Summary
The Idol is a more intriguing show than its initial reception implied, but it does little to suggest that the controversy surrounding it isn’t overblown.
This recap of The Idol Season 1 Episode 1, “Pop-Tarts and Rat Tails”, contains spoilers.
So, what’s all the fuss about?
The Idol premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was met by a wave of prudish responses declaring it “nasty and brutish” here and “grim, gross and vulgar” there.
A lot has been made of the production, which Sam Levinson took over from Amy Seimetz when it was close to completion, rewriting and reshooting the whole thing and turning it into, according to Rolling Stone, “torture porn”. Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, a co-creator of the show who plays an L.A. nightclub owner and cult leader, responded to the article on his Instagram, where he shared a clip in which his character, Tedros, calls Rolling Stone irrelevant.
The implication is clear.
Levinson is no stranger to controversy. His film Malcolm & Marie for Netflix openly railed against critics, including one – “the white lady at the L.A. Times” – who seemed to have been an explicit reference to Katie Walsh, who gave Levinson’s film Assassination Nation a brutal kicking.
And the crown jewel of Levinson’s gaudy oeuvre, Euphoria, also on HBO, has been met with plenty of criticism for its sensationalized depiction of teenage violence, sex, and addiction.
The Idol Season 1 Episode 1 Recap
The Idol, which is also about violence, sex, and addiction, not to mention a celebrity culture that ravenously consumes the lives, privacies, and mental well-being of young women, is very much in the Levinson wheelhouse then. And in some ways, it’s asking for it. In an early scene in the premiere, “Pop Tarts and Rat Tails”, an intimacy coordinator is locked in a bathroom so he can’t interfere with a photo shoot that is rapidly spiraling into full-frontal territory.
What is the leaked photo of Jocelyn?
The young star is Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp, Johnny’s daughter), a beloved pop sensation who has recently suffered a nervous breakdown after the death of her mother. She spends the entire premiere naked or close to it, chain-smoking thin cigarettes and trying to learn saucy music video choreography while her team scrambles to deal with various crises.
The intimacy coordinator is one of those. Another is a photo that has leaked online, depicting Jocelyn, for lack of a better term, “glazed” like the Pop-Tarts namechecked in the episode’s title. A third is the lingering presence of a Vanity Fair reporter covering Jocelyn’s much-anticipated comeback. And on and on.
Why is The Idol so controversial?
It isn’t a profound insight to suggest that the pampered life of a celebrity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Every aspect of Jocelyn’s existence is micromanaged by people who stand to benefit from her success, and her recovery from what is obviously significant trauma is constantly framed as proof that she’s still marketable – perhaps even more marketable than she was before, as her mental health vulnerabilities make her, perversely, more sexually attainable to the masses.
Lily-Rose Depp is very beautiful, and it doesn’t go unremarked upon that Jocelyn – rich, famous, successful, sexy – exists outside of the norm. Unless, that is, she’s nuts, in which case she’ll lower herself even to the level of the average album-buying man. As utterly grim of an observation as this may be, it’s also undeniably true, which is perhaps why The Idol sits so uncomfortably with so many who like to pretend that celebrity culture – from which so many of them profit – doesn’t operate in precisely this way.
Before Jocelyn meets Tedros, The Idol is mostly a comedy. After, it’s closer to a horror. Any cult leadership business isn’t brought up in the premiere, but Tedros is immediately off-putting anyway. Jocelyn’s long-suffering, put-upon best friend and assistant, Leia (Rachel Sennott), describes his vibe as “a bit rape-y”, and she’s right.
Jocelyn, though, says she kind of likes that about him. After meeting him, she goes home and masturbates while choking herself. It’s worth mentioning that earlier, the intimacy coordinator is imprisoned because Jocelyn wants to bare her naked breasts, and her nudity rider doesn’t allow her to. She’s making these decisions for herself.
Jocelyn has made horniness a coping mechanism. She’s expressive sexually because every other aspect of her life is a carefully cultivated façade. This is also perhaps why The Idol is controversial – Jocelyn is too complicit in her own exploitation, and the mainstream press is increasingly fearful of acknowledging that some people are. When Jocelyn is confronted with the photo of her face covered in ejaculate, she shrugglingly declares it could be a lot worse.
With the introduction of Tedros, the implication is that it’s about to get a lot worse sooner rather than later.
The Idol Season 1 Episode 1 Ending Explained
Tedros remains mysterious. Again, there’s no mention of a cult yet, but he’s immediately creepy with Jocelyn. He has scarcely been in her house ten minutes before he’s strangling her with her robe and giving her singing advice. It seems obvious that he’s about to ingratiate himself in her life and career in a very damaging way, and it seems increasingly obvious that Jocelyn will, at least initially, let him.
Where The Idol might be going beyond that is anyone’s guess, though one imagines it won’t be anywhere pleasant and uplifting. Thus far, though, it’s hard not to consider the controversy somewhat overblown, the reception worryingly sensitive and hyperbolic, and the show itself intriguing but apparently undeserving of such a furore.
For what it’s worth, I’m not keen on Jocelyn’s song either. But I bet it’d be a hit regardless.
You can stream The Idol Season 1 Episode 1, “Pop-Tarts and Rat Tails”, exclusively on HBO and Max.
Additional reading:
- The Idol Season 1 Episode 2 Recap
- Will there be a Season 2 of The Idol on HBO?
