The Inner Child has long appeared in film and TV as a cartoon of bubbly, innocent youth, serving to remind adults to have more fun and not take everything so seriously. But is this what that child who never grew up inside of us is really like? In Comedy/Drama How It Ends, writer-directors Zoe Lister-Jones and Daryl Wein offer a more radically honest look at the Inner Child.

The story follows Liza on the last day of Earth as she embarks on a series of comic visits to people with whom she has unfinished business. At her side is her Younger Self, played by Cailee Spaeny. Through this character, How It Ends interprets the Inner Child figure as a piece of the psyche that’s holding onto the past. How It Ends provides a funny and useful road map for processing today’s moment of collective societal grief and moving on from an old world that’s ending into our new, unknown future.