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TV REVIEW
'Euphoria Christmas Special' Is Yet Another Dark And Dull Episode From The Show's Creator Sam Levinson
By Sal LoCicero | December 9, 2020
HBO’s latest controversial coming of age drama is back with a brand new Christmas special (first season epilogue). HBO has made a name for itself for many years, with introducing viewers to one of the most famous mafia families on television; The Sopranos, which ran for six seasons and is the most highly acclaimed show of all time. The network has also welcomed in many other popular series; such as shows like Game Of Thrones, Veep, The Wire, and Boardwalk Empire. As many years and many shows have gone by making history on this network, HBO has welcomed in brand new shows that may have a bright future ahead of them.
Meanwhile, in the film and television business, a small little company that you may have heard about, called A24; the studio behind Moonlight, Spring Breakers and many more, partnered up with HBO on the show Euphoria; which debuted on June 16th, 2019. This show received much praise due to its cinematography, score, performances, and how it dealt with its mature subject matter. Although, it did gain controversy very quickly, mainly due to all the different types of mature subject matter that it depicted.
Euphoria is about a teenager named Rue (played by Zendaya) who is a drug addict, as we follow her and others through their own personal lives; all told through Rue’s perspective. The show tackles many different colorful subjects such as depression, abuse, violence, sex, rape, drugs, toxic masculinity, social media, mental health, friendships, relationships, and love. Every character that is introduced in this show are all extremely flawed human beings that have a troubling backstory.
Since season one of Euphoria came to an end, the show’s creator Sam Levinson has treated fans with a Christmas special; a first part epilogue to season one.
In this special episode of Euphoria, the episode picks up right where season one left off. Rue is upset about the situation that occurred at the train station with her and Jules, and in this episode the setting takes place in a diner at night where Rue and Martin talk about addiction, their lives, problems, society, and their purpose in the world. Throughout the majority of this episode, it pretty much feels like you are watching a therapy session for a whole hour. This is a dialogue driven episode involving two challenging people. If you were to compare this episode to the entire first season, this is a much more easygoing episode that does tackle a lot of topics through Rue and Martin’s almost an hour long conversation, however this time around, the episode doesn’t feel like it took a few snorts of cocaine as all of the other episodes do. This one feels more like a dark bedtime episode.
Sam Levinson is probably one of the most demented storytellers working today. The man has worked on storylines that are similar to Euphoria. He has directed two films; Another Happy Day, and Assassination Nation. Levinson also has a new feature next February called “Malcolm and Marie”.
Euphoria is definitely not an uplifting show at all, as a matter of fact it is basically the antonym to the word “uplifting”, and this episode doesn’t do anything except make you as depressed as the show itself is. At times the episode feels like a lecture we as the audience have been given many times before about the world, our society and its many problems. By the end of this episode, you still will be interested in what part two’s epilogue will offer, but besides from Zendaya’s performance, “Trouble Don’t Last Always” “Part One: Rue” is yet another dark and dull episode that still offers its fascinating cinematography and its nuance score.
Grade: C
What are your thoughts?
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