HBO’s Euphoria: a portrait of Gen Z – Review

Euphoria can feel a little over-done at times. Rue tells a story to her dealer about how she became hooked on drugs at the age of 11 after being injected with anti-anxiety medication. She states that it was ‘the feeling she’d been waiting for her whole life’. The notion that even at such a tender age she was searching for her first high feels overdrawn.

And the locker-room scenes where walking vestibules of toxic masculinity rate women ‘prudes’ or ‘sluts’ feels dated. I struggle to believe teenage boys would still think it’s okay to openly talk like that. If anything, the more insidious scenes of patriarchal oppression come when the enactor knows all the right things to say to not ‘technically’ break any rules, despite clearly taking advantage of a vulnerable woman. Those are the more realistic types of pitfall Gen Z are used to watching out for.

In that sense, it sometimes feels as if Euphoria was written by two different people. Someone who truly ‘gets’ Gen Z, and someone who’s just a little too old to understand. Thankfully, however, the characterisation elements of the show (and it is, after all, a character driven piece) seem to have been handled exclusively by the more clued up of the two.

Rue’s ethnicity or Jules’ transgender identity are never reduced to after-school-special type sermons. There’s no self-conscious glorification of any ‘diversity’ producers manage to shoe-horn in there (I’m looking at you Glee), and nobodies patting themselves on the back for including a trans actress. The character’s minority identities are teased out through their interactions with the world, rather than made the centre of it, making them feel less like ‘advocates’ and more like real people. Which, in turn, probably makes them a truer depictions of diversity.

The acting in Euphoria, particularly from Zendaya, is phenomenal. She’s skipped the dramatic shedding of her Disney roots in a public arena and seems to have emerged a fully-fledged actress whilst everyone’s backs were turned. Rue’s battle with herself lead to the kind of scenes that are so viscerally chilling it’s possible you’ll start crying before you even realise it. She shines fearlessly honest in her character’s darkest moments, and it’s worth watching the show for her alone.

Euphoria, after doing the rounds in the US, is releasing this week in the UK, and I’m placing bets on it becoming a global phenomenon. Twitter – and, even more likely, in-series plot device Tumblr – is sure to drown in the inevitable Euphoria discourse to come. I can only recommend investing in a life vest now.