Forget ‘Stranger Things,’ Netflix’s Sci-Fi Masterpiece Is Still TV’s Greatest

The success of Stranger Things has been credited to many things, such as the popularity of ’80s nostalgia and the emergence of Netflix as a platform for genre storytelling, but one of the show’s greatest strengths was in how well it handled its mythological components with a very relatable coming-of-age story. While it became harder to buy into the grounded story of adolescence as Stranger Things continued because of how inconsistent the stakes were, it did reflect a genuine desire to see an exploration of growing up that didn’t treat itself as pure escapism. I Am Not Okay With This is an adaptation of the popular graphic novel of the same name by Charles Forsman, who also wrote The End of the Fing World, which was also made into a Netflix series. While The End of the Fing World went beyond the source material for an unnecessary Season 2, I Am Not Okay With This was primed to get deeper and darker when it was cancelled before its time.

One of the direct indications of the success of Stranger Things was the blockbuster performance of It. While the original It novel was obviously a massive inspiration for Stranger Things‘ conception of small-town supernatural adventures involving kids on bikes, the film adaptation clearly saw the success of the streaming series as a sign that it could do a ’80s-set reimagining of the source material. Two of the biggest breakout stars of It were Sophia Lillis and Wyatt Oleff, who were given lead roles in I Am Not Okay With This, where they were able to bring a similar amount of complexity to their roles of deeply disturbed adolescents growing up in a frustrated community. I Am Not Okay With This uses its psychokinetic elements as a tool to explore growing up, both as a sign of body development and of reckoning with the reality that the world is not an inherently safe place.

‘I Am Not Okay With This’ Is a Mature Supernatural Coming-of-Age Story

Lillis stars in the series as Sydney Novak, a 17-year-old in a small town who has essentially had to take over a number of household duties after the suicide of her father, which her mother Maggie (Kathleen Rose Perkins) has refused to talk about. The theme of being withholding is critical to I Am Not Okay With This, as it deals with the idea of arrested development resulting from being denied the opportunity to discuss adult issues. Although Syd can tell that her mother is in pain, she does not have anyone else to talk to about her grief, and is left to cope with feelings of guilt that no one is there to mollify. This is an essential component to her character arc because Syd has to feel as if her emotions are not valid, which causes her to hide her discovery of psychokinetic powers when they begin to develop. It is key that Syd only discovers that she has these powers in moments of strong emotion, which only crystallizes her perception that her natural development is in some way unnatural.

• The Wachowskis’ 1999 film won four Academy Awards, including Visual Effects and Film
  Editing.
• Bullet time was shot with a rig of roughly 120 still cameras firing in sequence around the
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• Keanu Reeves trained in martial arts for about four months before a frame was shot,
  recovering from neck surgery the whole time.
• It opened the same year as Fight Club and eXistenZ, in a run of films about not trusting the
  world in front of you.

• Mad Max: Fury Road won six Academy Awards in 2016, more than any other film that year.
• George Miller storyboarded the entire film as roughly 3,500 panels before there was a
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• The chase was shot almost entirely practical in the Namib Desert, with real vehicles and
  real stunt performers.
• Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth carried the prequel, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, in 2024.

• Blade Runner 2049 won Roger Deakins his first Oscar for cinematography, on his fourteenth
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• The film also took Best Visual Effects, 35 years after Ridley Scott’s 1982 original.
• Villeneuve shot it on large-format film and kept the fog and rain practical on set wherever
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• Three short films by Luke Scott and Shinichiro Watanabe bridge the 30-year gap between the
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• Denis Villeneuve’s Dune won six Academy Awards in 2022, including Cinematography and
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• Dune: Part Two arrived in 2024 and brought in Austin Butler, Florence Pugh and Christopher
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• David Lynch’s 1984 version and Alejandro Jodorowsky’s unmade one are both their
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• John Williams’ score was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra and became the
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• Andor took the galaxy somewhere colder and earned Emmy nominations for drama series in both
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• The saga now runs across eleven feature films and a growing shelf of series on Disney+.

Lillis is phenomenal in the series and shows a truly accurate portrayal of the paranoia and anxiety that comes with being young, but I Am Not Okay With This fleshes out an ensemble of young characters who don’t just feel like classical archetypes. Oleff brings a lot of necessary humor to the role of Stan, but his dynamic with Syd is one of complexity, the likes of which aren’t usually seen on young adult shows; although Stan learns that Syd does not share the romantic feelings he has for her, he remains an important part of her friend circle as she develops a closer bond with her crush, Dina (Sofia Bryant). Although having hostile, nearly psychopathic bullies is a core part of any story like this (it is certainly present in both Stranger Things and It), I Am Not Okay With This shows the way that class resentment plays a part in adolescent dynamics, as Syd is made to feel “lesser” when compared to the wealthier jocks that attend her school.

‘I Am Not Okay With This’ Deserved a Season 2

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I Am Not Okay With This is a self-contained coming-of-age story that culminates with Syd reaching a point of self-actualization, but the first season ended on an intriguing cliffhanger that set the stage for a further exploration into the material that Forsman laid out in the comics. The first season is so intimate and specific in showing how Syd copes with powers under very specific circumstances that it would be exciting to see a different perspective on someone from a unique background. There is also a theme of public gaslighting and shame that is hinted at, but could be further explored in a Season 2; this isn’t just the result of how Syd was forced to defend herself, but also because of the culmination of her relationship with Dina.

I Am Not Okay With This had the misfortune of being released at the exact wrong time, as the show debuted a month before the COVID-19 pandemic, which preemptively doomed many new programs that had hoped to ramp up production soon. A timely turnaround for I Am Not Okay With This was of importance because of the age of the cast, and such emotionally gripping material might have made for a tough watch during a time in which audiences were anxious enough. Nonetheless, I Am Not Okay With This is one of Netflix’s greatest “what ifs?”, and is deserving of a reclamation, even if it didn’t get the ending that it deserved.