The two holiday specials may have been limited physically by the constraints of a pandemic, but in simply allowing Rue and Jules to speak candidly for an hour in the aftermath of their separation at the train station, they enriched Euphoria for the better. Filming for the next season was delayed by a year, but to satiate fans’ appetites, it briefly returned with its biggest shocker yet: a display of restraint.

Nevertheless, the show carried on strong, gaining a devout following and an Emmy award for Zendaya.

Zendaya’s voice is beautiful, but please save it for the credits. The breathtaking sequence set to Donny Hathaway brings Rue’s past and present together for a devastating buildup to her relapse, only to be undercut by an unnecessary music number. One prime example: the ending of season one. As for this writer, I’m firmly in the middle of public opinion, appreciative of its beauty but not so receptive when it indulges in its worst impulses. Before it had even started (Remember the 30 penises drama?), the show had weathered accusations of provocation for provocation’s sake, dipping its toe into every hot-button topic imaginable from drug addiction to abortion, often lacking in nuance.Įuphoria has also faced criticisms for prioritizing style over substance, resorting to dream sequences and ostentatious cinematography to distract from its weak writing. Whether Euphoria is successful in representing modern adolescence is still in debate. They party hard, get high, and send nudes in a period where you’re forced to grow up early. Littered with enough dick shots to make a parent faint, Sam Levinson’s teen drama Euphoria painted Gen Z (played here by a bunch of attractive actors in their mid-twenties) as the most terrifying generation yet.

My flickr euphoria