‘Euphoria’ Season 2 Review: Zendaya Throws Down Another Tour De Force in HBO’s Controversial Teen Drama

It’s been two and a half long years since Euphoria Season 1 debuted on HBO in June 2019. Since then, the world has been struck by a global pandemic, international superstar Zendaya has won an Emmy for her work on the controversial HBO show, and teens who were fresh out of freshman year when Euphoria Season 1 dropped are now in their senior year of high school. So basically a lot has changed in the world, but you wouldn’t know it from watching Euphoria Season 2. For better or for worse, the show essentially picks up where it left off. A relapsed Rue (Zendaya) is still pining after Jules (Hunter Schafer), toxic jock Nate (Jacob Elordi) is still misplacing his rage at his father, and the best part of Euphoria is a tie between its stunning visuals and arresting performances.

Euphoria Season 2 commits to the show’s self-important, exaggerated view of the world with the kind of swagger you’d expect it to. While the storytelling often spirals around the drain this season, going around in circles when it demands momentum, Euphoria still has the strength of its supremely talented cast to recommend it. Zendaya once again throws down a tour de force of self-destruction, Sydney Sweeney is at her manic comic-dramatic best, and the ensemble as a whole shines. Ironically, the show’s biggest issue in Season 2 is not giving enough of its wildly charismatic actors room the time they deserve in the spotlight. (It’s honestly upsetting how little Season 1 standouts Hunter Schafer and Barbie Ferreria get to do in Season 2!)

Euphoria Season 2 is good, but not quite great — only don’t tell Euphoria that. It would kill the show’s own buzz.

Euphoria follows a group of modern day high school students as they navigate the turbulent waters of drug abuse, domestic violence, sexuality, toxic relationships, friendship, and deep-rooted trauma. Under the stewardship of writer, director, and producer Sam Levinson, Euphoria uses over-the-top visual tricks, bombastic needle-drops, and rampant nudity to heighten the horror of adolescence. Season 2 is rooted, as the series always has been, in the devastatingly grounded performances. For all the glitter, glamour, and dream sequences, the cast of Euphoria never lets us forget that the lives of their characters are waking nightmares. It’s this tension, between the show’s Brechtian aspirations and the nuanced performances, that make Euphoria divisive. Are you repulsed by its aggressive hedonism? Or are you utterly transfixed by the portraits of trauma?

When Euphoria Season 2 opens, Rue is so deep in the throes of her addiction that she accompanies drug dealer/friend Fezco (Angus Cloud) to a dangerous meeting with a local drug lord. The dangerous encounter — introducing a stand out new side character named Faye played by adult film star Chloe Candy — amuses Rue more than it traumatizes her. Worse, it quietly sets up a sinister subplot that will follow Rue, Fezco, and friends throughout the season. Elsewhere, the gang is celebrating New Year’s Eve with one of their trademark debauched parties. New lovers find themselves dramatically entangled, sparks fly between unlikely friends, and violence breaks out. An entire season’s worth of future fights, betrayals, and heartaches are set on simmer. The Season 2 premiere is pure Euphoria, right down to a plethora of penises on display.

While Euphoria obviously gets off on shock value, Season 2’s best moments are all thanks to the ensemble’s performances. Zendaya continues to portray Rue as a young woman trapped by her own nihilism, tragically convinced the beautiful things right in front of her are too far out of reach. As previously mentioned, Hunter Schafer sadly has less to do this season, but when she does get screen time, she pulls focus like a super magnet. Both Zendaya and Schafer do their best work in Episode 5, which marks a volatile new chapter for Rue’s story. Elsewhere, while the whole cast is phenomenal, Sydney Sweeney pulls off a high wire act, portraying Cassie’s consistent emotional degradation with a complex mix of brutal honesty and cringe comedy. (It’s clear Sweeney’s stay at HBO’s The White Lotus leveled up her own tragicomic chops.)

HBO sent only the first seven episodes of Euphoria Season 2, which ends the story in an abrupt, uncomfortable place. Euphoria Season 2 Episode 7 is a wild swing for the already bold series, where reality and theatrics blend in the most pretentious way imaginable. Without seeing the final pieces of the overall puzzle, it’s impossible to say if Euphoria Season 2 manages to succeed as a whole. What we have seen is as masterful as it is messy. Euphoria remains an imperfect gem that works best as a showcase for the next generation of towering acting talents.

Euphoria premieres tonight — Sunday, January 9 — at 9 PM ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Where to stream Euphoria