What an embarrassment.
This series got into hot water because director Amy Seimetz, who was supposed to direct this series, and tell this story from a feminist point of view of a girl being exploited by men and the music industry, left because of intense hostility from the cast and crew. Then Sam Levinson took over and turned into an exploitative torture porn fest. At least that's what the Rolling Stone magazine article said.
And boy were they correct on this one.
There appears to be a good, interesting story about the sleaziness of the music/movie industry and how it mistreats and exploits pop singers, reaching out to get heard. But it never gets the upper hand, and is more interested in showing its very young-looking female lead nude and performing gratuitous, pointless long sex scenes that add nothing to the story.
I don't think I can listen to the Weeknd's music anymore, as Tesfaye not only plays a horrifically sleazy nasty character in this (his acting is low-par and this is his first acting role) but he's also the producer on this show. And the series also uses his songs during the most extreme sex/sadomasochistic scenes. Like WTF?
Almost nothing is from Joslyn (Lily Rose Depp)'s point of view. Her inner thoughts and feelings and past are mostly told by other characters. The cringy, offensive dialogue is just there to shock, and therefore, it's tedious and vomit-inducing.
I'm sick to death of men in Hollywood doing this to female characters on screen. It was bad enough with Blonde and how they disrespected Marilyn Monroe. Now this?
Enough. You are not special, you are not edgy. You are just wrong and untalented.
