HBO’s Euphoria: Review

But first, an Empress of Dorsa Update:

Total words today: 0
Manuscript total: 138,852

Okay, look. I stalled on Empress of Dorsa. BUT! But I have a good reason. I’m accidentally writing a short zombie apocalypse novel/novella. Expect it out by the end of January, I would guess.

I think I’d watched about four episodes of Euphoria when I texted LT and asked her to call me. She was mildly alarmed, as I don’t usually text with such a clear demand at that time of night. I think, “Are you okay?” was probably the first thing she said after I picked up.

“I’ve been watching this show on HBO,” I explained. “It’s really, really dark. I don’t think I should watch it anymore. It’s messing me up.”

We talked a while longer; not about Euphoria but about our days, our plans for the weekend, the holidays, our friends. But still, LT circled back to the show by the end of the conversation: “Don’t watch any more of that show if it’s making you upset.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” I conceded.

I stayed away from it for about a week. But much like the show’s main character, I couldn’t stay away for good.

Euphoria is excellent. And horrifying.

The pilot episode of Euphoria begins with the 17 year-old protagonist, Rue, getting home from rehab. A scene or two later, she’s visiting her drug dealer, buying pills.

And that’s only the first ten minutes. Within the same episode, we meet a trans girl meeting a man more than twice her age in a cheap motel room for sex. The same trans girl later gets accosted by the school’s resident Asshole Teen Jock Stereotype and slices a gash on her own forearm just to get him to back off.

She explained to Rue that she did it because the situation was clearly going to get violent one way or another, so she figured she would be the one to control the tempo of that violence.

It makes sense, in a twisted kind of way. Which might be a good way to describe the entire show: It all makes sense. In a twisted way.

Trigger warnings should be sprinkled in every five minutes.

I have read some criticism online of the show that says Euphoria is too dark, too twisted. Kind of like it’s trying to shock you with just how horrific everything is. I agree but I disagree. If you have ever been close to someone who is a bonafide addict, you’ll know that the dark things Rue is going through are spot on, not exaggerated. What I do think might be worth criticizing, though, is the way every single character in the show is experiencing their own version of unthinkably awful trauma. That part feels piled on. Each individual story is realistic on its own, but it feels a bit… “much” to put all that trauma into a single season-long arc.

And no, I absolutely don’t think that the show accurately represents teenagers today. Yeah, they have smartphones and the Internet, but The Outsiders is just as dark in its own way; adolescence is always dark, in a sense. But besides that, I just don’t believe there’s as much sex happening in high school as movies and shows pretend that there is (or as much sex as we all thought everyone else was having when we were in high school! XD). I also think Gen Z has their act together in a way we old heads don’t give them enough credit for.

HOWEVER, despite some flaws, the acting and the writing are so good and layered and complex that Euphoria is hard to stop watching. There is even some dark humor here and there that softens the rest of the show’s less humorous darkness. And yet it’s the kind of show that leaves you feeling somewhat desolate and empty after each episode, both wanting more and wanting to stop watching at the same time. Like, you know, a drug addiction.

But I don’t even know, as I write this review, if I can legitimately recommend it to you in good conscience.

Well, I’ll tell you just a little bit more and you can decide for yourself.

Euphoria is about addiction and mental health and the dangers of self-medicating, whether that self-medication comes in the form of drugs, sex, or falling in love.

Euphoria is about growing up, about the lives children hide from their parents, and about what parents in turn hide from their children.

Euphoria is about gender identity and sexuality and the sexual awakening of adolescence.

Euphoria is about abusive relationships — how we find ourselves falling into them, why we stay, and why we eventually leave.

Euphoria is about all these things and a lot more besides. It’s good, but it’s really, really hard to watch. If you find yourself triggered by watching trauma unfold slowly and inevitably, you might not want to watch it at all. Or you might want to watch it, but only if you have someone nearby who will wrap you up into a nice cozy blanket and hug you afterwards.