Euphoria

Having gotten caught up on other bingeworthy shows, I decided to see what the hullaballoo was all about with HBO's, "Euphoria". I'm never on time with any hit show and this series, first airing in 2019, is no exception. I thought it was more current than that. It is sorta, as it's official third season begins this coming April. Doing the math, it began six years ago, and it seems to me that it should be in season six by now with ordinary television accounting. All I can figure is that it is an expensive show to produce and, since it's so gloriously cinematic in its presentation, it takes time and money to do each episode. 

My family grew up on TV. Back when we used to all get together before mom passed, and we broke up into camps; pro-Laurie (the oldest) and anti-me (middle child/oldest son) my siblings used to talk about hit TV shows all the damn time. I was usually lost in these conversations. Even if I had cable, I was using it for sports more than any commitment to episodic storytelling. I didn't have the must-see TV bug that some of them have. Not all of us really. Mostly it is the bookend sisters, the oldest and the youngest of my sisters. They would lead the discussions about what everyone was and should be watching. I was generally lost. In fact, whenever it was that "Lost" was popular, I lost interest in it watching the first episode. If something doesn't appeal to me, I move on in search of something else that might. So, they would go on about TV series' that didn't interest me or that I simply didn't have access to given my cable package. Network TV too. The bookends would go on and on about "Friends" and how wonderful it was. I liked "Seinfeld". Evidently, I was wrong to prefer it. The youngest bookend told me so. You don't want to get on her bad side about anything be it her devotion to "Friends" or the late Joan Rivers. When Rivers died, I was not properly despondent. I was not despondent at all. She was livid. "We'll see how you feel when Don Rickles dies!", she screamed. I told her, probably the same, as I didn't care for him either. She take television pretty seriously.

So, "Euphoria". It's different. It's weird. But it is highly stylish and watchable. I don't need to see young people so fucked up on life with sex and drugs, but I know it happens. I came of age in the 70's when the drugs were soft and the rock was hard. I don't think typical kids today are as sexually predatory as this show depicts, but maybe they are. I recall Oprah Winfrey(!) in the 90's talking about how a blowjob was the "goodnight kiss" of that era amongst the young teens. Get the fuck out! The kids on this show have body counts. I went to a big suburban high school and even then, I knew that you could divide the rumors by two and still be way off on the number of boys and girls that were actually getting laid. It isn't very pretty what a town without pity, caaaaan dooooo. And it has always been that way. Always will be. These kids of the fictional town of East Highland, California are sex maniacs on steroids, but I get that that is a feature the writers and producers want to exploit for ratings and shock value. There is a lot of nudity (including boners) and sex on display. All kinds of sex! And I mean ALL. Yikes. Of course, the actors are in their 20's, so no laws are being broken. It's not a documentary. 

There is plenty of drama and I like that. I love my stories. Love and loss, death and friendships gone wrong are a part of life for all of us at any station in life. I favor stories of redemption and growth with a good dose of revenge and justice thrown in, and this may or may not ultimately be the case here. I'll stick with it and see though. That's up to the writers and show runners anyway. Most of us viewers want to see how the other half lives, just vicariously from the safety of our homes. That's entertainment!