- Netflix's new original series "Everything Sucks!" does not suck at all.
- It takes awhile to get good, but it's worth your time.
- It's reminiscent of "Freaks and Geeks," but set in the 90s.
- It tells the story of a teenage girl coming to terms with being gay, and her classmates who are trying to figure out who they are.
By now, you may have heard the hype around Netflix's "Everything Sucks!," which made its debut Friday and has been called the service's next "sleeper hit."
In the weeks before its release, the show's been unfairly compared to "Stranger Things," simply because it features a young cast and takes place in a nostalgic decade: the 90s.
Like "Stranger Things,""Everything Sucks!" is a love letter to the decade, but there are absolutely no Upside Downs, shadow monsters, Eggo waffles, or Winona Ryders. Just the ups and downs of being a teenager, set to 90s songs from your favorites including The Mighty Bosstones, Ace of Base, Oasis, and Tori Amos.
But it's still definitely worth your time.
"Everything Sucks!" is like "Freaks and Geeks" meets "My So-Called Life," but with actual teens playing teens. The very well-cast teens on this show are in the A/V club and the drama club at a high school in Boring, Oregon (a real town, where the series filmed). Despite their differences, the two clubs make a sci-fi movie together, directed by Luke (Jahi Di'Allo Winston).
In the meantime, the show's female protagonist, Kate Messner (Peyton Kennedy), is struggling with her sexuality: She thinks she's lesbian. The 90s setting, though at times a little heavy-handed, tells a story that would've never made it to television in the actual 90s.
You should binge-watch "Everything Sucks!" this weekend. It's not the best Netflix original series to date, especially since it takes some time to find its voice. But the excellent final episodes will leave you wanting more.
Here's why you should binge-watch "Everything Sucks!" on Netflix. Warning, mild spoilers:
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All 10 episodes are under 30 minutes long.
With no time to let things linger, the shortened episode length helps the show keep things moving forward quickly. The shortest episodes of "Everything Sucks!"are 22 minutes, and its longest is the 27-minute season finale.
Like Netflix's critical hit "The End of the F---ing World," the show proves that a lot of story can be told in a shorter period of time. For shows like these, it's a huge advantage.
All those short episodes do add up, but it's worth investing your time. It's better than "Altered Carbon."
It's a messy mix of slapstick comedy, teenage romance, and family drama. And that's the point.
The show is uneven, but that's the point. The lack of balance between the slapstick comedy and the tear-jerking drama captures exactly what being a teenager (and a person) is like.
It takes a few episodes for the show to get really good, but the final episodes are worth waiting for.
The show starts by banging the 90s thing over your head like, say, a snap bracelet.
But once the story gets deeper into its characters, the references feel more organic and earned. In one of the show's best episodes, the teens take a trip to a film location for their movie. On the way, they're happily singing along to Ace of Base's "It's a Beautiful Life" on a bus.
After some drama happens on set, the song plays on the bus on their way back to Boring. But this time no one is sitting together, and no one is singing along. Moments like these feel more earned and truer to the characters than some moments in earlier episodes, which makes a second season more promising.
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