can fangirl about it but also pick it apart together. Think of it as a bonding experience.  

~The Wordshaker

Crazy Stupid (Problematic) Teenage Love | Olivia J

"Never annoy an inspirational author or you will become the poison in her pen and the villain in every one of her books," -Shannon L. Alder

Happy Belated Valentine's day post, I guess? Except I despise Valentine's Day, even when I had a significant other. Beside the point. 

~

As a crazy, stupid teenager, I consume a lot of stories with crazy stupid teenage love. 

Like the name implies, a slew of teenage love stories are, dare I say, problematic. They're only problematic because of the negative effects they have on our ideas of love, and, more importantly, teenage relationships. 

Unfortunately, this was inspired by the trailer to Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon. Granted, I have yet to read or watch this story. However, while I was watching the trailer, I was struck with this repulsive sense of familiarity. This predictability that infects YA romances. While the genre has become more creative over the years, moving from basic rom-com setups to having more inventive premises and spins, a few things still permeate the genre, as well as how it's worked into stories as a subplot. 

Hence, this is me bitching about YA romances.

~ 

1. Love Triangles

Let's get this one out of the way. The most obvious and terrible trope of 'crazy stupid teenage love' is love triangles. Two people are madly in love with one person - or find them just super hot. 

-Why It's Problematic

Very rarely do love triangles like the ones seen in YA fiction develop in real life. Surely, two people can like one person, but most of the time, the person caught in the middle is not so indecisive. If they are, it's a general rule that people dislike to be strung along like the way they are in YA fiction, so one base of the love triangle will drop off. They realize that the pursuit is useless. 

Love triangles are only used to create drama, and to appeal to everyone's  - especially girls' - desire to be desired, and this becomes wish-fulfillment. Don't use them, unless you put a unique spin on them, because most readers can see a bad love triangle forming from a mile away. 

-How We Can Change It

Observe how 'love triangles' form in real life. See their nuances, and how un-dramatic they really are. Stay away from the stereotypes. Realize that there are very few times that you should employ a love triangle.


2. Misunderstandings

You know how it goes. Information gets omitted, people read into meaningless things, and suddenly, the girl thinks he cheated, or some variation thereof. 

-Why It's Problematic

It's extraordinarily frustrating for the readers, because they know the whole story, most of the time, or they realize how ridiculous the reactions and emotions of the characters. This portrays that misunderstandings are an integral part of relationships, and that they always must be this dramatic. That every little glance means he's cheating. That every little comment means she doesn't like him anymore. It portrays a hyper-dramatic, unhealthy relationship that only breeds fighting.  

-How We Can Change It

Realize that misunderstandings do happen in relationships, but never make them the central conflict. When they arise and are resolved, make sure your characters learn from the. Never use it as a way to create unnecessary drama. 


3. Lack of Emotional Connection

This is when no reason is given why these characters are able to connect. What are their shared experiences? Common interests? All too often, the author never gives the reader a clear reason on why these characters are connected emotionally and mentally. All we're given is that "they make me feel all fluttery inside" BS. 

-Why It's Problematic

Not establishing a strong emotional connection between characters gives the idea that romantic relationships are only based on good feelings and attractive people. This is so unrealistic, because if we only gravitated towards friends because they made us feel good, then we'd leave them if and when that feeling subsided. Relationships - any relationships - are based on emotional and mental connections. What differentiates platonic from emotional is the phsyical attraction factor, which should not be the defining factor in a relationship. 

-How We Can Change It

There's no real other way to change this than to create a way that your romantic interests have an emotional connection. Think about why you connected so well with your friends or past or current significant others. Was it because you have the same morals, or sense of humor? Make sure there's an emotional and mental connection at the same time, if not before, a physical one. 


4. The Manic Pixie Dream Character (MPDC)

Definitely the most critizied of tropes along with love triangles, the Manic Pixie Dream Character serves to only further the main character's emotional journey. I've already written a whole post dedicated on how to avoid this trope - check it out here!

But alas, I'll go over the basics here. 

-Why It's Problematic

This sets up the idea that there is this perfect person out there who is just waiting to fix us. That another person can cure all of our problems, and show us all there is to life. And surely, people can teach us lessons. But the problem happens where the MPDC devolves into a plot device, and become two dimensional. 

-How We Can Change It

Give the character a goal in the story that doesn't concern helping the protagonist. More on that in my previous blogpost, Writing People Not Plot Devices. 


5. The Magnum Opus

This is a Latin phrase meaning 'greatest work', as in reference to an artist's most successful accomplishment. But in this context, it means - or rather, I want it to mean - is that "this high school romance is the best it's ever going to get and I'm so in love that nothing could tear us apart so dramatic much sappy". In other words, that the romance that these teenagers are experiencing is so world-shifting and heart-wrenching that it could never get any better and that it will last forever and ever. Right. 

-Why It's Problematic

You're seventeen. How likely is it that this cute boy from your math class is your soulmate? Yet again, this portrays the idea to teenagers that high school romances are so important and detrimental. Acting so dramatically about relationships at such a young age exposes the heart, which isn't always a good thing, because people sure do love to step all over hearts, and crush them. They make good doormats. 

-How We Can Change It

Don't make everything so serious. The characters are young, probably in high school, and, realistically, immature, relatively speaking. Realize that a lot of what teenagers focus on in relationships are feelings, despite whether this is a good thing or not. 

And most importantly, if you take all of the above advice and culminate it in your story, you can probably avoid the "Magnum Opus" trope all together. 

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Surely, not all of these apply to every YA romance on the market, but a good handful of them do. Hopefully, we can eliminate these annoying stereotypes - which are mostly wish-fulfillment - and write real romances. 

~The WordShaker