Euphoria: the most daring teen drama ever?
Sky’s new US import is as edgy as TV gets
Ex-one Directioner Louis Tomlinson recently tweeted, “I can categorically say that I was not contacted nor did I approve it.” He was referring to an extraordinary animated fantasy sequence in HBO’S new teen drama Euphoria, in which cartoon likenesses of him and Harry Styles get hot and heavy backstage at a 1D gig. Elsewhere in the series, which arrives in the UK via Sky Atlantic next month
(having been brought forward thanks to the instant notoriety of the show in the US), there’s plenty of drug use, alcoholism, a depiction of sexual assault, and an already legendary scene in episode two, which features 30 actual penises.
PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES
The spectacularly bold, brave series – which comes across a bit like Skins for the social-media generation, but way more explicit – is the brainchild of writer/ director Sam Levinson, 34-yearold son of veteran film-maker Barry (Rain Man). He made a big splash last year with his debut movie, the stylishly ultra-violent
Assassination Nation, about a group of female vigilantes who take revenge on someone who is exposing people’s secrets by hacking their social media accounts. The film is full of gory set-pieces, and descends into blood-spattered chaos, but what makes Euphoria perhaps even
more boundary-pushing, is that it’s not only about teenagers grappling with high-school life and enjoying copious amounts of sex and drugs, it also stars Zendaya – the actress/singer and one-time face of Disney – in the lead role of recovering 17-year-old drug addict Rue.
Alongside her are the likes of Maude Apatow, daughter of director Judd and This Is 40 actress Leslie Mann, and Storm Reid, the 16-year-old star of Disney’s 2018 modern-day fairy tale A Wrinkle In Time. But what occurs in this show is anything but fairy tale.
Controversial scenes
The show caused instant controversy as soon as the first episode aired in the US last month. It features a scene involving a young trans female character (played by 20-year-old transgender actress Hunter Schafer) and an older man (Eric Dane), in which the man’s erect penis (thankfully a prosthetic) is shown. There’s also a depiction of a grim overdose and a sex scene involving choking. And all that in the opening hour.
Levinson, who has said that the show is partly inspired by his own history of addiction, seems fully aware the impact his drama would have. “There are going to be parents who are going to be totally f**king freaked out,” he told the Hollywood Reporter recently. “It’s a good insight into how hard it is to grow up in this time.” Indeed, the show focuses on Rue – who, when we first meet her, has just got out of a summer in rehab – as she prepares to return to high school.
larry stylinson
As for the scene of cartoon intimacy between Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles, which moved Louis to address the matter on Twitter, it takes place in the head of Rue’s friend Kat, played by Barbie Ferreira. She is famous in the world of the show for writing online One Direction “fan fiction”, built around the Directioner shipping a fantasy known commonly as “Larry Stylinson”, which imagines that Louis and Harry are lovers. In the now-notorious scene in episode three, cartoon Harry bumps into Louis backstage and then (spoiler alert!) performs oral sex on him.
Ferreira addressed the controversial scene recently, saying, “When I first read the
‘there are parents who are going to be freaked out’
script, that was the first thing that popped out to me, because I can relate to that as a 22-year-old woman who lived through the One Direction age.” Despite Louis’ tweet saying that he hadn’t been consulted, he doesn’t seem to have objected to the actual sequence itself. And according to legal experts, HBO didn’t have any obligation to ask his or Harry’s permission, because the scene was so evidently meant to be imaginary, despite incurring the wrath of many Directioners.
Big dick energy
Perhaps the scene that has achieved maximum impact now that the series is more than halfway through its US run, is one that opened the second episode, in which 30 (count them) male members are glimpsed. It’s set in the boys’ locker room at school, where the character of Nate (Jacob Elordi), a toxically masculine jock, who’s also the son of the man who committed statutory rape in episode one, finds it difficult to cope in a situation where he’s literally surrounded by male nudity. The amazing thing about this moment in the show is that showrunner Levinson originally envisioned it as having 80 penises show on screen, but was asked by HBO to tone it down. Of course the sequence, like the series as a whole, is self-consciously daring, commenting wryly on the taboo of on-screen male nudity.
American critics have hailed the show’s quality and boldness, with showbiz bible Variety, for example, calling it a “wild, unsettling ride” and praising the stunning visuals as well as the honesty of the show’s portrayal of teenage life at its very edgiest.
The series was originally pencilled in to arrive on UK screens later this year, but such is the anticipation for it, Sky has wisely brought it forward and the whole thing should arrive next month. Thirty penises included. n