The long-awaited second season of award-winning HBO drama Euphoria dropped earlier this month. Viewing records were shattered with the reintroduction of the drug-centric suburbs, home to our main character and acute addict, Rue. The show is appropriately rated for mature audiences for its utilization of scenes depicting sex, drug use, foul language, and violence. The graphic nature and juvenile characters of the series led viewers to ask the now all too familiar question: Is this a realistic depiction of the troubles high schoolers experience or a problematic romanticization of those very same troubles?
The answer to the previous question varies for different viewers, perhaps based on what type of media they already consume and the level of graphic and sexual content they may be comfortable with. High school students being the subject of said content only added to the controversy of the show. Many viewers point out that despite the dramatization necessary to make the series entertaining, setting the story in college with consenting adults would have been not just more realistic, but more appropriate. This may be the one time where we could all agree that we should not cast teenagers to play teenagers. Yet, even fictionally conveying them in this extremely sexual light is…concerning.
This combination of underage characters and excessive intercourse is less than ideal. Yes, the first season was provocative in nature, but it did not come close to the unhinged, sexual escapades of the second season. The sex scenes were more frequent, plastering uncensored genitals, hookers, heroin, and assault on the screen for nearly an hour.
And while watchers saw how Rue’s addiction tore her apart in season one, there’s something about the blinding lights and pounding music that makes snorting a line seem maybe not so bad. It appears the message that director Sam Levinson is attempting to convey is that this euphoric high is a temporary solution to a long list of problems. A message constantly muddled by the gratuitous amount of intercourse and graphic inclusions that have started to gradually degrade the series into borderline softcore porn.
Did we really need to see an up-close shot of a man sitting on another man’s face or the swinging genitalia of party guy #1 sitting on the toilet? Probably not, but I digress.
At the end of the day, what viewers choose to watch and how they perceive their media is almost entirely subjective. What scenes I may find needlessly graphic, may serve a higher artistic purpose for others that I simply cannot understand. That being said, Euphoria still remains high on my watchlist, stunning me every week with complex character conflicts and beautiful cinematography. With less than half of the episodes yet to air and the drama finally starting to pick up, there’s still time for Sam Levinson to reel me back in.