DVD Review: EUPHORIA: SEASONS 1 & 2

Home » DVD Review: EUPHORIA: SEASONS 1 & 2

Nov 20, 2022 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the DVD I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own.”

The gritty HBO series Euphoria follows the lives of a group of high school students in the town of East Highland as they deal with issues of addiction, drugs, sex, abuse, violence, their parents and more. As the series opens, Rue Bennett (Zendaya) has returned home after going through yet another stint in rehab for her drug addiction, only to immediately pay a visit to her friend, drug dealer Fezco (Angus Cloud). At a party thrown by college footballer Chris McKay (Algee Smith), Rue meets transgender girl Jules Vaughn (Hunter Schafer), who has just moved to town, and they both feel an instant connection. However, Jules has her own secrets, often meeting up with older men via a hookup app, one of whom is Cal Jacobs (Eric Dane), the closeted and demanding father of popular high school jock Nate (Jacob Elordi), who has his own unhealthy relationships and insecurities when it comes to women. Nate recently broke up with girlfriend Maddy Perez (Alexa Demie), who wastes no time looking for revenge sex. Meanwhile, Kat Hernandez (Barbie Ferreira), who has insecurities about her body, discovers that being a camgirl gives her the freedom to assert and explore herself. And Cassie Howard (Sydney Sweeney), McKay’s ex-girlfriend, continues to be haunted by her own infamous sexual history.

The series is narrated by Rue, and much of the first season finds Rue having ups and downs as she struggles with her addiction, but she sees Jules as a potential light at the end of the tunnel. All of these students have some sort of issue going on in their lives, and Jules is no different. Even the most promising of a relationships can be a struggle for both her and Rue. Between the two seasons, there are two special episodes. The first focuses on Rue, while the second focuses on Jules. While there were many critics who lauded these episodes for their dramatic performances, I wasn’t really a fan of these 2 bottle episodes, finding them way too drawn out and a bit boring. In the second season, things really pick up, taking the storylines to even darker places. Rue is once again headed in a downward spiral. She makes a new friend named Elliot (Dominic Fike), who is a bit of an enabler, and also comes between her relationship with Jules. This all leads to an incredibly draining and emotional episode midway through season. We also see a lot more of drug dealer Fez and his adopted brother Ashtray O’Neill (Javon “Wanna” Walton) this season, who have some dangerous suppliers they must report to. Nate’s relationship with his father comes to a head, and Kat’s starts a new and interesting relationship with Ethan Daley (Austin Abrams). The season builds to an all-out ridiculous and crazy finale with a hilarious school play that is wrong in so many ways. Throughout the series, the episodes often jump back in time to explore the backstories of the characters, to show what led them to their current situation, and why they are the messed up people they are.

Euphoria is very explicit and graphic at times in its portrayal of the issues these teens are grappling with, sometimes bordering on a bit excessive with the sex, nudity, drug use, and violence. However, I wouldn’t say it is ever glorifying drug use—if anything its doing the opposite. That said, this show has been a bit hit and miss for me. It does not represent my high school experience even remotely in any way, shape or form—and if it is an accurate depiction of high school today, I’m a bit scared for future generations. I don’t have any experience dealing with addiction first-hand or with loved ones, so I often found myself incredibly frustrated by Rue and her self-destructive nature. It would seem like everything is going great for her and just when things are looking up, she just reverts back to her old destructive behavior, burning bridges, ruining relationships, and destroying trust. While Zendaya really delivers on these emotional moments and gives a strong, believable performance, I often found it difficult to watch or even care about Rue. Many of the characters have a self-destructive nature, which makes it hard to root for any of them. The show turns into depression porn after a while, and there were also moments where it would get a bit too artsy for my taste.

While the series airs in HD on HBO and HBO Max, Warner Bros. has only given it a DVD physical release (it is available in HD for Digital purchase). The picture quality is generally pretty clean, but a bit dark at times and is definitely lacking that extra level of clarity and detail of an HD presentation. The audio track fares better, providing clear dialogue and making excellent use of the stereo and surround channels to give a more immersive viewing experience. The series also has a great soundtrack.

The show’s first 18 episodes are split across 5 discs, with 2 discs for the first season, 1 disc for the special episodes, and 2 discs for the second season. All 5 discs are stacked on a single peg on the right side of a standard-sized DVD case, which is placed inside of a carboard slipcase. There is no digital copy included. The discs contain hours of behind-the-scenes featurettes and interviews with the cast and crew. While this is nice, interesting stuff, none of it is exclusive to the DVD release. All of this material (and a whole lot more not included on the discs) is already available to watch via the official Euphoria YouTube channel.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (17:12:30)

All 18 episodes of the series thus far:
- Season 1:
- Special Episodes:
- Season 2:
480i / Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH

Extras:
All of the bonus material had been previously released on the official Euphoria YouTube channel, along with even more material that has not been included on this release.

Season 1:
- Euphoria in Conversation: Zendaya & Sam Levinson (3:48)
  Star Zendaya (“Rue”) & wrier/executive producer Sam Levinson sit down to discuss the character of Rue and how the writer’s own experiences with addition informs the character and the show in general.
- Storyboard to Scene (1:08)
  Storyboards are overlaid on top of a final scene from the first episode.
- Euphoria Scene Breakdown (2:02)
  Star Zendaya & wrier/executive producer Sam Levinson talk about shooting the rotating room scene, along with behind-the-scenes footage.
- Euphoria Unfiltered
  - Euphoria Unfiltered: Zendaya (2:18)
    Star Zendaya describes the series, the character of Rue, her voiceovers, and her relationship with Jules.
  - Euphoria Unfiltered: Jacob Elordi (3:40)
    Star Jacob Elordi (“Nate”) discusses developing his character, and Nate’s relationship to Jules, Maddy, his father and the other characters.
  - Euphoria Unfiltered: Barbie Ferreira (2:53)
    Star Barbie Ferreira (“Kat”) talks about how she developed her character, and how she finds control and power from the situation she is put in.
  - Euphoria Unfiltered: Hunter Schafer (2:53)
    Star Hunter Schafer (“Jules”) talks about playing Jules, her constant search for affirmation and affection, her relationship with Tyler/Nate, Rue and others.
  - Euphoria Unfiltered: Alexa Demie (2:53)
    Star Alexa Demie (“Maddy”) talks about why she was drawn to Maddy, Maddy’s relationship with Nate, and her search for love.
  - Euphoria Unfiltered: Algee Smith (3:06)
    Star Algee Smith (“McKay”) discusses his character’s relationship with football, trying not to disappoint his father, and his girlfriend Cassie. He also talks about working with Sydney, and the feeling on set.
  - Euphoria Unfiltered: Sydney Sweeney (2:55)
    Star Sydney Sweeney (“Cassie”) talks about what she loves about her character, building a diary for Cassie to get into character, Cassie’s relationships, and more.
  - Euphoria Unfiltered: Zendaya & Hunter Schafer (2:40)
    Stars Zendaya & Hunter Schafer talk about working together, their chemistry, and where things end up in the season finale.
Special Episodes:
- Enter Euphoria
  Wrier/executive producer Sam Levinson and the cast talk about creating these special episodes to explore the characters. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with stars Zendaya, Colman Domingo (“Ali”) & Hunter Schafer.
  - Enter Euphoria: Part 1: Rue (6:40)
  - Enter Euphoria: Part 2: Jules (7:41)
- Euphoria: The Craft (3:43)
  Hunter Schafer talks about producing, writing and acting in the special episode for Jules.
Season 2:
- Costumes of Euphoria (8:42)
  The cast and crew discuss the show’s costumes and how they have changed in the second season. Includes behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with executive producer Zendaya, costume department head Heidi Bivens, wrier/director Sam Levinson, and stars Sydney Sweeney, Alexa Demie & Hunter Schafer.
- Enter Euphoria
  The cast and crew break down the storylines and characters of each episode of the second season. They discuss changing the look for season 2, exploring the backstories of the characters, shooting the period episodes, and more. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with executive producer Zendaya, writer/director Sam Levinson, director of photography Marcell Rév, supervising editor/co-producer Julio Perez, choreographer Ryan Heffington, costume department head Heidi Bivens, hair department head Kim Kimble, composer Labrinth, and stars Angus Cloud (“Fezco”), Hunter Schafer, Jacob Elordi, Sydney Sweeney, Alexa Demie, Chloe Cherry (“Faye”), Barbie Ferreira, Austin Abrams (“Ethan Lewis”), Dominic Fike (“Elliot”), Eric Dane (“Cal”), Nika King (“Leslie”), Storm Reid (“Gia”) & Maude Apatow (“Lexi”). These can be found on the discs with the related episodes.
  - Enter Euphoria: Trying to Get to Heaven Before They Close the Door (6:36)
  - Enter Euphoria: Out of Touch (7:22)
  - Enter Euphoria: Ruminations: Big & Little Bullies (7:51)
  - Enter Euphoria: You Cannot See, Think of Those Who Can (6:33)
  - Enter Euphoria: Stand Still Like the Hummingbird (9:21)
  - Enter Euphoria: A Thousand Little Trees of Blood (8:07)
  - Enter Euphoria: The Theater and Its Double (8:22)
  - Enter Euphoria: All My Life, I Have Yearned For A Thing I Cannot Name (10:05)
- Euphoria: Set Tour with Sydney Sweeney (3:07)
  Actress Sydney Sweeney takes viewers on a tour of the sets. Along the way she runs into other members of the cast and crew.
- Euphoria: All for the Looks (6:47)
  Actress Barbie Ferreira and make-up department head Doniella Davy talk about creating the many looks for Kat and the other characters.

Final Thoughts:

My Rating

Episodes:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

For Fans

Euphoria is a divisive show, tackling some gritty and tough subject matter. While the performances are all around strong, the subject matter and graphic nature of the show may be a turn-off for some. I had definite highs and lows while watching these episodes, with some stellar moments, and others that made me question why I was still watching. I wish Warner Bros. would give Blu-ray and/or 4K releases to match the resolution of how the show originally aired. Even though this has only received a DVD release, the picture and sound is still somewhat solid. The discs come loaded with bonus material, but none of it is new/exclusive to this release, and is only a subset of the mountain of bonus material available on the show’s official YouTube channel. Fans should appreciate this release, but others curious about the series may want to wait for a sale, or watch an episode first to see if the tone and subject matter is something they will want to watch 17 hours of.