I’m Trevor with the Sasquatch Movie Minute and its Wonky Wednesday so we are doing a TV Take and looking at EUPHORIA, Season 1, created by Sam Levinson. The show is about a group of teenagers dealing with drugs, sex, depression, and addiction in the most scandalous ways possible.

I give Season 1 a 3.5 out of 5.

Like the 1995 film KIDS, EUPHORIA wants to shock you; with nudity, with drug use, with child endangerment. The show is all parents’ nightmares balled up in episodic format. But getting past the shock, I think the dialogue and the character plots are poor. Characters act wildly different in each episode, and while that may be a commentary on teenage mood swings, it is not a satisfying viewing experience. EUPHORIA wants to tell its story visually. And the images ARE stunning; the colors and camerawork creating this world that lets us FEEL the characters. The show could use more humor, every time it tried for a laugh, it worked really well.

Best Plotline. Zendaya’s addiction arc, while repetitive, is also visually creative. I love how intimately entwined her family is with her sobriety, and her expanded world outside of school is fascinating. I found Hunter Shafer’s character loudly confusing and Kat’s arc to be poorly written. Nate’s story is a mess.

Best Performance. Zendaya really is a freaking star; she is so natural and confident, she completely inhabits every state of her character with ease. Recently Oscar-nominated Elordi is not giving us much to work with in seeing his interiority and he feels stilted. Maybe he is like David Boreanaz in BUFFY and he learns acting as he goes along? Rest in Peace Angus Cloud, I want to know so much more about his unique character, Fezco.

If you push past the shock and some of the silly characters, you are in for a visual delight with some excellent needle drops.