“Euphoria” Season 2 (2022): a “euphoric” taste of reality
Euphoria is HBO’s second most watched show ever and has around 16.3 million viewers.
March 9, 2022
New year, new me, and a new season of Euphoria. After three years and two special episodes, the acclaimed HBO series has finally returned. Starring Emmy award winning actress Zendaya as the protagonist, Rue Bennett, Euphoria follows the story of Rue as she deals with her addiction, and her peers fighting their own personal traumas.
This season started off an interesting path, opening up with a New Year’s Eve party filled with betrayal, reconciliation, and anger. Rue and Jules get back together, Cassie backstabs Maddy in the worst way possible, and Fez does everyone a favor and beats up Nate. It felt as if there were several moments that were extremely unexpected of the characters.
The beloved character McKay (played by Algee Smith) only made a single appearance throughout the season. Smith was reportedly having issues with writer Sam Levinson. This was not a one time thing, as actress Barbie Ferriera who plays Kat, apparently walked off of set a number of times while shooting.
The show felt empty at times without the appearance of these pivotal characters, but the addition of two new characters, Elliot (played by Dominic Fike) and Faye (played by Chloe Cherry) made it somewhat bearable. Both Elliot and Faye were especially comical characters and made great contributions to the plot this season.
One of my favorite parts of the show are the backstories of the main characters. They tend to help viewers sympathize with characters (which is very much needed considering the things some of these characters do) and to make sense of their behavior. This season showed Fez, Ashtray, Cal Jacob, and Lexi’s childhoods, with each one of them being extremely intriguing.
Now, Euphoria would not be Euphoria without two extremely important things. Visuals, and Labrinth’s music. This season definitely toned down the shiny and sparkly makeup but did not fail to wow me in terms of it’s beautiful cinematography. Furthermore, the soundtrack this season was phenomenal with new songs from Labrinth, Zendaya, Dominic Fike, and Lana Del Rey along with the inclusion of popular music from Season 1.
In general, despite this season’s writing flaws it still made a lasting impression and I found it enjoyable to watch. While there have been several major changes to the plot and the series overall, Euphoria has remained as mesmerizing and real as ever and as we wait another three or so years before Season 3 is released I would absolutely recommend watching, and rewatching it.
