Category: Series Reviews

By Padma Dolma

Well the teenage is a very critical period and most likely to be a period where everything gets intense. This is a story of an Indian – American teenage who struggles not only with her hormonal changes but mental issues as well. The whole thing was paused for a movement when she didn’t grief her father’s death instead she got paralyzed, nothing can explain what happened to her legs not even medical science. When your closest person dies the worst you an expect other than accepting the lost is either you fall in trauma or you face denial and Devi was facing both with her own style, where she didn’t wanna grief her father’s death so she found a distraction for herself without knowing it by paralysing herself. The mind of a human is as powerfull as enough to make you think about such things.

And one day she just started walking as if that’s the most normal thing. She wanted to live her teenage period full with fun which she was unaware of or we can say didn’t get it at all under the parental care of her mother, her mother is quite sensitive about her she tries to act tough but somehow she too fells weak, broken, helpless. While her life was going to be a roller coaster to be, she decided to date anyone before graduation. She convenience her two best friends Eleanor and Fabioula into her super plan for themselves but here’s the twist, one of her friend is gay another one is already dating but she doesn’t know about that along with that she had an unwanted guest in her house, her cousin Kamala who wants to complete her studies and not get married at that moment turns out she also has a secert boyfriend but Devi’s mother wanted her to get married a arranged marriage. It was forced on her cousin that she had to get married to a Indian boy who ever fits her parents criteria.

Devi is very competitive, A+ student with a rival Ben in her class from her middle school they’ve been competing among themselves that these two doesn’t stands each other. But what must be missing in her life is she never dated anyone she was so desperate to have a boyfriend, go on dates, have sex, going to parties, get drunk, and all those famous kids do list, but her desperation lead her to a lie route from where returning was impossible for her where she also have to loose her friends. Pexton her crush for more than 2 years, she got close to him meanwhile they decided to have sex, friends with benefits with no strings attached but things didn’t go her way.

Later thing she could possibly do was to accept that she was fallen apart by the terrific accident she had seen and her father had faced, she is a musician, her father died on the day for her concert before the concert started, her mother and she got into a fight which let her to think her mother didn’t care bout her and her father is the only person who cared about her, and when he got to know about the shifting back to India broke them apart more. She tried to convince herself that it was her father only who loves her and now when he is gone she don’t have anyone who loves her. She moved out from her house and she started staying at her rival Ben’s house.

It was her father’s birthday so her mother wanted them to bite her father goodbye all for good, she kept on denying for so long that she wasn’t sure that if she is ready or not earlier she thought her father was reborn as a Cayote and almost got killed by the wild animal.

But this time her friends, Ben helped her realized the fact that she had to grief to let her go and blocking the thoughts didn’t mean you don’t care enough even to say good bye

The whole story was about hypocrisy of Indian strict culture and modern thoughts clashing amongst themselves until you find your way out by being faithful, honest, and broken, sometimes it’s okay to fell broken.

By: Samyukta Narayanan

While watching Netflix new teen supernatural series ‘I Am Not Okay With This,’ it’s easy to be reminded of all the TV shows and movies it borrows from there’s a hefty dose of ‘Stranger things,’ ‘Carrie,’ a ‘Breakfast Club’ homage, a bit of the Spider-Man origin story and the teen drama of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer.’ With a short first season and a great star, it has the potential to stand out from Netflix’s weekly dump of new series. 

‘Okay’ is chock-full of tropes you’ve seen before. Superpowers as a metaphor for puberty, sexuality and emotion. Quirky kids stuck in small towns. Dead parental figures. But it succeeds precisely because it feels so novel in spite of these familiar building blocks. It outstrips the higher-profile would-be ‘Stranger successor’ ‘Locke & Key,’ which made a solid effort but sometimes had trouble nailing down a cohesive identity.

The writers know exactly what show they are making, and there isn’t a wobbly moment in the seven-episode, first season. It is a singularly focused series riding high on a fabulous young actress who makes her journey from Point A to Point B immensely successful.

Across the season, we watch Sydney live her awkward teenage life. She’s burdened by the loss of her father, a best friend who recently hooked up with an awful jock, a love-sick weirdo pal who she can’t bring herself to romantically reject, and, perhaps most pressing of all, a budding psychic power that manifests in her horrible ways when she’s angry.

The series makes the smart move of focusing on Sydney’s relationships with the rest of the cast, especially the ebb and flow of her feelings towards her best friends Dina (Sofia Bryant) and Stanley (Wyatt Oleff, who starred alongside Lillis in the recent It adaptation).

Lillis has been making waves in Hollywood for a few years now. She stole scenes as Young Beverly in ‘It,’ popped up as a younger version of Amy Adams in ‘Sharp Objects,’ led a Nancy Drew movie and recently anchored another strong horror showing in ‘Gretel and Hansel.’

This series moves her fully from ‘up-and-coming’ talent to ‘arrived.’ The series simply would not have power (super or otherwise) without her as a sympathetic protagonist. It is a slight shame that the three teens around her are not nearly as fully drawn characters, although Stanley comes close. 

These characters, for all their flaws, are likable and compelling, and the awkward realness of their teenage personalities is what makes the series work. The show has the good sense to realize that most viewers will be charmed by Stanley’s weirdo ways, and Sydney feels fully formed. Her ability to float things with her mind, and the fact that things sometimes break or go flying when she’s angry, feels like a manifestation of the other issues in her life rather than the thing that defines her. She’s a lot like Stranger Things’ Eleven, but a bit older, a little less in control.

I Am Not Okay With This is a sweet-natured show with a dark side; one moment it’s all charming conversations between likeable characters, and then the next something heavy and distressing will happen. The show walks the line between these tones well, and by the end of the short first season I was invested in the characters, what they were going through, and the hints of lore peppered throughout.

I recommend y’all to watch it, the first season was a comforting slice of television that you can finish in an afternoon but it ends with a tempting cliffhanger, I was sad that there wasn’t more to watch.I’m eagerly waiting for the next season to be released as quickly as possible.