Picture Supply: HBO / Eddy Chen
The finale of the second season of “Euphoria” was 59 minutes lengthy. And amid friendships being mended, beloved characters going through peril, and different complicated storylines wrapping up, over three complete minutes had been devoted to a track that was admittedly nonetheless being workshopped. That is practically six p.c of the episode. Sam Levinson must reply many questions, however above all else: why dedicate practically six p.c of your high-stakes finale to an acoustic efficiency by a peripheral character?
The efficiency takes place throughout the episode’s first act. As she’s making amends, Rue stops by Elliot’s home to forgive him for exposing the depth of her drug use to her defeated mother, Leslie. That is when Elliot utters 5 phrases typically uttered, however seldom desired: “Can I play you one thing?” What ensues is “Little Star,” a track about cosmic but fated connection. “Feels such as you fell proper on my head,” Elliot repeats all through the track, “I hope it was value it ultimately.” He later provides, “I am nonetheless engaged on it.”
It is smart that Elliot would have a musical second. Dominic Fike, who performs the character, is a musician, and he launched his debut studio album, “What May Probably Go Improper,” in 2020. In a behind-the-scenes featurette for the episode, Fike stated showrunner Levinson approached him with the concept. The trade, in line with Fike, went as follows: “I used to be considering, you play the guitar on this and also you sing a track. It is to Rue however not likely about Rue, however like is about Rue. It is like a surreal second however it’s not.”
“The forged should not simply performing.”
Fike was concerned within the songwriting course of, however “Little Star” was really written by Zendaya and Labrinth. When she’s not filming, Zendaya stated she spends time with the “Euphoria” composer, who now has a studio on the lot. “He is discovering new sounds to enhance each emotion that we undergo within the present,” she stated. On the artistic course of, Labrinth stated, “Me and Zendaya had been really sitting in one another’s religious vitality and house, and we’re attending to encourage one another to make one thing contemporary.” He added, “The forged should not simply performing — they’re a part of the music now, and I feel that makes it much more particular.”
Viewers discovered it much less particular. Somebody on Twitter compared the scene to a Tiny Desk Concert, and one other, an episode of Glee. Although a close to hour of tv permits time to wade in smaller subplots, it is exhausting for the efficiency to really feel something however irritating when a brawl is going down on the college play and, on the opposite facet of city, a SWAT staff is sawing the door of a personality who must be sitting entrance row at stated play. It is not truthful to viewers, it is not truthful to Fike, and someway, it does not really feel truthful to Fez, as a result of most issues do not.