Superhero Media: I Am Not Okay With This - Season 1

In a way, I'm getting sick of this kind of thing, "this kind of thing" being Netflix programmes with intriguing ideas, solid casts and decent writing that have a light-on first season that only really introduces things. I tend to blame the success of Stranger Things for this kind of approach, with everyone thinking they can capture the zeitgeist by recycling the formula. I Am Not Okay With This focuses on Syd, a High School senior in a small American town, trying to survive adolescence and the disintegration of her family after the suicide of her father. Over the course of the first season, Syd will discover that she is queer (and has a crush on her best friend), that her father was experimented on by the US military and that she has the power of telekinesis. 

And that's about it, really, there's a high-school drama/romance subplot, but it's more there to drive Syd's emotional state than be a commentary any more than these things typically are. Many of Syd's conflicts spiral out of her complex grief and the failure of any adult in her life to help her process her trauma, but, again, due to the short first season, none of it really gets resolved. In fact, it only gets worse when Syd's power accidentally kills a classmate. The entire first season of I Am Not Okay With This plays like an extended first act, setting up the characters and relationships that will fuel the series moving forward, but little conclusive happens, making the programme an overall unsatisfying watch for me. 

A bit of housekeeping, I Am Not Okay With This is getting a lot of praise for it's handling of teenage Queer issues, which it certainly does, but if that's your bag, there are better programmes for that sort of thing. Something just didn't quite ring true from my own work with Queer Youth, but your mileage may differ. Also I've seen a few reviews that state that I Am Not Okay With This plays with the idea that Syd doesn't actually have powers and is just mentally ill, but I really didn't see any of that, the existence of the powers is confirmed by someone else pretty early on. I am excited to see more of this programme, but, again, I hope there is more to the next season.