Summary
The Idol takes on a much darker and more X-rated tone in its second episode, establishing Tedros as a much more calculated and horrifying villain.
This recap of The Idol Season 1 Episode 2, “Double Fantasy”, contains spoilers.
In my recap of The Idol Episode 1, I opined that the controversy surrounding it was wildly overblown. I still feel that way for the most part, but “Double Fantasy”, at least towards the end, did get uncomfortably weird enough that the idea of The Weeknd getting his way on set at the show’s expense seems slightly easier to believe.
Either way, this one will get people talking, which is presumably the point. It also hints at a darker, more menacing side that wasn’t too evident in the premiere, including letting us see some – though crucially not the full extent – of Tedros’s cult-like following and influence.
The Idol Season 1 Episode 2
“Double Fantasy” does remain rooted in Jocelyn’s perspective, though, and some of the stuff involving her career is, or at least was for me, more disturbing and mean-spirited than any of the X-rated content towards the end.
Why can’t Jocelyn use her remix?
There’s a deliberate sense of whiplash as an excitable, finally upbeat Jocelyn presents her new mix of the inevitable smash-hit “World Class Sinner” and gets absolutely torn to pieces by the label executive, Nikki.
Now, to be fair, the new version, which Tedros helped Jocelyn adapt, contains breathy moaning that absolutely couldn’t be played on commercial outlets, so Nikki has a point. But the savagery with which she makes it tells us everything we need to know about her character, if her little rant in the premiere about Jocelyn’s mental health woes making her more sexually attainable didn’t do that already.
This all sends Jocelyn retreating to her studio with a glass of ice – which she uses to reminisce about her night with Tedros; you know how – and then retreating into her own tattered psyche. She mistrusts advice she’s given; she starts – or, it’s implied, continues – self-harming, and is internally navigating a war between her reignited creativity and the draconian demands the studio is putting on her.
If only her mother was there. The video shoot for “World Class Freak” is a nightmare for various reasons, including Jocelyn being unhappy with the creative direction and her own performance, but the biggest one is that her mother used to be present for all her work obligations and now her mother is dead.
You can tell the vultures have spotted this; the absence of Jocelyn’s mother makes her a carcass just waiting to be fed on. But the more they push Jocelyn the more she deteriorates. She becomes increasingly irrational, demanding more and more takes until her feet and thighs are bleeding. When she eventually nails it, she’s told the camera was out of focus and she must do it all again. She starts crying and can’t stop. Nikki sends her home, and in her absence begins the process of replacing her with her backup dancer Dyanne.
Who is in Tedros’s cult?
As we see soon after, Dyanne is quietly in the employ of Tedros, who will presumably negotiate her career with Nikki just as he begins to ingratiate himself more and more with Jocelyn’s. It still isn’t totally clear quite what’s going on with Tedros’s musical sex cult, but he clearly has some talent in his stable, from Dyanne (who is played by Blackpink’s Jennie Kim, credited as Jennie Ruby Jane) to fellow musicians Izaak (Moses Sumney) and Chloe (Suzanna Son).
Tedros brings the latter two along when Jocelyn invites him over for a house party which quickly descends into drug-fuelled debauchery. Tedros directs Jocelyn through an explicit and submissive performance for his own sexual gratification, while Izaak seduces Leia, who had already been having a little back-and-forth with him over the phone. Their conversation turns to Tedros, and the way Izaak speaks about him makes it very clear, as if it wasn’t already, that he has a God-like influence over his followers.
The Idol Season 1 Episode 2 Ending Explained
Jocelyn falls for it almost immediately. After their sexual escapades, Tedros tells Jocelyn with little ceremony that he’ll be moving in, and she thinks it’s a good idea.
The episode ends with a haunting song by Chloe that Izaak and eventually Jocelyn joins in with. Leia, though, seems suddenly aware of what’s happening, and Tedros, who smugly locks eyes with her right before he kisses Jocelyn, recognises that she’s going to be powerless to stop it.
This episode, like the premiere, was screened at Cannes to much revulsion, so it seems as if nobody has any real idea of how things may progress from this point on. Now, though, the idea of Tedros seems much more terrifying than it did before, and the idea of his larger-than-life spectre looming over the entire production is suddenly much harder to deny.
You can stream The Idol Season 1 Episode 2, “Double Fantasy” exclusively on HBO and Max.
Additional reading:
- The Idol Season 1 Episode 3 Recap
- Will there be a Season 2 of The Idol on HBO?
