Euphoria
S02, E07 – “The Theater and Its Double” (2022)
To be upfront, this is easily my least favorite episode that Euphoria has produced so far. While there have been plenty of times where I was skeptical on quality, I was usually able to see things come into focus better upon rewatch. I had the hope that maybe this would be the case for an episode that may have pushed the story forward in significant ways, but felt like the biggest disgrace for what the show had become. Yes, it was a show that loved to dive into fantastical elements and make teen life seem like this grand melodrama, but there is something about the whole construct around Lexi’s Our Life production that never quite sat right. Could I accept it if one or two moments were sensationalized? Sure, but having the whole episode center around a near lack of logic undid any greater impact that it was going for.
Just two episodes prior, Rue was seen running around town robbing people for drugs. It was a moment that found the show at its best because it pushed beyond the fantasy and found the desperate, dark core at the center. Sam Levinson would be the first to tell you that he prides the show on realistically dealing with addiction. One could even argue that he has done a decent job with mental health, having Kat’s story dive into fantasy or even Jules’ special centering around dissociation. There are plenty of ways that this episode could’ve incorporated the dreamlike elements, but they would still be from the perspective of the individual characters. The greater world of Euphoria would not be impacted by Kat imagining that she had knights at her disposal to murder Ethan in the other room.
But Our Life is different because it clearly is designed to be in reality. The concept of Lexi doing an autobiographical show isn’t the issue. While it definitely feels amateurish for somebody to base a whole show around recognizable people not only in her life but the social scheme of East Highland, it’s even more damning to not change enough details to make them ambiguous to the audience. Everybody could determine based on proximity who Lexi was talking about. She is ostensibly playing herself. She is friends with a drug addict named Jade. Her sister’s name may have changed, but who isn’t seeing that as Cassie? While one could do a literal translation of their life and have it qualify as art, I don’t think Lexi is in a position that would allow her to get away with something as risqué and complicated as this.
To back up a little bit, the show itself doesn’t make sense from a production standpoint. Beyond the script, there are many aspects that make it seem like East Highland should be able to give every student scholarship rides to college. There’s the rotating stage that is itself decked with impressive décor. There’s the big finale where multiple props are used that look expensive. Even the time she stands under a lamp and snaps to shut it off feels strangely overproduced. The only thing that really made sense was having actors run in front of the curtains to detail the passage of time. Now add in the content and it becomes more confusing why it was greenlit from a subject matter and that it was able to be pulled together in the span of weeks. Theories that it was Fezco’s drug laundering money feel relevant even if it’s more for Levinson to snort his own ego instead of paying to have a writer’s room that bails him out of these convoluted corners.
It is understandable that this is Lexi’s time to shine despite being a repressed character for two seasons now. She definitely has drama worthy of exploring. While Euphoria wouldn’t go quietly, I still would like to believe that the show that took time to show Rue depressed and staying in bed all day last season would know how to scale it back. This is the work of a perfectionist, sure, but given how little we’ve seen of Lexi’s artistic skills, I don’t exactly know why we’re supposed to believe that she’s capable of any of it. She has the confidence of Orson Welles doing War of the Worlds. It makes no sense and it honestly makes her more annoying.
I can respect this as a form of quite literally acting out. After all, Cassie was such a suicide risk last episode that Lexi had to hide the knives in a bush. There’s plenty there to suggest Lexi needed her say. However, the way the show is going about it feels more for narrative convenience than adding anything substantial to Lexi’s greater history on the show. Yes, there are moments where the audience gets to see her childhood and various pivotal moments. There’s even the feeling of being overshadowed by Cassie. She is observing everyone around her with such clearly plagiarized details that it’s more of a form of gossip. She’s not doing anything creative outside of the finale, and all while trying to avoid her character assassination. She comes across as morally superior, playing a victim, and overall breaking free of the goody girl routine. Sure, that’s an interesting arc in theory, but in practice, it speaks very poorly of Lexi as a character.
In what may be a controversial opinion, the closing number set to “I Need a Hero” is especially egregious. On the one hand, what high school allows for a homoerotic number with metaphorical ejaculation and humping to take place with shirtless men prancing around a man whose girlfriend just called him gay? Go beyond the fact that this is outing Nate in such a way that makes it difficult for him to escape, that the audience is cheering on this moral depravity. What school allows this number without at least seeing the budget and noticing that it includes a boxing bag that comes to have a phallic symbolism by the scene’s end? Where was any creative interference?
In Levinson’s world, it makes sense why this number is here. It’s the ultimate send-off for Nate, who is likely a closeted homosexual. Everyone watching already considers him a psychopath and someone who deserves to be punished severely. With that said, it still is unethical to have Lexi create a show that’s so nakedly (no pun intended) attacking him not for anything he’s done but just for being gay. There is little of confessing to crimes, of anything that would actually paint Nate poorly. All he gets is a bunch of teenagers humping each other for comedy. Either that, or the school truly is more homophobic than its inclusive nature suggests.
Yes, it’s fun to laugh at Nate. However, there had to be a better way of conveying all of this. Instead of creating a moral superiority over Nate, Lexi ends up down in the pit next to him. Maybe she’ll fight him with the help of Fezco in the finale. Something big is about to go down, and I can only hope that it redeems the narrative in some way. If nothing else, this is the episode where Lexi went from being sympathetic to being downright loathsome. Even the way she yells at the cast and crew to get into place feels tyrannical and lacking in passion for those around her. This is HER story and she is going to tell it HER way. Everyone is forced to follow what she does, and that involves putting the whole school on blast for ignoring her.
The other aspect of the show that was greatly suffering this week was the odd need to parallel the play with actual events. On the one hand, there was much more story that needed to be updated. Having Rue remind the audience that she still doesn’t love Jules feels crucial even if Jules has since taken a backburner role on the series. Even having Rue’s mother share news about how she prefers Gia suggests the impact of her addiction if things spiral out of control. Given how the previous episode ended, one is safe to assume that things aren’t going to work out too well for her rehab stint.
But beyond those small updates, Euphoria’s delving into fantasy and reality was sloppy and confusing. Given that the viewers at home likely are familiarized with the characters, there is something about stripping away the needless edits and creating something that feels more like Lexi’s retelling of history instead of giving us the actual thing. It’s the issue with the episode as a whole. It’s all too much, needing to be bigger and grander than anything that’s come before. To some extent, it makes sense why having the actors say these lines would benefit the emotional impact, but it undercuts Lexi’s moment, where having her mother give play by play from the crowd begins to seem redundant. I understand that Levinson is in love with the manic editing technique, but at no point did it feel like it would enhance the intimacy with which this story is trying to be told.
If there’s any positive about the structure, it’s that Ethan finally gets to have a moment to shine. After largely being sidelined this season, he gets to perform in ways that draw affection onto him. While that also feels overproduced, there is something to him having redemption away from Kat, that at least proves there’s a life outside of her for him. There is something to that that the show could’ve been exploring instead of trying to make fun of Nate for being closeted. It’s a move that should have Lexi at least suspended, but then again that would be too realistic for an episode that’s anything but.
The real question is where things are going to be heading for the finale. At the start of the season, I predicted that it would be equivalent to a Greek tragedy. There would be families against each other, friends losing trust, people losing their own morality. To some extent, there are still traces of it that could be present going into the end, but I’m not sure how. It does feel like Nate is priming for a momentous finale of some kind. The question is how realistic it is going to be, especially since it’s being sold as a two-parter and the best that can be said is that we’re about to see the fallout. He’s already broken up with Cassie (remember, in a state of distress) and is probably coming for somebody. Maybe he’ll return to Jules in hopes that she didn’t break the file so that he could use it as blackmail. He’s losing his power and it feels like descension for a powerful man.
I don’t honestly know, but dedicating the penultimate episode to a largely filler work is a bit brilliant and annoying. Whereas one could get on board with Lexi being artistic at the start of the season, absolutely nobody now wants it. Her work was self-serving and had a limited audience. As much as art can be therapeutic, this isn’t exactly the best example. What does emphasizing her struggles to be seen have to say about the larger show? Outside of setting up conflict in the final five minutes, what is being told that couldn’t have been handled better in a more compact flashback?
Maybe it will all make sense after next week. Again, I am fine with the show delving into fantasy. The issue is when that fantasy impacts the logic of the greater world. It’s been interesting to see Rue become more grounded, allowing for clarity that has made the show honestly better. Lexi meanwhile hasn’t felt significant enough to warrant this type of treatment. Even the fact that pretty much the entire school showed up to her show feels confusing. Levinson is sympathetic to the addiction experience, and it’s where the show shines best. I just wish that he cared more about getting the theater department right. They may want to put on a show like Our Life, but so much of it feels like the work of an ambitious Late-20 something that it stops feeling like teen angst and more like a hit list of enemies. Seriously, Levinson. Get a writer’s room next season. You really need it after this one.
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