TV-Show Review - Euphoria (Season 2)

Season: 2
Genre: Drama
Number of episodes: 8
Year: 2022
Starring: Zendaya, Maude Apatow, Angus Cloud, Eric Dane, Alexa Demie, Jacob Elordi, Barbie Ferreira, Nika King, Storm Reid, Hunter Schafer, Sydney Sweeney, Alanna Ubach, Austin Abrams   

Description: A look at life for a group of high school students as they grapple with issues of drugs, sex and violence.

Review: Cinematically stunning and thematically heartbreaking. Season one of “Euphoria” became one of the most celebrated Gen Z drama series on HBO, effectively getting under the skin of its audience with its raw, taboo-breaking nature. Whether the second season can get you just as high two and a half years later?
The 25-minute opening scene makes clear that this season is going to be a rollercoaster of drugs, mistaken encounters, high-stakes emotions and personal tragedies. Zendaya, who with her portrayal of the destructive Rue is the youngest actress to win an Emmy for “Best Lead Role in a Drama Series”, had previously revealed that this season would be a unch in the gut. And she didn’t lie, as the characters find themselves in even more intense situations and downwards spirals in this second season, which only makes theme more disillusioned with life. It is sometimes anything but easy to watch.
Hope, romance and happy endings are for another round. Although, thankfully, a touch of lightheartedness or an absurdly humorous moment is never far away. interludes that somehow always seem to be accompanied by the showing of a penis. Knowing that the creators of “Euphoria” have created with the series a world, which does not so much want to reflect on reality, but rather the emotional world of teenagers. I am especially relieved that this sequel managed to maintain all the best, ugly, confrontational and progressive of the series and at the same time lift the whole story to unexpected, unprecedented and compelling heights. And that it again managed to keep the clichés that teen dramas usually attract at bay for the most part.

My favorite part of this second season is that Lexi is given a much bigger role. She is the character that I like and relate to the most and I think Maude Apatow did a fantastic job this season. And Zendaya, yet again, is the scene stealer. Especially in episode 5, that one scene is magnificent and I wouldn't be surprised of she takes home yet another Emmy. 
I loved this season of “Euphoria”, just as much as the first. It’s a shocking series, not for the tender-hearted. I somehow always enjoy other people’s misery, in film and TV-show form that is. Not in real life.