'90s nostalgia grows more the further we get from the decade, which is likely why Netflix’s latest series, Everything Sucks!, is receiving mostly praise. Reviews from IGN and Vulture have cleverly claimed that the first season of Ben York Jones and Michael Mohan’s coming-of-age comedy “doesn’t suck.” Following a group of AV and Drama Club teenagers collaborating on a low-budget movie, Everything Sucks! tackles the issues of trust, friendship, and the awkwardness of budding teenage love all in a familiar, albeit slightly clichéd, high school setting.
Starring a mostly unknown young cast of Peyton Kennedy (The Captive, Lavender), Jahi Di’Allo Winston (Proud Mary), Patch Darragh (The Path, The Blacklist), Claudine Nako (Grimm, Outside In), Sydney Sweeney (The Handmaid’s Tale, In the Vault), Elijah Stevenson (Captain Fantastic), Quinn Liebling, Rio Mangini (Teen Wolf), Abi Brittle, and Jalon Howard, the first season of Everything Sucks! launched on Netflix on Feb. 16, 2018. Upon release, each of the ten episodes was immediately available for viewing.
According to Vanity Fair, though the cast feels like a “generic knock-off” of the young stars of Stranger Things, the lead players of Everything Sucks! are “strong” in their respective roles. Vulture criticized the show’s dialogue for being “more scripted than anything actual teenagers would say,” but concludes by saying the show is “worth the journey” and gets better with each episode.
With the first season public, speculation about a follow-up season is already circulating. Netflix has yet to confirm a second season, but early positive reception points to the possibility that, within a year, Everything Sucks! season 2 will be a reality. Since the '90s tend to be lauded as a great decade, it’s unlikely that a show revolving around it won’t be well-received.
Considering the show does revolve around a younger, teenage cast, chances are the second season would progress to a new school year, with subsequent seasons possibly taking the show beyond high school.
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