Millenials are freaking out over HBO’s brand new series Euphoria, following several teenagers's high school journeys. The hit show has us all buzzing over the complexity of the characters, the intricate plot, the shocking realism, and everything else this whirlwind of a TV show has to offer. 

Personally, I’ve gravitated away from teen dramas as I’ve gotten older and experienced high school first hand, and this is because I’ve found the majority of them to be some sort of trashy parody of what high school is actually like. At my school, kids use cuss words ever so casually, wear an abundance of makeup, and of course destroy their bodies every weekend with excessive amounts of drugs and alcohol. Therefore, teen dramas mimicked this by scratching the surface with PG cusses, dainty little put-together outfits, and a casual beer at whatever party the characters attend. This is what sets Euphoria apart from these teen dramas.

The show’s director Sam Levinson composed a handful of incredibly complex characters, from a 17-year-old recovering drug addict, to a transgender abstract pretty girl. What is most appreciative about the series is that the characters are such a wild plethora of different personalities, giving each viewer a character to relate to. 

Not only is each character so vastly different from the rest, but the way Levinson dove into the backstories, the relationships, the personal lives of each character while still keeping them all connected to one another. At the beginning of each episode, viewers got a look into a different character’s childhood, home life, relationships, and just an insight into why they are who they are. It shows a very fresh style of entertainment to have such a character based plot, and leads the audience all the more invested in each character.

The plot follows each character through important events in their teen lives, while meshing them together while they weave in-and-out of each other’s relationships. The popular girls are composed of an abundance of characters as similar as mismatched puzzle pieces. This was more interesting to me, as for most teen dramas follow a friend group of pretty-girl clones. While the girls in this group are close knit, we see some of the characters slide in and out with these girls, such as Rue (Zendaya), who could be associated with them, but is not one of the it girls. Rue is the main character in Euphoria, and her story is written alongside Jules (Hunter Schaffer), in their epic friendship/relationship. Chances are you’ve already watched the series if you’re reading this, so I won’t continue on writing a summary. 

What I appreciate about this plot is Levinson’s ability to show such a large number of characters, yet have them all be related to one another. It demonstrates a very complex style of writing to have a plot so profound with each character, yet have so many “main” characters. It shows each character’s high school life and personal life, while also showing the bigger picture with all of them in it.

To have seen such a monumental piece and being able to relate to it is why I think it’s so easy to obsess over, so that the audience is as engaged as it is, while also giving viewers something to take away from it. Drug abuse is a large theme in the show, as Rue is a recovering drug addict. The audience quickly comes to realize this in a magical way, but are quickly snapped back to reality when consequences are shown. The realism portrayed is very interesting to the audience, for it’s a very personal experience for a lot of people. Drug addiction affects an alarming amount of teens, therefore such a large percentage of the audience either is a drug abuser, or knows one. Having this hitting-home aspect is very relatable to the audience, making it so different from other teen dramas.

As a teenager myself, it’s amazing to see such a proper representation of a teenager’s real life, not dramatized nor romanticized. It’s for this reason why I think Euphoria was so admirable to teens everywhere. I feel grateful to have seen such a masterpiece from our own era, and am currently counting down the days until season two. If you have yet to have seen it, grab your popcorn and go binge Euphoria on HBO!