THE IDOL is a Dumpster Fire | Explained

the idol okay we're finally here a show that really should have been hitting that sweet spot for stuff I like to talk about should have been able to wrap this up with a nice little bow and put it on a Shelf with my Afters and three six fives I even wore one of my most obnoxious shirts for the occasion but no nothing could have prepared me for how god-awful this show ended up being and I'm not even being dramatic because it's cool to hate the show I at least thought that the show was gonna get into entertaining Realms of bad before other people had seen a single episode because the idol premiered at the internationally renowned Khan film festival right alongside Martin Scorsese and Wes Anderson's new movies and I was there in my opinion on the two episodes that premiered there were that it was probably destined for disaster but it would probably at least be entertaining and probably make a couple of solid points about Fame and Idol culture those first two episodes which still aren't great actually end up being the best and most entertaining episodes of the season in my opinion and then at least seemed to be trying to do something interesting the next episodes are just genuinely trash and it's trash in a way that I'm spending so much time doing mental gymnastics to try to give this this thing a fair Shake but in the end it doesn't matter if you can find the logic points the show just wasn't good I know people are like we'll go to Standing Ovation of Khan those mean nothing and everyone gets one especially if there's some kind of notable celebrity involved also the one they got wasn't that long it was like five minutes a video of Taylor Swift puking for 20 seconds would probably get a longer Standing Ovation than the idol as long as she turned up in a nice dress so it made sense that a show by Sam Levinson creator of euphoria starring the weekend and Lily Rose Depp was gonna get some claps but the reviews they were negative and Sam seemed a little bit stoked on that when my wife read me the article I just said I think we're about to have the biggest show of the summer but hey he's not technically wrong a lot of people certainly are talking about the show maybe not in the way he wanted but also say that no one's liking the show I have noticed that a lot of people seem to genuinely enjoy it and some of those people are kind of like hitting back very aggressively and think that the people who don't like it are dumb which is fair you can have your opinions everything is gonna be good for someone out there but I genuinely hated the experience of watching this show there was like a glimmer of hope that maybe maybe maybe he was gonna come out a little bit cleaner on the other end and then they just ruined it it just ends up being so damn boring or edgy for the sake of being edgy in a way that's actually just cringe and that is not a word I'm using lightly then it just gets infuriating because it's introducing ideas that it has no interest in properly handling or dealing with just for the sake of doing it or for shock Factor like a view is leading to inspiration just to try and retcon that into something else by the end so what is this show even about and what is all the drama around the production of it starring Lily Rose Depp and Abel tesfay aka the weekend the idol follows Jocelyn a young pop star desperately trying to relaunch her career and New Image following a nervous breakdown after her mother's death that resulted in the cancellation of her World Tour but all too soon she's pulled into the path of Tedros a local DJ that's actually a little bit of a cult leader under the guise of talent manager who quickly Stakes a claim in her life while doing some of the most cringe and depraved things and they have worked almost too hard to make him just the sleaziest most vile man they could I genuinely have no idea why she's remotely interested in him before 4 he shows that he can help her in any way or that he believes in her vision I will have nightmares of that wig rat tail even at two episodes in I felt I was owed damages but then it may end up being that just isn't quite as helpless as she's leading us to believe but you may find yourself feeling helpless when trying to access region lock content well thanks to today's sponsor surf shark you will be helped sir shark has thousands of different server locations around the world that you can connect to so your internet thinks that's where you're located so if you live in the UK and something you want to watch is only available in Canada you just connect to a Canadian server location and you're good to go for example I recently used it to watch the bear because for whatever reason Canada isn't good enough to get it on time we have to wait till July 19th for it to be available and that just wasn't gonna cut it I had best of the year so far lists to craft but I knew that it was on Hulu in the states so all I had to do was connect to a US server location hop on over to Hulu and I was yelling yes chef with everyone else Star Trek is great for so many reasons whether it's keeping me up to date on shows and movies for work or Leisure letting me access is my Canadian streaming services when I'm traveling outside the country and just helping me feel more secure when I travel and have to use public Wi-Fi it's super fast secure blocks unwanted ads and if you're not completely satisfied they offer a 30-day money-back guarantee so make sure to click the link in the description down below when you use code Jedi to get an additional three months of surf shark completely free now the base of what this show could have been is actually interesting the way these young Stars can be exploited the way they're okay with it for stardom the ways they may not even realize it's happening how everything is manufactured behind the scenes to just maximize output and return like the second episode goes places that I genuinely felt were interesting then it just kind of goes off the [ __ ] rails with their ending Choice which we'll get to I just fundamentally have an issue with what it's doing and How It Ends by playing this weird game of who's the real victim who's really being manipulated when the answer is everyone sucks and so does the story and before we even get into the issues of the show itself there's just all the drama leading into it Rolling Stone released an article in which they interviewed people originally involved with a project when Amy Simons was directing and even then there were a lot of issues the show wasn't done being written when it started filming so Amy was working on the conclusion which led to a lot of rewrites and I guess the weekend might not have been happy with the direction the show was going and if these behind the scene photos are real we are looking at a very different show here and I am so down for Amy's Vision so apparently they are copyright striking these images down on Twitter so I don't want to risk featuring them just know that it was some very 90s early 2000s bubble gum pop Aesthetics knowing it was supposed to be a satire with these images we were deprived of art now we just have Sam Levinson doing more levinsony things because when the show was apparently 80 complete and potentially over budget Amy left the project and Sam Levinson took over and essentially scrapped the entire thing to start over with new people actors script overhauls and a bunch of the existing crew left the budget also got so in a hand that they just had to stop renting a mansion and use the weekend's house and then his concerts but a lot of the changes allegedly according to sources interviewed by deadline came from the weekend believing the show was too focused on the female perspective over his character's dynamic in the show which is unfortunate because that female perspective is really one of the only interesting things here I don't know how true those statements are but there does really just seem to be this like push and pull around ideas on the show and how they're being expressed and just none of them play out well a lot of the people who left said they did so because the show completely changed from the original creative direction that seemed to fall more on the side of satire that it would be this dark look at Fame and what that means in the Modern Age what stars are subjected to how that can be manipulated how they can manipulate and then it just kind of becomes the thing it should have been satiring and the hack ending doesn't fix that and while I don't think that all media has to do something sometimes all it has to be is entertaining I just also don't think this is entertaining and it thinks it's doing way more than it actually is I'm sorry it's just not subversive to tell Lily Rose Depp to play with her put to play with her cat I really just preferred this show when it seemed like it was going to be about this woman reclaiming her agency from a parasite and all the parasites around her and by the end in a backwards way that's kind of know what it seems like and they do it in a way that they're trying to imply that she never even lost that agency and it just becomes this like twisted and not remotely convincing love story and that I cannot get on board with I also know a lot of people think that the show is so poorly received that they actually cut one of the episodes but I'm pretty sure we knew what con that it was only going to be five I think it was six before Sam took over and then either because of budget or to cut down on recording time it went down to five once he took over which to me is actually worse because it means the bad pacing and the lack of like story connective tissue was planned that way you intentionally made a show that's just a hanging out in the most shallow areas why you think you've got depth and while I will still largely be blaming Sam Levinson for the worst aspects of this show because it all reeks of his recent work I do think the weekend played a large role in how this show came together it was reported that he wasn't directly involved in the rewrites but he is still a co-creator his hand is in the bag he must have had some kind of creative say in what happens with his character Sam just gets to do whatever he wants the dude has uh carte blache as tedro says at HBO and that's not good say you had carte blanche right because any interesting Direction this show could have gone and gets undercut to make way for weird sex [ __ ] and then just bad unearned twists it genuinely felt like the show was so up its own Ash about pushing boundaries and being provocative that it didn't worry about telling a good story or even actually doing anything to be subversive unless cringe sex [ __ ] is suddenly pushing boundaries and just to clarify it's not the sex [ __ ] that I have an issue with or that I can get uncomfortable and be used in uncomfortable ways one of my favorite movies of the year is sanctuary is literally about a dominatrix trying to maintain control over a situation with her long-term client in a hotel room to get what she wants out of the situation when he's trying to end the arrangement so it's obviously loaded with sex [ __ ] and weird Kinks that can get awkward but they're using those moments in a story that doesn't suck the content as a concept in the idol isn't a problem it's that it's gross and more egregiously [ __ ] cringe I get the tetris is supposed to be trash but they're just doing it in a way that doesn't feel logical this Behavior leads to the type of guy who thinks he's the [ __ ] but everyone is making fun of him behind his back it's like the nightmare rotation with Howard from uncut gems I disagree I disagree except this man's man's put together a little cult multiple times with nothing to show for it he says he's going to manage these people to Fame but none of them have any so I feel like a lot of the time the point is to have him be that sheep in Wolf's clothing the guy who says and thinks he's the big bad top boss but it's all an act so the hunter Little Red Riding would take these big rocks and they stick it into the wolf's belly so when the wolf tries to run away bang drops dead on the floor I am the Hunter [Music] after her and this Entourage God this is going to be such a long video I swear we're almost in the episodes but uh first I need to do something a little weird and tell you the general ending because it changes the way I'm gonna talk about certain events going forward so it'll just be easier for all on the same page that means spoilers right now as mentioned this whole show is initially framed around Jocelyn this person desperately trying to reclaim her Fame and become a generational Talent ending up in the clutches of this manipulator who wants to figuratively and honestly literally a rider to the top and while I hated how quickly he took hold in the show The End reveal is that she was actually manipulating him the entire time realized he was a good Muse and got what she wanted out of him which should apparently leave us with the idea that he was the victim all along we also see how desperate Pedros has become ends up being the victim but the worst she did to him was like lie about a handful of things that happened in her life like none of it actually hurt him and anything that does hurt him is just stuff he actually did whereas he abuses the [ __ ] out of everyone around him under the guise of getting to their true artistic potential frames someone for assault essentially groomed an underage girl to become a commodity and becomes a coked out drunk but sure she was more in control than he realized and he was actually the prey in the end I don't think anything Jocelyn does Nixon the victim at all but Sam Levinson does and that's the [ __ ] problem ends up being the victim he's the writer he is the director his words are the intention but we'll get there I just needed you to know what they consider to be the twist that she was in control the whole time so diving into these First episodes this is her kind of like Sinker [ __ ] fly moment this is like she's about to start selling tickets again she's about to release an EP she's got a music video she's working on so we kind of pick up with a photo shoot for that album where she is rapidly showing she can do every emotion which I assume is supposed to be slight Force shadowing that she's just so in control is she being that she wants to do some topless shots here at a sex up her image but the intimacy coordinator won't allow it you know doing their job to protect people because it's not in the contract I get that it's annoying if you genuinely want to do something with your own body but legalities is holding you back so you feel like you don't have agency over yourself but it's literally there to prevent the opposite situation from happening where people feel like they can't say no but here's played for comedy they end up locking him in the bathroom to get it done and honestly if the show had stayed in like a more satirical and comedic space this could have worked but it doesn't so [ __ ] it which is frustrating because there's moments early on where I'm like okay we know what you're saying is problematic but that's the point this is an industry reality that's an interesting thing to explore but then they just like don't you are never gonna meet a girl like Jocelyn she didn't go to your high school she is never ever gonna [ __ ] you unless she has some very very serious mental problems mental illness is sexy well maybe that's just foreshadowing for why she gets with Ted Rose but they're obviously trying to sell these illusion of the thing not the actual thing the intimacy coordinator is not the conflict of this episode though it's a leaked [ __ ] pick I would say it's actually not uh bukaki because that's kind of that's multiple I think it's just one yes my girl Rachel Senate is in this and mostly comes out clean except for the situations where they're trying to make her seem like an idiot watch Bottoms in theaters this summer could be ugly the principal's office but yeah there's a picture of Justin going around with that on her face and they are desperately trying to prevent her from finding out and as weird as that setup is I kind of like the idea behind it like how much PR and damage control could be going on without the victim even knowing what happened all while a journalist is just looming in the background waiting for a candid profile interview played by Levinson alumni assassination Nations Hari Neff and the actor features in this episode are kind of never ending they've got Troye Sivan Jenny from blackpink Dan Levy Hank Azaria Divine Jane Adams but the one that shocked me the most dude who's in charge of Live Nation rolls up played by Eli [ __ ] Roth Eli Roth Man Behind such disgusting pieces of work like hostile and Green Inferno is here for some reason otherwise Heim and Destiny are her co-managers Nikki is a record label executive Xander is Jocelyn's childhood best friend and current creative director he was also a budding star they were on the same show together as kids but his career was shut down due to a vocal cord injury allegedly Rachel is her best friend and personal assistant Leia and Dan Levy is her publicist who we never see again this scene that the weekend posted after the Rolling Stone article dropped and nobody cares about Rolling Stone um yeah not in the show now hokkake picture is not the way she wanted to sex up her image and while she downplays her reaction it does lead to her wanting to go out to the club her dancer Diane mentioned to blow off steam which is where she meets Ted Rose the DJ and club owner and before too long they are just hooking up and while they confirm it super fast it was super obvious by the way he was looking at her and by the way other people are looking at them and correct that this was a setup he orchestrated this whole thing with Diane who he had been sleeping with just to get to Joss to the point that I wonder if he was somehow involved in that picture leaking in the first place like they don't ever swing back to that and while I feel like he comes across as pretty gross he does kind of say some things that make me understand how he'd get his foot in the door like he's getting to the heart of the fact that she's not really happy even though she should be she's not enjoying life but he just gets in so fast and this [ __ ] is expertly handled I feel very confident that tedro sent Isaac here to digmatize Leia so he'd have uninterrupted access to Joss and you will continue to employ that throughout the series because if Teddy succeeds they all get their ticket they also genuinely believe he helps them still some good moments here before Ted Rose really get it's pushed in like the conversation she's having with Vanity Fair tally is trying to get her to comment on the pictures saying it would be empowering five years ago when people would tell me that it was important to comment on something publicly I would buy into it but now I just know that I'm being hustled see that's the [ __ ] right there that's what I wanted from this they set up all the little pieces and then they give me nothing but we just start to see how unsatisfied she is with so much of what's going on around her she really needs this album and tour to be a success she knows that the single is probably going to do well commercially but It embarrasses her it's just not the image she wants baby you better have a bank account if you want to see what I'm about I'm a good girl gone bad get in that car drive fast I just don't want to like make a fool of myself and honestly just what they keep tells terrible song and maybe it's not groundbreaking and the lyrics are horrendous but it's catchy enough tops you know I get the pressure though for all the people that are waiting and wanting for her to come back so many other people are waiting and assuming she's going to fail so to not feel in control of the thing that might lead you to failing is stressful which is where Teddy comes in music manager and they just make the song so much worse like I get his argument you can tell that the way she's singing that she isn't really exuding the energy that the song is going for but his solution to that is to get her all horned up so she just starts making actual sex noises I just don't want to like make a fool of myself well that's unfortunate because look what you did and again they just do so much to make them seem weird and off-putting and she's just like the only one into it I hate his voice Queen he literally has this entire moment in the bathroom where he's just trying to get down the perfect introduction and he's just delivering what sounds like the most delusional pickup artist line hello angel hello angel hello angel I get that it's showing us that this is like a Persona that he's putting on but you know like at least make the Persona charismatic and in this episode they give us what I assume they think is foreshadowing they're watching Basic Instinct and they get to the clip where Sharon Stone is explaining that her story is but a detective Who falls in love with the wrong woman what happens she kills him which kind of lines up with Levinson's whole concept of like see he was the victim of her all along but no I reject that ends up being the victim that man is not a victim and her team also thinks the new version of the song is bad but you know it was awful I like all the breathing in it I don't like it and it really is it just sounds like they pitch shifted the original down with some vocal warping then added sex noises and it's this interesting thing because like the label wants to give her this new sexy image but like in the curated way and she wants a new sexy image in her way and they just I guess is the wrong type of sexies on both sides too sexy two [ __ ] show and she loves this new direction that Tedros is helping her move in she's really trying to get a hold of him but I'm pretty sure he's playing like hard to get so she'll be more desperate for his help which like actually seems to be working and I get it she's boarded and happy and this person comes in who agrees that her sound is wrong and encourages to open it up in a new way she wants that encouragement around all the time so on the one side you've got people being like you're gonna take your new sound and be [ __ ] thankful for what we provided to you then you've got the guy over here that's all like I see exactly what you want I know exactly how to get you there and they really do want us to think she's a freak because she starts grinding up on a glass Until It Breaks apparently and cuts up her thighs to the point that they need to airbrush them before a video shoot which puts them way behind schedule and I love this scene because she's so obsessed with being perfect and worried about being embarrassed doing the same shots over and over again not letting them move on until they're all exhausted and messing up more which really just lets Nikki notice that Diane is the best performer on stage who is that dancer talking to us best I am why she's out dancing everybody does she sing and we do agree with the idea that Jocelyn could have been purposely sabotaging the day because she hates the song songs so much and wanted to prevent it from being released which could have been cool but I really liked it being authentic that she's so desperately worried about not being perfect that it gets away from her now based on the end it might have been a full manipulation but that doesn't completely track because then she does do this like perfect incredible take but the camera goes out of focus and ruins it so unless she messed with the camera in a way that the operator couldn't fix or paid someone to do it for her I just don't see how it could be 100 intentional and once that takes done her feet are just a bloody mess like it's real Black Swan energy and they can't keep going mom what's up Joe what so people even think that that part was manipulation and I guess maybe but I just don't see how making your managers and label exec think you're on your way to another breakdown is going to be beneficial to your career Nikki is literally working out her replacement in real time it honestly feels like they just so desperately want us to believe that she's super vulnerable through so much of the show so that like the twist is more impactful but then they like forgot to make it make sense regardless this just seems to let tedro stake that larger claim which is concerning because they can't find anything out about him except for his name being Tedros Tedros which I'm sure is just as real as your girlfriend that goes to another school and Leia is getting particularly concerned when she realizes that all of tedro's friends are actually people that he manages that sleep at the club with him oh also his method of management involves a shock collar so edgy but this is the episode with the scene where the weekend becomes the grossest man in the world and he doesn't even have to touch her for most of it here are some gems that he says to Jocelyn imagine my tongue on your brain my fat tongue don't make me act a fool I want to grab you by the ass while I suffocate you on my car I don't wanna imagine like the bend around Logistics of that but my my brain hates me and all this is happening while one of his talents Chloe watches who we will later find out is 17. how old are you Chloe so or 18. lock this man up stretch that tiny little for that comment in particular then we just get the throat sounds of things happening I just why there was potentially here why is this the show you wanted to make then we get to episode three which is just so bad so he's officially moved in with his entire crew and just takes over to the point that he doesn't want Leia running anything by just anymore but I still have to talk to Jocelyn are you [ __ ] [ __ ] I'm running the show now and she's just trying her damnedest to get anyone to listen about this impending disaster Tedros is calling Paparazzi places so he can be seen with jaws did his firing staff members and changing her whole schedule the people aren't even allowed to say no because that would be denying themselves an experience and overall just committing to being a clown let me catch you looking at her again Bill [ __ ] curb stomp I'm sorry I'll [ __ ] curb stomp you but hey we get a nice little glimpse into how insecure he is she kind of calls him yay and I'm surprised he didn't deck her for it I think you're gay I ain't gay I'm a sensitive man in the world right here but also Jocelyn why if we're supposed to believe that she's the one manipulating him even if it's supposed to be in a way that he doesn't realize I still don't know why she'd just let him fire all that staff and just [ __ ] on everyone like how does that benefit her at all like even if she does see him as her Muse and I get that the team can't exactly toss him out she's an adult it's her house it's her staff so they just give them the okay to have three songs done in two weeks just to see where it goes well Destiny deep Dives my grandmother said you never trust a dude with a rat too thank you Queen but jaws and Teddy celebrate this apparent win by having him spitting her for what reason now the only person on her team that seems to be on his side is Xander who either needed way more or way less time with his character because there's just not enough time for the [ __ ] they pull with him later but he agrees that just creative Direction sucks because they never let him do his ideas let's say you had carte blanche right what would you do uh okay ignoring that wording uh what is Xander's genius idea he wants to use the fukaki picture as her album cover really just pushing all the boundaries here guys so edgy so Innovative but if we're supposed to believe that Jocelyn's been in control the entire time this is the episode where like that lie is kind of taking shape the conversations about her mom and why she doesn't write about it then the conversation with the Entourage about tragedy and how it makes way for great art and that art ultimately helps the world so in the end the tragedy is worth it using Robert Plant writing all my love after the death of his son is an example that the song helped more people than his son being live ever did or could rough I do like how the show touches on the concept of a star and when an individual kind of stops being autonomous and flips to being a thing owned by the world but we really just don't go any deeper there but it leads to her building out this apparent live that her mom physically abused her though at the time we'll believe it's real Tetris asks a relatable things she's gone through that would connect with her audience and after being pushed she says that her mom used to beat her with a hairbrush as punishment but also as motivation but in the finale Tetris will notice that the hairbrushes at her mom used to hit her with is brand new and she just kind of smiles at him knowingly suggesting it wasn't something her mom actually did but it doesn't seem like a lie in the moment because Xander's the one who initially brings up there being an issue with her mom and will later find out that he specifically had issues with her mom I think the dark [ __ ] I've been through is pretty [ __ ] unique too her mom was like a Rare Breed so is it just that the mom was like verbally abusive and super controlling and this is just just kind of like enhancing that did Joss hit herself and tell people it was her mom like we do know that she's kind of into pain in terms of sexual gratification because like Leia and Xander both seem to think that this story is real unless kind of these like weird looks back and forth with them being like I don't remember that happening but I'm not gonna say anything I I have no idea the lie as a whole kind of feels weird In This Moment Like was it to get sympathy from them create a new image in the moment to make Tedros think she was more vulnerable which wouldn't even be necessary because he thinks he already has his claws in it just all feels so half-baked you can't just throw in a Basic Instinct clip when they're talking about suspension of disbelief to explain away the stuff that doesn't fully track with the ending you wrote though it definitely feels like they're trying to channel this ritual connection to Basic Instinct and the criticism it received while trying to top it off with a twisted little good for her but no because it being true made the most sense about why she lets someone like Tedros in if abuse and control is something you've got in your entire life from someone you love and who should love you it would make sense that you would start Crossing wires with other relationships that behave in the same way it happens all the time like it is a nice little flip that she's not as vulnerable as we all assume but like just put in the work to make it make sense but what happens next I hate even more after berating Xander and Leia for not doing anything about the abuse her mom inflicted on her tedro starts beating her with the brush to help motivate her if you love The Music you're making which you felt like it was worth it all that trauma you gotta turn into inspiration still got that hairbrush they could have could have better that she's living out this Persona she created so it becomes real like rejecting the idea that you need tragedy for art that manufacturing a tragic story to live out can work just as well but you have to realize that at this point in the show this is being sold to us as real so what's happening is not super consensual so tetros is genuinely the kind of guy who just thinks this is a good and okay thing to do but don't worry guys he's just being manipulated into some weird Kink play being abused and humiliated is just like the side effect of this master plan I guess right better again no issue with the fact that she's a sexual being if she wants to get spanked that is totally fine if it's consensual and you guys have your safe words this is all good that is just not what was happening here thank you for taking care of me oh good at least we have after care Jesus Christ oh I just love when we get to add a name to the list of people who make Christian Gray look good and then they imply that the abuse did actually make her music better they just put that out there into the world I get that she wants to go to uncomfortable places to unlock something within herself but Christ just need to relive some trauma to get the creative juices flowing yeah working through trauma is a positive recreating abuse trauma not so much don't worry though guys she was in control the whole time and it was all a lie you just won't find out for a couple of episodes the whole episode is a dumpster fire completely eviscerated any good will I had also someone please save Leia she is being digmatized he's just trying her best out here man I definitely am I am absolutely here for Jocelyn okay I know that I am whatever time for episode four which is when Destiny the queen finds out that tedro's Tedros obviously is in Tedros Tedros he's Maurizio Castello Jackson from the Midwest who was arrested for kidnapping beating and torturing his ex and then caught a bunch of pimping charges remember though guys by the end he's gonna be the real victim of Jocelyn [ __ ] hate you Sam and her solution is the only correct one can I make a suggestion please I think we should kill this [ __ ] yesterday Destiny Queen sadly Heim says no so she just tries to stay close to the situation and keep things in order because Jaws seems to believe all of his [ __ ] that the first arrest was him trying to defend himself and the pimp charges were actually because he wouldn't let a group of girls extort him I couldn't believe that she believed him at the time and now I guess like maybe she didn't but that really makes it worse if she did want to keep him around when she actually knew that he went to jail for kidnapping and torturing an ex unless you're just so arrogant that you think you can have that much control but back to the songwriting uh it's kind of weird Tedros just starts getting her to completion for better vocals I'd be willing to accept a lot of what happens on this show with A better ending but you will never convince me that publicly getting someone off in a room full of people makes the art more real it's just lame it doesn't even make for a good end result they're clearly just looking for reactions they want it to be provocative you can't tell me that something is Arch is because you filmed it with a multi-million dollar budget oh I also forgot to mention that Mike Dean like the actual massive music producer is in this like no explanation as how Ted Rose knows Mike Dean but hey he's here and while I do hate his entrance he's just high and Confused for the next couple episodes and it really just helps things along and while Leia's concerns are continuously mounting Heim and Destiny don't want to fill her in on anything so she thinks she's alone so she shares her concerns with Isaac and oh honey baby you can't bring up your concerns about the cult leader with the cult member they're all letting this psychopath exploit her because sorry but he is just so that they can make money ooh she spin but you know what they're all just kind of exploiting her to make money and don't really care just promise us and it works where which one of you is famous or making it he is shocking you with a dog collar for nothing yeah sure maybe you feel like he's making you more talented but what is the result you were freeloading in someone else's Mansion which is ironically just the weekend's Mansion so it is kind of his he's like using her in front of other people like she's not even a human being She's Not a Human Being she's a star not a human Isaac you're a [ __ ] star oh it's so up its own ass also if John us is this regularly manipulative and doing it right now and just fully in control it's clearly not something that Leia sees or is aware of to this extent because she is genuinely concerned but it gets worse and weird there's this whole thing with Xander who claimed to have to stop singing Because of a vocal cord injury but he can sing perfectly so he ends up telling Tedros that Jocelyn's mom made him sign a contract to say that he'd never sing again because she thought that he was a threat to Joss's career and since he lived in their house he felt like he had no choice and the kicker is that Jocelyn knew and was okay with it because she also didn't want him outshining her which Tetris assumes is alive so they hunt him down strap him up to the shock collar and just start abusing the [ __ ] out of him which is when he lets slip she [ __ ] controls everything around her and now she's doing it to you damn tween shows are Cutthroat man so like Jocelyn's mom was definitely abusive whether she was also abusive to Jocelyn remains to be seen but this is the first concrete indication that Joss is more cunning than we believe and there's a moment on tedros's face where he starts to wonder if it's true but she just maintains that Xander is lying and lets the shot caller ride until he says he was lying obviously just to make it stop also this weirdo is just always looming in the background doing nothing thank you but hey this finally leads to a song that doesn't sound mid as [ __ ] [Music] seems like your creativity is a bit less linked to her own abuse and more so the abusive people around her which like hell yeah give me that Twisted angle but we're just plugging on with it Ted Rose tells her that she should post about the abuse she face from her mom which could have been a genuine and positive thing to share to try to heal but it's absolutely to increase Buzz around the singles and increase ticket sales but then at their big old party Chloe let's slip to Joss that tedro specifically had Diane bring her to the club Diane thought it was just to help the club get more publicity but Tedros had those full infiltration plans then she finds out that Diane was given the song that she was supposed to be releasing which kind of lets her know that maybe things actually are that bad with the label and she instantly flips she calls her ex over the one that cheated on her to piss off Tedros and it sends him spiraling like he starts getting wasted and it's just like very much showing the full loser that he is oh I'm sure you want to do another one what do you affect the man has a [ __ ] complex that just paints such a wide picture of his extreme insecurities and I do love to see it we finally get a moment that might actually corroborate that she's lying about the abuse because Rob asks her why she never told him about it when they were together so something finally tracks and instead of trying to beat Rob's ass reckon up with just Tedros does something way worse he has Xander who's now just completely brainwashed on his side after like five minutes of torture like probably because he promised him like a shot at Fame said abroad for assault while the other members corroborate the story she's the very weird plot points I started to wonder if this was some weird extended 4D chess thing where Joss wanted to hurt Tedros knew that bringing Rob over would do that which is what actually happened but knew the tetris would probably do something to Rob who she might have also wanted revenge on because he cheated on her kind of getting a mystery two birds one stone she does seem very shocked and upset when she learned the news but they are also telling us that she is a master Puppeteer who can control all of emotions at all times you think I don't know you did this what either way we are finally at the finale which is such a wild thing to be saying at episode five but just is officially done with Ted Rose you're gonna kick out your only source of inspiration well you've served your purpose yeah I guess all it took was torturing Troye Sivan to get a good song out of you no need for Muse anymore and without the dumb reveal this is where I really started feeling like she was a bad [ __ ] like she pulled agency like she noticed that like hey maybe the wool was pulling over my eyes you know what I'm [ __ ] awesome and I'm gonna run this [ __ ] and as much as he tries to convince her that he didn't set up the arrangement that he wasn't obsessed with her in prison Chloe's just too innocent because she's 17. Chloe when did uh Ted Rose first bring me up I mean he's been manifesting this first Chloe no that's not true of course he was you're a [ __ ] con man and a fraud well thank God we're all finally on the same page aye aye Captain shut the [ __ ] up and she just starts to own this [ __ ] usurps Teddy's other performers to impress Eli Roth with all this Talent she found for the tour so he doesn't back out the difference between me and him is I can actually make you a star she storms the label to show them the new songs and Nikki loves them so that's saved but Ted Rose is still trying to maintain control you gotta suck dick to keep him here keep him here well I for when I'm just shocked that he ever caught pimping charges reminder this half naked one is supposed to be 17 in this show but he actually almost wrecks the tour because Jocelyn doesn't get him out of the house before Eli shows up but we do get this nice little Deluge of relatable lines he called this a [ __ ] Nexium meeting I'm surprised he didn't brand us on the way and she's talented but so was the [ __ ] banjo boy Deliverance what are we doing I don't know what happened to Tetris please tell him uh bye for me but it's all offset with moments I had to physically prevent myself from fast forwarding through like it's also weird like they're all half naked and singing and Eli's like what the [ __ ] but all the other ones are like just seeing the dollar signs Nikki's even negotiating with Ted Rose while he's coked out of his mind are you a little loaded and I'm not judging no no no but hey in this entire spectacle Leia finally realizes that everyone here is terrible all the execs are willing to put up with [ __ ] for the shot at a dollar Xander is willing to literally set up someone for rape Joss seems upset but isn't doing anything and Xander just takes it as an opportunity to perform himself [Music] so she leaves kind of horrified that she ever wanted to believe the best in any of these people God what I would give to people to read that letter she left but it's finally time for the Ted Rose explosion no not that one oh God it's when Tedros refuses to leave then I'll keep you hostage then they'll [ __ ] kill you not before I [ __ ] kill you first [ __ ] so she tells him to pay him off and he says it works but you know what 500k ain't enough for Tedros Tedros you're trying to buy a girl back you know I went to prison for the [ __ ] I think we should kill this [ __ ] nope sadly not that one Heim goes to the journalist that's supposed to be writing the profile on Jocelyn and convinces her to write about Tedros instead with all the information that Destiny dug up and spin it as how he tried to weasel his way into Joss's life when she was healing which leads us to a six-week job God we love those so this is really just where everything goes off the rails in a way that they think they're so smart but I have to disagree the management team are all watching the stadium get set up for opening night talking about how Joss's new singles are topping the charge that the studio had Mass walks out because of how misogynistic they are what a stupid thing to come up with for the show but like hey I guess it helped push the sails how they buried Tedros with that story and now have perfect control over their asset but no he isn't gone she's invited him to the show because she misses him which is when he realizes that the brush her mom allegedly beat her with is new which is apparently how they reveal that she'd been playing him all along which again as we have gone through extensively does not necessarily make the most sense this is also where Destiny starts to lose me because she says she won't judge him him for being a pimp in the past because everybody's gonna do what they gotta do to survive which is just wild I don't know why they decided that that needed to be said you could have just left it at the part at the end where she was like if you do anything to her I'll kill you I do 100 think she was caught off guard by the original encounter being a setup and I would have loved for them to have told the story that did work that way then to have Levinson just flat out say that he's actually her victim when he's kidnapped abused and trafficked people we also see how desperate Pedros has become ends up being the victim being the victim is in no way of [ __ ] victim this is foolish even if she was the one who would ask for the story to be published which like essentially ruined his life and he lost the club he still wouldn't be a victim because he did all those things and I probably wouldn't have as much of an issue with Logistics as long as she further humiliated this man but no because I have the opportunity to introduce you to the love of my life and it would be great if this was just some other cunning moment where she's just trying to exert control over him to prove that she can to prove that she is in charge but then have it so that she doesn't actually care about him and she's just planning to [ __ ] him over you're mine forever now go stand over there basically just using him as a way to Blindside her team who thinks they're in control of all this just to show that they're not in control of [ __ ] which is why she got Nikki to take the song away from Diane even though she didn't want it just showing that she's actually the one in control and [ __ ] Diane for trying to set her up to any capacity and that does feel like the end effect of how she used him but I also think she genuinely cares about him she looked genuinely alone and bored and sad when he was gone I think she actually likes having this [ __ ] disaster in her life none of this means this much without you I don't like being a I just needed the reality where she basically got to say [ __ ] you to everyone involved in this and not ended up with a piece of [ __ ] and I love shows about shitty people doing shitty things and staying shitty I even love twists where shitty people win but I feel like they wanted the takeaway message to be that she was always this bad [ __ ] manipulating everyone at every single moment but that's just not the way it plays out in previous episodes you can do really cool things and sell that now that she kind of realized she was being played and like immediately took that power back and that he actually just helped her get to that point but just saying that she was always in control it doesn't track and it certainly doesn't feel earned it's really like when you think you're doing Gone Girl but you're actually just the idol I don't even have anything that would be like a worse version of Gone Girl to compare it to because it's just that poorly handled okay so that's pretty much it and there's just so much going on here and shows and movies obviously don't have to have like singular clear themes like the best media has lots of themes working together I just think this show really struggled with balancing and expressing them because for all the interesting little nuggets even if you do just want to abandon like the realities of Art and how like individuals are just kind of like run by Studios and want to make it that she was just this bad [ __ ] the whole time they really don't even seem interested in doing that it just seems like they got so wrapped up in telling this just demented love story that was so unbelievable in the way that it was presented to us because the show wants us to know that Tedros is a loser so if she's in as much control as they say she is she should be seeing that too so I really just don't know anymore does it honestly just go back to that first conversation in the show where you don't [ __ ] someone like Jocelyn us she has some very very serious mental problems I don't I don't want us to think that the wrap up in your from the get-go by the end he realizes that she knows exactly what he's doing and she knows exactly what she's doing but for all the reasons I've listed it seems hard to believe I would just like to believe that she let this dude in when she was genuinely feeling vulnerable then realized he was a good conduit to get her sound and image where she wanted it to be but at any moment this could have led to her just getting dropped she almost lost the tour she lost the single and even if she didn't want it that could have just led to the studio cutting their losses and seeing her as a liability even if they weren't going to cut her they could have said [ __ ] you this new music is trash we're releasing the EP as is and you're down one song I really think it just comes down to this needing better more cohesive writing and a bit more time with Jocelyn the manipulator she needs to devour those around her to feel like she's got something to say in the end we really see Jocelyn's True Colors it's easy enough and breakdown at the video she was wrong but that moment could have flat out lost her everything it almost did and she clearly has obsessive issues like look at the way she brushes her hair that's not in control and it really did seem like she was getting so in her head about what other people would think so obsessed with making sure she was perfect that she wasn't being authentic anymore I don't know you can do so much of what they wanted to do while making this more focused on her realizing that they try to put her in a box and how she manages to get that control back in manipulative ways they just wrote it terribly wangs of the jangs around the world were physically recoiling into people's body at the [ __ ] being said and done here that's enough of my rambling I have tried to cover as many angles to be as charitable as possible but I don't even know why I've bothered because ultimately I think the show was bad not entertaining and quite dumb but thank you all so much for watching let me know what you guys are thinking of the idol down below if anything I feel like I went out of my way to be more charitable than I needed to be for something that I genuinely feel is a dumpster fire I basically see one person make a point where I'm like well I guess you could make that point but here's all the reasons why don't think that tracks basically this just turned into another video where I'm preemptively arguing with people that haven't made any statements towards me yet but whatever let me know who you guys are thinking down below thank you so much for watching this thanks as always to my patreon supporters and YouTube channel members subscribe to the channel if you're new leave a like on the video if you're into that kind of thing all my social medias are listed down below if you want to check those out I hope you're all having a fantastic day I'm mostly okay and we'll catch you all later

Channel: Amanda the Jedi

Views: 512,175

Keywords: the idol hbo, the idol the weeknd, the idol jennie, the idol hbo max, the idol, the idol hbo review, the weeknd the idol, the weeknd lilly rose depp, tedros the idol, tedros and jocelyn, the idol is cringe, jocelyn the villain, lily rose depp, the weeknd lily rose depp, abel tesfaye, sam levinson, sam levinson the idol, reacting to the idol, the idol explained, the idol is terrible, the idol scene

Id: g647DYEJbkI

Length: 42min 21sec (2541 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 10 2023