The first episode of Sam Levinson's The Idol has been receiving negative criticism from the viewers. Besides the fact that the number of viewers failed to reach one million—unlike Euphoria which obtained 1,2 million viewers for the pilot episode—the introduction of the story in "Pop Tarts & Rat Tales" seemed to be trying too hard to be cool and subversive.
The gist of the story itself, as we already knew, tells about a Britney-like pop star Jocelyn (played by Lily-Rose Depp) who's dealing with personal problems after her mother died and her last tour got canceled. She is trying to reclaim her title as the sexiest pop star in America between her struggles and several scandalous occurrences involving her name. The story also follows Jocelyn's complex relationship with Tedros (Played by Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye), whose existence is full of bad news as his character is described to be the head of a contemporary cult.
Review The Idol Episode 1
In the pilot, the subject of this series seems to be only revolving around the toxicity of the entertainment industry, the perpetual mental health problems of the artists, and sexual fantasy. Jocelyn and her fame made her to always be surrounded by people from the industry who have their eyes set on her—trying their best to make sure her name still holds prestige even after her controversial revenge porn photo got leaked. Knowing about the news, Jocelyn's trauma surged up and it brought her to Tedros' club. Tedros found his way to Jocelyn's attention and affection.
Without an intention to judge the series way too early, Jocelyn seems to lack distinctive characteristics aside from her meltdown of hoping to be able to dance better than her back dancer Dyanne (Played by Jennie Kim from BLACKPINK). Another flag is raised after the show exhibited Jocelyn's fondness over sexual feats—judging from a scene where she touched and choked on herself then inviting Tedros to her house after their first and non-sober meeting. While this is in no way shaming the act itself, but the show's depiction of its sexual subjects seem fetishistic and exploitative.
Talking about the cinematography, of course, it was just like other HBO Originals with high production value and masterful cinematography. However, the pilot episode seemed to be overstimulating with certain lines and scenes with little takeaways. Jocelyn also showed a huge red flag that made this reviewer cringed when Leia (Rachel Sennott)—Jocelyn's assistant—hated the idea of Tedros coming over to the house because she thought that he had a "rapey" vibe, to which Jocelyn replied that "I kind of like that about him."
Another bizarre erotic scene besides Jocelyn masturbating was the one that closed the first episode, where she showed Tedros her upcoming release which received a vague criticism from him—he said that she wasn't singing with sexual passion enough. Tedros covered Jocelyn's head with her red robe and slightly choked her with it. She was gasping for air and Tedros whipped out a knife to cut a hole in where her mouth was, and he said "Now you can sing."
The show is surely not a subtle one—it may trigger and make the viewers feel uncomfortable in certain ways. With not so many things going on and not enough explanation about what went down in Jocelyn's history that brought her to this state, viewers are only served with something raw on how this story is going to escalate. Nonetheless, it could be way too early to judge the show as something awful. Despite the bad reviews this show has received, at least we got to see Jennie Kim as a supporting character who danced vigorously in such intoxicating choreography.
(DIP/alm)