Season two had potential, and generally it was decent, though it could have been better. Usually, I disagree with those who say certain shows should've ended with 'Season one' or X amount of seasons, but in this case, The End Of The F***king World would've been better off without a season two.
Even though I have to admit the hype was becoming tiresome when it premiered internationally on Netflix, TEOTFW: Season 1 was incredible, despite it being so short. The storyline was easy to engage with - so simple yet enjoyable. Of course James and Alyssa's relationship was not perfect, but it was hard not to root for them to get together at times. Season 1 does have its flaws, but unlike season two, it had a solid plot, and wasn't so anti-climatic.
Until episode 4 or 5, it didn't seem like this current season was going anywhere. Although I have to credit the acting and decent plot this season, I'm wondering why the writers didn't decide to explore more on how the outside world perceives James and Alyssa - they're (or were) technically young murderers on the loose, in the middle of nowhere. Surely in the space of two years, someone may've recognised their faces on newspapers and/or the news, like Bonnie did? To be fair, since the events of the first season were two years ago, perhaps people just stopped caring about that? Perhaps I'm looking into this too deeply, though it seemed very quickly swept under the carpet.
Bonnie's character stood out the most this season and hopefully there's more to learn about her (if the show is renewed for a third season). The first episode gave a solid introduction to her which made links to how her story connects to that of Alyssa and James'. Though it seems as like for the sake of time, her background was pushed into one episode... which is understandable to an extent, to prepare us for what this season will generally be about, but it also contributed to what made this season lacklustre. It was made quite obvious what Bonnie's intentions were, so I was essentially waiting for her to do it... just for her not to. In short, her character was anti-climatic, making her slightly disappointing, considering her potential. Bonnie barely made an appearance in the final episode, which has me thinking; is this the end of her character? Will we ever even see her again? As an antagonist, it was (again) obvious that Alyssa and James were going to survive and Bonnie's plans were going to fail in some way or another. The show could not end so abruptly by killing its main characters when it's only been out for three-ish years, especially in that way. Bonnie has potential, but it was felt so wasted.
There seems to be a trend with this seasons characters falling short, and/or being disappointing. Somehow, Alyssa in season one was more bearable than she is now. Her behaviour can be somewhat justified by her circumstances, but there are moments now where she acts rude so unnecessarily and is thoughtless. Alyssa thinks because her parents were "shit", she is naturally like that because it's 'in her blood', which is a total excuse. It's not obviously fair to compare her and James' personal lives, but she was quite insensitive to James - fair enough she was upset at him dumping her, but he's essentially an orphan now. She atleast became somewhat decent in the final episode, and despite everything she clearly does care for him.
In the space of 20 minutes, there's alot that happens, yet at the same time nothing at all. There's enough that happens to become engaged in, and being on the edge of your seat figuring out what will happen to James and Alyssa and when they will realise they are more involved with Bonnie than they thought, but when the season ended, I was left thinking, "Is that it?". The final episode felt very final, in that sense. Now that I'm thinking about this more, season two concluded the story in a very tight knot without any cliffhangers to keep people wondering what could happen next. Will The End Of The F***ing World even be renewed for a third season? Who knows.
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Happy New Year!
I'm aiming to definitely post more regularly on here, so please look out for that! - Edna
