Zendaya is brilliant, but it’s all too harrowing for those of us still traumatised by Neighbours’ Karl/Izzy/Susan love triangle
Strange, isn’t it, in this era of horrors, that a once-in-a-generation, definitive TV show about teenagers is so unrelentingly bleak. In many ways, one can only hope that Euphoria is not definitive, because it makes being 17 look even less appealing than actually being 17 did.
Its characters are a painful mess of drugs, addictive behaviour and self-destruction. Were it not for the calibre of its performances, particularly from Zendaya as Rue, it would be borderline unwatchable. Her Disney-to-grit transformation is remarkable, and she anchors the series.
