Macabre Storytelling 
(SPOILERS: Euphoria)
This video will be a complete breakdown of Seasons 1 and 2 of HBO’s Euphoria, discussing the progression and regression of each primary character’s arc followed by a conclusion in which I will discuss what I find to be the show’s greatest failure; which is how, in an attempt to appear more “prestige” I suppose, it ends up rejecting the earnestness that I would argue is a staple of the traditional teen drama, opting instead for a surplus of exploitative melodramatic schlock smothered in an excess of garish visual exhibition all of which ends up drowning out the rare occasions when it does strike gold by relying on genuine empathy and focusing on raw characterization.
Main: https://www.youtube.com/c/MacabreStorytelling/featured
Live: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-2V-NccTF3n9k-MFmQXm1A/featured
Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1B0AxSHHg0zdroB3O_EVPg
[00:00:00] – Shoutouts
[00:00:25] – Introduction
[00:04:24] – McKay
[00:11:38] – Kat
[00:19:45] – Lexi
[00:27:55] – Cal
[00:37:40] – Maddy
[00:42:36] – Cassie
[00:49:44] – Fez
[00:53:49] – Nate
[01:05:19] – Jules
[01:12:26] – Rue
[01:22:21] – Conclusion
[01:33:41] – Patrons
SOURCES:
Euphoria Season 3 Begins Production: https://deadline.com/2025/02/euphoria-season-3-production-underway-1236284229/
Brian Bradley Exits Euphoria: https://www.thethings.com/brian-astro-bradley-euphoria-rapper-controversy/
Tension Between Levinson and Ferreira: https://www.elle.com.au/culture/news/kat-euphoria-storyline-controversy-26641/
Ferreira on Kat Being “The Fat Best Friend”: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/barbie-ferreira-left-euphoria-fat-best-friend-stereotype
Ferreira Exits Euphoria: https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/barbie-ferreira-leaves-euphoria-1235350078/
Ferreira Response to Feud Rumors: https://www.papermag.com/barbie-ferreira-euphoria-fight
Sweeney’s Initial Comments About Nude Scenes: https://decider.com/2022/01/25/sydney-sweeney-nudity-euphoria/
Sweeney Setting The Record Straight About Levinson: https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/b-blanchet/sydney-sweeney-clarifies-comment-euphoria-showrunner-sam-levinson-nude-scenes-twisted
Other Cast Members Speak About Sexualized Content In Euphoria: https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/pictures/everything-the-euphoria-cast-has-said-about-onscreen-nudity/
Cloud Discovered: https://www.gq.com/story/angus-cloud-euphoria-spotlight
Fez Was Originally Supposed To Be Killed Off: https://screenrant.com/euphoria-show-fez-death-change-angus-cloud-creator/#:~:text=Euphoria%20creator%20Sam%20Levinson%20kept,changed%20his%20mind%20both%20times.
Cloud Passes Away: https://www.cbr.com/angus-cloud-euphoria-star-dead/
Fike Returning For Season 3: https://www.coupdemainmagazine.com/dominic-fike/19983
Nika King Not Returning For Season 3: https://x.com/FilmUpdates/status/1890463960228368717
Storm Reid Not Returning For Season 3: https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/storm-reid-leaves-euphoria-season-3-1236215466/
FOOTAGE:
Levinson Interview I: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuGoLCZ03eo&t=56s&ab_channel=euphoria
Levinson Interview II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X9ecFNFobk&ab_channel=StillWatchingNetflix
Ferreira HBO Spotlight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4ey-4WTwrc&ab_channel=euphoria
Ferreira on Armchair Expert w/ Dax Shepard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlBnzJ0X3Ks&t=2950s&ab_channel=ArmchairExpertwithDaxShepard
STOCK VIDEO:
Blue & Pink Neon Stock Video: https://www.vecteezy.com/video/1624997-square-rectangle-picture-frame-with-two-tone-neon-color
Hell Stock Video: https://www.vecteezy.com/video/40567068-ai-generated-fiery-thunderstorm-in-the-sky-3d-illustration-natural-background-a-fire-hurricane-ravages-the-cloudscape-in-the-sky-a-visual-representation-of-climate-change-induced-apocalypse
MUSIC:
“Euphoria Funfair” by Labrinth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ95LjpgCjU&ab_channel=Labrinth
“Fork & Spoon” by Kevin MacLeod: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z-Oh344zW4&ab_channel=KevinMacLeodArchive
source
About The Author
Black Sails video when?
Black Sails video when?
30:14 Cal… Put your penis away. No. I am who I am.
Please please please analyze Adolescence. 🙇🏽♀️ It’s only 4 eps and feels like it would fit your channel. I’m so curious what your thoughts on it would be.
i think its because petra collins didn't do all of the heavy lifting for season 2. the only reason season 1 had any acclaim is bc of her influence, vision, and direction. season 2 is Levinson's hubris in full swing.
I really thought the show was just quietly canceled. I enjoyed the first season, loved a single episode of the second season and would've been perfectly fine with it just being over especially after Angus clouds death whose character was the only likable one other than Rue(sometimes) edit: almost forgot Lexi, she was awesome this season
It is a true accomplishment to fucking waste someone like Sydney Sweeney, in particular, like what the fuck.
Euphoria is basically if a show did drugs and overdid it chasing the "high" of ep1 and only went downhill from there
Mac I recommend The Edge of Seventeen (2016) as a good teenage coming of age film! Woody Harrelson’s not too bad in it too
My fiancé and I actually tried watching this show and we couldn't even make it halfway through the first episode, it was so obnoxious!
angus cloud just breaks my heart
Can you do a video about vinland saga please
As someone who has now been sober from opiates for 5 years, I really related to Rue. So much of her character feels so real that it’s scary. I get whiplash from Euphoria because when it comes to Rue the show feels scarily grounded in reality. Then we get the most unbelievably confusing, self-indulgent slop the moment it switches away from Rue or Jules.
This is such an amazing video. I love all your video essays. You Did the amazing job analyzing each character. I feel like McKay's character had a lot of potential but unfortunately it was announced that he's not going to come back. I'm shocked and disappointed that the show didn't go more into depth into his sexual assault by his frat and how it was a missed opportunity on the shows part considering how rare male sexual assault is discussed in Media
pen15 isn’t exactly a teenager show but it’s probably the greatest depiction of adolescence of all time, in my opinion. It manages to straddle a line between the cringe, confusion, and tenderness of growing pains while also perfectly balancing it with absurdist hilarity through Anna and Maya.
At first I was confused on its direction but it got exponentially better after each episode and made me feel every emotion possible. It may not be for everyone, but I would absolutely recommend it.
I loved s1 and the in between specials
I watched this video because I saw probably 1.5 episodes on a bar tv one time and absolutely hated the way the series was shot/lit/generally appeared, so I wanted a reason to justify my dislike of obvious high quality that just didn't land with me
This is gonna sound dramatic but this show makes me kind of embarrassed to be a part of Gen Z. When both seasons aired I was in my late teens/early 20s, but I'm about to turn 25 and everything about this show rubs me the wrong way now. I think we do need media portraying how fucked up coming of age is for younger generations (specifically with porn and social media complicating everything) but in retrospect I find it kind of insidious that Sam Levinson is essentially telling our story for us in the most dramatic, nihilistic and irony marinated way possible. Older generations and seemingly a lot of Gen Z themselves seem to think we're all too shallow and irony poisoned to want sincerity and that's one of my biggest issues with my Gen Z peers. What's the value of showing incredibly traumatic shit on screen (especially the scenes were minors are having sex with adults) if your characters barely grow as people and just continue wallowing in misery and shallowness? It feels like all so many of us are good at is just staring into the void and laughing about it and I don't really see the value in media that amplifies this really fucked up lens to view the world through.
When you said" adolescence michael myers!" i literally cried
You are very right in that Season 1 of Euphoria is the closest any piece of media has gotten to "relating" to the new generation. Most if not all other pieces of media about teens feel very unauthentic about social media, drugs, sex etc. Whereas S1 of Euphoria (and in some cases S2) doesn't really have that "how do you do fellow kids" vibe when it approaches those aspects. (For the most part).
I stopped watching by the 4th episode.
Cringe and lame
9:41 😅
Why is this show popular? It's as batshit as Riverdale was, plus with added depression.
All I'm hearing is that Gen Z/A is fucked in the head worse than we were.
Who is the show for: hormonal teenage girls who want to pretend they’re watching a “grown up” show. Most of the “questionable” decisions in the writing are explained by this.
You are a purely singular voice on this platform, thank you for your great work
kinda stopped caring about how the show will conclude when angus died.
uNdAhPaNts
Look, I just think at a certain point it's impossible for a viewer to discern between something being transgressive and something being exploitative. Euphoria was an overly gratuitous show from the off and considering the ages of the characters involved, occupies a similar place in my mind as something like Cuties.
In the same way it has always seemed like a sleight of hand that female sexual liberation aligns 1:1 with male sexual desire, telling a gritty story aligns 1:1 with the show creators desire to get Sweeney to get her tits out.
Oh GOD, I got into you after watching your reviews of one of my favorite yet conflicting franchises "The Last of Us", and now you are covering my beloved yet confusing TV show "Euphoria"?! Oh, I am SO SEATED & LOCKED IN! THANK YOU for this HARVEST, Mac! 🫂❤️
Half the cast isn't even coming back, how do they even expect to pull this off??? 😂😂 Unless they cast diff characters to play the roles instead. It's been forever so not like it would be TOO noticeable.
Also with the show being named "Euphoria" it really seemed to loose it's momemtum on what euphoria actually means to each character.
Babes, wake up, Mac's new elaborate breakdown review just dropped
From what I’ve seen from Season 3 so far (pictures/videos taken while filming) I’m definitely hyped I think this very long hiatus will become a good thing and Sam and crew only coming back after all agreeing on what story would make for the best season 3. I know Zendaya especially turned down many versions of the scripts that she didn’t like at all. Also HBO executives ordering new scripts and not caring about Sam’s Feelings also makes me believe it’s gonna be a good season.
WHITE LOTUS. While it is an ensemble affair, I’m willing to argue that the storylines/arcs the teenage characters undergo throughout each season speak well to the nuances and depths that certain teenagers experience today. I understand teenage-storylines are not a monolith and the narrative on display within the white lotus’s grand hotels only speak to a small swath of the teenage experience within their familiar and societal privileges; I have nonetheless been moved by the portrayals. There’s a ton to be analyzed in The White Lotus and my fascination with the teen-roles may prove shallow at best, but it still speaks to me as true and relevant and important.