The dim glow of Euphoria

Fabian M. Thomas
1 min readJan 16, 2022

I just finished Season 1 of Euphoria. I am conflicted. Let me start with the good. Solid cast, above-average performances delving in difficult subject matter. My standouts are Zendaya, Hunter Schafer, Jacob Elordi, Eric Dane, Barbie Ferreira, Angus Cloud, Javon Walton and the luminous Colman Domingo.

My main challenge is the overwhelming heaviness of the show, it is unrelentingly grim. Was that deliberate? The assortment of damaged, toxic, sociopathic almost felt like a bombardment, a merciless bludgeoning of an unsuspecting audience. Which in the covidity of our times is particularly cruel and unusual punishment! For the first 3 or 4 episodes Rue got on my damn nerves! Cho! But halfway through the season she began to grow on me.

My other issue is it feels as if Euphoria succumbs to the tendency that once there is an exploration of LGBTQI characters the story must be fraught with pain, angst, trauma and trials, with scant doses of joy, light, love and functional relationships. For me this is Euphoria’s very present and unfortunate flaw. More balance please.

I also quite liked the music, and oh yeah, Eric Dane is incendiary in this role!!

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Fabian M. Thomas

Adjunct Lecturer in Cultural Studies, trainer/facilitator, life/corporate coach, writer, poet/spoken word artist and performing arts specialist.