Now Streaming on Netflix: ‘Everything Sucks’

'Everything Sucks' ?! As If! The Netflix Original is ALL that and a bag of chips.

In Netflix’s flashback to the nineties Everything Sucks friendship and first love are plot points that carry us through the entirety of  season one of the 10 episode new series. Picture the dynamics between the young teens in 2017’s IT and Stranger Things but without the horror, science fiction and otherworldliness. There are no conspiracy theories or supernatural forces here. The only forces in Everything Sucks are snort-your-drink-out-your-nose comedy and the rushing tidal wave that is the teenaged experience (and dare I say it, the Puberty…. WORD) crashing into the main characters.

In Everything Sucks a trio of geeky incoming freshmen join the AV Club at their high school in Boring, Oregon in 1994. Yes. Living in their small (and unfortunately named) town is kind of a drag and since the boys agree that finding a girlfriend in their first year as high schoolers is the next Mission Impossible they go after their movie making hobbies and try to stay under the radar.

Luke O’Neil (Jahi Di’Allo Winston),  is a latch key kid raised by his flight attendant mother, since his dear old dad Leroy hit the road and skedaddled to California leaving wife and son behind. Flanked by his partners in geekiness: hyperactive, curly-haired and buck-toothed Tyler (Quinn Liebling) and highly logical, highly cynical, spectacle wearing McQuaid (Rio Mangini) the trio makes a pact to not be losers this year. Until they get on the bad side of the Drama Club!

These aren’t the adorkable and hilarious theatre geeks that warm our hearts from more contemporary shows. Instead they’re angsty and entitled wannabe actors. The King and Queen Bee of these narcissistic jerks are the couple from hell: Emaline (Sydney Sweeney) and Oliver (Elijah Stevenson). If you thought Chanel and Chad were dysfunctional in Scream Queens you’ve seen NOTHING. Emaline and Oliver are both salty and shrill and their constant blow ups and passionate makeups are both hilarious and cringeworthy. These two SUCK and the writers and showrunners never let us forget it. Our heroes after all, need antagonists and who better to fit the bill?

Everything Sucks is all about the characters: their hopes, their dreams, and their greatest desires. A show that is liberally sprinkled in the absurd with more more than a little comic mischief means that these characters are often sent careening and colliding into one another like rogue comets. Hopes are dashed. Plans need to be rewritten. Scripts need to be flipped. Everything Sucks is loud, tumultuous and explosive and we can’t look away!  

Luke dreams of becoming a famous director. His film career shoots off like a rocket when after offending the Drama dicks, misunderstandings and his panicked apology leads him to volunteering to direct a movie starring the Boring High troupe. And premier it. In front of the whole town. It’s having his first crush and first girlfriend, Kate, by his side that gives him more courage. Until he finds out that Kate bats for the other team. Ack.

Kate Messner (Peyton Kennedy) has a hard enough time fitting in with her peers. It doesn’t help that the sophomore is also the principal’s only daughter. Hormones crank Kate’s awkwardness and discomfort up to 11 as she comes to a shocking revelation. She’s a lesbian. But furtive glances at Playboy magazines centerfold models are about as close as Kate can get to exploring her homosexuality. In the 90s gay identities were so much harder to be out and outspoken about.

Unlike today, how many of us embrace “ love is love is  love” in the 90’s it was asked furtively in crowded high school hallways. It was gasped out in scandalous whispers like when Kate’s BFF Leslie (Abi Brittle) confronts her after rumours spread: “are you a homo?! ”.  It was dirty. It was disgraceful. Peyton Kennedy’s performance which evolves from tentative and guarded to a tender sort of acceptance is both heartwarming and heartbreaking.

The casting truly is right on target in Everything Sucks. The teens here are all performed by actual young teens, many of them new young talents who we haven’t seen on the big (or small) screen before now.  The chemistry between the main trio is contagious. Luke, Tyler and McQuaid have a palpable ease between them. Their effortless banter is one of the sources that fuels the show.

The adults in Everything Sucks aren’t shunted off to the side either. Kate’s father Ken (Patch Darragh) isn’t confined to being The Principal. He has a significant arc of his own and faces his own challenges beyond just being a widower and single dad. His eager to please mentality and his playfulness makes his scenes always a laugh to watch especially when they include his mischievous dates with Sherry (Claudine Mboligikpelani Nako). Who also happens to be  Luke’s mother. But again she’s a boisterous and colourful character who is more than just a window dressing or The Mom.

The realism in Everything Sucks passes with flying colours. Not just in the authentic clothing and accessories from the 90s that swept through the ranks of teens (grunge!) but also the slang and phrases and the soundtracks blasted throughout the episodes (hello, Oasis!). Beyond these pop culture blast to past gems, the characters have layers of complexity and realism to them as well. Take deeply feeling Luke. Recruiting his bros to create an Oasis music video to woo Kate is one of the most gleeful and downright adorable moments. The creativity and enthusiasm Luke pours into it just makes us love him even more! In that same vein, nothing in the videos filmed by Luke and the other teens seems overly perfect and precise. No. Instead, we’re seeing works of art created by teens, not professionally trained adults.

This isn’t a polished, plastic and perfect teen high school dramedy. Everything Sucks is grounded by how unglamourous things are: their underwhelming hometown, Boring and the averageness and relatability of our teen leads. Everything Sucks is a song we can’t help but hum along to, memories we can’t help but nod our head to, and show that treasures bold and daring teens we can’t help but cheer for. Everything Sucks is more than just a pitch perfect debut. It’s more than just a must-watch. It’s all that and a bag of chips.

all images from IMDB