Is Euphoria Season Two is joke?

Is season 1 worth watching? I enjoy salaciousness

Yeah, they went for more surrealism this past season. I also got tired of it all.

It swept Emmy nominations

R2 Yes, it really killed the show for me. I never found it realistic to begin with but it's a TV show and they exaggerate for effect. This past season was so over-the-top almost like a cartoon and I don't care about the characters anymore. I honestly think if it was just a miniseries and focused entirely on Rue and her path to recovery, it would have been better. The creator is good at capturing life of an addict but he is shit at capturing teenage life in general.

Season Two is highly entertaining but its story is far too off the rails of reality to be taken seriously. The writers have jumped the shark and go for buzz in place of plausible story telling.

Case in point: the episode with the school play. The costumes, the sets, the lighting, the music of this high school production had higher production values than the current production of Company on Broadway. I wouldn’t be surprised if all of season two turns out to be Rue’s fever dream…paging Pam and Bobby Ewing.

Erase season 2 and start over

Have never watched this show properly, but from clips I've seen all it seems to be about is unrealistically-wealthy and vindictive highschool girls pitted against each other to see who can debase and ruin themselves the most for the sake of impressing peers (mostly male).

Also the only gay or bi male characters are villains (except the musician junkie guy) and all of them are attracted to Jules, the trans girl.

The sex and nude scenes are filmed like the ugliest, most gratuitous and exploitative barely-l egal p0rn.

It seems like the producer/directors have fetishes they're enacting for public consumption, to make money and headlines.

Maddy's character regressed. She stayed a mean and shallow popular bitch and she she Nate were broken up, so why was she angry at Cassie for? It seems sorta outdated that these two female characters who were set up to be interesting ended up fighting over Nate showing codependency to him. Cassie had the excuse of being mentally unstable with what seemed to be borderline or histrionic disorder. What was Maddy's excuse here? She was strong-willed and confident and I thought that the show would make her mature and learn to move on. Jules was interesting and sympathetic portrayal of a trans girl but got reduced to a plot device and she and Rue also fight over a guy. Lexi is the worst for that play, airing out that dirty laundry. It made her the most unlikable character to me. Kat got too little screentime.

R9 I agree. I couldn't get through more than 5 minutes of Season 2. It was disgusting.

Ugh a tranny girl who is desired by GB?

Teens nowadays are only interested in the dialogues and characters appearance than the plot.

R13 Yes but the issue is this show is supposedly for adults and got praised to high heaven by critics and was on HBO. But it's really nothing more than a Larry Clark/Harmony Korine-inspired art school project. You're right about the teens and college kids, they were praising this show about the "Y2K aesthetic". I'm a millennial nearing 30 and I can see it was written by an older millennial man who wants to relive his teenage years in the late 90s/early 2000s and imagine himself surrounded by hot babes who get naked. I don't think this show captured Gen Z like the press said at least the ones I know.

[quote] it was written by an older millennial man who wants to relive his teenage years in the late 90s/early 2000s and imagine himself surrounded by hot babes who get naked. I don't think this show captured Gen Z like the press said at least the ones I know.

So true. All the current teens and College kids I know and talk to in my family or at work are straight-edge, mostly-celibate or terrified of sex, body-conscious and introverted to a crippling degree, and dress to look cute or trendy or unique on IG rather than to titillate irl. The majority also seem more interested in making money, propagating regressive/neoliberal or neoconservative politics, and curating their art blogs than in sneaking out to wild parties and orgies--of course, every generation has at least a few vapid party sluts and junkies, but I remember Millennials being way more obviously and vocally into that scene.

R15 Yep. If this show was set in the 90s or 2000s, it be more realistic. Before smartphones and streaming, people were more socially connected and going out to parties, clubs and any type of event to socialize and have sex. Skins captured that millennial party culture and it's recklessness pretty well.

Rue's storyline was believable in terms of addicts and that's something that is timeless. But the storylines involving Fez and his little brother was ridiculous, child and teen drug dealers would be a huge liability. Yeah there's pot dealers in high school, and I knew plenty but they weren't rolling in dough and part of a bigger syndicate. Teen gang members who deal are usually just pawns to set up to take the fall for crime lords. So constantly high and lethargic Rue getting a job as a dealer for hard drugs was beyond stupid.

The high school and nonstop parties portrayed in Euphoria is too far removed from reality. No dress code, allowing Lexi to put on the play and etc. Cassie and Lexi's mom in general. Also Kat being an underage camgirl, that's something that would have been unfortunately more prominent in the 2000s as the internet was far less regulated than today.

To be frank, most high school shows are written by older people who reflect their own experience or expectations. John Hughes high school movies felt more early 1960s than 1980s.

[quote]unrealistically-wealthy

I don’t think they’re wealthy at all. They all live in these dated and depressing ca. 70s/80 tract houses with barely functioning parents. Only the Jacobs are wealthy, but even their house is nothing special.

I started watching it after seeing a random scene from Season 1. Visually it's stunning in places, the bike rides through blue-lit angsty suburbia, and other scenes heavily washed in greens, dreamlike colors and wonderful framing. Many episodes are worth watching just for the look that's achieved.

There are some terrific scenes and whole episodes, though I agree with OP that it's both not something to watch for the story and a series burdened by too much story. The recovery business and the annoying trans characters' ceaseless trans troubles are the stuff of fast forwarding, and lots of it. The off looking drug dealer was interesting briefly, but in Season 2 it's as though they decided to spotlight him (and little brother) purely due to viewer feedback surveys.

In season 1, the Fly Me to the Moon episode and Season 2's first episode with the house party had something special about them, more mood than story. I wish more if the episodes exhibited the strengths of either of those example episodes

R18 I think Rue's story would have been interesting had they not included that ridiculous romantic tension with Jules and Rue becoming a drug dealer herself. She became extremely obnoxious especially how she treated her sister and Jules. I wish they explored the story behind Rue's sponsor. Fez got old so fast, though seeing him beat up Nate was so satisfying. It's odd how the most sympathetic character to me is Cal Jacobs who is predator. Also as I mentioned before, all the major male characters are attracted to Jules. Wtf?

R17 They live in Southern California but I don't know if it's LA even though the show was clearly filmed around LA. It could be in South or East LA because there's a lot of Hispanics and black students. I don't think the wealthy parts of LA are as diverse.

[quote] Teens nowadays are only interested in the dialogues and characters appearance than the plot.

[quote] Yep. If this show was set in the 90s or 2000s, it be more realistic. Before smartphones and streaming, people were more socially connected and going out to parties, clubs and any type of event to socialize and have sex. Skins captured that millennial party culture and it's recklessness pretty well.

I wonder how old you are. Teens today are just like the teens of the past. They go out to party and they interact a lot, on their phones and with each other. You sound like a detached 80 year old grandpa that lost his grip on reality.

This show is closer to teens than mushy Heartstopper.

This show is a piece of shit. It's not realistic at all - I have a teenage younger sister, just started college. She's not some outcast or nerd. She and her friends do NOT dress like hookers, have insane amounts of sex, or do enough drugs to fill a Mexican cartel. This show is some creepy fetish job from Barry Levinson nepotism baby.

And anyone who thinks Euphoria is "visually stunning" has never seen a well made movie. I don't even mean old films or even good films, I mean even something from overrated hack Gasper Noe.

R21 No TV show about teens is realistic except shows like Malcom in the Middle, Lizzie McGuire, Daria and The Inbetweeners and movies like Dazed and Confused that captured how mundane and boring teen life is. Teens go to parties but they only on the weekends and those parties are usually small gatherings where you get stoned and a bit drunk in their parents basement. Teens have a lot of homework and parents put a lot of pressure on them to succeed and go to college. Interacting on phones reduces the need to go interact in person especially when you can share videos and chat. Plus the easily accessibility of porn made so many teen boys complicit and rather get their rocks off at home than home. I'm 29 by the way and I think that while Skins was a bit exaggerated, it felt more real. It showed them a lot at school and they were also focused on academics and their careers. All their partying was done on the weekends and it had actual consequences they learned the hard way..

*rocks off at home then go out and get laid.

Most teens don't have sex until around 17. And most teens are dependent on their parents and teachers. Many don't drive, work or have disposable income. They have a lot of homework and extracurricular activities, have to get up early in the morning and today parents are far more involved than previous generations. Schools have gotten stricter than ever with tons of camera surveillance, security guards and signing in and out just to use the bathroom. High school doesn't have the whole popular bitch or jock controlling the entire school. Most people by that time are in their cliques and the drama is regulated to inner-circles. Most teens are too self-absorbed to care much about what other classmates outside their circle does. There are teen junkies and drunks but most are from dysfunctional homes where they spend time on the streets and have neglectful parents who often throw them money to do whatever they want.

Heartstopper is for young kids and teens. It's not going to be explicit for that reason. The goal is to make gayness accessible and normalize it. Homosexuality is just about love as it is sex. Teens are awkward and not all are sexually confident.

Euphoria being an exaggerated teen soap doesn't bug me. But the pretentious stans who say it's so accurate to Gen Z make me laugh. It's just as about realistic as Riverdale and Gossip Girl.

R7 They’re actually not particularly wealthy and do not dwell on that enduring staple of teen film and tv melodrama—the haves and have not. That in and of itself was interesting, but it gets lost in all the other nonsense.

Zendaya's character is the most annoying. I kept waiting for her ass to OD.

There are definitely too many characters and the show doesn't develop them properly. It says a lot the most sympathetic characters are Cal and Nate Jacobs.

R14 R15 teen shows are always written by people of the generation prior. Kevin Williamson basically wrote most of the teen shows popular during the millennial teen period.

This show is not like my personal experience and therefore it is wrong.

R30 Yes and they also cast 20-somethings in the roles. I don't understand how anyone can say any of these shows capture adolescence accurately when they're designed to sell a fantasy to a young audience. Nobody would watch a show that depicts actual high school life which is repetitive and boring. Plus teens are dull, self-absorbed and not that interesting as people because they lack world experience. These shows have teenagers act much more wise and self-aware than they actually are. Anyone who's been around teens knows they are annoying and uninteresting because they are still immature and extremely selfish.

R31 Not most of Gen Z's experience either. It's just a typical teen soap yet people keep exaggerating how raw and deep it is when it isn't deep or raw at all. A bunch tits and dicks, graphic violence and hard drugs does not mean deep.

Season Two should have been the season of Derek. I watched almost the whole thing, read that wasn't going to happen, and I was done with it. Sam Levinson needs to do something with that lovely Henry Eikenberry again.

R33 Yes 100%, I would have loved more scenes of Cal and Derek. What a beautiful pairing they were and their scenes together were hot. I was so sick of Rue, Lexi and Fezco and that porn star chick. The creator is a straight dude, so of course we got more female-on-female kissing and nudity. I don't recall one male-on-male sex scene that was erotic (no the guys kissing Jules doesn't count). I also hated how they seemed to imply Nate could have been bi or gay but backed out on it and did that random pairing with Cassie. More for the "queers" and "pansexuals" I guess.

It's shame Gregg Araki's Now Apocalypse didn't get a continuation, granted it did the "everyone is bi" too but it had a main character was a guy who identified as gay and 99% time was with other men except that one time with a woman. It portrayed sex-positivity too with sexually assertive female characters and no slut-shaming either. The cast was diverse and it also had a surreal LA setting and an awesome soundtrack. It felt more accurate to my 20s because that was when everyone was getting sexually active and figuring out their kinks due to the relative freedom. Shame it never got a continuation especially with hotties like Avan Jogia, Beau Mirchoff and Tyler Posey. Sam Levinson was obviously influenced by Gregg Araki

The complaints about "Euphoria" being unrealistic are as entertaining as the show itself. Possibly even more so.

R36 The complaints wouldn't exist if the fandom and the press didn't tout it as "realism" nonstop. Nobody considered One Tree Hill, The OC, 90210 or Riverdale as realistic because they weren't called realistic and hence there's no backlash about them. Euphoria got a ton of praise for its supposed to raw and deep portrayal of adolescence yet it's just as outlandish and shallow as any other teen soap that came before. Levinson is good at writing about addiction (his experience) but his high school writing is a rehash of every single trope. I think if he just focused on Rue's journey and hers alone, it would have been more convincing. The other characters don't really serve a purpose. This what happens when something is overhyped, there always follows backlash.

If there is a season three, it needs to tie up some plot holes like what about Rue's drug debt (she owes that violent drug lord how much money? and that drug lord threatened her life too), more depth into Rue's mental illness too, also Nate and Maddy setting up Tyler for a false rape conviction (they're both criminals for that btw and the show pretended it never happened in season 2 and yet tries to make Nate sympathetic), Kat's kiddy cam porn empire (again, what the hell and it was never brought up again and she got away with it), why did Cassie show no trauma after aborting that black dude's baby (and what happened to that black dude that was also sexually assaulted by other guys during Halloween?), and is Nate just straight with a tranny/dick fetish or is he actually bisexual? I wouldn't mind if they wrote out Maddy, Jules and Lexi because their they're shitty characters with weak actors who just serve as a plot devices.

I like Lexi. I hate Cassie though.

Lexi is the only who acted like a real teenager, so I guess her role is being an observer of the insanity that occurs. She didn't bother me until she did that whole play which was just mean spirited. I don't like Cassie much either but sadly she reminds me of so many young girls who thrive off of male attention and ride-or-die for abusive losers.

OP you Oh Dear lookin ass bitch.

R41 What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

R42 You is know what is mean?

R43 Nope I don't. Communicate like an adult instead of like a toddler and I'll engage with you further.

R44 stfu and remember how you fonted the headline you stupid ass bitch. Learn how to take a fkin joke u piss cunt.

R45 Well obviously, you're more offended than me because you're the one using insults and typing in broken English like a child. The joke isn't funny because you worded as an insult and ironically used shit grammar yourself. Learn to be funny next time and this won't happen again.

R46, you could be the one to let it go.

The way that escalated was pretty damn funny.

Production couldn't get a real trans girl to play Jules cause they can't have sexy ass men going for some girl that has tiny stubble visible on their chin.