Less than two minutes into the new season of Euphoria — Sam Levinson’s dreamy, druggy high school drama that returned for a second season this month — and viewers are already confronted with a penis (erect, no less). It happens while two people are engaging in an intimate act in the back of a strip club; neither are main characters but the internet was immediately alight with shock and outrage.
Fans joked online about the affronting scene — and the awkwardness of parents catching a glimpse of the episode in their living rooms. All of which cued up the inevitable debate about who the show is actually for. Ostensibly a drama set in a high school and featuring Gen Z icons such as Zendaya and Hunter Schafer, it nevertheless deals with the kinds of adult themes that leave most parents cringing in fear. The East Highland classmates have more wild sex and do more hard drugs than many people see in their lifetimes, let alone high school.
