Why ‘The End of the F**king World’ doesn’t deserve a second season
I know we’re only 12 days in, but The End of the F**king World is the best TV show of 2018. It has all the ingredients that add it to the list of fantastic Netflix content. Quirky & relatable characters, a unique twist on the coming-of-age story, a splash of Bonnie & Clyde, some brilliant pitch-black humour, all lovingly adapted from some great source material. I binged the whole thing yesterday and as much as I want more (each episode is only 15–20 minutes long), I really, really hope Netflix don’t order a second season.
WARNING: SEASON SPOILERS AHEAD. If you haven’t watched the show yet, hurry up, it only takes a few hours.
If you’ve finished the show, you’ve undoubtably formed an opinion on the cliffhanger ending. The way I see it, there’s only two possibilities:
- The gunshot kills James. His suffering from the pain and guilt of witnessing his mothers suicide is over. He’ll never have to pay for his actions, and there’s a chance Alyssa will get off with little to no punishment.
- The gunshot doesn’t kill James and the authorities are left with the job of figuring out what to do with these two crazy kids.
It’s likely that this ending was left by Netflix to keep the show open to the possibility of another season, but what would season two give us? James and Alyssa would probably be apart for most of it, and it would be impossible to live up to the emotional weight of the story that’s already been told in season one. If James is dead you could focus on Alyssa and her reaction to losing yet another man who she’s given her heart to, but the whole brilliant dynamic of the show is built on James’ inability to feel anything and Alyssa’s constant emotional reactions forcing him to realise that he can.
Over the past few years I’ve seen several great shows go to shit in their second season. How To Get Away With Murder, Riverdale, LOVE and Designated Survivor (just to name a few) all had brilliant standalone story arcs that (mostly) wrapped up at the end of their first seasons. I was left eager for more, but satisfied with the stories that had been told. Once their second seasons rolled around, I didn’t watch more than 3 or 4 episodes before losing interest.
My theory is that the shows writers and creators probably spent years working on the concept for season one. Pitching, being turned down, rewriting, repeating. But their shows were all written on a premise that is wrapped up at the end of season one. So when they get renewed, the creators have probably a quarter of the time to come up with a new story arc and a brand new premise that often lacks sense and plausibility. HTGAWM and Riverdale both just killed another character and rehashed the same story arc from season one. I can’t even remember what happened with Designated Survivor (as I write this I’m remembering how annoyed I was when they announced a second season of Stranger Things… I really need to hurry up and finish watching that. I’m so worried I’ll be adding it to this list).
Second seasons are where great shows go to die and The End of the F**king World doesn’t deserve that. TEOTFW is in a slightly different boat however, because it has no more source material to draw from. The comic that it’s based on also ends a little more conclusively than the show, so if you want to know the alternate ending (and why it’s a good thing Netflix changed it), go read this article.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens. The demand for a second season is there, and US television is built on the concept that ‘more is better’, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens. Here’s hoping that creator Jonathan Entwistle relates to my feelings more than the smell of money.
