You can’t escape it on Twitter. At this point, I don’t know how you haven’t seen it yet. The hit HBO drama series starring Zendaya, Euphoria, has returned this year, releasing new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. EST. The series follows high school students as they navigate their experiences of identity, relationships, love, drugs, trauma, and sex.
If you have not been following the second season of Euphoria, you have been warned.Â
Spoiler Warning.
In Season One, we left off with Rue (played by Zendaya) relapsing with one of the best music video sequences in the entire show. We had Jules get on a train to leave Rue, and our other characters had their stories somewhat resolved. Maddy and Nate broke up. Kat got with Ethan. Mckay and Cassie broke up. The door was pretty open with how the second season could continue this story.
Season 2 opens with a backstory for Fezco and how he got brought up in the drug dealing business. We’re introduced to his grandmother, who raised him and taught him everything he knows. Fez became one of the fan favorites this season, and I hope it can stay that way. Flash forward to the present day, and the gang is going to a New Year’s Party as we kick off the new year and the new semester.Â
Already we can see this is a new era. The makeup for each character is noticeably more refined and less glittery. Maddy has a more definite wing for her eyeliner and even with the looks with Jules and Rue. The tone seems darker; Rue struggles with her relapse, and Jules doesn’t know. Cassie is betraying her best friend and losing her sense of identity by secretly being with Nate. At least we still have Lexi, right?Â
Euphoria never shied away from anything, let alone nudity. But this season, it’s only episode 4, and it feels like so much has occurred, but so little at the same time. There are so many plot threads that are still unaddressed from the previous season, and new ideas are being brought up, only never to be mentioned again. For example, does Maddy still have the tape of Cal Jacobs with Jules? What about Nate and Jules? Kat and Ethan? And what happened to McKay? The writing is starting to get noticeably confusing, and many fans are pointing this out on social media.
I enjoyed the first season a lot, actually; despite some of the minor problems I had, they were easy to ignore because the show was beautifully shot, with compelling characters and a plot that had direction. This season it feels like there is no direction. More artistic choices and slow-motion scenes cover the poor writing and disorganized story. In the season 2 premiere, Lexi and Fez were building a relationship, and we saw them interacting at the New Year’s party. This budding romance got many fans excited for these characters that played side characters in the previous season. But after a brief moment in episode 2, they have not been shown together since.
This season’s significant change is the lack of character-focused episodes, which helped audiences understand them better and their role in the overall narrative. We know Rue is unreliable, but her presence has been very disorienting with the number of things Sam Levinson is trying to achieve. But we still have four episodes to go, so it’s not too late if we continue that style once more.
Overall, it might be too early in the season to definitively state if it works or not. But despite all the messiness and discourse happening over the symbolism, I will still be tuning in every Sunday night because it’s a very entertaining series at the end of the day.