im really upset right now at this bullshit euphoria cliff hanger shit.

like a lot of good points have been made about how this season has been dropping points compared to season 1 and honestly up until an hour ago i was pretty sure it was because they kept on basically letting teen actors dictate their plot arcs but tonight was just... not fucking great. like it was basically a throw-away episode at worse and a 50 minute long commercial for the next episode at best.

im just not fucking stoked. like stylistically it was a triumph. the scene with nate turning around in front of the mirror was honestly one of the better dramatic moments ive seen on a cable tv production full fucking stop but i really resent being basically taken for a fucking ride with regards to the actual plot and being held hostage for _another_ week until the season finale.

real talk im tempted to look for the spoilers that got posted*.





* im not going to look for the spoilers that got posted.

I didn't mind last night but also I am a sucker for all that is euphoria minus the bridge episodes.

Although I did say to my girlfriend last night "this whole episode better not be a play". Turned out better than I expected though. I appreciated some of the backstory. But when you cover as much material as euphoria does and only have 8 episodes to do so I totally get the concern. I too was frustrated about the cliffhanger and voiced that as well.

Also speaking of cliffhangers.

Season 2 of righteous gemstones is finally starting to take off if you can stomach that sort of humour.

Oh yea Sonatine, there's also two "special" episodes that came after S1. Neither was great, but if you want more Euphoria things they exist. They tried to do something that's really really hard and decided to use inexperienced writers for one or both.

With official episodes they've been between great and good. This season i thought 1st and 5th episode were great. Can't remember anything about 2nd episode. it might have been just carried by the 1st episode. 3rd episode felt like a bridge episode that extended to 4th. 6th episode was likely needed. Redemptionesque slow light thingie after the 5th that was really fast and bit on the heavy side. Depending on who you ask the 5th episode also had it's funny moments, like the classic distraction maneuver at ones intervention.

I also liked Nate's and his dads "redemption" arcs. Both were appropriate for their characters.

The 7th episode is the return to the problems of part 1s when we have to wait for part 2. The cost of buildup/setup and how hard it becomes to pull off when payoff is somewhere in the distance. It absolutely never is "better" when you have to wait for it. It just means you need to give viewers more treats along the way to have any hope for the episode to work decently on it's own.

And then there's foreshadowed cliffhangers. I don't know how you make those work. Seems like one of those things that at best is a breakeven play. Negative freeroll.

Cliffhangers themselves are very cheap in any serialized format when you only introduce some new information at the very end. Either playing to a earlier resolution, starting a new arc and probably something i can't think of right now. You could say they're frowned upon because of the low cost vs gain in retention. It's the easy play. The negative aspects are easily covered. Only way to fuck that up is by intentionally investing more. 10-15 mins stretched between 2 episodes.

What I'm saying is that they're tolerable after you've provided the viewer with a dinner and a show. In no world should cliffhangers replace or weaken the main attraction.

btw the 'but there are no black people in LoTR' outrage is pumping haaaaaaard on twitter atm.

I definitely forgot the most common and cheapest ways of using cliffhangers. Out of sync storytelling or chained cliffhangers. Starting episodes with resolution of the previous episodes cliffhanger. It takes almost no additional work, the viewer expects it and also gets all the parts of an arc. Euphoria doesn't do that very often, so there's no clear expectation and it could get messy with cold opens. To a degree ep1 of the season did that with it's start, but i wouldn't count the end as continuing the chain.

Levinson with the full crew is very good at audiovisual storytelling. He's not great when he's mostly left with only dialogue to work with. That became clear with the specials.

Another thing he does very well is sort of pass the baton storytelling. An element gets passed from one character to another, it keeps moving forward and another perspective gets added with every step before it's passed on. Scenes are connected very smoothly when it's done right (what's the story telling equivalent of flow?) . Way ep7 was structured you can't really do that.

There was 4 major lines in episode 7 and running them varied from splintered to repetitive. The play, reaction, related real life events and preparation to go see the play. You could also say there was minor resolutions/updates related to previous episodes sprinkled here and there. Some people enjoyed the episode because of that and adding to the backstory. I still consider it the worst episode of the show excluding the specials.

Sort of, "yes, i know what you're trying to do", i just don't like the execution.

On a slightly related note, my favorite Peter Bogdanovich thing is Noises Off.

Would recommend Expanse. We'll get to grievances in the Expanse thread once there's nothing to spoil.

by the by snowfall airs tonight and im on the fence re is it good enough to ignore for 2 or 3 months and then binge when completed

btw i was waaaaay more supportive of euphorias capitulating to its actors whims/opinions until i realized that the actors arent teenagers, they are literally all like 25.

Levinson himself is 35ish. I think for the actual series he mostly let them have a say in wording lines and wardrobe. Those tend to be things that change in a decade.

Most of the Polo pieces Angus owned and just ran with the overpriced "streetwear" crap. They may or may not have been product placement.

I don't know if it gets too dark even if it hints at it. Season 1 end was a bit of non ending ending. You could have interpreted it as Rue OD:ing and going back where the show started, but that didn't really happen. Just a relapse.

I don't know how loosely Levinson writes. My guess is very loosely and that works when you're surrounded by people that can make it work.

Marcell Rev was the DP in the first 4 ep block in S1. He uses his own editor as well. Then the other DPs picked up from that. In S2 Rev did all the episodes except the 6th. He can do really good stuff when he has room to work with. He didn't have that with specials or Malcolm & Marie. It's possible I'm wrong about Malcom & Marie. Maybe it gets good after the first 20 minutes. I'd say that's less likely than me ever finishing it.

Show is at it's best when it can do montages, work with an ensemble cast, play with the camera, make full use of the screen real estate, score, references, 4th wall hijinks, monologues and write with reactions/expressions. It's pretty lost with 2 people in a single closed space when dialogue needs to do all the heavy lifting.

I don't mind the route of comedic relief or eye/ear candy to balance the subject matter. I think it's easier to avoid the pity party, grief porn or slacking with execution. It avoids the cop out of having a theme as your shield against any criticism. The contract clearly promises entertainment and i don't think the show has downplayed/exploited it's subject matter.

It works as a high end buffet.

Also i didn't know Lexi is Judd Apatow's and Leslie Mann's daughter.

True story - My college roommate and one of my best friends passed in December. Crazy Lori Petty was his neighbor in Venice. She gave an epic drunken rant/eulogy at his memorial.

Also I think Peacemaker is way better than you guys are giving it credit for. Vigilante is god.

if russia nukes us before euphoria season finale so help me god..