I Am Not Ok With This

Imagine if Stephen King and John Hughes DNA were taken to be used in a underground science project and hours later you get the brilliance of both writers combined…that about sums up Netflix’s new  original series, I Am Not Ok With This. Another coming of age story, but think of The Breakfast Club, Carrie and X-men-like Mutant genes thrown in a blender.

It stars Sophia Lillis and Wyatt Oleff from the IT franchise and is based of the graphic novel of the same name written by Charles Forsman. Lillis plays Sydney “Syd” Novak, you ordinary 15 year old girl who thinks of herself as a plain-Jane, typical high-schooler in a small town.

Oleff plays Sydney’s quirky friend Stanley Barber. Stanley has a big-time crush on Sydney that we see progress throughout this 7 episode series. Depending on the situation, the relationship is rocky like a roller coaster. Sydney’s best friend is Dina (Sofia Bryant), is the cool girl in school. Dina’s boyfriend Brad (Richard Ellis), whom Sydney despises due to him hogging all their BFF-time.

Syd lives with her mom and younger brother, who she adores..but she and her mother Maggie, (Kathleen Rose Perkins), have a rocky relationship that slowly grows better over the course of the series. In the first episode, Syd discovers she’s different when she is sitting at the diner her mom works at with Brad and Dina. Brad being the typical jock says some rude things to Syd, causing her to get angry. As her anger rises, Brad’s nose to bleed!

She immediately does a thought bubble and says “Did i just make his nose bleed?” Each episode, Syd’s powers keep growing, even though she tries to keep a low profile about it. Naturally, she believes something is wrong. Almost like she’s hitting a 2nd puberty, where the 1st puberty your voice changes along with your body.  2nd Puberty in this case comes with extraordinary abilities.

Stanley sees her in action and finds out she has powers, which in turn makes Syd swear him to secrecy.  Stanley however, thinks its cool as shit, as nothing cool ever happens in their small town of Brownsville Pennsylvania. Stanley takes on a Professor Xavier-like mentor role, trying to help Syd control her powers. Of course, he’s also dealing with a one-sided love so it’s not exactly easy. In the midst of all this, Syd thinks she is being followed by a shadowy figure, who apparently no one but her can see which makes her question her sanity.

But I have to say I really enjoyed this series. It definitely has that 1950s and 1960s vibe, set off nicely by the soundtrack. It just has this to it because of the colors and surroundings but updated with modern tech. The soundtrack definitely sets the backdrop of the vibe I mentioned. With only 7 episodes and some episodes are from 19 to 28 minutes.  My biggest knock on the show is that right there…it’s WAY too short! However that isn’t a terrible thing, as you can digest this show in under 5 hours and still leave time to hang with the fellas.

This is a must watch show. It’s fun, entertaining , the character development is awesome and well put together. The ending will surprise you for a build up for season 2….hopefully