The Framed Story: *The End of the F***ing World, Season 2, Episode One*

Title Card: “The End of the F***ing World”

Framed stories are popular in modern prestige dramas because, as a narrative device, they act as a pre-show cliffhanger to compel the viewer, or reader, into the story. A popular example of this would be Titanic: Rose, as an old woman, tells us about the voyage her younger self took. The viewer starts in her current day and moves back to 1912, where the journey begins, only to return at the end of the story for context. The action, the romance, Jack on the bow behind her, are all framed within the device of her older self’s narration. This kind of embedded story can happen in multiple levels of nested story - but in TV and movies (unless you’re watching This is Us), there’s usually only one frame. The outer time, which exists at the beginning and end of the episode, and the inner story, which is set in an earlier period to give context to the frame.

In the second season of Netflix’s The End of the F***ing World, we are introduced to a brand new character in present time. Immediately questions arise: “Who is this? Did I forget they were already in season one? How does this relate to what I already know?” The audience is engaged and primed to take in new information. Bonnie is at a gas station and the guy behind the counter recognizes her from high school.

“So what have you been doing?” he asks.

She answers: “Prison.”

Suddenly the pocket knife he just rang up looks suspicious on the counter. “Oh, right… Why were you, uh…” he says, shaking his head awkwardly. “What did you do?”

“I killed someone,” she answers blankly.

Damn! Okay. So now we’re into a new story. Bonnie’s someone we have not met, but in a show about a pair of young runaways who (spoiler) happen to become murderers, we’re well prepared for a rather wild ride.

“Right…” the gas station clerk mutters.

She adds, “On purpose.”

But he cracks and starts laughing at her. He’s taking it as a joke. It has to be.

She smiles.

“You properly got me there.” He’s relieved, the tension changes.

And she laughs along. She grabs the pocket knife from the counter. “I’m gonna kill someone else now.”

Suddenly, the joke is less funny and the tension’s back. She pays and leaves the gas station. In her car, she throws the knife into the glove box where we see there’s a revolver and a book. Inside the book’s jacket is a newspaper clipping of season one’s female protagonist Alyssa!

The story frame has three parts: The beginning (the future), a flashback (the past) in context, which leads to: The End (back in the future).

A quick breakdown of the episode’s summary in these three parts.

Netflix’s “The End of the F***ing World” Season 2, Episode 1 - “I Killed Someone”

The Beginning (the future): As I’ve described in the setup, we start in the future. Bonnie in her late twenties at the gas station admits to being released from prison for murder and (not a joke) on the way to kill someone else. At this point we don’t know who.

Netflix’s “The End of the F***ing World” Season 2, Episode 1 - “I Learnt about punishment from a young age.”

The Past (flashback): Starting from childhood, we learn about Bonnie’s tragic upbringing. A strict and abusive mother, a father who left. Failing out of high school, then going to college to work instead. Meeting the professor from season one (who was the villain in a pivotal episode), then falling in love with his cruelty. Being betrayed by the professor, then believing his manipulation, which ultimately leads Bonnie to murder his new lover/victim with her car. In prison, the professor finally tells her he’s in love with her, which is what she’s always wanted. When she sends her response, it is returned. He has been killed (something that happened in season one) by our main protagonists - Alyssa and James.

Netflix’s “The End of the F***ing World” Season 2, Episode 1 - “Is Alyssa In?”

The End (back to the future): Out of prison, away from the gas station, in the daylight now, we see Bonnie exit her car and tuck the revolver into her waistband. She walks up to a nice house and rings the bell. Someone we don’t see answers.

“Hi,” Bonnie says with a smile. “Is Alyssa in?”

End Credits.

As you can see in the summary, the middle section is the meat-and-potatoes of the episode. In 25 minutes, we go from “who the hell is this?” to a full character with a motivation, all inside the frame of a few minutes’ worth of real-time. In a novel, this could be an entire book. The narrator in present day reflects on her past self, then goes on to justify her future action. But in a TV show, especially a short one, it acts as a quick and highly effective way to connect a new character to the audience. It takes the existing context and shifts it.

In season one, The Professor is happened upon by accident. While running away, Alyssa and James - through a series of misfortunes and bad deeds - end up at The Professor’s house because it appears to be empty. There’s mail stacked up in the box, no car in the driveway, etc. They find his stash of pedophilic video tapes and then he comes home. He tries to rape and possibly kill Alyssa, but James is hiding under the bed and kills him (something that James has been wanting to do since we met him in the first episode of the series. Kill.). Then the characters go inevitably towards a conclusion, which we can explore another day. But here, in season one, The Professor dies and impacts the main characters by the actions they took. In season two, the context shifts and now it has impacted someone else. A new villain arose from their action, unbeknownst to them! It’s a great way to build context and depth into not only a new character, but a new season.

In the second episode of season two, we’re treated to a very familiar frame, but in a shorter context. In the first act of the episode, the story is framed in the same way: a future Alyssa narrates where she is and how she got there after the end of season one. But it’s only the first act. The same principle applies. Catch the audience up quickly to move on to the main story, but now with context. Who is this? Alyssa, we know her. Great. How the hell did she get where she is now?

When used effectively, a framed story is a great tool to bring the audience in and get them asking questions. It’s one of many ways to build character, backstory, and context for whatever story you’re trying to tell.

The End of the F***ing World is available to stream on Netflix. Season One was pretty good. Season Two was really great. The comic the show was based on, by Charles Forsman, was pretty good too.