To our severe disappointment, HBO has renewed its teen sex drama series Euphoria for a second season. We haven’t even finished off the first season, and the worst may be yet to come. Until then, we still have to contend with this continuing denigration of young humanity, this week with teens picking up sex pointers from porn.
The July 17 episode “’03 Bonnie and Clyde” focuses primarily on high-schooler Maddy (Alexa Demie) and her relationship with Nate (Jacob Elrodi). Maddy and Nate have an on-again, off-again romance compounded by the fact that Maddy seems to be in a “gray area” regarding “the whole monogamy thing.” Still, as expected from the show, the two have a lot of sex, far more than anyone should want to watch from teenagers. To make matters worse, the episode reveals that Maddy watches porn to learn more about sex.
Rue (Zendaya) narrates the scene saying, “[Maddy] also watched a lot of porn. Not because it turned her on or anything, it didn't. But if you analyzed it really closely, there were a ton of really good secrets.” As she says this, we’re treated to Maddy practicing her moves while viewing porn, then moaning and grinding with Nate, presumably having the time of their lives. At least the show is honest about pretty much being teen porn at this point, down to the fact that Nate tends to choke Maddy during sex - this aspect of hardcore porn was covered in the premiere.
Speaking of choking, the show seems open to framing Maddy and Nate’s relationship as abusive from this, but it’s having a heck of an uphill climb trying. Sure, in reality, we can tell that a boy choking or bruising a girl is objectively wrong, but this is Euphoria. It portrays girls web-camming with adult men as empowering. Even in this episode, it describes Maddy’s sexual encounter with a 40-year-old man as “kind of rape-y and weird, but honestly, she was the one in control.” There’s no telling what we’re supposed to consider toxic anymore, so it’s honestly insulting to watch them try and tell us now.
The rest of the episode proves just as insulting as well. Rue describes to us her “embarrassing” lack of sexual experience which includes four hand jobs, two blow jobs, french-kissing a girl, and sex while on Xanax at age fifteen (featuring a now obligatory penis shot). Kat (Barbie Ferreira), the teen cam girl, gives a blow job to a grown man she just met. Finally, Cal (Eric Dane), Nate’s father, continues to privately meet with trans hookers despite the fact that even he thinks it’s “poisoned everything” with his son.
It’s always shocking how far Euphoria wants to go in just one hour, but the most shocking part is that HBO wants another season.
