The Idol Should've Just Followed Euphoria, Not Experimenting With Pacing
Levinson has jumped the shark with his latest show.
HBO's The Idol is definitely one of the most talked about shows of the summer, but it's being talked about for all the wrong reasons. People didn't take well to the show's ridiculous amount of nudity and violence in the first episode, but creator Sam Levinson stuck to his vision and pushed even more shocking content onto the viewers in every subsequent episode.
However, even though a small percentage of viewers found the story of pop star Jocelyn being corrupted by sleazy cult leader Tedros sufficiently compelling, even this small group didn't particularly like the way Levinson chose to tell the story.
Fans were surprised and puzzled to learn that the man who created Euphoria failed to find an appropriate narrative structure for The Idol, shooting it as just another prestige show instead of experimenting with the format itself. The very nature of the show called for experimentation, but Levinson chose the wrong kind of experimentation, attempting to break new ground by alternating the pacing in a rather half-baked manner. Meanwhile, most fans had expected him to follow his highly successful Euphoria formula.
'I think if we had it euphoria style where each episode follows one or two characters that would have been so much better as well,' a fan said.
Moreover, some fans are certain that Levinson could have made even an extremely slow-paced show a success if he had just followed the example of some of the European directors he loves so much. The Idol could have been a true arthouse masterpiece, but Levinson doubled down on shocking the audience instead of making them think.
'In regards to the form, the show actually would have been way better if it modelled itself after certain films within the realm of slow cinema. Juxtaposing the trashy, glamorous, surface level life/characters with a meditative, transcendental tone would have been incredibly compelling,' another fan noted.
But alas, The Idol has already been shot and released, and even the upcoming final episode will probably not change the fans' opinion for the better. Let's hope that at least the third season of Euphoria won't repeat the same mistakes because that could surely destroy Levinson's career forever.
Source: Reddit.