I Am Not Okay With This

Another offering from Netflix is I Am Not Okay With This, another adaptation of a comic book. I found it to be engaging, but Stephen King's lawyers may be restless, because it owes a lot to Carrie, even down to the image of a teenage girl in a party dress covered with blood.

The series is about Syd (Sophia Lillis), a seventeen-year-old girl living in a depressing Pennsylvania town. She is trying to cope with the recent suicide of her father. She has an antagonistic relationship with her mother, but she is devoted to her precocious younger brother. She has a best friend, but is dismayed when said friend starts dating the popular jock.

Oh, and Lillis has also discovered she has telekinetic powers, and doesn't know how to control them.

So basically this is Carrie, crossed with The Breakfast Club. The episodes are sit-com length (and there are only seven, so this does not require a huge time commitment). While there are some gruesome events, the writing has a sarcastic edge. This is also heightened by Lillis' burgeoning friendship/romance with the class oddball (Wyatt Oleff).

The best thing about I Am Not Okay With This is Lillis, who I'm glad to see got a great chance to show off her chops after her sterling appearance in It. She has terrific star power, and the camera loves her, even with her unusual beauty. Oleff, who was also in It, is also fine as the kind of kid who is different but doesn't care.

As with Locke & Key, the series ends on a cliffhanger, as someone has been following Lillis and we were about to find out who when the series ended. I suppose this is the way things are going to be, as some series are renewed even before they premiere. Only Watchmen, which I haven't seen yet, decided to end on a high note.