Euphoria (HBO) | The Boneyard

Euphoria (HBO)

nelsonmuntz

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Not sure how I feel about this show. It is another version of "kids these days" entertainment that has been around for decades.

Visually it is interesting, if a little dark. It hops around a lot narratively, and borrows very heavily from prior dystopian young adult focused movies like Rules of Attraction and Alpha Dog in terms of narrative style to the point that it feels like it is ripping those movies off.

The plot is about what I expected. Kids feeling lost, detached from the world, no purpose, lots of sex and drugs. In other words, being a teenager. I am a little confused by some of the early reviews and lead up to this series about how "shocking" the show was going to be. Other than 4 sexual assaults (more on that later), it was just kids being kids, albeit in an over-the-top, unrealistic manner. This is an easy subject matter to write about, but it is also timeless. While every generation has their own issues, teenagers have always been teenagers.

I like all the actors so far, and the dialogue is interesting for the most part. There is way too much exposition, which is a pet peave of mine when watching prestige television. I am hoping that is just a function of it being the first episode where the writers have to introduce a big cast.

My issues with the show:

It needs to be careful about glorifying and normalizing drug use

The Parents are idiots

Not realistic - kids have always partied and engaged in reckless activity, but even 30 years ago life was not just one big weekend of partying after another. Being a teenager is as much about being alone and rejected and honestly just bored.

Sexual assaults - There are 4 separate incidents of assault/harrassment in the first episode, and another exploitive incident that is referred to in the first episode. I think shows and movies need to be very careful about using sexual assaults in their story-telling, and it should be done rarely and handled delicately within the story. Putting 5 violent and/or exploitive sexual encounters involving teenagers in the first episode is exploitive in its own right, and is way over the top.

The writers are trying to shock us with these incidents, but they cheapen the impact of each individual incident when they pile them on one after another. I also think it is lazy by the writers. There is a lot that can be said about teenage sex, but if all the writers have to say about sex is that sex is rape, I will be checking out on this show pretty quickly.
 
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It's like Kids and Requiem for a Dream had a baby
Ha, yea, I actually came in here earlier to post something similar but never did for some reason. While I enjoyed the first episode, I felt a little conflicted. Hard to tell as it’s early, but it’ll be interesting to see how they toe the line between teenage slice of everyday humdrum life and cautionary tale. Sure looks like there’ll be a fair share of tragedy to go around.

As an aside, we all had a 10yo drug dealer working out of a convenience store walk-in beer cooler as a hookup right??
 
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Ha, yea, I actually came in here earlier to post something similar but never did for some reason. While I enjoyed the first episode, I felt a little conflicted. Hard to tell as it’s early, but it’ll be interesting to see how they toe the line between teenage slice of everyday humdrum life and cautionary tale. Sure looks like there’ll be a fair share of tragedy to go around.

As an aside, we all had a 10yo drug dealer working out of a convenience store walk-in beer cooler as a hookup right??
I like... Hate it and like it at the same time. Not really sure where they're going with stuff but seeing Grindr on a TV show was lol funny
 

nelsonmuntz

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Episode 2 was ridiculous. Is this a gritty drama through the lens of a teenager, or an HBO exec's shock fantasy of how teens live?
 
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I'm pretty turned off by the entire thing. At the end of the 2nd episode I had the feeling I could have used my time a lot better. Not sure I'll be continuing with this one.
 
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Episode 2 was ridiculous. Is this a gritty drama through the lens of a teenager, or an HBO exec's shock fantasy of how teens live?
Theres just too much narration for me
 

nelsonmuntz

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Theres just too much narration for me

The writing is really lazy. The plot is completely over the top, there is way too much narration, and the large number of characters are written 2 dimensional and they all kind of sound the same in terms of voice and language. Even generic network sitcoms make the characters sound different.

The scene with the drug dealer was especially ridiculous. He was an over-the-top caricature of what a network exec who buys his coke from his assistant thinks a street drug dealer would look and act like. Furthermore, Mouse would probably not want to be in the same room with Rue. These are not the kind of guys that want a lot of witnesses.

Nate is also ridiculous. I have too many problems with that scene from a plot perspective to bother listing them.

When every character is this extreme, they all just become noise.
 
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The writing is really lazy. The plot is completely over the top, there is way too much narration, and the large number of characters are written 2 dimensional and they all kind of sound the same in terms of voice and language. Even generic network sitcoms make the characters sound different.

The scene with the drug dealer was especially ridiculous. He was an over-the-top caricature of what a network exec who buys his coke from his assistant thinks a street drug dealer would look and act like. Furthermore, Mouse would probably not want to be in the same room with Rue. These are not the kind of guys that want a lot of witnesses.

Nate is also ridiculous. I have too many problems with that scene from a plot perspective to bother listing them.

When every character is this extreme, they all just become noise.
Im fine with over the top and unrealistic drama, but I just hate how they're telling the story. Rue talks too much.
 
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Definitely thought episode three was much better than 1&2.
 
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Definitely thought episode three was much better than 1&2.
Agreed. The mechanic of voiceover to introduce each episode's focus character makes sense in the context of it being a new series. It's been compelling television through 3 eps so far.

"I want to be your cash pig" lol
 
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gave episode 3 a try - you're right, it's better than 1 and 2. I like the way they're hinting at some interesting back stories - primarily that the drug dealer has feelings/protectiveness for Rue, definitely a story there. I still think the series is a little outlandish, but find it a little more believable now.
 

nelsonmuntz

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I don't think I am going to stick with this one. It is too ridiculous, and I dont care about these over the top characters. Everything i said about the lazy writing is still a problem in episode 3. There is no subtlety in anything. For example, Rue gets confronted for lying to the NA meeting, and he has to be over the top. The storyline that Kat is an internet star is over the top. Nate as this arch internet predator is over the top. The show's volume of crazy is at 12 andit would be a much better show if it was sat 7.

There is so much to say about being a teenager, exploring sexuality, sexual violence, drug use and abuse, and being trans as a teenager, and this show cheapens and is exploitive about all of it.
 
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I don't think I am going to stick with this one. It is too ridiculous, and I dont care about these over the top characters. Everything i said about the lazy writing is still a problem in episode 3. There is no subtlety in anything. For example, Rue gets confronted for lying to the NA meeting, and he has to be over the top. The storyline that Kat is an internet star is over the top. Nate as this arch internet predator is over the top. The show's volume of crazy is at 12 andit would be a much better show if it was sat 7.

There is so much to say about being a teenager, exploring sexuality, sexual violence, drug use and abuse, and being trans as a teenager, and this show cheapens and is exploitive about all of it.
Is the show supposed to be realistic? I'm just treating it as a soapy drama and am enjoying it more that way.
 
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Ok episode 4 was trash. I was hoping we'd get a tone shift and didn't.
 
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Ok episode 4 was trash. I was hoping we'd get a tone shift and didn't.
Yea, I came away disappointed after last night and it’s sat even less well with me since then. Starting to feel like what I’d imagine those teen dramas on the CW are like, just with drugs, nudity and a bit more risqué topics.
 
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it's turned into exactly what Nelson said it was (in relation to the coke dealer in Ep 2) - a middle aged male network exec's fantasy about what edgy kids are doing these days. Really disappointed - the way they were hyping this show I thought it would be special, but it's a dud.
 
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Yea, I came away disappointed after last night and it’s sat even less well with me since then. Starting to feel like what I’d imagine those teen dramas on the CW are like, just with drugs, nudity and a bit more risqué topics.
I like a lot of the CW dramas as guilty pleasures, and most of them are better than this show. It's a pretty lousy showing from HBO
 
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As soon as many figure out we are the demographic target for this show, you will see why HBO went with this show. This is going to be big with the college and high school crowd.
 
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As soon as many figure out we are the demographic target for this show, you will see why HBO went with this show. This is going to be big with the college and high school crowd.
I don't think it is. Nothing really happens. Like events take place, but we're exactly where we started. No character has developed at all yet. The only thing that will save this show is a crazy last couple episodes
 

nelsonmuntz

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As soon as many figure out we are the demographic target for this show, you will see why HBO went with this show. This is going to be big with the college and high school crowd.

If I think this show is silly and contrived, imagine what a teenager or millennial will think. Euphoria is an ABC Afterschool Special with nudity. It is ridiculous.

It is also blatantly ripping off the directorial style of Rules of Attraction (2002), which bugs me.
 
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If I think this show is silly and contrived, imagine what a teenager or millennial will think. Euphoria is an ABC Afterschool Special with nudity. It is ridiculous.

It is also blatantly ripping off the directorial style of Rules of Attraction (2002), which bugs me.

Not disagreeing. just pointing out none of us will be invited to the HBO Euphoria Focus Group. Tough I like the show more than you.
 
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I don't think it is. Nothing really happens. Like events take place, but we're exactly where we started. No character has developed at all yet. The only thing that will save this show is a crazy last couple episodes
It has an 80% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.6 on IMBD, and nothing has really happened yet. If you are over 35 years old this one isn't for you.
 
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I thought episode 4 was fantastic. The score, the visual style, absolutely wonderful.

It is trying to do Skins (UK version) but more scandalous. Skins gave each character their own episode and this is giving them a thorough go, but still through Roo's eyes though. We will see how it plays out, but do not take this as how all kids today live, I think most from this environment are much more boring.
 

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