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The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, August 2, 2019 4 By Breanna Henry TV Media R ue Bennett is a drug ad- dict. Despite having been recently released from a rehab center, she is not recov- ering, and does not intend to remain clean. She routinely meets strangers online for "hook-ups," browses sketchy websites, and lies about her age. Rue is only 17-years-old, and luckily for her parents, she is a fictional character from the premium cable show "Eupho- ria," played by Disney Channel graduate Zendaya ("Spider- Man: Far From Home," 2019). If you haven't been keeping up with "Euphoria" so far, you can stream previous episodes on HBO Go, and the Season 1 fi- nale (titled "And Salt the Earth Behind You") airs Sunday, Aug. 4, on HBO. The fantastic cast of fresh young actors "Euphoria" re- volves around includes Jacob Elordi ("The Kissing Booth," 2018) as angry, confused jock Nate; Algee Smith ("The Hate U Give," 2018) as struggling college athlete Chris; Barbie Ferreira ("Divorce") as inse- cure, sexually curious Kat; Syd- ney Sweeney ("Sharp Ob- jects") as Cassie, who can't seem to escape her past; and the show's breakout star, trans runway model Hunter Schafer in her first role as Jules, a trans- gender teen girl looking to find the place she belongs. Cap all that talent off with an incredi- ble performance by the show's lead, Zendaya, and there is no reason to question why "Eu- phoria" is becoming one of the most popular shows on HBO. "Euphoria" follows a group of Generation Z (the group that came right after Millennials) students as they navigate their way through their late teen years into adulthood, and deal with the problems unique to their generation. Racy videos posted online, fentanyl abuse and social media drama weren't issues you had to deal with in high school before Generation Z came along, but the classic problems like bul- lies, parents, secrets and crush- es are still very much part of these teens' lives. In many ways, "Euphoria" represents a bridge of under- standing between modern par- ents and children; while the show may take drama to the extreme in some cases, many aspects of the show's storyline do occur in the life of today's average teen. A review of the show on Vox interpreted "Eu- phoria" perfectly, saying, "The [series] has gotten a lot of at- tention for depicting 'how the teens live today,' but its great- est strength isn't what's timely about it, but what's eternal about it."The way the show mixes these themes together is seamless and absolutely stun- ning. HBO is well known for its boundary-pushing, extrava- gant and original television se- ries; there are things one ex- pects when it comes to an HBO original — more mature con- tent, more production value, higher quality — and "Eupho- ria" has hit every one of these marks with its first season. The cinematography, colors and design are out-of-this-world on their own, but couple them with stunning camera direc- tion and unique shots, and "Euphoria" could stand tall even without amazing story- lines and great acting — which it has, of course. Episodes are interwoven with flashbacks to the charac- ters' childhoods, and we're shown how those moments re- late to current issues and events in their lives. The way the show uses images to con- vey its story is truly something worth seeing, even if the plot doesn't excite you. You can't talk about "Eu- phoria" without talking about mental health. Zendaya's char- acter, Rue has dealt with anxi- ety, Obsessive-Compulsive Dis- order and Attention Deficit Dis- order since early childhood, and was first given Valium at the age of 11; this, along with the death of her father, drives the teen to begin taking drugs as she searches for the two seconds of "euphoria" in which she isn't plagued by her mental state. The moments of the show that truly stand out are Zenda- ya's voice-over monologues, which are poignant, thought- provoking and relatable for viewers who have experienced similar situations. Jill Gutowitz of Nylon Magazine wrote, "I was actually happy — and by 'happy,' I mean devastated — to see the things I feel and en- dure mirrored." She also called "Euphoria" "TV's most realis- tic portrayal of anxiety." The portrayal of the dark side of mental health in the show is very real, and neither sugar- coats or vilifies the issue. coverstory Hunter Schafer in a scene from "Euphoria" Generation Z(endaya): Freshman season of 'Euphoria' wraps up on HBO By Adam Thomlison TV Media Q: Why do I recognize the guy who plays Daniel in "Fear the Walking Dead"? I'm almost certain I've seen him before. A: I'm also certain that you've seen Rubén Blades at some point over his 36-year acting career on the big and small screens. He's mostly known as a go-to supporting man — the guy to call to play a Latino character with gravitas and, occasionally, desert-dry wit. Among his best-known roles are Sheriff Montoya in the crit- ically acclaimed 1988 picture "The Milagro Beanfield War" (di- rected by a young guy by the name of Robert Redford), Det. Danny Archuleta in 1990's "Predator 2," and retired FBI man Jorge in the 2003 action thriller "Once Upon a Time in Mexi- co." However acting is only part of Blades's stardom. He first found fame as a salsa musician — indeed, his first film credit is as a song composer for a 1983 short film. His music and acting occasionally came together, such as in the 2016 boxing biopic "Hands of Stone," in which several of his songs appeared, and he played boxer Robert Duran's man- ager. Q: I heard Daniel Craig is going to be in a new Agatha Christie movie. Which story are they doing? A: Rian Johnson can be a confusing guy to fans of classic lit- erature. With his breakout debut, "Brick" (2005), he proved that he can make a tribute to a genre so faithfully you forget what you're watching isn't a classic itself. He seems poised to do that again with "Knives Out," which is a tribute to Agatha Christie, not a rendition of Agatha Christie. "I've been a diehard Agatha Christie fan since I was a teen- ager," Johnson said at this year's CinemaCon, the official con- vention of the U.S. National Association of Theatre Owners. "'Knives Out' was my attempt to take everything I love about a good Agatha Christie whodunnit, jam it into a movie with an all-star cast, give it a Hitchcock-thriller-like twist, and set it in modern-day America." Among those things he loves about a Christie story — and therefore reproduced in "Knives Out," which he wrote and di- rected — are a claustrophobic, lock-in setting (the murder sus- pects are all locked in an old mansion together), a group of suspects who are all blood-related to the victim, and a seem- ingly indifferent detective who is not taken seriously by the suspects he's investigating. This is where Craig comes in. He plays Benoit Blanc, who de- spite his French name is not a displaced European, like Chris- tie's beloved Hercule Poirot, but rather a displaced Southern Gentleman. He's there to examine a star-studded cast of sus- pects including Michael Shannon, Jamie Lee Curtis and Chris Evans. If it worries you that Johnson is working without source ma- terial, you can rest assured that he's proven he knows his way around a murder mystery. The previously mentioned "Brick," his first feature, was a critically and cultishly beloved tribute to the hard-boiled American mysteries of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. Personal replies will not be provided. hollywoodQ&A Towne Floring 3 x 2

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