Truly, we’ve hit another new low on television. In just the first hour of HBO’s latest series Euphoria, we have rampant graphic underage sex and drug use, a bizarre defense of minors sending nude photos, and the statutory rape of a trans teenager. Somehow, I ended up longing for the simple porn set-up of The Deuce - at least that show is about adults.
The June 16 pilot follows 17-year-old Rue (former Disney star Zendaya) who returns home after spending nearly an entire summer in rehab. Despite this, she immediately returns to her drug pusher and already begins executing plans to fool her mom into believing she’s clean. Along the way, several other high school students, including new trans student Jules (Hunter Schafer), deal with issues of drug use and lots of sex because apparently that’s all Hollywood thinks the kids are into these days.
If it wasn’t clear by that description, the world of Euphoria is a perverted nightmare for the sake of what “progressive” writers think is realistic and deep. The show presents Rue as some kind of speaker for Gen-Z as she opens the episode mentioning she was “born three days after 9/11,” but everything around Rue seems to be out of a bad X-rated movie, from the easy-to-find hallucinogens to the rampant f-bombs. No one seems to bat an eye at teens doing drugs anymore since, as Rue glibly says, “The world's coming to an end, and I haven't even graduated high school yet.” That’s about as deep as an Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweet.
And then there’s the sex, which apparently everyone is having. In fact, one 16-year-old girl named Kat (Barbie Ferreira) makes it her goal at a summer party to lose her virginity simply because Jules tells her, “Bitch, this isn't the '80s. You need to catch a dick.” Not to be out done, Rue gives a monologue about how “nudes are the currency of love” in 2019 and how older generations that “relied on flowers and fathers’ permission” should stop “shaming” the people who take naked photos. She also proclaims, “Everyone on the planet watches porn,” to explain a scene of a teenage boy choking a girl during sex. These kids are so warped by watching hardcore porn (which the show helpfully flashes at least 10 clips of) that the boy thinks choking is normal and is surprised when he's told to stop.
But the worst part of the episode is Jules’ statutory rape. You see, the underage transgender Jules is attracted to older men and finds men online to have sex with "her" by claiming that she’s actually 22. The brutal scene features a grown man showing his fully erect penis towards the camera and proceeding to have anal sex with Jules in a motel room. The entire moment is punctuated with harsh grunts, Rue’s monologuing, and Jules crying in pain.
Good luck trying to find a liberal critic who dares call out this filth. Even the ones who admit they’re uncomfortable still call it a “sensitive teen drama.” What’s worse is that the people on this show seem sickingly proud of it, with more awful material promised.
Stay away, Euphoria will put you in a state of depression.
