★★★ out of ★★★★★
Syd is boiling inside.
In Netflix’s new original series I Am Not Okay With This, It Chapter One (and Two) actress Sophia Lillis once again steps into the role of a troubled teen. A firestorm of rage and resentment, Sydney “Syd” Novak stomps her way through life, head down and fists clenched.
Syd has a lot on her plate. She’s stuck in dumpy, polluted, and aptly named Pennsylvania smalltown, Brownsville. She’s reckoning with her dad’s abrupt suicide, cystic thigh acne, and a crush on her straight BFF Dina (Sofia Bryant). Her high school experience is fifty shades of hellish. And her emotionally-distant mom’s life revolves around working triple shifts at a greasy spoon diner and downing bottles of wine at night.
But, it’s one afternoon over milkshakes with Dina at the diner that Syd’s boiling fury finally erupts.
Hassled by obnoxious football jock Brad Lewis (Richard Ellis) … and Dina’s new *dry heave* boyfriend, Syd’s seething hatred finally gets the best of her. Brad’s nose starts violently spurting blood.
Without Syd even lifting a finger.
All is… right in the world? Not quite.The ramifications of the unusual incident, the first of many to come that are triggered by Syd’s explosive “moods,” hit her like a bus.
Her insistence in the pilot episode that she’s a “boring 17-year-old white girl” couldn’t be farther from the truth.
So begins a whole new awkward (and horrifying) chapter in the chronically disgruntled teen’s life.
With Syd’s intimate “dear diary” deadpan narration and tantalizing flashbacks of Syd roaming the streets in a gory, blood-splattered white dress, I Am Not Okay With This doesn’t pull any punches with the show it’s trying to be. It delivers on its creepy horror-thriller promise, and at first blush it’s exactly what you expect it to be…
Until it’s exactly what you don’t.
Helmed by Christy Hall, and End Of The F***ing World creator/producer Jonathan Entwistle, I Am Not Okay With This is a supernatural coming of age that follows Syd as she contends with unusual (and unpredictable) new abilities.
A teen outcast with supernatural powers isn’t a novel idea. It’s what the show does with that idea that really sets it apart. It’s what makes it not only watchable but binge-watchable.
And yes. I Am Not Okay With This is binge-worthy as hell.
At just 7 episodes, I Am Not Okay With This‘s characters have the power to make (or break) the show. Led by the talented Sophia Lillis, the small cast holds their own. They bring credibility and weight to a show that could’ve been flimsy in less capable hands.
And I Am Not Okay With This lead Sophia Lillis has very capable hands. Ginger-haired Syd, with her moodiness, sarcasm, and achingly deep sadness, is a role tailor-made for Lillis. While not entirely full-bodied as a character, Syd is fleshed out just enough for Lillis to really sell it. Without Lillis’s emotional range and grasp for playing and channeling even the deepest of trauma, I Am Not Okay With This could have tanked. It’s largely Lillis’s performance that elevates I Am Not Okay With This beyond the confines of predictability.
Opposite Sid is her friend-zoned next-door neighbor, Stanley (played by It co-star Wyatt Oleff). The self-proclaimed Mr. Miyagi in Syd’s life, Stanely zealously becomes Syd’s superpower secret keeper. The dorky drug-dealing teen swears by vinyl records, drives a clunker of a car, and has some of the most humorous bits.
One of the best? When he’s high he fantasizes about transforming into a jellyfish. On top of that, he can pull off a Pretty In Pink Duckie-style suit without breaking a sweat.
Extroverted AF and outlandish as hell, Stanley’s glee and geekiness is the perfect buffer to Syd’s gloom and grumpiness. Stan the man owns the task of bringing levity to I Am Not Okay With This’s heaviness. While Stanley ultimately plays second fiddle to Dina, Oleff’s cheeky performance leaves an impression. Especially the bits where his janky car window takes an eternity to roll down while he dopily grins.
Syd’s precocious little brother Liam (Aidan Wojtak-Hissong, Falling Water), with his hedgehog Banana Wigglesworth, also provides a welcome contrast. A curly-haired cinnamon bun, Liam’s gentleness brings out Syd’s sensitive side. Wise beyond his years, Liam provides some introspective quips that bright light to an often very dark show.
There’s a surprising amount of depth in I Am Not Okay With This. It’s a show as much about Syd leveling entire forests with her ragey mind powers as it is about her contending with the gaping hole in life where her dad used to be and the anxiety and shame over her attraction to women.
And, of course, there’s her mangled relationship with her mom. One of the cornerstones of I Am Not Okay With This, Maggie Novak (Kathleen Rose Perkins), is chronically absent physically and emotionally. Constantly agitated, exhausted, and seemingly harassed by anything that breathes, Maggie’s negativity is practically a character of its own.
For Syd who’s already navigating her turbulent teen years constantly hungry and wearing thrift-store threads, her mom’s inability to comfort her or even try to connect cuts knife-deep.
Peppered with 80s pop culture and cheeky John Hughes nods….
I Am Not Okay With This reads like Stranger Things spiked with a dash of End Of The F***ing World snark and Sex Education’s sly wit and social commentary. It’s a character-driven dark comedy with a surprising amount of sincerity.
Grounded firmly in reality, it’s the wide scope of I Am Not Okay With This that makes Syd’s dilemma, and all of its extraordinarily terrifying moments, feel like they could happen to anyone. After all, some of the audience probably have contended with at least one of Syd’s struggles. Having a close parent abruptly end their life, living in a dysfunctional, broken family below the poverty line, and being gay in an intolerant small town would be hard on anyone. Let alone a grief-stricken, furious teen with the power to level entire forests with a sonic scream rivaling Black Canary’s canary cry.
Is I Am Not Okay With This derivative?
A bit.
And are the comparison to Stranger Things is inevitable?
Yup.
Is it extraordinarily mind-blowing?
Nope.
I Am Not Okay With This instead has heart, fire, and a good deal of blood pumping through its veins. There’s intrigue, urgency, and just the right amount of absurdity. Above all, I Am Not Okay With This isn’t a cheap knock off. Even though the show ultimately finds its stride in the last episode, and ends on a delectably dark cliffhanger, it’s worth watching. Will I Am Not Okay With This get a second season to plunge us deeper into Syd’s increasingly mysterious and dangerous world?
Maybe not.
But, even if it’s not renewed, it’s a fast-paced, smartly-written and thought-provoking escape that gives us an intimate glimpse into the life of an unlikely protagonist. Authentically self and socially aware, I Am Not Okay With This has a grasp of all the beats of what makes a show entertaining. Having (or not having) a second season won’t change that.
And I am okay with this.
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