HBO’s Euphoria Comes Into Its Own in Darker, Stronger Second Season | TV/Streaming

This new season of “Euphoria,” which aired its first episode on Sunday night time on HBO with a brand new one every week, doesn’t use this shot practically as typically. It doesn’t want it. It’s rather more assured in grabbing your eye and holding your coronary heart as its many in-depth fictional creations face Hell. It’s a direct a part of the evolution that got here from the compelling between-season interludes, which aren’t required viewing for season two however they do bridge the seasons stylistically. The characters are actually so wealthy, they’re so in ache, and a few of them can’t vote; nor are their frontal lobes connected. Levinson offers all of his characters an excessive amount of care, typically within the type of backstory that exhibits the secrets and techniques they retailer deep inside. As somebody who known as the unique superficial, that is the season that helped me “get” “Euphoria” and what it may be. But on the identical time, its plotting and long-winded nature additionally make a fantastic case that it ought to finish with season two. 

Let’s begin with Zendaya’s efficiency as Rue, particularly as I’ve to watch out about how I discuss episodes that can air in coming weeks. It is a piece of a manic artistry, following up her Emmy award-winning work by going even deeper into the darkness of dependancy, creating her personal depiction of what this mix of worry, heartbreak, anger, and inside terror appears like. Rue remains to be the chaotic middle of this universe, sprinting towards the dashing closing chapter of her addictive habits, whereas looking for a form of happiness with classmate Jules (Hunter Schafer); the 2 try to reconcile after Jules rode away from Rue on a practice after promenade, an indication of their youthful impulses crashing into actuality and placing their bond in jeopardy. Jules additionally doesn’t know that Rue has relapsed. It’s bother in paradise, reminding them that paradise doesn’t exist; they obtain a sure peace, briefly, with a brand new buddy named Eliot (Dominic Fike), who is aware of Rue’s secret, and will get near Jules throughout quite a few haunt scenes. 

But “Euphoria” is about extra than simply the connection of Rue and Jules that gave the primary season a few of its extra long-winded, aching, and opulent music video-ready sequences. In season two, different characters who’ve created their very own fascinating mysteries with what’s unstated, or how they evolve, take the limelight. Sydney Sweeney, Maude Apatow, and Eric Dane (as Nate Jacobs’ hellish father Cal) are particularly nice with arcs that present their characters evolving into their full selves, even when meaning destruction and disconnection from household, practically swallowed by a way of energy. They are given the primary stage in scenes that present how a lot these characters have been affected by their previous, and are reaching a kind of breaking level within the current. Every one on this present, actually, is simply so good; there are not any weak hyperlinks.