Photo by Thibault Penin on Unsplash
By Lauryn Longacre, Staff Writer
With the hiatus of “Stranger Things” and the anticipation for a new Marvel masterpiece building, Netflix’s new coming-of-age superpower show, “I Am Not Okay With This,” fills the void.
In the opening shot, the viewer meets 17-year-old Sydney Novak, played by Sophia Lillis, drenched in blood, trudging through an empty street as her deadpan narration cuts through the scene, saying, “Dear diary, go f— yourself.”
Soon after, Sydney—in a lighter tone— says “just kidding, I don’t know what to write in this stupid thing.”
This is when the viewers are first introduced to the perfectly abundant dark comedy in “I Am Not Okay With This.”
The viewer sees Sydney being issued a diary by the school’s guidance counselor in hopes it might help with her impulsive anger issues. Set two years after her family moved to a small town in western Pennsylvania, “and not like a cute part of Pennsylvania either”, the show singles Sydney out as a girl with nothing inherently special about her.
The whole season is narrated by Sydney as she writes in the diary about the strange happenings she’s been experiencing including her mood swings, her sexuality, her weird thigh pimples and the ability to cause bursts of energy with just her mind.
Her supernatural abilities take first appearance as Sydney’s eating with her best friend Dina and her new boyfriend, the narcissistic, entitled jock, Brad. After making a smug remark about Sydney’s unwillingness to smile in his presence, Brad gets a spontaneous nosebleed which leaves Sydney, and the viewer, shocked.
Without the attention of her only friend, Sydney finds new camaraderie with her offbeat neighbor, Stanley Barber —a young hippy who drives around in his father’s mustard-yellow 1978 Ford Fairmont with window motors that work agonizingly slow.
A real highlight of the show, Stanley -played by Wyatt Oleff- brings in both laughs and heartaches throughout the show as he tries to help Sydney with her newfound powers. He’s the loveable sidekick with just as much depth to his character as Sydney.
One of the most standout aspects of the show is its ability to capture the real feelings of confusion and anger of a teenager coming to terms with their self-identity and grief. Although the show may come off as just another edgy teen romantic-comedy, the writers are able to build up a coming of age tale about being a true outcast.
With each episode being approximately 20-minutes long, and with only seven episodes, the show can seem pretty fast paced. Despite every mind-blowing twist and it’s stunning acting by the main cast, “I Am Not Okay With This” would fare better with longer episodes. The plot itself is instantly captivating and its themes are well developed, but more screen time would allow for characters like Dina to have more depth.
The style is a mashup of John Hughes and Stephen King’s “Carrie,” but is able to blend the more edgy themes in with the drama and romance skillfully. From the producers of “End of the F—— World” and “Stranger Things,” “I Am Not Okay With This” is an angsty diamond in the rough of endless Netflix originals.