(TV SHOW) I'm Not Okay With This

5.5/10

First things first, a bit of friendly advice: if you like shows that answer all the important questions before the season’s finale, this show is not for you. It’s basically impossible to tell a structured story during 7 episodes of 20 minutes each, so I was not surprised by the huge plot holes and fast pace. I’m just incredibly frustrated nothing relevant happened on this show’s first season. And I was not okay with that!

We follow Sydney’s life, told in the first-person, each episode marking an entry in her diary.

Sydney’s life is not great. Her father killed himself a year prior and from then on, her relationship with her mother has gotten worse. We could argue that Mrs Novak is not the most loving mom, and throughout the show, she seems careless, bitter and mean, but it mustn’t be easy to find your dead husband in the basement. Since widowing, Maggie had to start working 60 hours a week to support her family which means Sydney had to be the one taking care of her younger brother, Liam. This was probably the best relationship portrayed on the show – sibling love always gets me… except when it’s the type of love Jamie and Cersei shared.

Another cool relationship in this show was Sydney and Stan’s – even though she mistreats him, he’s always there for her and truly helps her when she most needs; unlike Dina, her best friend, who fell in love with a dick-head football player and forgot about our main character’s existence.

So, where are the plot holes, you ask? EVERYWHERE! The first one was Sydney's super-powers which remain to explain: we have yet to know how they appeared, why and what exactly she can do besides destroying anything.

The second was Sydney's sexuality. It was pretty obvious from the beginning but predictability aside, it was something the writers breezed through and addressed only mildly at the end of the show.

Which leads us to my third and final problem with the plot: despite mentioning suicide and PTSD, the show is very superficial. There's not a deep enough discussion about these matters and the first time the characters sit down to talk about it is on episode 6.

It's time to do more than exposing certain topics. It's important to discuss them more thoroughly. How is it okay to make teens curse, do drugs and have sex and yet avoid talking about suicide?

That's why I think 'I'm not okay with this' has a lot of room to improve: the episodes should be longer and the writing deeper.

Something else that got a bit under my nerves was the fact that this show was very similar to 'Stranger Things'. People were also comparing it to 'The end of the f*cking world', but I haven't watched that one. However, it makes sense, since Charles Forsman wrote both comics (if you're interested, click here to read some reviews) and the producers of 'Stranger Things' did this one as well.