Just by reading the synopsis for the new Netflix hit, The End of the F****ing World , it’s pretty obvious this show is going to be a rollercoaster. If you haven’t already read the comic book it’s based on, the show follows the lives of two kids, James and Alyssa, who have pretty serious issues. They run away from home to try and start new lives but in an unusual twist, James is a psychopath, who fully intends to murder Alyssa at some point in their journey.
While the show ends up being an ultimately beautiful story, there are some plot points that are almost too much to bear. Here are the 18 moments that we deemed the most shocking in this new hit show. **MAJOR spoilers ahead**
When we first learn about James’s psychopathic tendencies
Although there was a good chance you already saw this coming if you’ve read a single synopsis of the show, it was still wild hearing this fact come out of James’s mouth. The End of the F***ing World kind of starts as a typical and boring ~teen~ story. Two misunderstood kids find each other. However, within the first few minutes, we find out that James is a psychopath. He enjoys killing animals, and one time even stuck his hand in a fryer just for the fun of it. Basically, they jumped into the hard stuff right away.
When Alyssa makes her bold first move on James
As if James wasn’t a wild enough character, things get even stranger when we meet Alyssa, his equally-troubled partner-in-crime. Things between the two of them start pretty bizarrely, mostly because she has an insane temper, and James only pretends to be interested in her because he wants to kill her. As things progress between them, Alyssa makes her intentions pretty clear. They’re hanging out and kissing at James’s house when she simply turns to him and asks him to go down on her. It pretty much summarized how unpredictable the rest of their relationship would be.
James’s interaction with Martin in the bathroom
In the second episode of The End of the F***ing World, things go from crazy to crazier. Now that James and Alyssa have hit the road, they begin figuring out what they should do next. Unfortunately, they crash their car which then explodes — but that isn’t even the most heart-stopping moment of this episode. They try hitchhiking and get picked up by an older man named Martin. Martin gives off seriously weird vibes, to say the least. Unfortunately, our suspicions are proven true as the episode goes on. Essentially, he assaults James in the bathroom of a rest stop, in an unbelievably hard-to-watch moment. We pretty much watched this entire episode from between our fingers.
When they break into a house
The third episode of The End of the F***ing World is a really great one in terms of character development. We see Alyssa and James finally start to feel hopeless and confused, rather than blindly brave and optimistic about the future. They wander around a suburban area for a while, when Alyssa stumbles upon a super nice house. The house is clearly vacant for the time being, so they decide to squat there in an attempt to get some rest and hide out for a while. Knowing that they’re actively being pursued by the law and then seeing them break into a house gave us a seriously bad and spooky feeling. Basically, it’s clear that bad things are about to go down in that house.
When Alyssa brings Topher into the mix
During their time in the house, Alyssa tries getting more intimate with James. He quickly asks her to stop because he’s clearly overwhelmed. Feeling rejected, she storms out of the house and begins aimlessly walking around the suburbs. There, she runs into an attractive young dude named Topher. They seem to hit it off, so Alyssa decides to take him to the house she’s squatting in with James to have sex. She parades him in in front of James, who has just gone to the garden to pick her a bouquet of apology flowers. *Sheds a tear* It was just another one of those moments that left us thinking, “Alyssa, WHY?”
When James finds Koch’s polaroids
This next plot twist was definitely the most unexpected and disturbing on The End of the F***ing World. Moments after Alyssa runs upstairs with Topher, James tries to occupy himself by playing some music and poking around in the homeowner’s (who we now know is a man named Clive Koch) belongings. Immediately we get the sense that some sh*t is about to go down. James finds a stack of polaroids in one of Clive’s cabinets that show women who have clearly been abused and possibly even murdered. Next, James finds a camcorder that contains some seriously graphic and disturbing videos of Clive assaulting and beating women. So, not only did they break into someone’s house, they broke into the house of a serial killer?
When Koch questions Alyssa
Once Alyssa decides not to go through with sleeping with Topher, she tells him to hit the road and decides to get some shut-eye. James decides this is the perfect time for him to finally go through with his plans of killing Alyssa. However, we all know he is starting to have feelings for her, and instead he falls asleep next to her bed. This touching moment, however, is promptly ruined when we realize Clive (the homeowner) has returned. He walks upstairs to find a sleeping Alyssa in his bed. He seems sympathetic at first, asking how she got there and what she was doing. However, because this show is essentially a train crash, we can correctly expect the worst. Clive’s mood immediately turns violent and he begins to assault her, while we’re left feeling completely hopeless and terrified.
When James Kills Koch
As if the aforementioned moment didn’t already give us a heart attack, it gets even wilder. If you forgot, James was hiding under the bed while all of this is going on, and he immediately springs into action. However, all we hear is a stabbing sound, when suddenly Clive is profusely bleeding all over Alyssa. It was so fast, so violent, and so shocking that we absolutely had to pause our Netflix stream for a few minutes to catch our breath again.
When they leave the evidence with Koch
In the next episode of The End of the F***ing World, James and Alyssa have to figure out what to do now that they’re now guilty of murder. As the characters (and the audience) are recovering from James murdering Clive, they decide to expose Clive for the disgusting monster he is. They clean the house thoroughly and figure out what to do with the body. James ultimately decides to take the polaroids and video camera to show Alyssa what could have happened to her. They then place the polaroids and video around Clive’s dead body. The whole image is super bone-chilling, and will definitely stick with viewers.
When we find out about James’s mom
Because of the James and Alyssa’s behavior, it’s pretty clear they have troubled home and personal lives. However, we don’t know much about James’s life except for the fact that he hates his dad for pretty much no reason. Now that the two have decided to go their own ways, James begins seriously reflecting on his past, particularly his mother’s suicide. We learn that when he was a young boy, she drove her car into a pond right in front of him. This moment was unbelievably heartbreaking and proved again that The End of the F***ing World is hands-down the most unpredictable show ever created.
When the security guard lets Alyssa go
This was a kind of heart-stopping moment in that it unexpectedly ended up being super wholesome. With the way the rest of the season had been going, we kind of expected the worst when Alyssa gets caught shoplifting by a security guard. He’s holding her in the back of the store, and we can only assume the worst is going to happen based on the actions of pretty much every other middle-aged man in the show.
But, when the security guard notices bruises on her wrist, there’s clearly some sympathy in his eyes. He leaves for a moment, Alyssa dashes out, only to find a child wandering alone in an alleyway. She just say the kid’s parent freaking out in the store with worry, too. Alyssa risks her own freedom to bring the girl back. Basically, she’s screwed. However, the security guard is moved by her kindness, and lets her off with a warning, allowing us to finally exhale.
When they hold up the gas station
Obviously, The End of the F***ing World would be nothing without the budding relationship between Alyssa and James. Thankfully the two decide to reunite and it was totally adorable. However, the cute moment is short-lived, as the pair find themselves in yet another complete disaster of a situation. They steal a car and then proceed to head to a gas station to pick up some gas. The owner of the store is immediately suspicious and tells her employee to call the police. Naturally, James decides to pretend to have a gun and fake-holds up the store so they can escape without getting in trouble. It’s a disaster from start to finish.
When Leslie runs over the dog
While almost every moment in The End of the F***ing World was a total shock, this part just seemed unnecessary. While Alyssa is super excited to meet her estranged father, Leslie, we get bad vibes from the start. Leslie, Alyssa, and James go to a pub together, only to be confronted by Leslie’s ex and their son — who Alyssa didn’t know existed. After an argument, Leslie peels off in his truck, running over a dog on his way. As if this guy wasn’t bad enough, he goes and kills a dog.
When Leslie calls 999
Further proving that Leslie is a totally useless, trashcan of a guy, he finally solidifies his title as Worst Dad Ever when he calls the cops on his daughter and James to receive a reward. Basically, while Alyssa starts to come clean to Leslie about the extent of the trouble that she and James are in, he completely betrays them by secretly dialing 999 (the UK equivalent of 911). As if that isn’t bad enough, James realizes what he’s done and confesses entirely so that Alyssa won’t get in trouble. It turns out Leslie was willing to turn his own daughter in, just for the money.
When Alyssa knocks out the detective
Basically, the next few heart-stopping moments all happened within about ten minutes the last ten minutes of the season finale because this show is unbelievably stressful. While the dispute in Leslie’s trailer is getting more intense, we realize that one of the detectives looking for Alyssa and James, named Eunice, has been outside listening the whole time. She finally steps in and says that it will be best if Alyssa and James come quietly. In a weirdly heartwarming moment, Alyssa asks if they will be separated if they go to jail. When Eunice says yes, Alyssa flips a switch and knocks her out with the back of her dad’s gun. Things just keep getting worse.
When James knocks Alyssa out
As if we weren’t already on the edge of our seats, the writers of The End of the F***ing World decided to see just how much they could stress us out. After Alyssa knocks the detective out, she and James bolt for the door and begin sprinting down the beach. That’s when the armed unit arrive to come and finally put an end to their crime spree. As the police close in, James apologizes to Alyssa and then knocks her out with the gun so she’ll be taken safely while he continues sprinting away.
The final gunshot
And finally, the moment that ended this suspense-filled, ridiculously wild season. Naturally, it takes place in the last second of the show, in order to leave us completely shocked, confused, and (basically) hyperventilating. As James sprints down the beach, the armed police officers get closer and closer to him. His final line of the episode shows a complete change in character when he says: “I’ve just turned 18, and I think I understand what people mean to each other.” Then, a gunshot. A GUNSHOT. And do we find out who got shot? Of course not. It’s the perfect, heart-stopping ending to the first season of The End of the F***ing World.