"python vm.py program" results in "SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character '\xf0' in file vm.py on line 19, but no encoding declared;"

adding the relevant encoding (# -- coding: utf-8 --) then results in "RuntimeError: Unknown instruction ''\xf0\x9f\x96\x8b\xf0\x9f\x92\xa0\xf0\x9f\x94\xb6\xf0\x9f\x8e\x8c\xf0\x9f\x9a\xa9\xf0\x9f\x8f\x81'' at 370"

I assume debugging the program is part of the challenge? Or is it just supposed to work?