The 4Ps of Euphoria: pot, powder, pills and penis

I have already made it to episode 7 of the second season ofEuphoria, which Crave plays in a one-hour slot every Sunday (in English) and Tuesday (in French). I recognize here the extent of my privileges on the unceded territory of my Rosemont salon.

This series about teenage drug addiction is capable of both good and bad. The best: the super neat visual invoice, the inventive and brutal way of staging the descent into hell of the heroine Rue (amazing Zendaya) as well as the very raw representation of the tragic hedonism in which these teenagers also sink numb than numb.

It is at the same time superb, exhilarating and depressing. Glaucous, too. We look at a single plan and we know immediately that we are entering Euphoria with its overloaded suburban houses with brown wooden walls.

And now there is a look Euphoria : sequined and colored make-up around the eyes, clothes that are too loose or super revealing, it oscillates between porn-chic and studied negligee.

The worst ofEuphoria, now: this accumulation of style effects relegates to the background the brilliant acting of the young actors of this HBO television series. There is so much music, camera movements, superfluous narration and deconstruction of the narrative that we end up losing the thread of the story. By removing a thick layer of creaming on the cake, Euphoria would taste the same.

But at the same time, what would Euphoria without all these excesses? The screenwriters screwed the abuse into the center of the plots. Darker and more violent, the second season picks up on New Year’s Eve, shortly after the breakup between Rue and his girlfriend Jules (Hunter Schafer), who jumped on a train to disappear at the end of the road. Insert here a sequence of party filled with vaping smoke, the scent of pot and pill powder, interspersed with images of penises. No kidding. No taboo with male frontal nudity in Euphoria.

Rue, who is 17, goes into a spin. She alienates all her friends and almost plays in a Quentin Tarantino film. There’s a particularly infuriating — but brilliant — episode where Rue, in opioid withdrawal, runs from the police, pulls off a robbery, and knocks on the door of every dealer in the neighborhood. The scene of confrontation with his mother, which lasts 15 minutes, is overwhelming, at the limit of the tolerable. It’s heavy.

Excluding Rue, his girlfriend Jules and their new polydrug friend Elliot (Dominic Pike), Euphoria is less interested in the other comrades of the East Highland school and that’s a shame. There is an intriguing connection between Lexi (Maude Apatow), Cassie’s (Sydney Sweeney) responsible younger sister, and the trafficker Fezco (Angus Cloud, a favorite of mine), which deserves a full episode.

The love triangle that emerges between Nate (Jacob Elordi), Cassie and Maddy (Alexa Demie) eats too much airtime, and we miss the character of Kat (Barbie Ferreira), who lost her liveliness in one season . Waste.

The more the season progresses, the more it turns into a gangster movie. Nate’s father played by Eric Dane, aka McSteamy in Grey’s Anatomy, sinks as much as his son, and a long flashback sheds a different light on this villain character.

Visually, Euphoria remains the most beautiful television series on the air today. And even if it is sometimes tense, it remains the best TV series for 17-year-old teenagers camped by actors who are ten older.

Hi, man!

I was not thrilled with the description, on paper, of the comedy The brotherhood from Noovo. A secret society affair around the Bonhomme Carnaval in Quebec City, no thank you, that interested me a lot less than an Ashton poutine with hot sauce, extra sausages, yum.

After the broadcast of the first two episodes, Mondays at 7:30 p.m. on Noovo, we have to admit that it’s really intriguing and original. We follow Simon (Pierre-François Legendre), a tidy snack bar owner, who is reborn, in a way, when his best friend Patrice (Guillaume Cyr) asks him to replace him in the Snowman costume. . This mascot operation must remain top secret, which causes several entanglements.

By donning the white and blue clothes of the Bonhomme, the good Simon triggers a series of wacky events that recall the dark humor of the series. Fargo. His civil servant spouse at the City of Quebec, interpreted by Isabelle Blais, also puts her arm in the gears and her extinct couple regains vigor in cold water.

Really, it’s funny and smart. The cast of The brotherhood also includes Guillaume Lambert, Romane Denis, Alexandre Goyette and Florence Longpré. Filmed in Quebec, this series begins royally, with a great and joyful display!