I’m Not OK With This
Series Directed by Jonathan Entwistle
Series Writing Credits :Jonathan Entwistle (creator/writer) Charles S. Forsman (comic book)
Christy Hall creator/writer)
Series Cast
Sophia Lillis … Sydney Novak
Wyatt Oleff … Stanley Barber
Sofia Bryant … Dina
Kathleen Rose Perkins… Maggie Novak
Richard Ellis … Brad Lewis
Zachary S. Williams … Ricky Berry
Aidan Wojtak-Hissong… Liam Novak
“I Am Not Okay With This is an irreverent origin story that follows a teenage girl who’s navigating the trials and tribulations of high school, all while dealing with the complexities of her family, her budding sexuality, and mysterious superpowers just beginning to awaken deep within her. From director/EP of The End of the F***ing World Jonathan Entwistle and the producers of Stranger Things comes a new series based on the Charles Forsman graphic novel.”
That’s the official plot synopsis from Netflix for a series they hope will follow in the footsteps of Stranger Things and The End of the Fucking World. To that end, the series is based on a graphic novel of the same name by Forsman, who also wrote both of the EofFW graphics, and got Entwhistle, who also did both EotFW series for Netflix..
Reading the synopsis, my first thought was of Stephen King’s first published novel, Carrie. Troubled girl has strange powers, and when people decide to mess with her at prom, all hell breaks loose.
The opening scene bears this out: Sydney (Sophia Lillis) is walking down a two lane road on a rainy night. She is drenched in blood, including a party dress, and has an expression of deep shock on her face. Sirens wail in the background. We find out later that she is returning from her school’s Homecoming Dance where someone messed with her, with literally mindblowing results.
So yeah, it’s Carrie. Rough family life (although nothing to compare with Carrie’s mother, who probably also raised Mike Pence). Check. Not popular at school. Check. No beauty. Check. Unprepared for the bumps and bruises of adolescence. Check. Carrie on, Sydney.
So don’t start watching this in hopes of an original plot line. I kept half-expecting Stephen King to appear as a cameo role, perhaps sitting in a neighboring yard, shaking his cane and yelling at the kids to stay off his lawn.
So assuming that some time over the past 50 years, you’ve read Carrie or seen one of the movies, why bother with this?
First, because the writing is good. The dialogue is witty, the characters well-rounded and very human.
Second, because the acting is stellar. Sophia Lillis made her bones playing Beverley in IT, along with Wyatt Oleff, who played Stan in the same movies. The mother (Maggie) is played by Kathleen Rose Perkins, one of the best comic actors around (she was Carol Rance in Episodes). The rest of the main cast, not as well known, are equally well-chosen.
Finally, it’s not Carrie. It’s similar, but there are enough differences to ensure that, including a twist ending at the end. Carrie was a horror story; this is more of a mystery / suspense story in which things go terribly wrong. Blood-soaked prom dresses are always a clue that things did not go as planned.
It takes place late last century, and I suspect that it, along with Stranger Things and a myriad of other shows, take place in that era because there are just too many plot complications that could be immediately and easily resolved by pulling out the old cellphone and talking to whoever you’re at a plot crossroads with. In the 1980s, cell phones were rare, expensive, and about the size of a shoebox. Those things may have their uses, but they’re pure hell on writers who need characters who don’t know what’s going on in the next room.
It’s an easily-binged first season, seven episodes of twenty minutes each. And it’s worth it.
Now on Netflix.