She openly rejects monogamy declaring her love for both Rue and Anna and impulsively even boards the train to the city leaving Rue behind who refuses to go. And it helps that Rue is deeply aware of this. I'm by no means old. But, where the likes of Skins and Degrassi and more recently the likes of 13 Reasons Why glamorized teenage drugs and self-harm, Euphoria operates from a very narrow, and surprisingly responsible, point of view.

© 2020 TheReviewGeek. Euphoria stars Zendaya as Rue, a numb teenager who is grappling with the grief of her deceased father. Euphoria isn’t perfect and especially in the teen drama genre there’s a lot of competition.

Made You Look  – | Review Score – 3.5/5 I loved them. When the series opens, she's just being released from rehab after the summer before her junior year of high school. Where Skins and Degrassi were simply over-the-top scandalous shows designed for escapist drama, Euphoria exists with a point to make about the struggles and dangers of teenage life, and the greater social issues of our society. Her experimentation, however, does not end there. This is a 21st-century world of the to be Millenials – nuclear bombs and social media, a world of peer pressure and mental illnesses, a world of unemployment and climate change. 4.7 out of 5 stars. Esquire participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. Moving on to the ever so enigmatic Jules who playfully engages in sexual relations with older men and moves about in bold glittery eye makeup and pink hair is all but a girl who is in a quest for conquering her femininity and reconciling with her sexuality. On the other, we have Kat’s obsessive desire to lose her virginity which subsequently leads to the leak of her sex tape. Over the course of the next hour of Euphoria, my emotions oscillated between the weight of my own ancient bones and absolute unbridled fear for the teens. Shook One: Pt II – | Review Score – 4/5 Metacritic TV Reviews, Euphoria – Season 1, The teen drama based on the Israeli series of the same name about a group of teenagers including Rue (Zendaya),… 6. She, as a child, had been admitted to a correctional facility by her mother for being too depressed. (function() { You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

This was extremely my shit. All Images Property of their Respective Owners.

Of course, this value of style won’t be for everyone and in its bid to produce something particularly provocative, Euphoria does lose sight of its bigger picture, with a narrative that doesn’t quite hit its peaks as much as it perhaps should. In fact, straight white men are predominately the villains of this story—the ones who ushered in this hell world for another generation. Yes, there is sex, there is vaping, and there's one extremely disturbing rape scene in this first episode. My FOMO has become Fear of Going Out. After watching Episode One, I'm never having children. Seeing Nate’s Dad losing control or seeing Cassie’s Mum reaching for “one more glass” really hammers home how much of an influence the parents have over their own kids. She knows what she's doing is wrong, but this is the only world she knows.

In the events that follow we learn that our 17- year old protagonist has been to rehab for overdosing from drug abuse. Similar to Euphoria (Season 1) Review – THE 10 BEST HOTSTAR TV SHOWS THAT ARE WORTH YOUR TIME. “I think the important thing to acknowledge is the show is about teenagers and not necessary for teenagers, which I think people can misinterpret,” – Zendaya (Rue Bennett). What we leave behind in this world today shall have no life anyway. She's been misdiagnosed by doctors and therapists her whole life, and she's attempted to self-medicate her depression and anxiety with drugs and alcohol. The relationship between Maddy’s terminally ill (absent) father and her hardworking mother gives her the idea that a toxic relationship full of abuse, possessiveness, and manipulation makes more sense than her father’s non-presence in her parents’ relationship. While the story itself dips and peaks throughout its 8 episode run, the overall style and tone is consistent throughout. It intelligently uses its explicit content to not to stereotype but to subvert the stereotypes surrounding body image and sexuality. In fact, she has based her existence around it. And I'm lucky. These can mostly be traced back to absent/poor/possessive/lenient/over imposing parenting.

It captures the confusion and, yes, euphoria of drug-induced escapism. I wanted to be these problematic kids doing drugs and having promiscuous sex.

And Salt the Earth Behind You – | Review Score – 3.5/5. var zergnet = document.createElement('script'); They've experienced the world in a fundamentally different way than I have—being born and introduced to the world on the other side of a terrorist attack that has changed every aspect of American life in the last two decades. "https:" : "http:") + '//www.zergnet.com/zerg.js?id=82730';

The other characters too, like Maddy, Cassie, and McKay, all present a variety in cases of societal pressures and problematic parenting. Matt is the Culture Editor at Esquire where he covers music, movies, books, and TV—with an emphasis on all things Star Wars, Marvel, and Game of Thrones. Even after the incident with Cal, Jules willingly participates in flirting with ‘Tyler’ with whom she almost falls in love and does not even hesitate in meeting him at a desolate spot because she believes her gendered identity does not make it simple for her to meet at a cafe albeit never having seen his face and having only shared nudes. Speaking of drugs, yes, there are a ton of drugs in Euphoria—frighteningly so. We soon see his troubled relationship with Maddy, his ultra-feminine girlfriend who checks off all that he imagines ideal in a girl (no body hair, slender shoulders, and long-neckline blah blah) and we hear from Rue’s narrative about his phobia of a casual display of the not-so-attractive phallus which can easily be paralleled to the Freudian fear of castration.

What Euphoria does, however, is merely play with these inclusive ideas to provide a more horrifying picture. Let’s start from the start! On the one hand, we have Jules’ wild blind dates through dating apps which leads her to the incident with Cal. She is even surprised at Rue’s almost sex-negative status who is merely a child looking to be truly loved and kissed in symmetry, while Jules is on an adventure to obliterate femininity. By the end of the first episode, we get a clear picture of the horror and complexity that shrouds this suburban universe with the camera moving in to focus on Nate Jacobs’ uber-masculine jock character. HBO’s recent teen drama Euphoria is a stylish, well written and oftentimes chaotic series.

This is in contraction to his father’s indoctrination on being a ‘man’ and McKay’s dominant sexuality which is sparked after the incident of his abuse by his seniors. What Euphoria provides us in the form of teen experiences is not for their viewing but for parental understanding, for reflection, for introspection. Jake Paul—and YouTube stars in general—fill me with an existential dread. It will be a controversial show—and already is, in fact. Much like the explicit diagnosis of Rue’s fragile mental condition – which immediately makes us aware of her unstable position to provide a reliable narrative, with every introduction we not only learn of each characters mental instability but also how these “issues” are intrinsically linked with their identity.

I grew up on teen dramas like Skins and Degrassi. While most teen dramas are centered around the motif of coming to terms with one’s sexuality, Euphoria marvels with its treatment, making Maddy rightly refer to sexuality as a spectrum.

So, when I saw that HBO was making a gritty teen drama starring the incredible Zendaya, I was thrilled. Critic Reviews for Euphoria Season 1 – Metacritic Watching it, it's very clear that I am of a different generation. However, HBO’s latest drama does just enough to stand out, making it one of the more memorable entries this year.

You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io, Jon Stewart is Getting Back Behind the Desk, Rudy Giuliani's Scene in Borat 2 is Pretty Damning, Brad Pitt Has Endorsed Joe Biden For President, The Stars of Barbarians Are Famous German Actors.

One that he is unable to come to terms with simply for the gender stereotypes surrounding masculinity and homosexuality. This experiment entangles her further with the Jacobs’ when Tyler turns out to be Nate who threatens her with charges of child pornography if she ever desires to expose his father.

A Master's in English from Kolkata, India. HBO’s 8 episode series ‘Euphoria,’ which aired Season 1 not long after its final (not so well received) season of Game of Thrones, appears on its outset as a disturbing high school narrative interested in shock value and bold statements; except it isn’t.

What lies beneath the psychedelic hues and intoxicating soundtrack of Euphoria is a rotting world that has been left behind by us. One thing is absolutely certain: I'm never having children. Write a review. Trials and Tribulations of Trying to Pee While Depressed, Click Here To Go Back To Our TV Show Reviews. I consumed them. A scene in which she's raped by an older man she met on a dating app is deeply and profoundly difficult to watch.