Inflated:

'The energy in the room of that many big men jumping and yelling and slapping you — nudity aside — I’m nothing like Nate, and it was so intense.'

Jacob Elordi

I went back and forth on whether to post about this past Sunday's episode of Euphoria.  There has been so much written about the 'locker room' scene, I almost didn't want to be a part of the sensationalism.  All that aside, it was one of the most hyped scenes of male nudity in awhile, and given the male form in the media is the focus of FH, I thought I might as well put in my two cents.

Just two episodes in, I haven't decided whether I like Euphoria yet.  It's incredibly well done, but for those who've watched, it's dark and depressing.  I guess that speaks to it's realism, but I tend to like my teen dramas with a bit of a Dawson's Creek soapy edge.   That being said, there are some fascinating characters developing in the HBO series, and some great performances.

At the forefront is Nate Jacobs, played by Jacob Elordi (who's celebrating his 22nd birthday today, June 26th) The Brisbane , Australia actor does a great job as the preppy jock on the surface, dark underneath Nate.  In addition to that locker room full of penis', Nate's dealing with his struggles with how he feels about women, and the toxic masculinity thrust upon him by his overly sexed father. (Eric Dane)

In this episode, you also have some intense sex scenes and a locker room scene where you're surrounded by naked men. How was that to shoot? And how did having an intimacy coordinator on set impact the situation?

Yeah, I think she had to review every single penis before putting it on the show. For me, it was interesting because that scene was actually very real, and the look on my face and the way that I was feeling was very real. The energy in the room of that many big men jumping and yelling and slapping you — nudity aside — I’m nothing like Nate, and it was so intense. I didn’t realize locker rooms could be so intense, but it was actually quite hilarious. I don’t care about that kind of stuff, and it’s funny reading all of the reviews now — everyone’s like, "There’s this many penises." But when you’re there, it was just hilarious. I think it’s a funny scene, and I’ll definitely never forget it.

The Hollywood Reporter

So... about all those penis's. They were fun to watch as they flashed by, and although there were some hot bodies, many of the penis's were on torso's without faces and I need a human face to truly appreciate a body as a whole. The scene was also filmed from Nate's perspective, and I found myself feeling a bit like Nate, semi interested, but at the same time, slightly distracted. Although I love me some nudity on TV, viewers want to see a shows regular characters sans clothes, not necessarily a series of extra's.  I'm not complaining, it was fun to watch, and was a stimulating introduction to Nate's journey through the episode.



 When Game of Thrones got criticized for not showing as much male nudity as they did female, they injected several scenes of male nudity featuring extra's we never saw before, nor after.  The nudity we remember were those scenes with the main cast members, those incredibly Stark brother buns, and Alfie Allen's season 1 frontal.  Although Euphoria's locker room scene may have hit a record for the number of different penis's shown in one episode of television, I found myself more interested in Jacob's shirtless scenes and two flashes of butt. 

A Plethora of Penis