Things escalate at a photo shoot in an outrageously luxurious Los Angeles mansion. First the manager of the pop star Jocelyn declares her young, beautiful and broken look to be the latest hype (“Mental disorders are sexy!”). Then the intimacy coordinator is locked in the toilet. And finally, while the snapping continues, a leaked photo emerges showing Jocelyn with cum on her face.
The 15-minute opening sequence of “The Idol” is as grand and provocative as one would expect from Sam Levinson’s new series (“Euphoria”). Sex, drugs, violence and depression are once again the stuff Levinson’s dreams are made of in the six-part series. However, the drama he co-created with The Weeknd and Reza Fahim, which meanders between tabloid comedy and Shakespearean tragedy, takes on a peculiar twist when The Weeknd comes into play as the enigmatic club owner to whom Jocelyn is smitten. And soon you’re no longer so sure whether “The Idol” is really a cynically clever zeitgeist piece or whether it’s more of a “Fifty Shades of Gray” male fantasy. (Sky)
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