TW: This post will include mentions of physical abuse so be wary.
So I’m sure by this point everyone has seen or heard about HBO’s The Idol, the newest offering by Euphoria creator Sam Levinson & Abel Tesfaye a.k.a. The Weeknd. It focuses on a pop star named Jocelyn following the death or her mother and a very public meltdown as she attempts to return to the music industry which hits a roadblock when she gets involved with a club owner named Tedros (Tesfaye) whom is leading a cult of amateur pop stars.
It has received A LOT of discourse even before it aired, with many decrying Levinson’s involvement due to his over reliance of sexuality in his productions, many had concerns his involvement would lead to the show being infused with a messed up form of storytelling that would overshadow the story being told. Since it’s airdate, the sexualised elements of the show have been criticised for being too frequent and provocative but this weeks ep Daybreak had an element that moved a more toxic element of the show into the main story.
At a dinner table Jocelyn discusses her recently deceased mother and mentions she used to hit her with a hairbrush when she lost focus, Tedros (who’s looking to break her further under his power) orders her to retrieve the brush so he can use it on her, as he assumes the reason she is struggling to make impactful music is because she no longer has her mother around to ‘discipline’ her. We’re then treated to a rather icky sequence of him using the brush, paired with shots of aftercare and concludes with Jocelyn thanking Tedros for caring about her, yeah…
For a crowd that was already turned off by the show, this will no doubt enrage them, however this one scene of Jocelyn’s backstory opens up an opportunity for new avenues for her team to travel down: We already known Xander (Troye Sivan) didn’t try to help Jocelyn due to not wanting to loose his paycheck as part of her creative team, Leia (Rachel Sennott) is already weak willed to make any level of impact and Nikki Katz (Jane Adams) alongside Andrew Finklestein (Eli Roth) couldn’t care about anything but getting music out into the world to make them money, but what about the other members of her team who’ve shown a care for her emotionally beyond the need for business Chaim (Hank Azaria) & Destiny (Da’Vine Joy Randolph)? How come they didn’t step in any earlier to help her? Is there a potential to have them be redeemed?
Jocelyn’s mother passing away opened up a whole new avenue for her to make her own impact on the world so Tedros robbing her of that opportunity and Jocelyn seemingly ‘welcoming it’ doesn’t sit well on the mind of even those watching The Idol with an open mind, however with this sequence, the show may have just given itself a second season. Think about it, if the show ends on a season final with Jocelyn introducing Tedros at her concert & being met with cheers, it sends a very negative message that abuse leads to results and only backs up the concerns shared about Levinson’s involvement in the project in the first place and even if this season were to end with Jocelyn overcoming the negative influences in her life and regaining her power, it looks as if it’d be rushed rather than paced out fluidly (there are only a handful of eps remaining, two or three dependent on whether the fortnight showing of the show will be the finale), however with a second season that focuses on the new ‘Power Couple’ of Hollywood with Jocelyn becoming concerned with how Tedros’s is dealing with his star rising due to his association with her, it would showcase a commitment to telling the story in a fully fleshed out way.
The endgame of The Idol is clear: Jocelyn is meant to go through a rough handling of the worst parts of the music industry & come out stronger at the other end, obviously going to therapy to deal with the deep seated issues her mother, Nikki & Tedros have created in her, but ready to heal and grow, whether HBO will give Sam, Abel & Reza Fhaim the opportunity to continue it? Only time will tell.
