I wanted to hate Euphoria. Having seen only the first episode and a few spoilers when it first came out, I headed into the HBO teen drama’s first and second seasons with guns blazing, itching to pen an epic takedown of a Hollywood bonanza glamorizing drugs, parental abdication, and sexual depravity. Once I got past my knee-jerk reaction to the graphic content, however, and adjusted to the shock and awe, I realized as the show developed that Euphoria, intentionally or not, is an important exposé of cultural decline — and a warning to those who insist it isn’t happening.
Euphoria doesn’t sugarcoat it. In the town of East Highland, where the drama is set, morality is cliché, hedonism is happiness, monogamy is overrated, and the family unit is broken. Basically, up is down, and the show’s creators do a tremendous job of creating a world that is truly messed up. Few people I know have walked away from the show feeling uplifted, but maybe that’s the point.
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