EUPHORIA "THE NEXT EPISODE" REVIEW
If you liked the school carnival episode then you’re in luck because this episode is the same shit except it’s at a halloween party at Daniel’s house. Well I’m not in luck because I did not like the carnival episode. This episode was just the same shit but with no growth and at this point Euphoria is really predictable. I keep thinking that I’m looking too deep into a show about high school kids but I think they’re missing great opportunities for unforgettable scenes that aren’t just shocking because people are naked in them.
Let’s just get into this.
THE HALLOWEEN COSTUMES
The fact that Cassie, CASSIE OF ALL PEOPLE dressed up as Alabama Worley from True Romance and Daniel knowing immediately what Cassie’s costume was such bullshit and clearly the writers/creators are pushing their film interests on the audience. A teenager knowing who Alabama Worley is then dressing up like her I’d give maybe a 1 outta 10 chance of happening. Maybe if Cassie’s mom told her who Alabama was or if it was her mom’s favorite movie and she watched it with her thousands of times then I’d understand but other than that there’s no chance a teenager gives a fuck about that movie. Lexi dressing as Bob Ross was funny as fuck but cmon it’s not happening. Kat dressing up as Thana from Ms.45? Can we cut it out please? We get it writers. You love cult classic films. You’re movie nerds. Can you please have these teens be teens and dress up as Harley Quinn and Steph Curry please? I’d understand if these teens went to some sort of performance art school but no they’re kids who do drugs and fuck as much as possible. They don’t care bout that shit.
RULES IS STALE
Rue is sober. Jules doesn’t want a relationship. WE GOT THIS POINT LAST WEEK! Nothing changed in this episode between them. Nothing progressed. Jules got drunk because of her situation with Nate. Rue just walked around the party sober and sad. It’s clear to see she’s going to relapse. Jules is drunk and out of control. Their romance plot is stale. It’s not interesting and I liked them better as friends. There was nothing this episode memorable or made me look forward to their plot line.
YOU GUYS KNOW NATE IS WHITE RIGHT?
The scene where Nate’s family gets turned away from a restaurant because of Nate’s charges was the biggest crock of shit I saw in television. Cal practically owns the town and kids of rich white men have done way more horrendous shit than what Nate has done and nobody gave a fuck. Rapes, murders, you name it. It was so fucking unreal and it was an opportunity to really highlight white privilege and of course they drop the ball again. Now if McKay did what Nate did and McKay’s family got turned away then I would believe it. Nate’s family? No. This was such a bogus moment and that’s when I knew the episode would be mid. This kid is literally getting away with blackmail, breaking and entering, robbery, multiple assaults, false police reports, and yet he can’t eat boneless wings at some family restaurant in California? Yeah…okay. That restaurant was a knock off Applebees. Not the fucking Met Gala. For someone to do the shit he’s done behind the scenes shows me that he feels his family is invincible and he can get out of any situation.
CAN WE PLAESE TALK ABOUT RACISM?
McKay backstory was the focus this episode and like I said in the beginning, what keeps Euphoria from being a good show is that when there’s an opportunity for great dialogue and a memorable scene they fold up and hide. In the backstory McKay was called a slur on the football field probably called a “Nigger” and McKay tackles the white boy who said it. My first issue is that they didn’t disclose what slur was said. You can show titties and dicks all fucking day but the one thing that would actually spark meaningful conversations you don’t want to engage in? This show supposed to be so fucking bold but hides from discussing racism? They did the same thing with Jules backstory. I didn’t learn anything about teenagers who are trans or experience transphobia. ZERO. A huge missed opportunity. Then my second issues occurs immediately after that scene and we see McKay’s father not give a fuck that his son was called a slur and only cared about getting kicked out a pee wee football game was yet again another missed opportunity for great conversation. They even have a black father afraid to talk about racism. They didn’t talk about the slur at all. That was a moment to tell Mckay as a child that you’re the most hated race in the country you live in and that it will never end. I understand him telling him to take it out on the field but what happens when there is no field and the white people saying it aren’t playing in any games? I cannot relate to McKay’s character or family at all and that bothers me. He’s a black kid in a white frat with a white girlfriend, with only white friends, and clearly has a father who sees racism as an excuse and figment of his imagination.
Then in a later scene we see McKay's get sexually assaulted naked by white kids in his frat in front of a Cassie and it made me upset because you can't say the word “Nigger” and have discussions about it but you can show white men essentially gang raping a black kid with no problem. If I was an actor I wouldn’t have taken that role as McKay. Then after the assault happens they don’t have McKay breakdown or talk about it. He acts sociopathic and has his version of a rough quickie with Cassie and then goes to sleep. It was like McKay was Nate Jr. Again they can remove his storyline from the show and no one would notice.
The rest of this shit was more of the same. Kat getting more webcam fans is intriguing but her being at the party didn’t amount to much except her getting head from Ethan and hooking back up with her first ever boyfriend Daniel. I’m sure her crash and burn is coming. Daniel tells Cassie about herself and it was very mean but true in a way but that shit was pointless. Cassie now finds out she’s pregnant in the most obvious way. McKay shows up to the party and almost catches Daniel and Cassie but Lexi saves Cassie. Nate makes the guy he beat up take his charges and has Jules lie as a witness and Nate’s welcomed back to the party like he’s this God. It was so terribly corny.
The only good thing about this episode was of course the cinematography, the soundtrack, Lexi and Rue interrogating one of the twins and naming off “The Wire” characters as their gangster friends, and Fezco sitting on a couch keeping it 100 as usual, staying the fuck out the way smoking a cigar.
Can they turn it around in 2 episodes? I can’t see it happening.
