The Idol Episode 2 Review: This latest HBO series is created by the music world icon The Weeknd, along with Reza Fahim, and Euphoria’s Sam Levinson. Levinson directs the drama under the production company banners of The Reasonable Bunch, Manic Phase, Little Lamb, People Pleaser, Bron, A24 and HBO Entertainment.
Lily-Rose Depp plays the significant role of Jocelyn, and Abel Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd, plays Tedros. The show features a considerable support cast that includes Suzanna Son as Chloe, Troye Sivan as Xander, Jennie Ruby Jane as Dyanne, Moses Sumney as Izaak, Jane Adams as Nikki Katz, Dan Levy as Jocelyn’s publicist, Eli Roth as Andrew Finkelstein, Rachel Sennott as Leia, Hari Nef as Talia, Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Destiny, Hank Azaria as Chaim, Melanie Liburd as Jenna, Kate Lyn Sheil as Amy alongside Tunde Adebimpe, Elizabeth Berkley, Nico Hiraga, Anne Heche, Maya Eshet, Tyson Ritter, Liz Caribel Sierra, Karl Glusman, Sophie Mudd, Charly Summer, Mitch Modes and more.
The second episode is out now and is titled Double Fantasy. It is directed by Sam Levinson, with a story by Abel Tesfaye and Sam Levinson and a teleplay by Sam Levinson. The runtime for the episode is 49 minutes.
– HBO Max’s The Idol Episode 2 Review Does Not Contain Spoilers –
The Idol Episode 2 Review
The Idol started its journey on an interesting note with the story but, was not fancy enough to attract us with the characters it presented in front of us, especially our protagonist- Jocelyn; we just could not seem to know her as a person through the first episode. However, with certain creative calls, this time around Levinson has changed that and let us in be it the trials and bruises of shooting an X-rated dance video or the parting shot of the second episode with Joss crying while singing ‘It’s my family, we do not like each other very much.’
The Idol Episode 2 starts with the aftermath of the steamy, face-folded session that occurred between Joss and Tedros in the last episode. The product of their sexual encounter, which was somewhat torture sex, led to the two remixing Joss’ to-be-released title ‘I’m a Freak’ while having sex. The remix is too adult content to be commercialized. Although, Joss feels that it makes her music more of her own.
She takes a leap of faith and plays the remix (still in works) for her team, who disapprove of it. Nikki, especially, is cut-throat and honest, giving us a before-story for Joss in the process. Heartbroken, the artist has nothing to do but, move on with her plans.
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As The Idol Episode 2 progresses, we see Joss shoot an X-rated music video for the same which brings a kind of unseen mania in her. This event leads to something unknown, making sure Joss and Tedros’ paths cross. At this cross, lies plans we are still not aware of and a man, who we know little about. In fact, if we have to take a guess and compare Tedros to someone, it would, hands down, be Charles Manson because that man just has that cult energy.
Things have gotten better with The Idol Episode 2 in some aspects. Joss as a character is more clear to us. Most of the shots are really beautiful, such as, Chaim having a heart-to-heart with Joss. Nonetheless, the dialogues fail you, much like the lyrics to I’m a Freak and, you cannot do anything about it. You get to see The Weeknd have a dirty talk moment and, if you know enough about it you’d know it is bad!
The Idol Episode 2: Final Thoughts
Overall, The Idol Episode 2 was better than the first one but, is clearly not the showstopper. However, it is getting hard to see how this show can get better than this with those sets of dialogues but, never say never. In fact, Jennie might be the saviour of this Levinson piece because she seemingly entered an almost villain arc in this episode.
You can watch The Idol Episode 2 now streaming on Max. To read our review of the series, click here.
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