I gave in and watched The Idol.
Here me out – I really do love HBO. They have been responsible for some of my favorite shows of all time, from one of the best fantasy shows, Game of Thrones, to the latest in drama such as Succession. This channel and its streaming platform have made such good content that it’s rare they have a swing and a miss, but The Idol is certainly one of those.
If we’re being honest, I didn’t even plan to watch the Lily-Rose Depp drama. I had no interest in supporting anything else Sam Levinson was creating because I personally didn’t agree with the choices he was making about this series, from what I was reading about it. I was only really interested in Euphoria Season 3, if we’re being honest – and that’s mainly because I love Zendaya.
But, then my boyfriend, whom I love dearly, wanted to check it out because The Weeknd was in it, one of his favorite artists. So, despite my preconceived notions, I decided to watch it with him – and both of us agree that there is a good show here, but it’s hidden far below many layers of bad writing and production that I just need to talk about. Granted, I haven't finished the show yet at the time of writing this, as we're only four episodes in and there's still one more to go - but I think I've watched enough to make my judgement.
Today, we’re diving into how The Idol could have been great.
The Idea Of Diving Into The Toxicity Of The Music Industry Is Great, But Bad Pacing And Bad Character Development Destroys That
So here’s the thing – this show really does have potential with the main premise. The idea of diving deep into the toxicity of the music industry is honestly a great one for a drama series, and I could totally see HBO doing something like that really well.
But, it’s the way that it’s explored here that makes it bad. For the first twenty minutes of this series, we see Jocelyn’s team fretting about some NSFW picture that was leaked online and saying that it could ruin her career when, in today’s culture, it wasn’t even really as big of a deal as the show made it out to be. Jocelyn (the main character) herself even said, “this could have been worse.”
After that, we jump right into a dance scene at a club, a very shaky transition that is the start of a trend in this series. The pacing is off the entire time.
Not only that, but the character development is not there – I swear to you, I know nothing about this main character. Jocelyn is but a vessel for trauma. She has no personality besides the fact that she lost her mom and is dealing with it. We don’t know who she is as a person, what her likes are, what movies or TV shows she enjoys, nothing. We are completely in the dark about her.
It makes it hard for someone to root for her when we don’t know her, and the show is continuing to just use her as a plot device rather than an actual character with thoughts and feelings. I would have loved a story focused entirely on her, but there’s nothing here.
Manipulation Within The Music Industry Is Very Real – But That Storyline Is Bogged Down By A Bad Romance
We all know this is a thing. We’ve seen it happen with lawsuits and mega-battles for music, such as Taylor Swift and Scooter Braun. I would have actually really liked to see that sort of manipulation tactic play out – where the DJ comes in to supposedly help this young woman find her way and manipulates her into basically signing her life away because that’s what honestly does happen.
This idea is ruined instantly by having Jocelyn suddenly fall for Tedros – and, mind you, she's okay with Tedros being called “rapey.” All he does is dance with her at a club and they have one conversation in the stairwell after nearly getting caught having intercourse there, and from there it’s just this twisted, forced love story.
None of it makes sense – and it honestly infuriates me that this is the main plotline driving this show forward.
The Music Is Genuinely Catchy – But It Damages Certain Moments That Could Have Been Dramatic Turns
I went into this thinking that the music was going to be good. I mean, Euphoria had Labrinth and Zendaya making music and those songs are amazing, so with The Weeknd making music for the show, I expected it to be good.
It’s catchy – some music is really good, other songs are meh, but I never found myself annoyed by it. However, the fact that his actual pop music is used so frequently in the show is almost unbearable for me, because it’s used even during the dramatic moments, where a score would really come in handy.
Music really defines a scene, and I’m sorry, but The Weeknd’s voice in the background of someone trying to deal with their trauma doesn’t scream good music choice for me.
Some Shots Are Really Well-Executed – But They’re Ruined By The Over Use Of Torture And Sex Scenes
This is Sam Levinson – he really does know how to frame a shot. There are some awesome ones in Euphoria so I was expecting some great stuff here too – and there is. Just the opening sequence itself, where we slowly zoom out of Jocelyn’s face as she’s doing a photoshoot to see all the people around her – that’s really good camerawork.
But, I can’t appreciate the art of this show when nine times out of 10, many of these impressive shots are used in scenes that are…too much, even for me. There’s almost too much sex involved in The Idol, and Episode 4, specifically, had torture scenes that were too much to bear and were completely unnecessary. I can stand a lot…but not that.
There Is Actually Some Great Acting In This Show – But The Weeknd Is Not A Part Of It
Look – The Idol cast genuinely does some great acting. Lily-Rose Depp is really good in her lead role. Dan Levy, from the Schitt’s Creek cast, is always a delight to see and he was great in this. Troye Sivan also did some excellent work – there is a lot of great acting here.
The Weeknd is not an actor and should never be one.
He is not a triple threat. I can fully say that now. He can do as much voice-acting as he wants in adult television shows like American Dad but keep him out of live-action – at least until he’s had better training. He doesn't even make Tedros look appealing whatsoever to counter out his BDSM, narcissistic attitude – he’s just awkward and weird and every bit of line delivery is broken and stiff. Literally anyone else could have played this role. He needs to stay far away from television.
I Understand Why Jocelyn Wants To Change Her Sound – But Her Letting Tedros Into Her Life Doesn’t Make Any Sense
I get that Jocelyn is going through a rough time. We all have horrible moments in our lives where we lose family or something close to us and struggle to cope – but man, that is not an excuse as to why she suddenly works with Tedros and is obsessed with this man.
She barely knows who he is for more than a day and suddenly allows him to come into her house, work on her music, and basically take over her life. Her best friend and assistant even said that he was bad news and she just ignored her. I get that she wants to change her sound, but when literally everything is pointing to a red flag, she just ignores it.
I suppose red must be Jocelyn’s favorite color because Tedros is literally covered in it. I am never going to understand why she suddenly allows him to work on everything in her life because I don’t think anyone is that ignorant. Maybe I just assume people will be smarter, but wow…too much there.
Am I going to finish The Idol? Probably, just because I’ve gotten this far, but I’m really hoping that this show doesn’t get renewed. I believe it was only made for a limited series run, but I seriously can’t imagine it moving past this season. It could have been great, but after all the changes…it lost to me.
If you want an actually good television show about the music industry, check out Empire, Vinyl, even Nashville – all of those are better than this.
