The Euphoric experience
The long anticipated premiere of Euphoria’s sophomore season has finally arrived on HBO Max. 
Photo courtesy of HBO
Reagan Horne, Staff Writer
After two years, Sam Levinson and his team have finally blessed the “Euphoria” audience (or rather the Zendaya fanclub) with a new, exotic, and highly explicit season on Jan. 9. The sensitivity of the plot forces viewers to be aware of what they are goint to experience such erotic acting. The cinematography is a pure masterpiece given the limitations of the worldwide pandemic. Straying away from the mind-blowing plot, the editing, directing, and soundtrack compliment the adrenaline that has such a strong hold on viewers. For what a highly patient audience witnessed on Sunday night, the premiere was far more chaotic than the entire first season alone.
Forcefully wiping the first season from everyone’s conscience, a rewatch is much needed, but not before the traumatic events within the first three minutes of the second episode. It seems that after a certain cliffhanger, “Euphoria” strikes with another dumbfounding plot twist. The controversy between Nate Jacobs, the irritating jock, and Cassie Howard, the emotional barbie, has rocked so many perspectives with its indecency. The toxicity that follows Nate Jacobs is spreading like the flu within the characters of “Euphoria”. Whenever his villain theme song begins, viewers quickly become aware of Jacobs’ infamous appearance.
The composer of the series, Labyrinth, creates the perfect illusion for each character, as if it were their own theme songs, personal favorites include the duet between Labyrinth and Zendaya. Vocals and orchestra are played during intense scenes at the lowest volume and still create the powerful sound that comes within this composition. Given the first episode composes the most genius music, fans aren’t nearly prepared for what’s to come for the rest of season two.
Uproars over the relationships within each character comes down to the raw acting. Every character’s performance from Angus Cloud as Fezco to Zendaya Coleman as Rue. Each character arc encapsulates realistic encounters with foreign trajectory. The directing and cinematography forces viewers to experience the character’s emotions through the screen, which they do perfectly. The first two episodes of the show’s second season is nothing but pure shock to viewers. Tears, laughs, and gasps will come to light after taking in indescribable insanity of the new story plot.
What brings the personalities of the characters out on screen is the lighting and how the camera captures each scene. The season finale that left fans distraught picked up on the heartbreak with Rue and her relapse. Introducing viewers to a new possible love triangle with the introduction between Rue, Jules, and Elliot, a fellow drug user. “They bring out the worst in each other,” Elliot said in episode two of the second season. Brutal honesty is that the only couple this audience should ship is Rue and sobriety. Not being sober is her enemy, not Nate Jacobs, Cal Jacobs, or even Jules. Whenever Rue and Jules, played by Hunter Schafer, are captured together throughout the show, but specifically the season two premiere, the lighting makes it seem like they are the only people in the room, because that’s what the cinematography does to the actors of this show. That’s how it becomes a masterpiece.
