HBO Max’s Euphoria has now completed another dark season; a drug-addicted seventeen-year-old, Rue Bennet (Zendaya), battles with mental illness and her sexuality, while another high school student, Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi), hides a dark piece of information about his father.
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This season features Bennet trying to hide her worsening drug addiction from her girlfriend, Jules Vaughn (Hunter Shaefer), with whom she had only recently reconciled their past separation. In the culminating episode of the series (Stand Still Like the Hummingbird), Bennet makes a deal in which she is tasked with selling $10,000 worth of narcotics, most of which she uses and eventually loses after her mother flushes them down the toilet. Bennet escapes her mother’s attempts to take her to rehab and manages to evade police custody until ending up at the home of the dealer to whom she owes the money. By this time, she is suffering from extreme withdrawal symptoms and is coerced into taking intravenous morphine, which causes her to pass out. When Bennett wakes up, she realizes that she’s trapped in the house of the drug dealer who is known only as “Laurie” (Martha Kelly). Bennett slips out through a window, narrowly avoiding a heavily implied sex-trafficking situation in which she would need to prostitute herself in order to pay back the $10,000 dollars she owes. This season ends with Bennett getting clean, and Nate Jacobs getting his pedophilic father arrested.
The new season is much darker, less glitter-filled, and more graphic than its predecessor. Last season, even D.A.R.E, a school-instituted drug prevention organization, condemned Euphoria Season 1 as a show which “chooses to misguidedly glorify and erroneously depict high school student drug use, addiction, anonymous sex, violence, and other destructive behaviors as common and widespread in today’s world.”
But Sam Levinson, the show’s primary writer, and director, claims otherwise. “I spent the majority of my teenage years in hospitals, rehabs and halfway houses,” Levinson said of his inspiration for creating the show. “Sometime around the age of 16, I resigned myself to the idea that eventually drugs would kill me and there was no reason to fight it. I would let it take me over, and I had made peace with that.”
However, the question remains: how can the show be for mature audiences if it is so obviously based on teenage realities?
Zendaya, the show’s lead, labels Euphoria as graphic and potentially too difficult for those vulnerable to the show’s subjects to watch, “I know I’ve said this before, but I do want to reiterate to everyone that Euphoria is for mature audiences. This season, maybe even more than the last, is deeply emotional and deals with subject matter that can be triggering and difficult to watch. Please only watch it if you feel comfortable. Take care of yourself and know that either way you are still loved and I can feel your support. All my love, Daya.”
The show creates an interesting paradox. While the show is based on depictions of drug use, violence, and potentially triggering content, is it right to try to restrict those represented in the show from watching it?
Seventeen-year-old Gordon Beal (‘23) has other thoughts about the show. “I initially got into Euphoria for the cinematography aspect, however, I am bothered by depictions of drug use, and I do worry about the glorification of drug use because of certain shots,” he explains.
“I wanted to watch it for the makeup, and the style, because I thought that was cool,” says seventeen-year-old Zora Stack (‘22). “I agree with Gordon, though, I think the drug depiction stuff is bad.” Stack plans to major in Theater, something that stoked her interest in makeup and costume design.
Season one drew in many fans interested in the glamor, and makeup of Euphoria. With TikTok trends popularizing the show’s theme song “All For Us,” many fans have attempted to recreate the makeup and “vibe” of the show, with some of the most popular TikToks drawing in millions of views.
Florida State University student Morgan Orozco reflects on the video she made as a seventeen-year-old, after watching Euphoria. “I just wanted to recreate the makeup in the show and do the Tiktok Trend. I didn’t really think about the implications of the TikTok, or the show in general. Especially since the makeup kind of represents drugs in the show,” Orozco said.
Despite the controversy surrounding its release, Euphoria brought in 2.4 million viewers for its premiere and became HBO’s most viewed premiere ever. The show is set to release its season two finale on February 27th.
