5 Reasons I Am Not Okay With This Deserves To Be On Your Watch List

From The End of the F***ing World director Jonathan Entwistle and Stranger Things producer Shawn Levy comes Netflix’s newest binge-worthy series, I Am Not Okay With This.

Based on the comic book of the same name (and written by Charles Forsman, who also wrote The End of the F***ing World), the show centers around Sydney, played by Sophia Lillis, a teen who discovers she has super powers as soon as she’s really just attempting to create her way through puberty. By her side are the typical suspects in any good high school story: Stanley, played by Lillis’s It co-star Wyatt Oleff, is the awkward kid attempting to push his way into Syd’s orbit; Dina (Sofia Bryant) is the cool new girl and Syd’s true best friend; and Brad (Richard Ellis) is the jock that Syd just has to tolerate because he happens to be dating said best friend.

At a recent press event for the show, the stars sat down with MTV News to talk about what they loved most about the show — and what they think you’ll love also. So, from the mouths of the cast: Here are five reasons I Am Not Okay With This deserves to be your next big binge.

It’s a breeze to watch

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Each episode of I Am Not Okay With This clocks in around 20 minutes, and with only seven episodes in its first season, it is entirely reasonable (and not embarrassing at all) to watch it all in one sitting. “It’s like watching a long movie, basically,” Ellis says. “The characters are endearing and also you really are rooting for them and also you wish to be able to see what happens.”

Bryant adds that director Entwistle really is aware how to keep the audience hooked. “You can visualize with The End of the F***ing World also, he really likes to keep them short and sweet and simple, nevertheless there's still so much packed in there.”

It’s relatable

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Sure, this is a show about a teen discovering her super powers, nevertheless underneath the forest-clearing fits of rage, I Am Not Okay With This is about that awkward time in high school as soon as weird things are happening to your body and the way you relate to others begins to change. “There's certainly something to be mentioned about the show's grasp of puberty,” Oleff adds, recalling one giggly scene in which Stanley and Sydney show off their body acne. “It tackles those kinds of struggles that a lot of teens go through very naturally.”

Even in the moments where Sydney’s powers uncontrollably explode out of her — any time she’s mad — the fact that she’s a teen experiencing typical teen things is never lost. “Of course no one has super powers, nevertheless I know for me, I was like, I totally feel what she's feeling right now,” Bryant says, to which Oleff adds, “Everyone absolutely feels that rage at some point in their teen life.”

Each character adds something different

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I Am Not Okay With This portrays a span of high school experiences and the weird, some days surprising ways they intersect. “Everyone has a role that really adds on to Sydney's life,” Oleff says. No one is there just to be there; they have their own engaging ups and downs.

With each character experiencing high school on their own path, the show offers a “authentic” look at high school, Bryant says. “Everyone can relate to this and can find themselves in this show and in characters,” whether that’s Stanley weathering constant rejection, Dina having fun with her growing popularity, or Brad being… Well, Lillis points out, you don’t really hope to find yourself in Brad, who is certainly a bully. “I mean, in the event you do, then that’s worrying!”

The nostalgia runs deep

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I Am Not Okay With This is set firmly in the present day, yet as Bryant puts it, “There's a contemporary timelessness.” Instagram lives right alongside a retro wardrobe and decor of yesteryear, evoking those feelings you get any time once you go back to your childhood residence, or spend a day at your grandparent’s house.

At the same time, the show highlights those classic high school touchstones: letterman jackets, residence parties, first tokes. “Homecoming,” Bryant excitedly adds, noting that she never went to prom, so filming homecoming felt like a nice stand-in. And what’s homecoming without the big game? “It was funny seeing these football games not look like you were at a division one college with 60,000 people,” Ellis says. “It's like, kids learning about how to play the tuba for the initial time and people who aren't really that interested in the game.”

It’s funny

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With angst and anger abound, I Am Not Okay With This never takes itself also seriously. “There's a little bit of dark humor which I really enjoy,” Lillis says.

piece of it is in the irony of Sydney’s character. You visualize, although she’s experiencing the most awesome ride of discovering she has super powers, she may not care much less. “She determined to not think about that and think about the real troubles, which is high school, and having your crush, and thigh acne, and all that stuff,” Lillis adds. It’s not the regular superhero trope in which powers reveal themselves, then the hero gets to work.

And segment of it is in the script and its delivery. Lillis laughs every time she hears the way she says “lessofafuck,” and Ellis still gawks any time whenever he recalls reading the line in the finale: “[Redacted]’s fucking head explodes.”

I Am Not Okay With This is a proper good time, and certainly worth the two-and-a-half hour investment. The entire first season is streaming right now on Netflix.