![]() As teased in the first season’s grand musical finale and confirmed in her 2020 Christmas episode, Rue has relapsed. Zendaya, thankfully, is not one of them, though how much material she’s given doesn’t necessarily correlate to how well her talents are utilized. It’s tricky to explain why, exactly, without revealing too many specifics, but for as hard as “Euphoria” works to let its actors emote, it’s puzzling to see a number of its stars left with so little to do. Despite high marks for Schafer’s bridge episode (“Fuck Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob”) and plenty of well-deserved fanfare for her breakout performance, Jules is almost a non-factor this year. As the proverbial light at the end of the show’s dark tunnel (with a shot to match in the Season 2 premiere), the series struggles mightily when its central relationship gets set aside. That being said, it’s still frustrating to see how badly Season 2 bungles the immediately enthralling romance between Rue and Jules (Hunter Schafer). Be it fractured families, forsaken friends, or a world with no future, these teenagers are living for the present, and a lot of what’s happening now isn’t going to be fun. The easy reference would be to complain about technology - “All these kids are just staring at their screens! They’re not engaging with society!” - but Levinson (the writer-director on every episode) works to acknowledge a deeper anxiety at play. Whether they’re shutting people out, being shut out themselves, or simply don’t have the tools to communicate their feelings, the sense of seclusion, of insularity sparked by fear, speaks to an unsettling yet recognizable modern reality. They all see things from their own particular perspective, and it shapes their actions in ways that seem avoidable if they could actually connect. But there’s an unquestionable singularity to how each character experiences their lives. Scenes aren’t constructed to separate people (for safety concerns or otherwise), nor does it feel like Season 2 is building toward bringing everyone back together. ![]() One effective aspect “Euphoria” maintains from season to season is the sense of isolation facing each character. Hunter Schafer in “Euphoria” Eddy Chen / HBO Seemingly smaller hijinks are stretched into unreal drama. (Barbie Ferreira’s Kat gets the worst of it, saddled with a stagnant arc that could’ve wrapped in two episodes yet gets stretched thin over the full season.) Big, magnified moments are tossed aside too quickly. Established characters from Season 1 are either written out (McKay, played by Algee Smith, pops in for the first episode and then disappears) or they’re sidelined. Everyone shows up for the premiere’s New Year’s Eve party (a solid episode built on questionable choices), but the events set in motion by this rager, as opposed to Season 1’s fateful opening bash, fall apart quickly. Without getting into spoilers, Season 2 suffers as much from trying to top itself through repetition as it does from downplaying aspects that were working (which, for a freshman hit, are common Season 2 issues). ‘Our Flag Means Death’ Season 2 Leans Into Its Love Story, but Loses Some Lusterīut for the most part, it doesn’t. ![]() For those who felt overwhelmed by the acute peril facing every character at every moment of Season 1, this new dichotomy, contrasting every parent’s nightmare with every student’s day-to-day, should theoretically draw viewers closer to these perturbed teens. While Rue Bennett (embodied by the magnificent, Emmy-winning Zendaya) is still pushed to the edge at every turn, her fellow high schoolers retreat into troubles more commonly experienced at that age: Relationships begin and end. Welcome back to the grungy, frightening, penis-filled world of “Euphoria.” You’re not going to love it.ĭespite the jarring familiarity of its opening sequence, Season 2 doesn’t live, like its predecessor, on the constant brink of disaster. With its stark vision of Los Angeles, awash in extra grit whenever a drug den gets a visit, the premiere tosses viewers back into the deep end after taking a breather between seasons with its two lightly stylized, character-focused special episodes. There’s a baby eating a cigarette, multiple bloody assaults, and, of course, a lipstick-stained dick (or, at least, what I hope is lipstick). As has become custom for Sam Levinson‘s persistently bleak HBO drama, the first 15 minutes of “ Euphoria” Season 2 feature at least five moments I wish I’d never seen.
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