Last night I finished watching the last episode of The Idol on HBO and I loved it. It stars Johnny Depp’s daughter Lily-Rose Depp as Jocelyn and The Weeknd as Tedros, both of which are the main characters on the show. The Idol is also created and directed by Sam Levinson who was behind the other great (and controversial) HBO series Euphoria. He’s the reason why I watched this show since I was a huge fan of Euphoria and wanted to see more of his work.
The Idol is a drama series about Jocelyn, a pop star aiming to reclaim her fame after a breakdown. Her life takes a turn when she meets Tedros, a nightclub owner with a dark past. The show explores her journey in the music industry and personal life.
The Idol is disturbing. It isn’t a show you binge watch since you want time between the episodes to just recharge. The Weeknd’s character “Tedros” is also the worst, a lot of people have said he’s a bad actor but I don’t think thats true, I think they just really really hate his character and it’s The Weeknd’s acting that brings it to life. And I’m not saying that because I’m a fan of his or anything, I actually didn’t care much for him before this show and I even only realized now while writing this post that it’s actually written The Weeknd and not The Weekend.
If you check the shows rating on IMDB it actually has a 5 out of 10 rating which is pretty terrible. But that’s understandable, so ignore it. The show isn’t for everyone and going through the reviews you can easily spot that. If you have the stomach for it and are willing to plow through the shows 5 episodes, I think you’re in for something really different and great.
23 replies on “Must Watch: The Idol”
You would watch 2 Girls 1 Cup and call it a “Must Watch” 🙄🤣
2 Girls 1 Cup was a must watch when it first came out lol
Very tense. sweat the palm of my hands in some scenes.
And you suppose to hate tedros. Thats the point. The weeknd succeeded in that.
Destiny is my favourite character.
Not enough neon and synth tho.
yeah Destiny was boss, I loved her. Even Hank Azaria was so fucking good.
Stopped reading after “huge fan of Euphoria” 🤣
Come on now, there’s a lot of fanastic shows on tv, let’s not lower our standards for overhyped garbage.
I mean just because you don’t have any taste doesn’t mean it’s garbage
Hey, I appreciate trash tv as much as the next guy, but this has built itself up as some sort of philosophical and existential drama. It’s kiddy TV at best. Reminds me of Skins back in the day, except without one likeable character.
Not to mention that the lead actress has zero range.
Cinematography is top-notch, don’t get me wrong, it’s almost criminal to be wasted on this. All flash, no substance. Sorry.
But hey, everyone’s a critic.
Trash TV? No likable character? Zendaya has zero range?
It doesn’t look like you watched past the first episode.
I watched the first season and the specials.
The special had me excited for a minute cause it was imitating InTreatment (now that is great television), but the line that made me give up was “the ocean is strong as fk, feminine as fk, and both are like what makes the ocean the ocean”.
I honestly tried, but life’s too short.
Btw I looked up Euphoria here to try to understand why fans like it, and it seems you didn’t really review it as you did this show. That would be an interesting read.
Also, I see you’re making Must Watch TV lists. If I may recommend Yellowjackets. The first season was spectacular, and it seems to be flying under everyone’s radar.
Yellow Jackets got boring 5 episodes in.
My Euphoria review you can find by searching for it on the blog.
I did search for it, all I saw was a blurb.
Yellowjackets however I came to accept the the highs are high and the lows are low, kind of like GoT. It does pick up with the cannibalism and the supernatural and all.
Euphoria blows, but goddamn yjackets is contrived a f. Solar Opposites, Barry. Now those are good shows
Barry is great but haven’t heard of solar opposites, gonna google it now
Heard such great things about SO but I’m not ready to be let down 🤣.
But Barry’s third season was probably the best thing on television that year.
I disagree about YJ. You literally cannot predict what’s going to happen in the next episode, I don’t think that’s contrived.
While this theme has been done before, it’s never been done with teenagers. And that’s interesting, because while teens are generally ot likeable people, and neither are the (mostly) anti-hero adults in the show, you can’t help but root for them because no one deserves to go through what they’re going through.
And still, we’re yet to know what really transpired as past events still unfold and get worse and worse.
i feel sorry for you if you couldn’t appreciate euphoria
I appreciate it as a work of art, but it’s not great TV.
You should read Hunter Harris’s newsletter on The Idol. She’s hilarious. I wasn’t interested in watching The Idol, but she wrote about it very amusingly. https://open.substack.com/pub/hunterharris/p/the-weeknds-top-9-humiliating-defenses?r=5fnw0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Ok just started watching I’m a Virgo. Super interesting so far, really weird
Now that’s a great shout. It’s like a Jeunet film had a baby with Donald Glover’s Atlanta.
The show is straight up TRASH!
Do not waste your time and watch it, none of the actors is likable, The Weeknd should never act again, seriously he has nothing in terms of on screen charisma nor presence.
Not to mention the dialog and character development, which has to be one of the lamest I’ve seen in a very long time.
Watch Afterlife on Netflix by Ricky Gervais.
“Tony had a perfect life — until his wife Lisa died……”
Dark humor, very emotional.