It’s hard to believe it’s HBO’s disaster drama Idol At one point it was promising.
The premise of a pop star falling in love with a cult leader seemed fascinating. The Weeknd, aka Abel Tesfaye, would show (apparently not much) what he was capable of as an actor. Uncut Stones Cameos And with talented independent director Amy Seimetz at the helm, it looked like Sam Levinson had finally let someone step in and save him from his own shortcomings as an auteur.
But as we now know, Seimetz was reportedly dismissed from the project by Levinson and Tesfaye due to creative differences. and shocking rolling rock The disclosure raised a number of behind-the-scenes issues, many of which were related to Levinson’s penchant for portraying sexual violence.
Same way, Idol It delivered everything you would expect from a Levinson production: bad direction, bad acting – mostly from Tesfaye – a convoluted plot, daring sex scenes, and taunts against the “awakened” culture that sounds more like Levinson’s voice than the characters. as with euphoriaThe most redeeming aspect of the show is its star, Lily Rose Depp, whose cast – again, apart from Tesfaye – raises the crappy material in particular.
While the first episode offered an interesting analysis of the music industry, the series never followed these ideas, leaving the audience to piece together what the show was trying to say – if any.
in front Idol’From Sunday’s The Daily Beast’s Obsessed, Kyndall Cunningham and Coleman Spilde discuss everything that went wrong with the series, from its portrayal of sex to main villain Tedros, and whether there is any hope for the final episode.
Kyndall Cunningham: Let’s start with the aspects Idol we actually liked it. You and I agree that the premiere was not as bad or grotesque as reviews from Cannes would have us believe. I can’t say it is Good. But hanging out with Jocelyn’s crew and seeing the inner machinations of her career is far more compelling than her sex adventures with Tedros and her vaguely written emotional crises.
Coleman Spilde: I really thought the premiere was one of the best television episodes ever this year. I thought it was the perfect blend of Sam Levinson’s idiosyncratic stylistic approach, and it was a fascinating, basic-level examination of what happened when his pop stardom derailed. Judging by the reaction from Cannes, I thought it would be rubbish, and I guess loving the pilot made me go against the anti-opposition.Idol rhetoric That’s why the rest of the series was so disappointing: there was potential in that premiere, just to line up all the plot points it set up for five episodes without any further story progression.
KC: The premiere also gave us an earworm that I thought we’d be treated to throughout the show: trashy, cookie-cutter pop music that’s ironically good. (“The Freshman Sinner/I’m a Freak” is is song of the summer.) The use of music at the premiere felt smart and affordable, including the remix of “Like A Prayer” when Jocelyn first met Tedros. But the rest of the show fails to present these great musical moments. There’s just a lot of 80’s saxophone music.
CS: Jocelyn’s song was really the highlight of that episode, instantly becoming a meme with its vulgar flavor. The Weeknd’s vocal influence was felt strongly in every original song after that, and indeed it permeated the series in completely wrong ways. The first episode spent so much time bringing us into Jocelyn’s world and preparing what I thought was an incredibly determined Lily-Rose Depp performance that we had no idea how messed up things would be after Tesfaye spent more time on screen.
KC: Definitely. The first episode was promising because we needed to see what Depp was capable of and we hadn’t yet been exposed to the monstrosity of Tesfaye’s “acting”. In the end, I was grateful that her performance was so ridiculously bad because it was the only thing that really kept me awake in the later episodes. Anyway, I think we can all agree that this guy should stay away from Hollywood scripts and wear prosthetics in his music videos.
CS: One of the things I find so frustrating is that The Weeknd’s influence is so prominently felt in the show. I think there is a clear boundary between the original version of Amy Seimetz. Idoland finally the movie produced by The Weeknd and Sam Levinson. For the first few episodes, these versions seemed to have a clear demarcation line; Seimetz’s version was similar to Jocelyn’s daytime activities, while Levinson/The Weeknd’s was exploring Tedros at night. Things derailed when Tedros bled into the whole affair. It was the most obvious to me, to you, and to everyone else on Twitter. ridiculous performance in Chapter 3
KC: Unfortunately, that whole Valentino scene—plus the slap in the kitchen—is now kind of iconic for its utter horror. I have over 20 recordings of that episode on my phone because I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing. Tesfaye’s entire performance seems so smug that it’s as if Martin Scorcese is living his anti-hero dreams at the expense of a well-crafted scene. But ultimately it comes down to directing.
With euphoriaLevinson was blessed with a naturally talented cast of actors. And based on the interviews, Levinson seems to take the Cassavetes approach of letting his actors act and feel a scene. But Tesfaye only needed the kind of training that is necessary for a pop star doing stunts. All his scenes have this really weird rhythm. And he gives his lines like he’s reading Saturday night live sign cards.
CS: For someone with a lot of musical charisma, he’s extremely strict in front of the camera. I think this is something that many musicians don’t necessarily realize is that being a theater artist is not necessarily the same as being a good actor. either I have said before I think Tedros should be a leech and therefore not imposing because his own fame and desperation for control hinders him. However, this directly refutes the show’s premise that everyone is under the spell of this wannabe cult leader. One might believe that if Tesfaye had been more specifically studied in her craft and the genre of erotic thriller, rather than saying outdated words every time she got a backlash, someone could fall in love with this man.
However, before the finger tapping scene in Episode 4, I didn’t think the sex scenes were as scary as everyone claimed. What’s more confusing is how Idol She combines Jocelyn’s abuse at the hands of her mother with her desire for perverted sex and hot relationships. All of this can come together in neat writing and from a woman’s perspective, but without it, they hang in the air with no narrative lines, which has upset a lot of people.
KC: This is a really good point. I don’t think all sex scenes should have a specific purpose or further the plot. Levinson, however, was clearly trying to link Jocelyn’s trauma to her “distorted” sexual desires that never really manifested (albeit harshly). Many of the scenes with Jocelyn masturbating were also confusing. “Among all this degrading sex, let’s pull some female empowerment!”
Overall, the sexual content of the series really felt compelled. “Oh, it’s been two minutes since Tedros was mean to Jocelyn, so let him smack her lightly in a store locker.” If you’re going to portray sex in such a non-erotic way, it should at least be jarring and weird.
CS: Sex—both owning it and using it—was undoubtedly a big part of the arrogance of this show. When was sex much more interesting? Idol He was discussing sentimentality as a music industry tool. This is something we all know, and the show could find compelling ways to explain the connection between sex and sales. The best we could deduce from this was Jocelyn’s “human cumsock” moment in the first episode, and that ultimately didn’t feel like such a big hurdle on Jocelyn’s career as the series initially posed.
We finished with Troye Sivan’s character, Xander, by suggesting that Jocelyn use the photo as the album cover. It would have been a crazy move, but at least we could see the seismic effect on his place in the industry. Instead, Xander, like many of the tertiary characters, was heavily influenced by the show. Yet when she’s tortured by Tedros to reveal that Jocelyn’s mother’s abuse didn’t stop at her daughter, she’s the only point of narrative progression we’ve gotten all this time. I think this scene was the first scene where the show felt like it had real interests and then he dumped them when the episode was over.
KC: Yep, instead we move on to an absolutely chilling scene where Tedros fires a water gun at Leila. The reveal of Jocelyn’s ex at the end of that episode also put us on another unnecessary but predictable path (aka Tedros will get angry and do more bad things). I’m confused about how the show will end because everyone feels so pointless. I have to assume it will result in some bloodshed. But will we have any insight into what the show is really about?
CS: Unfortunately, I don’t think we will. It looks like we’re going to a Jocelyn concert performance that might bring some kind of excitement (or horror). There was also that scene from the third trailer (very good, extremely misleading) where she walks furiously through the record label offices. But I’m not sure this show has an endgame in mind anymore. I can’t be the only one hoping Tedros kills Joss’ ex just to make the business bigger. Of course that didn’t happen. Idol It challenged my expectations in the worst way. This show had the potential, budget, and running time to be a singular analysis of the music industry’s toxicity. Instead, he fell victim to the same narcissism he was trying to send.
KC: I’m very skeptical Idol Even if the finale is miraculously good, it can be salvaged at this point. I also can’t imagine anyone revisiting and re-evaluating this show five or 10 years from now. It sucks that what initially seemed like a promising series turned into a waste of male egos. Ultimately, I think the chaos behind the scenes and the release of the show tell a much more engaging show business story than Levinson or Tesfaye could offer. I can’t wait for the book that tells it all.
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