"The end of the *** world": the second season is interesting and pleasant to watch, but not at all necessary

The sequel to the 2017 hit was released on Netflix. The first season of "The End of the *** of the World" literally captivated the audience, presenting a very short but eventful story about two teenage nihilists, James and Alissa, who ran away from home. In search of the girl's father, they broke into someone else's house, killed his rapist master, faced many scoundrels and finally learned to trust each other. However, it all ended with a fatal shot.

The story of the first season seemed complete, but the popularity of the series forced the authors to release a sequel. It will surely delight fans with the aesthetics of filming, a cool soundtrack and an abundance of black humor. But the plot itself has become simpler, and the intensity of emotions has subsided.

The story of the aftermath

The second season takes place two years after the finale of the first. The authors keep the intrigue quite well, without telling how it all really ended then. But a new character is introduced, which is directly related to the past actions of the heroes.

In general, the main themes of the second season are the inevitable consequences of any actions and the inevitable growing up. The past overtakes the heroes over and over again, and new impulsive actions also have to be dealt with. And the characters themselves have changed: they have become more careful and circumspect. It is no longer so easy to escape from a cafe without paying, if you know that money will then be demanded from an innocent waitress.

Such changes create room for new topics and experiences. But they also kill the drive that the audience loved so much. Now this is a much calmer story, where the heroes are increasingly drifting with the flow, dreaming of achieving happiness, and not just running away from problems. And all this leads to an inexplicably positive ending, from which cloying even a very funny reference to "The Big Lebowski" does not save.

The new character's storyline has been made the main driving force of the story, and it seems overly social and correct. Earlier, "The End of the *** of the World" talked about the nihilism of adolescents who have not met a single kind person in their lives. Now the focus is on toxic relationships and unhealthy attachments.

Of the important pluses, only a new round of detachment remains. The relationships of the characters show how easy it is to lose the closeness to which you have been walking for so long. In the first season, the words of James and Alyssa began to coincide with their thoughts only towards the end. Now all the main experiences remain in the head again, and even a strong desire to forgive old insults is holding everything back, hiding behind indifference.

Stunning aesthetics

Almost all the shortcomings of the plot are cleverly hidden behind the visuals and the soundtrack. The sequel to World's End looks even more stylish than the first season.

Symmetrical shots have been added to the pale color scheme, and visual contrasts only complement the plot opposites. The characters' black and white clothes, reflections, the opposition of emotional thoughts and cold words, a calm life and a terrible past - all this makes us only more acutely perceive the experiences of the characters.

Ragged edits with an abundance of flashbacks sometimes sound like Jean-Marc Vallee's Big Little Lies. In addition, memories are mixed with fantasies here and create a distorted perception of some events.

The whole action is framed by a superbly selected soundtrack, which includes many songs from completely different artists: from The Kinks to the permanent composer of the series Graham Coxon of the Blur group.

The first season of "The End of the *** of the World" was a wonderful combination of aesthetics and rudeness. A very bold story called into question the very existence of any morality. But the authors decided to make the sequel more cautious and finally complete the story of James and Alissa. The plot was reasonably not stretched out: the second season lasts about 2.5 hours, so he simply does not have time to get bored even with a lower density of events.

Fans will rejoice in the return of their favorite characters and new adventures. But after watching, many will still have the feeling that it was just superfluous. After all, a series with such a crude name does not need morality, sociality and an illusory happy ending at all. All this cannot be compared to the sinking of the heart at the sight of a darkening screen after a shot on the beach.