User Reviews

I was enjoying the first half of the episode, and then Tedros shows up with his entourage.

It had the exact same problems from the first episode. We are watching Joss' internal struggles and her team neglecting her calls for help because "the show must go on". These are the interesting bits of the show.

The mood suddenly changes when the focus switches to Joss' relationship with Tedros. I understand what's up with Abel's character, but it doesn't work. His acting is far from convincing and the script isn't helping.

They're giving us a solid plot for the first 30 minutes and soft p*rn for the last 30 minutes. There's only 4 episodes left and the time is being wasted with endless scenes os Tedros doing dirty talk. The show has lots of style, but it lacks substance.

I think people are giving this way to harsh a critic. It's a guilty pleasure for sure , so take it as that. I'm hearing a lot of people over analyzing this show because The Weknd can't act and and Johny Depps daughter isn't him and lots of nonsense. I think this episode was pretty decent getting into the way these pop stars are used and abused at times. More so in the 90s and early 2000s as I think the music business has evolved from over working these poor girls to death. This episode shows that even though Jocelyn is the star she must jump and run around like she's in a 3 ring circus. The whole Tedros thing is starting to get a little interesting as he's obviously going to brain wash her and take total advantage of a crumbling soul that is Jocelyn. Now I'm not saying this show will win any awards , and it's certainly not HBO finest, but it may get interesting and if for nothing else it will kind of shock you a bit with its wild sex scenes and crazy soundtrack. If it's not for you that's fine but I find it funny that people come on to destroy it now for a 2nd week but are obviously intrigued as well or they wouldn't be writing or rating about it. Maybe give Depps girl a shot. She doesn't seem talentless . She just plays a pop starlet lol. Im going to keep going. It's got my interest for another week.

The first part of this episode was so good. It finally gave more substance and I actually was enjoying the show even though we spent like 25 minutes in the same setting (the music video). But then the Weeknd's character came on which he cannot act and you know it's about to be sexual. Then they had that weird moment at the end which I know the storyline they are going for but it just doesn't fit with the show and is completely uninteresting. The first part of this episode was beautiful. Lily Rose Depp showed that she can act well and she gave her character a new side that she portrayed extremely well. Without the sexual scenes and really the Weeknd's character at all, the show is better and actually watchable.

The Idol is a show that tries desperately to be a provocative and edgy drama about the dark side of fame, but ends up being a laughably, painfully cringey mess.

The show takes itself ultra seriously when from top to bottom it's actually an atrociously pretentious piece of garbage that would have been at home at 3AM on Cinemax in 1995.

The show stars Lily-Rose Depp as Jocelyn, an aspiring pop star who has a nervous breakdown and falls under the influence of Tedros, a self-help guru and cult leader played by The Weeknd, who delivers perhaps the worst performance on any show that ever aspired to "prestige" TV status.

The Weeknd is so flat, boring, un-charming, wooden and monotone that he makes Keanu Reeves look like Daniel Day-Lewis. He has zero charisma or presence, and his attempts at being mysterious and seductive are laughable. He delivers his lines with such a lack of emotion and conviction that they seem to be coming from a teleprompter. His character is supposed to be a charismatic manipulator who lures Jocelyn into his cult, but he comes across as a boring, creepy utterly unattractive weirdo who spouts nonsensical platitudes like some clownish Rasputin parody.

Lily-Rose Depp is not much better as Jocelyn, the naive and troubled pop star who falls for Tedros. She has the acting range of a cardboard cutout, and her character is so bland and unlikable that it's hard to care about her fate. She spends most of the show either crying, pouting, or having sex with Tedros in graphic and gratuitous scenes that serve no purpose other than to attempt to titillate an audience that the show runners seem to have forgotten has effortless access (it's 2023, folks!) to *actual* pornography at all times and will find it odd, not shocking, to witness B-grade schlocky softcore fare in the once-hallowed hour of Succession and the Sopranos.

Depp's character is supposed to be a complex and sympathetic victim of the music industry, but she comes across as a spoiled and stupid brat who makes inexplicably terrible decisions entirely lacks a personality.

The rest of the cast is made up of some very strong actors who been terribly served by the writers. Jane Adams as Jocelyn's cynical manager does nothing but smoke and swear; Dan Levy as Jocelyn's flamboyant stylist does nothing but make semi-lame jokes and wear outrageous outfits; Hank Azaria does nothing but play an ambiguously exploitative father-ish figure with a terrible and pointless 'Israeli' accent and persona... and on and on.

The writing of the show is atrocious, with dialogue that sounds like it was written by a teenager who watched Euphoria and sat down to write, like, a really HOT script about the music industry, dude. The show thus far shows no signs of knowing what it wants to be-- a critical commentary on the perils and damage of pop fame or a cheap pop-sploitation series that simply commercializes those exact 'sins' under the ultra-thin guise of critiquing them.

The tone is inconsistent, with moments that are supposed to be dramatic or tragic being unintentionally hilarious or absurd. The themes are shallow, with messages that are either obvious or contradictory. The show appears poised to *try* (ugh) to tackle issues such as mental health, fame, sexuality, identity, artistry, creativity, morality, spirituality, etc., but will, with total certainty, fail miserably at exploring them in any meaningful or original way.

The Idol is self-indulgent and pretentious, with gratuitous references to pop culture, philosophy, religion, literature, art, music, etc., that are either irrelevant or inaccurate. It tries to be meta and clever by using intertextuality or symbolism or irony or satire or parody or homage or pastiche or whatever else it can think of to impress the audience... but instead of being smart and creative, it all just ends up being transparent, annoying and confusing.

The show is a huge disappointment and embarrassment by creator and director Sam Levinson. Levinson, who previously created the critically acclaimed and popular show Euphoria, appears to have completely lost his touch and and vision whatsoever with The Idol. He has wasted his talent and his potential on a show that is a complete disaster and an utter waste of time. It is baffling how he could possibly have made something this execrable.

The Idol is a show that deserves to be canceled and forgotten as quickly as possible. It would be a mercy for all involved.

Ok the first episode was funny but when I introspect about it, I feel guilty laughing because it's dehumanizing. I mean where have we gone when this is how we are entertained? The finger blasting on the couch really over did it (in this episode they upgraded to a glass cup). And now when I see this actress that's what I'll always think of. Are we supposed to feel bad for the character Josselyn? It seems she is the source of all this heated sexuality, she perpetuates it. She commands it with agency, so is she really a victim of Hollywood? Or part of the problem? She actually violates her own legal protections in her contract to take off her clothes of her own free will. Lily Rose-Depp lacks any self-awareness as an actress. Allowing victimization to happen in real time without actually knowing it's happening due to the sake of "high art" -I could barely get through this episode even though I found the first one humorous and entertaining. But The Weekend and his acting was even worse in this one. Every line is empty and filled with conceited amateurishness that it takes me out of it, it's like he's trying to be "natural" by just being schmoozey. I really like A24 and the cinematography but the writing is dreadful and the performances on the verge of hammy. It feels sometimes like they are making it up on the spot for the sake of "naturalness."

I really disliked the First Episode, but I stuck with it because I assumed that it had to get better. Not only did not improve, but it actually got worse. Much, much worse. I cannot recall the last time that an episode of television made me this mad. Mad at the writers, the actors, the producers and most of all, at myself for sticking with this through the entire hour. It's the middle of 2023 and I thought that we would be beyond the level of misogyny displayed here. Out right verbal and physical torture and sexual belittlement of young women (girls in some instances) without consequence. There is nothing sexy about the way "The Weeknd" (soon to be know as "Career-End") treats his harem, and the "erotic" scenes in which he appears are mind-numbingly horrid. I am not sure who is being tortured here, Jocelyn or the audience.

And then there is the cavalier treatment of mental illness, all for the personal gain of the agents, managers, music producers and hangers-on. This is Brittany Spears/Lindsay Lohan stuff of 10 years ago. Again, we are way past that. Or at least, should be. The writing is vile, the acting horrific, and the subject matter cringeworthy. One more hour of this and the career suicide of everyone associated with this project will be complete. I already have an indelibly bad opinion of Abel Tesfaye and cannot imagine supporting anything that he does for the rest of his "career." Hank Azaria must have lost a very large sum of money at the track or casino to agree to participate in this mess. And I have usually enjoyed the quirky characters played by Jane Adams (loved her in "Hung") but here, I can't get past the vileness of character. Maybe it is a "blessing" for an actor to be able to stretch in a role like this, but at some point, good judgment must prevail. Lots of actors turned down roles in the "50 Shades" movies and probably "Caligula" too. Jane should have known better. I cannot imagine a more uncomfortable hour of TV being produced in the remainder of my lifetime. I'm Out!

The internet mob has come for this show and I really do not understand why.

First of all Marcél Rev´s photography is remarkable on this and worth noting. Just his photography alone is worth 5 points of rating alone.

It seems to me that most of the people that are giving this such bad ratings have a narrow minded idea of what a motion picture / show has to be. Be it the flow of the show, the dialogue, the explicit parts and the way that the actors interact, this show is different from what people normally expect and it does not mean it is the worse thing ever... The show has tones of nordic (danish, norwegian, swedish) movies, of their weirdness and absurd vibe.

I do understand the worry about exploiting women's bodies, but Depp is clearly okay with it and proud, she understands the piece that they are building and the need for those shots.

Art shouldn't have to meet the rigorous Instagram criteria's and censorship. If people find this too graphic maybe they should press pause after seeing the maturity rating of the show.

I feel like this would have a lot better ratings in a pre-euphoria fandom era, with a more matured audience. I am certain that this is getting a lot better ratings in europe than in the states.

With this said, this is definitely not my favourite show, and I normally do not write reviews, but I do find this rating so skewed from reality that I felt the need to write one.

It does have some not so great parts, but I feel like the show is a good effort at what it is trying to convey.

This was written at episode 2, I will watch the rest of the show.

I thought that after the season 8 game of thrones disaster that every writer, producer or director in the film industry knew that sacrificing coherent storylines and characters for flashy moments and shock value is gonna blackball your name in television, however sam levinson and the weeknd still believe that people watch movies and tv shows just to watch flashy images, misogynistic depictions of women, 'aesthetic' dialogue, conventionally attractive people smoking and unnecessary nudity.

This show was obviously made so the weeknd can live out all his creepy fantasies and exploit ideas that he thinks his audience wants to see. Abel, we don't want to see a depressed women bashed around and sexually abused while having dance breaks that were clearly made to be edited on tik tok.

This show needs to stop airing for its disgusting taste and for the safety of lily-rose depp as well, she had originally joined the show for a story about a woman making her way in the music industry, the weeknd then said the show was leaning too far into a 'female perspective' and fired the original woman director (which wasted $75m) and brought in sam levinson to write it instead. Lily you don't have to be objectified to prove you are talented, you are talented and we will support you through what happens with this show.

Little background on me. In 2016 I graduated in film school, and done so many projects with filming TV shows or Music video.

This show is one of the most true and realistic.

People do not like ugly side of show business? To bad, because it is what it is.

As a filmmaker, I am in owe how wonderful cinematography and editing, sound, music, light, acting, directing. This is one of the greatest shows I saw, and not sure there will be similar any time soon.

People love to praise Succession. Hey this is is almost same, telling story of people who is living behind of that mystery curtain.

Show business ugly! Pop starts sometimes do not belong to themselves. It is story of bird in golden cage!

And I am saying BRAVO!

Okay, firstly I can see why the show wouldn't be for a lot of people but I don't mind it at all, and it is definitely nowhere near a 4.

In this episode we see Joce struggle to record a music video, she is battling with the music she is singing as she doesn't feel it is her, she wants to put out a song by her and Tedros but the question I ask is that her or is it him?

She is struggling without her mom and this is when her team must fill that void to help her through.

What I am seeing is the whole premise of the show is about a singer who is pushed and pushed and showing the hard truths of Hollyweird, The Weeknd scenes are extremely strange but I feel they are there by no mistake, there are slimeballs like this in the industry.

It's not a bad show, it's weird and messed up but not to the lengths people make out, the sexual dominance tedros shows is the problem and his kinks or is it all a plan? Better than ep 1 and looking forward to the rest.

It's really not a good sign when already in episode 2 you're more interested in the supporting characters, because contrary to the singer and the rat tail guy, they probably have a story worth following.

The Weeknd has something of the cringe way Jared Leto acted in Blade Runner 2049, that kind of vain acting-simulating. Supposedly energetic acting, but completely uncharismatic.

It is one thing to overdraw and stereotype characters, but here only distancing is offered to the audience, not identification.

I have a strong suspicion that the director hated both the characters and the actors, especially the female ones. Or maybe he was just being cynical by letting The Weeknd act out his childish self-absorption.

Ok, this episode made the series show what it came to. I went to watch it thinking it was going to be meh like the first episode was and I was surprised. I was so involved that I didn't even look at how much time was left until the end of the episode, and that's kind of rare for me. Moses Sumney's character has grown too much as well as Abel's who was horrible in the first episode and almost completely ruins the episode when he appears.

While in the first episode I finished without feeling an ounce of emotion, in this second episode it was just the opposite. Emotion and investment on my part until the last second.

If it had ended up on Jocelyn singing with the rest of the crew, it would have been a 10/10 episode. A few more seconds changed a lot.

If you're finding yourself liking this show, you aren't alone. It has imperfections but what doesn't? It's an over the top art house take on a celebrity queen and all her handlers. There's really interesting stuff at play. The music video shoot, which makes up the bulk of the episode was really interesting and moments like this, as well as the photoshoot and video shoot at Jos' house in the first episode, is where the show is very strong and well made. It may be a little hedonistic for some, but I feel like it's all gonna come at a cost.

I also want to say again that I don't think The Weekend is doing "bad" I think for now the character is sort of 1 dimensional, and it's totally possible that may change by the time the story ends: that'll be the more interesting end of his performance, he's Cleary gonna have a downfall. It's the rat tail man.

Her agent, her "team", and the drama around the music video were/are great. The leads suck, Tedros was and remains super cringe every time he's on screen. Yes, he can't act: we've established that.

The shame is that there really is something here. This concept is really good but it's trying to have that euphoria shock vibe, and it's turning viewers off unlike with Euph. I care not a whit about joss and tedros. I care about the machinations of her agent maybe signing another singer... that was interesting.

I'm watching this for a person I love, he can't seem to pay attention and is in his switch playing Zelda after begging we watch this. Two episodes was enough for me. 👋

I found myself way more entertained by this then the first episode, not super special but it's fun, and it's interesting to see this life, and this episode feels less satirical and a bit more serious, lilys performance especially during her music video recording process scene blew me away, if the series goes more this direction i think it will be good, sure the nudity and sex might be excessive to some but honestly it's not that graphic as people are saying, it is satire and it's supposed to feel seedy and unnerving, this is far from a masterpiece however, but this episode feels way more recommendedable then the first for sure, and cinematography is beautiful, not gonna spoil but sone characters i want to strangle lmao.

As the episode starts, we see the challenges faced by Jocelyn and her team. With tensions rising over the choices she wants to make we can say that this show finally have a path.

The episode introduces new characters, and that's not necessarily a good thing, but while presenting some new stories some storylines from the first episode felt underdeveloped, they hold potential for future exploration and character growth but knowing this is the second episode of a 6 episode show ill be lying if i said im waiting for something big.

Visually, the episode remains on top, again HBO and Sam Esmail gave an amazing background music and cinematography. The performance of Lily-Rose continue to impress, adding depth to her character. Unfortunately i cant say the same thing about the weekend, unlike his singing his acting is very bad. In some scenes it felt like he is just reading a script and in some other scenes especially the sexual scenes it felt like he's improvising and that's even worse.

Let me preface this by saying that Lily Rose Depp is a phenomenal actress. A true star in the making. Now onto episode 2. This episode was much more captivating than the first. We are finally starting to see the plot slowly unravel. The first half of this episode is peak television. Jane Adams knocks it out of the park with her portrayal of the mean-spirited label exec. Chaim and Destiny add some much needed humanity in a show full of depraved vultures. Lily Rose Depp's acting is so good, she made me empathize with her character. That whole music video shoot debacle was an emotional ride.

I don't know how to feel about tedros quite yet since not much is known about his character. In terms of the weeknd's performance, I think it's just fine. Definitely not as bad as people are making it out to be. The sex scene (can I even call it a sex scene?) between tedros and Jocelyn dragged on for a little too long. The dialogue was a bit corny, unsexy and the man is just scum of the earth. Maybe this was a stylistic choice to show that they are deliberately trying not to glamorize cults and their leaders. I mean the weeknd is ugly with that grotesque rat tail and the sex scene is just unbearable to watch. I hope this is their way of saying that they're not glamorizing anything bc it's working.

I'm just going to throw my credit to The Weeknd in the review heading (lyrics from Twenty Eight if you're not a fan of The Weeknd). That's about as much as I can give him so far. It also seems to best fit Ms. Depp in this role.

Everyone keeps saying how "cringy" Tedros is, but I think that is the entire vibe he's going for. Either way, that's all going to come to a head (no pun intended) in the next few episodes.

Jocelyn's outside world is chock full of people and liveliness, but she's left lifeless inside and looking for anything to cling on to. Tedros keeps her enough at arm's length to keep her interested so she's determined to win him over. It's all starting to play out a bit more in this episode, but his creepy posse is weirding me out. They're starting to look like some sort of cult.

Mostly I'm having flashbacks of sneaking into the basement with my friends in the early 90s to catch some 2am Skin-A-Max while Mom and Dad were asleep. There's just a bit too much soft core porn. I think they could fill that with something with a bit more substance instead.

Realy???? I only don't like the extreme sex scenes, but they are doing the best I'm really liking the mystery, little by little they are showing the nightmare she is living. Ariana? Normani? A mix of the ones The Weeknd knows? It's unsettling and I want to keep watching. I hope that the sexual scenes will decrease, they become a bit disturbing and exhausting. I think he should continue to see himself to see what he brings, Sam will be able to do it? Could it be that this happened in real life? It scares me that these crude things happen every day, strength to those people who are not free. Xoxo.

First of all, the plot of episode 2 was very interesting (just like the 1st episode) and kinda mysterious. However, the storyline isn't very well written, even though it definitely has potential. The characters are still very interesting and well-developed, but most of them are definitely unlikeable. The filming location of that episode was mainly the studio, that Jocelyn's music video was filmed. In my opinion, the best thing about that TV show, it's probably the soundtrack. Sadly, there were too many sex scenes on that episode and most of them were definitely extreme and kinda upsetting... Moreover, the acting was still really good and each actor/actress did a great job of portraying their characters. Lily Rose Depp's acting on episode 2 was way better than episode 1 and her emotions were definitely realistic. Overall, it was an intense episode, very chaotic and super horny (not in a good way).