Euphoria US S02 1080p HMAX WEB-DL DD5.1 x264-NTb

Based on the 2012 Israeli series of the same name, Euphoria is a look at the brutality and pleasures of teen existence today. It follows a group of high school students as they attempt to cope through drugs, sex and violence in an effort to make sense of an uncertain future.

Genre: Drama
Stars: Storm Reid, Zendaya, Maude Apatow, Alexa Demie, Barbie Ferreira, Angus Cloud, Jacob Elordi, Nika King, Eric Dane, Hunter Schafer, Astro, Sydney Sweeney

Euphoria review - dizzying high school drama is one of year's best
Zendaya plays a student battling addiction in a Drake-produced series that manages to bring both style and substance

Benjamin Lee
Fri 14 Jun 2019 07.00 BST

Despite the 13-plus reasons why Netflix teen series 13 Reasons Why was unquestionably problematic, there remained a grimly persuasive force that kept many of us frantically clicking for the next episode. It was noxious and exploitative but also horribly compelling, a greedily consumed guilt watch that went down easily but left us feeling uneasy on reflection. The parent-baiting tale of a teen taking her own life stoked anger after its premiere due to both its bleak inevitability and its graphic, gothic romanticism. A debate grew over its potentially harmful impact on its young target audience, one that's been recently reignited by two studies suggesting a possible correlation between its release and a significant spike in real-world suicides.

There's then something rather daring, perhaps even dangerous, about the idea of Euphoria, HBO's splashy, explicit high school drama premiering in the midst of this ongoing furore. It's a show that deals with addiction, sexuality, porn, body-shaming, drugs, sexual assault, toxic masculinity, self-harm and pretty much every other One Million Moms-angering issue you can think of ... and that's just in the four episodes available to critics. But, while bracingly frank, it's also able to balance any shock appeal with surprising sensitivity. It's a delicate balancing act, making a show about teens that feels both unfiltered yet careful but somehow, Assassination Nation writer-director Sam Levinson has crafted something that succeeds in every way 13 Reasons Why failed. It's still probably going to piss parents off (there are more dicks in the first few episodes than I could count) but there's more on its mind than simply courting controversy.

While something of an ensemble piece, Euphoria's main focus is the post-rehab journey of Rue (Zendaya), an anxiety-ridden 17-year-old returning to school with a dark cloud hovering over her head. It's not one that she's comfortable stepping away from just yet, choosing to continue abusing while pretending to her fraught mother that she's getting better. Her life intersects with a distinctive subsection of peers, from swaggering sociopathic jock Nate (The Kissing Booth's Jacob Elordi) to sexually unsure college freshman Chris (The Hate U Give's Algee Smith) to body-conscious Kat (model Barbie Ferreira) to, most notably, new girl Jules (trans activist Hunter Schafer). Rue finds herself captivated by Jules and the two begin an intense friendship, but one that might struggle to weather the storm that's about to engulf them all.

Aside from its buzzy cast of up-and-comers, headlined by Disney star done good Zendaya, Euphoria has its cool points stocked up behind the camera, too, with boutique indie studio A24 and executive producer Drake to give it at least a superficial air of authenticity. The show boasts a dizzying aesthetic that some could conceivably criticise as over-stylised but I found it intoxicating, not only because it's so refreshing to watch a cinematic, directed show after enduring so many flat Netflix series but because there's substance in the script to support the visual indulgence.

There's specificity in the problems faced by the teens, whether it's how pornography has mutated the idea of real-world sex or how to rationalise depressive thoughts when you're fully aware of your own privilege, and each episode available entered new, enticingly uncharted territory. While it might boast a heady sheen, it's far from a glossy look at high school life, comfortably existing in an entirely different dimension to a show like Riverdale. It's often incredibly bleak in its portrayal of addiction and in trying to construct the overwhelming social assault teens face day-to-day, whether it be from online bullying or from the unending influx of contrasting media messages. Rue's road to addiction is explained through a difficult mosaic of grief, mental health and being born into a world suffocating in stress. One of the show's biggest challenges is not glamorising the scenes of a Vogue cover star taking so many drugs and while the scenes of Rue snorting and drinking are stylishly shot, the script never shies away from the devastating impact of her decisions at every turn. She's an awkward deadbeat, far from a character to aspire to and, in her most substantial role to date, Zendaya is admirably understated.

Her performance is one of many great turns in a show populated by relative unknowns who each prove captivating in varying ways. There are still camera-friendly faces but the casting feels closer to capturing what an actual high school looks like and similarly, Levinson also manages to deal with sexuality and gender with unusually grounded nuance. It's not announced or made obvious but there's a casual fluidity that's both the product of a generation and also a deft storyteller. With Drake on board, there's an expectedly keen awareness of music with the soundtrack veering from Andy Williams to Beyoncé to Bobby Womack to Jorja Smith, often reaching hair-raising moments of transcendence. There's a wildness that sees the show imagining everything from a Game of Thrones-inspired high school massacre to an animated fan fiction sex scene between Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson, impossible to predict from scene to scene. At times it risks descending into excess and sometimes, Rue's narration can seem overwritten in a Fight Club-lite kind of way but the pace is so fast that the show is soon on to something that lands far better.

Euphoria is an extreme experience, dialled up all the way to 11, that could prove nightmarish for parents while also making the rest of us feel pretty relieved not to be in high school any more. Its louder moments are graphic and brash but its quieter moments are equally impactful, a well-modulated drama that knows when to push and then pull back. It's hard to know where it will go and that's part of its untamed appeal but as it stands, it's one of the most audacious and effective new shows I have seen this year.

General
Complete name: Euphoria.US.S02E01.Trying.to.Get.to.Heaven.Before.They.Close.the.Door.1080p.HMAX.WEB-DL.DD5.1.x264-NTb.mkv
Format : Matroska
Duration : 1 h 1 min

Video
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec: Bit rate : 8 250 kb/s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS

Audio
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Bit rate : 384 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Language : English

Subtitles : English, English SDH, Spanish, Spanish SDH

Screens