The End Of The F***ing World: 5 Times James & Alyssa Understood Each Other (& 5 Times They Didn’t)

James and Alyssa are an odd couple, to put it lightly. There are times when they just jive perfectly and times when they don’t.

The End Of The F***ing World is narrated by James and Alyssa, two teenagers who end up falling in love, but certainly don’t start out that way. James begins the series believing he’s a psychopath, and Alyssa presents herself as a potential victim to one of his fantasies. He never follows through, because he begins to like Alyssa.

Alyssa begins as a girl who doesn’t fit in anywhere, which is what attracts her to James. She chooses him as a partner for her great escape from her mundane life. The two travel the country, getting into all kinds of scrapes, disagreeing on many counts, but understanding each other on a deep level despite all circumstances. Here are the 5 best times they understood each other on The End Of The F***ing World and 5 more times they misunderstood one another.

10. UNDERSTOOD: They Don’t Fit In

The reason Alyssa and James are drawn to each other in the first place is that they don’t fit it in anywhere. James thinks he’s a psychopath and he certainly doesn’t feel understood by his father, who feels the need to fill every moment of silence with conversation.

Alyssa starts the series sitting with a group of girls at lunch, all of them on their phones. One of them texts her even though she’s sitting right there. She smashes her phone and stalks up to James because he’s the only person in that cafeteria not trying to fit in. Their relationship is a little rocky at first but over time, they realize how alike they are because of their distaste for the norm.

9. MISUNDERSTOOD: Different Goals

While James and Alyssa are drawn to each other, their goals are different. James plans to kill Alyssa, while she wants to fall in love with someone more interesting than her friends and family. At least, that’s what they think they want. James starts to like Alyssa and decides not to kill her, after all, and Alyssa decides to escape her old life completely, oblivious to James’ intentions.

Despite everything, they still grow to care for each other but when they reunite in Season 2, they’re on different paths again. Alyssa is about to get married, and James has spent the last few years in solitary grief, hoping that Alyssa will still want him.

8. UNDERSTOOD: They Feel The Same Way About Phones

Alyssa tells James that she smashed her phone on purpose so he can’t call her, but he doesn’t seem to mind. He says he doesn’t have a phone, either, and Alyssa hopefully replies, “Really?” Like Alyssa, James hates phones, but for a different reason.

Alyssa doesn’t like them because she’d rather talk to people using her voice, face-to-face. Later in the series, James mentions that Alyssa doesn’t trust people who don’t talk. Interestingly, James is one of these people, but at least he doesn’t hide who he is the way Alyssa’s peers hide behind their screens.

7. MISUNDERSTOOD: Contrasting Ideas Of Love

Both Alyssa and James begin the series with skewed ideas of love. Alyssa thinks that she needs to be sexually involved with someone in order to fall in love with them, while James thinks that being in love means going on dates.

As to familial love, Alyssa isn’t really sure what it looks like, which is why she thinks that her father’s birthday cards are enough. Meanwhile, James doesn’t really feel anything, numbed by the trauma of watching his mother commit suicide when he was a child. If anything, he’s irritated by his father, and only comes to value him in the second season. Eventually, Alyssa and James help each other figure out what love means to them, but they butt heads along the way, often wanting different things.

6. UNDERSTOOD: Adults Ruin Their Lives

Alyssa enjoys teasing the adults around her and watching them get flustered. While James would never intentionally make the comments Alyssa makes, he enjoys watching her do it.

First, Alyssa provokes a waitress in an American diner, then makes fun of James’ father at his house. Both adults are left speechless and Alyssa retains the upper hand. James doesn’t do anything to stop her from offending others, and he takes just as much enjoyment from watching these adults — the people Alyssa and James blame all of their problems on — succumb to teenage snark.

5. MISUNDERSTOOD: The Exploding Car

When Alyssa was trying to get James to have sex with her while driving the car he stole from his dad, he felt a little uncomfortable about all of it. Alyssa tries anyway, pulling his shirt off which makes him lose control and crash into a tree.

James dissolves into one of his first displays of emotion while Alyssa cackles uncontrollably. James asks her why she’s laughing, but she seems confused as to why he’s so worried. He says his dad loves the car and that it’s the most expensive thing he’s ever bought. No matter what James thinks he is, he’s certainly not a psychopath.

4. UNDERSTOOD: Desire For Security

Though they both pretend to be people they’re not, Alyssa and James share a desire to be protected, comforted, and to feel safe. After the aforementioned car explodes, they wonder what they’re going to do next. Alyssa thinks “Go home,” just as James asks her if she wants to go home. Though Alyssa acts tough, she’s actually a little scared and when the opportunity to be comforted arises, she takes it.

By the end of their first day away from home, Alyssa’s crying and wants to talk to her mom. When she can’t get through to her, she asks James to cuddle her. He drops the urge to kill when he hears her crying, and from the moment he holds her, he only wants to protect her.

3. MISUNDERSTOOD: Different Understanding Of Boundaries

Alyssa is quick to judge people and quick to overstep the line. For instance, she’s totally cool with breaking into a house, but James isn’t so sure this is a good idea. She’s also a bit pushy for sex, even though James isn’t interested at all, and is alright with lying where James isn’t. He lets things happen to him, like the man in the diner bathroom or when Alyssa does things without asking him.

In general, any time Alyssa asks him something, he just says “Okay” or “I don’t know.” He doesn’t understand why Alyssa is so obsessed with pushing emotional and physical boundaries, but he doesn’t say or do anything to stop her, and she doesn’t pick up any cues from his body language.

2. UNDERSTOOD: Strangely Aligned Moral Compasses

At first, Alyssa is shocked that James murdered Clive Koch but eventually, she realizes that he truly did it to protect her. Yet they both feel tremendous guilt over the act for years, even though Koch wasn’t a good person. In season 2, the way Bonnie loves Clive is surprisingly similar to the way Alyssa and James feel about each other.

She thinks that he’s a good person and she’s willing to see past his crimes — although, she’s also adamant about ignoring the malice in Koch’s actions. Alyssa and James come to realize that sometimes good people have to do bad things for the greater good — or for those they love.

1. MISUNDERSTOOD: Every Time They Hide Their Feelings

Alyssa hides her feelings behind meaningless talk, and James buries his feelings for so long that he doesn’t know how to express them properly. In season 2, the characters have both matured, but they still find expressing themselves difficult. The older they get, the more fear of vulnerability stands in the way of them being themselves. Well, that, and the fact that Alyssa’s about to get married to someone else.

When James finds Alyssa, both of them skirt around their feelings and what happened in the two years they’ve been apart. If they could’ve been honest with each other, they would have been spared a lot of heartbreak and minor lawbreaking, instead of misunderstanding most of what they say to each other.

[Originally shared via ScreenRant.]