2018 had barely begun when Netflix gave us one of the best gifts ever. That gift is The End of the F***kin World.
For those of you who haven't seen the show, here's a small and shitty synopsis of it, brought to you by yours truly:
Alyssa and James are your typical teenagers with their typical problems, or that's what anybody would think. As they escape from their miserable lives, they venture into a journey that would have them make daring decisions that might change their future forever. Filled with love, wits, and dark humor, The End of the F***cking World shows the life of two teenagers whose lives have been turned upside down since they were young and are trying to correct every mistake that ever occurred. (I should write a book and write my own synopsis of it.)
When the show came out, social media platforms exploded with content from the show. People spoke of how incredibly amazing and relatable this show is. And I can't disagree with them. With just one season in, eight episodes that ranged from 17-23 minutes long, I devoured the show in three days while still managing to do my homework. (I deserve a round of applause here, people. Come on!)
Despite how short this adventure was, there were many lessons learned along the way. In this article, I'd like to share some of those lessons that I learned during those three days I watched this, and where I went to sleep around 2 or 3 am.
1. Not everybody is OK
In the show, we meet James: an 18-year-old who believes he's a psychopath; and Alyssa: a 17-year-old girl who has serious anger issues. Along the show, we also meet more characters with their own set of flaws, and lives they wish they didn't. Nobody in this show has a perfect life. Nobody has their shit together, just how in real life nobody has their shit together.
Sure, there are probably some who are better at hiding their problems than others. Yet, that doesn't mean their lives are bursts of sunshine and rainbows and gold pots at the end of that rainbow. I am not OK, and neither are you, and that's OK (in a sense).
2. Sometimes, you just gotta close your eyes and let the feeling take over you
Perhaps the gif above has to be my favorite part of the entire show. Alyssa is drinking wine, and she's dancing. She talks about how when she dances, she feels some sort of merriment and freedom. She urges James to dance with her. At first, he refuses.
Through the entirety of the show, we learn that James is an aloof kid who never seems to find joy in anything other than killing animals. But in this moment, Alyssa keeps on insisting for him to dance with her. She tells him to close his eyes and just feel the music. He doesn't feel comfortable at first, but when he sees Alyssa doing it, he follows. At first, he's just bobbing in his feet. Then, he begins to dance.
Alyssa opens her eyes, and she beholds a dancing James and for once, in the show, she looks genuinely happy. You know what they say: A little party never killed nobody.
You may have been expecting more, but these were the two biggest lessons I learned during the entire show. Sure, I also learned that cussing somebody out might be really relieving sometimes or that sassiness isn't the answer to everything, but I was trying to be diplomatic and a bit philosophical here to appear smarter to you, so yeah.
