Credit: Channel 4

Black armbands out, please, because Netflix is preparing to bid farewell to James and Alyssa. That’s right, The End of the F**ing World is leaving Netflix on November 5th, and apparently everyone is expected to “accept that with dignity”. The sheer audacity of Netflix to just remove it without conducting an audience poll or something.

And anyone who has left this show gathering dust in the watchlist, believing that it will be there for life since it’s a Netflix original, listen, you overconfident punk, now would be an excellent time to give it at least two good reruns, because James and Alyssa running together is one thing, but them leaving Netflix for good is something you shouldn’t take lightly, especially when the lead paid is a bunch of psychopaths.

Allow us to jog your memory in case you forgot these early-day legends of Netflix. Alex Lawther plays James, a 17-year-old convinced he is a psychopath, while Jessica Barden’s Alyssa wants out of her miserable home life. Initially, James considers killing her, but she changes the game with her suggestion of running away together, and off they go.

Before you know it, you start caring about them, because neither makes a convincing case for being reliable, pleasant company. James’ portrayal of human emotion is like that of a clueless toddler, while Alyssa is generally ready for war. You want to shake them; you want to slap them at times… but all that is until it’s between them and you because the second somebody else threatens them, and suddenly, absolutely nobody is allowed to touch them, it becomes personal.

Of course, we won’t end it without mentioning the man behind all this: Charlie Covell, whose writing deserves a fair share of the blame for that attachment, because the comedy in this “dark comedy” comes from how James and Alyssa survive the mess.

Before we go ahead, some might recognise Jessica Barden recently from the Monster: A Lizzie Borden story, where she played the actress Nance O’Neil. We bet the fans of The End of the F**ing World would’ve been delighted to watch their Alyssa being a part of a real-life crazy head’s story.

Oh, and for the short-span-dopamine addicts, here’s good news for you: somebody had the good sense to keep the episodes around 20 minutes. That and only two seasons. Ah, so ahead of its time, this show was.

Coming to season two, it should have been where the whole thing becomes an absurd mess because season one ends with a gunshot and loads of uncertainty. But no, the show comes back and justifies itself, with Naomi Ackie’s Bonnie entering the story because of what happened during that first disastrous road trip.

The Peabody Award in 2019 and Bafta Drama Series win in 2020 suggest that fans weren’t the only ones completely taken with the show, although the awards only tell half the story of why it’s stayed with people for so long. James and Alyssa are abrasive; they are freaking damaged, and they don’t shy away from making some appalling decisions, yet sixteen short episodes are enough to make saying goodbye to them genuinely hurt.

So yes, November 4th is your final day to watch before The End of the F**ing World leaves Netflix on November 5th, and anyone planning to keep procrastinating has been warned. Cancel whatever dull programme was meant to fill the evening and give James and Alyssa their 16 episodes… They deserve a proper goodbye.