by Stella Nahr

I heard from many people that Euphoria was a really good show. So, when lockdown came around again and my need for entertainment and distractions rose, I gave it a try. The show was so addictive and the episodes so thrilling that it was hard not to binge it all at once. Instead, I made it my little treat. When I was especially productive that day, I allowed myself to watch one episode in the evening. Unfortunately, Euphoria only has 8 episodes that are available to watch outside the USA right now, so my number of little treats were limited, and I saved the last episode for a long time until I eventually finally watched it.  

At first Euphoria might seem like just another teen show, in the USA, in random suburbs with a random high school. You might think of some standard characters, like the mean girl, the popular football player, the beauty, the cheerleaders, the weirdos. To some extent these labels might fit, but there’s much more to the characters: flaws, raw emotions, pain, confusion. They are not one-sided at all and rather come across as fully human, so convincingly, that you almost forget it’s fictional. Or is it all actually? 

The omniscient narrator of the show, is Rue (Zendaya Coleman), 16, mentally ill and just back from rehab after an overdose. Even though she knows that her drug addiction is tearing her family apart, she has no desire to stay clean. She is inspired by the writer of the show, Sam Levinson’s own experiences. As a teenager he struggled with addiction, and worked that experience into Rue’s character. 

When Rue meets her new best friend Jules (Hunter Schafer), she is determined to stay off drugs for her. Soon, Rue and Jules become more than just friends and it becomes clear that Rue is in love with her. She starts to depend her recovery on Jules, which puts her under pressure as she has her own problems to deal with. We watch them fall into a painfully toxic relationship, sweet and heartbreaking at the same time. 

There are more characters who tell their story, such as Maddie, who’s in a manipulative relationship with Nate. Even though he physically abuses her, she can’t break free from his spell. Kat is changing her image from shy nice girl to a bondage bad bitch and dips into online sex work. Cassie is struggling with a new boyfriend, dealing with an alcoholic mom and missing father. Rue’s drug dealer Fez is a dropout of high school, doing business with gangsters but always tries to protect her as if she was his little sister. 

All those characters deal with issues that we all are to some extent familiar with and even if we’re not, we know someone who is, which makes the show so close to life and relatable. 

Not only the characters are outstanding but also the camera work and cinematography. A lot of the time the background is a combination of light and dark, like fireworks in a night sky, Rue is standing in the front, glitter around her sad eyes. The makeup in the whole show reaches another dimension, Jules always has little eyeliner artworks around her eyes, all in all a lot of glitter is involved, which is now called ‘the euphoria style’. 

The fact that a lesbian love story with a trans girl, also played by a trans actress, is the main focus is another thing that I cherish about this show. It is so important to tell these stories. The heteronormative version of love has been told too many times. Queer love exists and trans people exist and it’s important that this is normalised. Euphoria clears the way for a new generation, as it archives what has been overdue for too long: seeing a trans girl on tv, whose identity is not about being trans. She is her own well-rounded character with her own issues and a story. This is what makes Euphoria so special to many people, me included. If you haven’t watched it yet, give it a try, you might fall in love with it as well.