In that vein came the true blueprint forEuphoria. Released in 2007,the same yearThe O.C. ended,Skins was created by 22-year-old Jamie Brittain and his father,Bryan Elsley. Let loose by parents with no time or interest to care for them properly,the core cast ofSkins fell in love with (and cheated on) one another,dropped out of school,got pregnant,chewed their faces off at underage raves,experimented with their sexualities and attempted suicide.
There was no neat ending or hand-holding resolution inSkins. Its creators,like Levinson,knew that teenagers are inherently repulsed by media that tries to teach them lessons,so theDegrassi model was never going to work. But they also knew their audience was not unwilling to listen and absorb if they had something or someone to relate to.
Last week,HBO releasedTrouble Don’t Always Last,the first of two specialEuphoria episodes designed to bridge the finale of season one and the second season next year.
These specials are laser-focused on character. The second will focus on Jules (Hunter Schaefer),who we last saw farewelling Rue on a train platform,their spontaneous plan to run away to “the city” together splitting like an atom when Rue got cold feet and stayed behind.
Following that farewell,Rue relapsed. Her reason for staying clean had just ridden away on a train,so she said goodbye to sobriety too.
Shot during COVID-19 restrictions,the episode takes the form of an hour-long conversation between Rue and her sponsor,Ali (Colman Domingo),in which Rue’s mask – the one that lets her survive her days believing none of the actions she takes really matter in the long run – slowly slips away. Domingo,a stage veteran,is brilliant in this exchange,while Zendaya shows why she beat out Jennifer Aniston,Olivia Colman,Jodie Comer,Laura Linney and Sandra Oh for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series at the recent virtual Emmys.
Teen dramas of the past depicted people looking for ways to escape and disconnect. OnEuphoria,we’re asked to reckon with the reality of a world so connected there is no escape. One character loses her virginity and soon after a video of the act circulates online. Another is cat-fished by a violent classmate who uses the intimate photos they traded back and forth for blackmail.
The signature make-up look of the show – one that’s been replicated endlessly in the past year – is a smear of glitter under the actress’s eyes. In certain light and certain scenes,it can be hard to differentiate between glitter and tears. But there’s no mistaking the emotion spilling from Rue’s face when she attempts to answer Ali’s question about how she wants her mother and little sister to remember her when she’s gone.
Sofia Coppola’s 1999 adaptation ofThe Virgin Suicides painted a picture of the darkness lurking behind teen girls’ bedroom doors,girls told they were too young to understand how bad life can be. But teens on screen – and in reality – knew then and they know now.
The moralising aboutEuphoria– like that surrounding all teen shows before it – is not surprising,especially when the contents are truly horrifying. But here the horror comes from watching someone so young be so weary,broken and without hope. It’s ultimately a story built upon a foundation of addiction,recovery and relapse. Watching Rue treat that as either quicksand or stable ground to launch from isn’t pretty,but neither is being a teenager.
Euphoria is on Binge,with the second of two special episodes to be released on January 24.