Come for the Penises, Stay for the Show

Zendaya (Rue)

'I just showed up without a map or a compass, and at some point, you have to make a choice ... about who you are and what you want. And therein lies the catch.'

Rue Bennett 

I was away last weekend, so haven't had time yet to watch the season finale, but still wanted to give a Standing O to HBO's Euphoria.  The American teen drama television series was created by Sam Levinson and I was surprised to read it was based on an Israeli miniseries of the same name. ( אופוריה‎) 

I wasn't surprised it was based on another show, but I haven't generally thought of Israel as a country known for boundary pushing teen drams.  I'll have to give the original a look!  I thought HBO did an incredible job of promoting the show, in part, but using society's perplexity with the penis.

Hunter Schafer (Jules)

Weeks before it's June premiere, there were story about the scene with all the penis's.  Given the penis is so taboo in American society, a show promoting penis-a-plenty was going to get attention.  It got mine.  I DVR'd the first two episodes, but honesty, just fast forwarded to Eric Dane and the nudity in those first two shows.  At first glance, the show seemed so dark and depressing, my initial feelings were it wasn't for me.

Then came those penis's, so many of them.  What was interesting to me was how important those appendages were to the story.  After watching the scene, and making a few caps for the blog, the penis's became secondary to their purpose in the story.  As I re-watched the scene, I was drawn to the story, and how those all those naked jocks in the locker room were so important in the unveiling of the character of Nate.  Let's be honest, most on screen nudity is in part, gratuitous, but Euphoria's penis scene, not only grabbed a lot of attention, it also actually incredibly pivotal to story.

Barbie Ferreira (Kat)

I especially love how brilliantly the show's writers focus on character.  There are so many brilliant and unique characters in the show, all fascinating and beautifully portrayed.  The show gets a lot of praise for being realistic, and in part I agree.  Yes, the characters shown are realistic, but they don't necessarily represent the typical American high school student.  A slice, of course, so were Dawson and Pacey, Rory Gilmoore and the crew from The OC. 

Algee Smith (Chris)

They all represented specific students at specific times.  I think what's so incredible about Euphoria, isn't how real the characters are, but how rare it is find this particular slice on television.  We sometimes see them in in films and documentaries, but not on a TV show with time to really dive into their stories.  One of the most interesting characters to me is Nate, I talk a bit about why in the post below.

Hunter Schafer and Jacob Elordi (Nate)