The End of the F---ing World Is the Best Dark Comedy on Netflix

It'll remind you how screwed up being a teen is.

If Wes Anderson had an evil twin brother who was more interested in disemboweling animals than arranging whimsical set pieces, he might have made The End of the F---ing World. This eight episode UK series, currently streaming on Netflix, uses some of the tricks of Anderson-esque comedies—quirky characters deadpanning dialogue, colorful shots, a pop-heavy soundtrack—in a show that underlines the dark in dark comedy. James, a teenage boy who wants to graduate from killing pets to killing humans, meets Alyssa, an acerbic middle class girl who is tired of her dull suburban life and predatory step-dad. Alyssa thinks James might be just the weirdo to break up her boring existence, and James thinks Alyssa might be a good person to murder. They run away together. And then things get really screwed up.

If the above description makes you skeptical, fair enough. The End of the F---ing World is the kind of show that has to balance everything exactly right or it would all fall apart. And yet somehow the show hits exactly the right tone that’s both hilarious and disturbing. Most of the credit goes to the lead actors, Jessica Barden and Alex Lawther, who are tremendous as Alyssa and James, whether getting kicked out of an American-themed British diner—"One Of The Top 10 Greatest American Dining Experiences in the South of England"—on a first date or cleaning up their blood-soaked shirts. ("Isn't it a bit fucked up, wearing his clothes?" James says at the start of one episode. "I think the fucked up bit was murdering him," Alyssa responds.)

Alyssa and James's chemistry is strange and perfect, and both are more complex than the first episode lets on. What at first might seem like pure misanthropy is turned into empathy as we learn the tragic, dark, and fucked-up backgrounds of the characters. In addition to the great leads, the surrounding cast is excellent and includes Gemma Whelan (Yara Greyjoy from Game of Thrones) as a lovesick lesbian detective, and Steve Oram (Sightseers, A Dark Song) as James's caring but clueless father. Peep Show fans will also enjoy a Super Hans cameo.