Murder, a crime spree and romance. In “The End of the F***ing World,” British teens James and Alyssa run away together, go on a crime spree while trying to escape the police, and fall in love along the way.

“The End of the F***ing World,” a British dark comedy released in January on Netflix, has quickly gained fans among U-High students. James thinks he is a psychopath and has killed animals in the past. Now, he plans to kill a person, and he targets the girl he runs away with, Alyssa, who is the embodiment of teen angst and rebellion. She hates everything that is considered “normal.” She asks James out and gets him to run away with her.

The character development of James and Alyssa is the best part of the show. I started the show hating both characters, but by the end I was attached to both James and Alyssa. Both characters come from complicated and tough family lives. James’ mom killed herself when he was young, and he hates his dad. Alyssa’s biological dad left when she was young, and her mom has had twin babies with Alyssa’s unlikable stepfather.

Over the course of the show James develops from a psychopath who only goes out with Alyssa so he can murder her, to someone who is in love with her and would risk his life for her.

The last line of the show is James thinking, “I’ve just turned 18, and I think I understand what people mean to each other.”

What makes the characters so appealing is that they are not just caricatures of certain traits, they are more complicated like real people. Their complexity heavily adds to their development while keeping the viewers immersed in the story. For example, James, who thinks he is able to be serial killer, is really just a confused kid trying to emotionally cope with his mother’s death. He copes by trying to block out all emotion, so he eventually thinks he is a psychopath.

The use of voice-overs describing James’ and Alyssa’s thoughts is an interesting stylistic choice that adds significantly to the character development of them both. Since the viewer is able to hear what the character is thinking, it helps them catch the slight progression of both characters over each episode.

This show is great for binge-watching and I would highly recommend it.