F.Annoyingly, for a show so concerned with its own ideas of craft and superficiality, the first 20 minutes of The Idol are far better and more engaging than the drama that follows. It gives the impression of being a robust, more interesting drama. Written and directed by Euphoria creator Sam Her Levinson, it tells the cartoonishly sleazy tale of her pop star’s gilded life and the gurus who rush to shake her up. I am drawing. Idols are already full of noise, is that exploitative? Too outrageous? – that they are simply inclined towards controversy. The streaming I watch on her platform advertises the production as a “topical drama.”
It’s a way of backing up some of the more negative press that’s come out about the show’s production, but it’s also a warning that the show will strive to be shocking. The more successful opening scene does this with humor. Pop star Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp, with a blank expression on her face, apparently on purpose) shoots the cover for her new album, and then, with a PR crisis in the background, Amidst the explosion, she is rehearsing with her dancers in the garden of her mansion. She is trending on Twitter after a leaked photo of her with semen on her face when she tops. Her live agent is furious and fears 14-year-old girls won’t buy tickets to see her perform the song “I’m a Freak.” The lyrics include the line “Get on your knees and get ready.” Please be my bitch “
At first, The Idol was a chaotic, brash, over-the-top satire of fame. Jocelyn’s team of managers, assistants, PR and label execs are joking as she ponders how to deal with the scandal before she finds out. “Britney and Jocelyn’s experience is unique, but universal,” determined publicist Benjamin (Dan Levy). The similarities to Britney Spears are obvious because Jocelyn has had a previous injury, but they’re emphasized anyway, and the choreography includes an homage.
The opening also reveals Idol’s highly frustrating act of reacting to imaginary criticism and disguising it as dialogue. Label boss Nicky (Jane Adams) gloats that Jocelyn is “young, beautiful and damaged,” while creative director Xander (Troy Sivan) says they “romanticize mental illness.” I am worried that She lashes out at “college-educated internet guys” who ruin everyone’s fun. “Stop trying to block America,” she says. This complaint about “college-educated internet people” continues, but given that internet people are desperate for this show to be the oxygen they breathe and for people to talk about it. And it’s a little richer. Still, it’s offensively funny, and I’m starting to wonder if The Idol isn’t the “headline-making drama” I was hoping for.
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Tedros (Abel Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd) makes an appearance. Jocelyn met him when he walked into his club, where he was MCing like a DJ at a Northern wedding. He talked a lot on the mic, and he even got to the point where he announced the opening of the buffet in one sentence. “Are you here to have sex?” he yells. No, I’m just here for cheese and pineapple sticks. Tedros is a charismatic drain that sucks up any remaining spark from the show. In one of his many lines supposedly meant to be talked about, Jocelyn’s assistant Leia (Rachel Sennott) says she doesn’t like Jocelyn’s vibe. “He’s very rapist.” “Well, I like that about him,” Jocelyn nervously says.
He gives her the most brooding lines of dialogue (“Why won’t anyone like you?”, “You fit perfectly in my arms”) and she wonders if her music is shallow. It’s giving him a chance at Mansplain Pop. “I don’t think Prince will agree with you,” he haggled, at which point I stopped laughing on the show and started laughing. Jocelyn gives Tedros a light shackle by playing her “I’m a freak,” but Tedros suggested she doesn’t sound like she “knows how to fuck.” “How do you think I don’t know how to fuck?” she replies. “Your vocal performance,” he said, at which point I completely lost it.
The idol who created the discourse is dutifully trying to fulfill its role as the center, but it feels somewhat formal. It’s aimed at Paul Verhoeven, and Jocelyn and Leia have even seen Basic Instinct together, but for now it’s more of an homage act. It’s a spectacular and silly spectacle, and I don’t hate it, but it gets a little boring by the end of the first hour.
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