Hulu’s Looking for Alaska Will Have You in Your Feelings

We’re in the trenches of spooky season, so your queues are no doubt filled with horror movies and TV shows. But if you’re looking for a slight reprieve from the scares, look no further than Hulu’s latest offering, Looking for Alaska, based on the popular novel by John Green. Yes, the same John Green who brought you The Fault in Our Stars (about two teens who fall in love after meeting in a cancer support group). From this information, you can probably deduce that Looking for Alaska is an emotional story as well—but it’s one well worth watching.

Hulu’s adaptation stays true to the book’s essence. It centers on a teen, Miles Halter (Charlie Plummer), who leaves his hometown in Florida to attend a rustic country boarding school. There he quickly forms friendships with his roommate, Chip (Denny Love), aka the Colonel, and an aloof, cool girl named Alaska (Kristine Froseth). Miles’s feelings for Alaska become apparent immediately, but she has a boyfriend. Their romance tête-à-tête is one of three major components to this series. The second is a social war of sorts between Miles’s clique and the rich, Cotillion-bred students who don’t live on the school’s campus. And the third is a mysterious, tragic event—a car accident—that’s teased in every episode but isn’t fully revealed until the end of the series.

Every element of Looking for Alaska is in service to this unknown tragedy. Each episode provides new insight about Miles, the Colonel, Alaska, and the people around them. We learn about their addictions, their mental health, their family lives—all through an objective, nonjudgmental lens that will make people feel seen. You soon get a picture of how these characters might react to a crisis.

“Much of this story is asking really important questions that I think all young people are asking that aren’t necessarily surface things,” Plummer tells Glamour. “I think that’s what was so incredible for me when I first read the book: I was reading a story about young people dealing with the idea of death and not really knowing what the answer to that question is. They’re really asking it and having real conversations and also being faced with it. I think everybody goes through that at one point in their life, where they lose somebody that’s really close to them or go through a really tragic experience.”

Everybody does experience trauma or loss at some point in their lives, but to go through that as a teenager is an entire thing altogether. It’s a strange stage in life when young people are asserting their independence for the first time but still have a ways to go. Looking for Alaska does an excellent job at tapping into what it’s like to process something so adult at such a young age.

“It’s just that point in time where you’re really owning up to the responsibility of, ‘Okay, I’m going to be an adult now, and I’m going to have to get through things that are difficult,’” Plummer says. “I think the first time you’re really having to do that on your own, especially as an independent person, is always challenging and scary.”

Adds Forseth, “Don’t judge a book by its cover. We’re all going through our own stuff. And having friends and having that support and ultimately reaching out for help is so important.”

Looking for Alaska is not without its moments of levity, though. Yes, there is a devastating incident at the center of it, but so much of what you’ll watch feels akin to a John Hughes movie. When Miles arrives at the boarding school, he’s looking for new experiences, and he finds them—so do Alaska and the Colonel. Throughout the show they experiment with drugs, alcohol, and sex. There are breakups and fights and makeups, all the staples of what makes a compelling teen TV show. At times the show is even funny—filled with quippy lines and cheeky banter. It’s the complete package, really.

“Looking for Alaska peppers things like anxiety and grief in an interesting way into each character,” Forseth says. “But it’s really good with dialogue and jokes in between all the seriousness. I think everyone kind of has something to relate to.”

If you’re a fan of movies like The Breakfast Club, you'll no doubt relate to Looking for Alaska. Ultimately, both Forseth and Plummer hope viewers are both entertained and informed by this show.

“It’s one of those stories where there’s so much to take,” Plummer says. “You’re kind of just with these kids for a school year. It’s not really plot-driven whatsoever. I just hope people can have a genuine connection to at least one element of the story we’re trying to tell. I hope people will have a lot of fun watching it but also have honest conversations with themselves and with their friends about the important stuff we’re talking about too.”

Looking for Alaska is now streaming on Hulu.

Christopher Rosa is the staff entertainment writer at Glamour. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrosa92.

Originally Appeared on Glamour