EUPHORIA, IS IT WORTH THE HYPE?

"Euphoria is one of the biggest shows of 2020-2021, but is it really worth all the hype its getting?"
​-Triece Kushner --7th grade

In HBO’s Euphoria, we follow the story of Rue Bennet played by Zendaya, a 17-year-old girl struggling with drug addiction and hopeless love for a girl she can’t have—two things that don’t mix well. After Rue comes back from a summer in rehab, she meets Jules, a trans girl who just moved to Rue's town with her father. We see the struggles Rue goes through, trying to stay sober but also dealing with crippling depression and anxiety. We also see the ups and downs of Rue’s home life, the fights with her mother, who is still dealing with the loss of her husband and father of her kids, her sister, Gia, who is still recovering from having found Rue when she had her overdose. 

Euphoria creator and writer Sam Levinson does a remarkable job of shining a light on the issues and problems teens go through without sugar-coating it.  Levinson kept it real and showed us a story through a lens most of us haven’t seen. 

On January 24th, 2021, a new episode was released. This was the Jules Special Episode. In this episode,  (that happens to be my favorite so far) we learn more about Jules. Hunter Schafer, the actor who plays Jules actually co-wrote this episode. In the episode, we see her deal with her mom, a recovering drug addict and deal with the past trauma of being sent to a mental hospital, and the struggles of truly finding herself. We see her talking about her transition, the pain and addiction of male validation, and the overall issues of being a trans person in today’s society, which as a trans male, I could very much relate to.. It felt amazing to watch a trans character not just have her role being her transition, but to actually have other problems.  

My favorite part of the show is probably the music. The soundtrack is written, performed, and produced by Labyrinth, a British musician. The soundtrack is a journey on its own, and although most of the songs don’t have words, it’s a no-skip album. Every song has a different genre of music, some songs are slow and heart-wrenching, some fast beat, angry songs. If songs could be colors the euphoria soundtrack would definitely be a full rainbow. As we watch the characters grow, we hear the music grow, too. 

In the end scene of the 8th and last episode, “And salt the Earth behind you,” a song performed by Rue, we hear Zendaya’s beautiful voice sing in harmony with Labyrinth’s rustic, mature voice. It really captures the pain Rue goes through.​

Another thing I really enjoy on HBO’s Euphoria is the casting. It truly seems like all the cast members had an amazing time filming the show. Rue And Jules have great chemistry and you can definitely tell they enjoy each other’s company. The rest of the cast seem to get along really well, their friendship really rubs off in the show, sometimes it’s hard to tell if they are really acting or just having fun. 

Although Euphoria is incredibly inappropriate for people under the age of at least 15, it is a great show to watch. The show goes over the harshness of drugs and confronts the fact that while drugs might feel good at one point, but that euphoric feeling never lasts. It also goes over the dangers of the internet, and multiple other situations that a teenager might experience in today’s world. 

Overall Euphoria is a fantastic show to watch. I definitely recommend you check it out. So yes, Euphoria is worth the hype!