So...I had seen stills of the teaser and then saw a tweet talking about how the episode was two people just talking and I thought i’d be walking into an episode of pure Rueles heaven but like...how naive of me. That is absolutely NOT what this show is or what this episode was about. I’m glad I was wrong because that is one of the best hours of television I’ve seen in the last 5-10 years. Easy.
Sam managed to write and direct such an honest, raw, compelling, and unabashedly truthful portrayal of bipolar depression and addiction and he did it by sitting two people down in one place and having them talk.
I’m a massive fan of long scenes with people talking. I think Linklater’s Before Trilogy is one of the best things to happen to cinema. Ever. One of the most memorable episodes of The Affair is the one where Noah and the therapist played by Cynthia Nixon just sit down and have a therapy session for half an hour straight. I know not many people love scenes of two characters going back and forth but I’m a sucker for it, at least the good versions of it. Not everyone can pull it off, not every writer can maintain a flow so effortless, so impeccably timed as what Sam Levinson just did on that episode. Not every writer is that skilled. Not only was the writing stupefyingly complex but heartfet but you had two acting powerhouses like Zendaya and Coleman Domingo going to fucking town on that script, acting their fucking hearts out in one of the most earnest conversations I’ve seen on television in years. What a fucking joy that was to watch. I didn’t even have time to stop and talk about it between Sam had me from the very first shot of the episode until the last one. I mea...the way Sam moved the camera around them? The directing work was beyond. It was bewildering, enthralling.
What a show. WHAT A FUCKING SHOW. I truly don’t trust people who say they don’t like Euphoria. I don’t.
