Euphoria Review
The Good, the Bad and the Poorly Written
By Leah Keith
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Before jumping into my analysis of Euphoria, here’s a quick trigger warning that this show deals with a lot of mature content, including addiction, violence, sex, language, etc. If any of that sounds unappealing to you or if you don’t want spoilers, you can go ahead and skip this review! Also, I am definitely NOT a professional television critic. I’m just an opinionated person with a platform to share my opinions, so it’s totally okay if you disagree with me.
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Before I unapologetically critique Euphoria, I want to point out my favorite aspects of the show. First of all, I absolutely love the acting and cast! Zendaya perfectly plays Rue, a young teen struggling with addiction. Hunter Schafer, Sydney Sweeney, and Maddy Perez all beautifully portray complex women. I won’t go over all of the actors and their roles, but just know that I think everyone did a fantastic job portraying their unique characters.
An example of the incredible visuals in Euphoria.
Additionally, I love how the costume and makeup designer used the characters' clothing and makeup as a way to mark their development throughout the season. For example, Cassie starts dressing more and more like Maddy as she begins her relationship with Nate to demonstrate how Cassie changes for whoever she dates. Maddy stays pretty consistent with her wardrobe throughout the show, and this demonstrates how her self-assurance and confidence remain intact, even after she and Nate break up. Also, the cinematography and set design are incredible throughout the whole show, and I always love how beautifully filmed the scenes are, especially during longer scenes.
Now, here are some aspects of the show that did not blow me away.
First of all, I think a lot of the storylines and the overall writing were done poorly, and I noticed how the writers left so many plot holes in the show. By the end of the second season, I felt like certain questions from season one were still left unanswered. The season finale was unsatisfying, to say the least, and Sam Levinson, the show’s writer, could have done a lot better.
Throughout the show, Levinson definitely favored the development of certain characters over others. I could tell that this show was written by a white man simply based on the fact that the white men of the show, Nate and Cal, were the most complex and developed characters. The show spent a lot of time delving into their storylines, while the other characters, like Rue, Jules, Kate, etc., were not developed as thoroughly.
Although characters like Rue had a lot of screen time during the show, I still noticed how the writers neglected the complexities that come with Rue’s character as a young teen addict. Additionally, Jules had very little development outside of her relationship with Rue. Along those lines, can we talk about the weird love triangle between Rue, Jules and Eliot? I hated that! Eliot made that whole situation so much worse, plus he definitely has a fetish for queer women. So gross! There are so few representations of women in queer relationships, and this one was done so poorly that it almost makes me mad.
Rue and Jules deserve more development with their characters next season. I absolutely loved the special episodes for Rue and Jules because the actors both had more creative freedom with the writing in those episodes, so I saw more development with their characters. Let’s get Zendaya and Hunter Schafer back in the writing room! Kat definitely deserved more development as well. Her storyline started off strong last season and the beginning of this season, but it dwindled to practically nothing by the end of the second season. Kat deserves better in the third season!
The whole Euphoria cast at season 2’s premiere.
Lastly, as a young college student, I can appreciate the bizarre and mature elements of Euphoria, but I think it’s important to be reminded that this is a show about high schoolers. I always find it a bit weird when shows depict high schoolers graphically having sex. Even though the actors are all 18 or older, why do people care so much about these underage characters’ sex life? I understand that high school is the perfect setting for a dramatic show, but it’s still weird to me.
Although Euphoria has its flaws, I truly do love this show. Before the second season came out, I hadn’t watched the show at all, but I kept seeing TikToks about it and decided I needed to get caught up. The community aspect of the second season was my favorite part because I knew that I could go onto TikToks or Twitter Sunday night and see everyone talking about the new episode. I also had a few watch parties where a couple of friends and I would huddle together and watch the new episode on someone’s laptop. There is a lot of mature and triggering content, so just be prepared before you start, but if you haven’t seen the show already, I would definitely recommend watching it.
Happy watching
xoxo Leah
