Amanda Smith
Managing Editor
After finishing the first season of Netflix’s The End of the F***ing World (TEOTFW) in a day, I knew that there had to be a season two underway. What I didn’t know was that I was going to have to wait over two years to see what followed the crazy cliffhanger season one left us with. I was also thrown for a loop by the approach Netflix took for its sophomore season.
** MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD **
In the opening scenes of season two, viewers see Alyssa (Jessica Barden) living or attempting to live a normal life after all that went down in season one. Viewers have no idea what happened to James (Alex Lawther)– whether or not he’s even alive, and if he is, where he’s at or what he’s been up to.
The show then introduces a new character, odd and mysterious Bonnie who viewers come to find out was another victim of the professor (the creepy rapist that the duo murdered in season one) and is looking for revenge on James and Alyssa because she thinks they morbidly murdered her “boyfriend.” This is when things really get crazy.
Cut to a few episodes later and James and Alyssa are reunited after Alyssa ditches her brand new husband. The two are driving away with no true destination when they come across a hitchhiker, who just happens to be– you guessed it– Bonnie. The rest of the season goes on to show the cat and mouse game of Bonnie planning out her double-homicide all while unwinding her origin story– turning her into a sort of pity case by the insane season finale.
TEOTFW is a brilliant show that epitomizes dark comedy with its dry humor and suspenseful plot, but the second season lost a part of this when it geared its focus away from James, a self-proclaimed psychopath and wannabe murderer, and shifted it towards a new antagonist who is maybe not even an antagonist all along. While it was refreshing to get a new perspective and see James in a new light, I missed being able to root for a psychopath like I did James in season one.
Although season two didn’t exactly hit the bull’s eye, it definitely added a sense of suspense to the plot and was still entertaining– I again finished the season in less than two days. My favorite aspect of the new season was seeing the ridiculous ways that Bonnie’s plans to murder didn’t work out and all the turns these plans took. Because of this and my undying love for James and Alyssa, I give season two of The End of the F***ing World eight out of 10 stars.
