Reviews

Shiva baby is one of those films that I have a hard time reviewing because I have mixed feelings. On one hand, it's an excellent portrayal of anxiety shown through the eyes of the main character Danielle (rachel sennott), and on the other it struggles to stay afloat due to its overwhelming nature. It is overwhelming, but that's kind of the point.

As the audience we realize very quickly that she is uncomfortable in her situation, and we feel that with her at this post funeral gathering. The pressures of navigating the emotional rollercoaster of family, sexuality, jealousy, and fear in a claustrophobic setting accompanies a brooding score that facilitates an undeniably tense atmosphere.

I really like the portrayal of bisexuality in this film as it doesn't make a big deal of it. We see how her inability to escape her sexuality adds to the increasing dread of the day.

I enjoyed this movie, but the ending left a bitter taste in my mouth. It was very bleak, and ended very suddenly. There's more that I wanted to see, which felt a bit cheap, but I see the intention. Anxiety is a whirlwind of fear that seems to be ramping up to something horrible, but sometimes it amounts to nothing. Maybe this looming feeling of descent danielle feels could be over as abruptly as it began.

This show has continued to get better and better each week, which is something I highly respect. The music by Cristobal Tapia de Veer never disappoints, and is crucial to the vacation aesthetic of the show.

Despite the large number of main characters, each one complex and relatable. I always think it's such a treat when I watch something and can't tell who I'm rooting for. Each character is in a position that is uniquely challenging and poses a new piece of conflict, all intertwined by the resort. It's been great watching all the storylines overlap as we come close to the end.

I would say Aubrey Plaza was the star of this episode for me. Her performance in this show is one of the best I've seen in quite some time, and it seems to be so nuanced while still being powerful. Some of the more memorable moments involve almost no dialogue, and yet still say a lot just based on the characters facial expressions. We watch Harper become the thing she so desperately wanted to distance herself from, and yet I understand both Ethan and Harper's points of views. It's great to have a show like this that seems so accurate in terms of real life situations that we find ourselves in. I love this show and I will be deeply upset when it ends.

This would have been a great episode in the season, if it wasn't the finale. The season just feels unfinished because of all of the loose ends. I am one of euphorias biggest fans, but I was definitely disappointed. There were a lot of story lines that were needing to be wrapped up, but instead it wasted time on things that we either didn't need, or could wait for season 3 (Elliot's unbearably long song). The music, cinematography, acting and atmosphere of euphoria is sublime, I'm never let down in that department. I think one of the big problems is that the show has a way of building lots of things to be important, and so we wait for it to dive deeper. It builds things up that have no reason to be, like Nate taking the gun and threatening his dad when he had already called the police on him. The scenes with Jules and Elliot are irritating because they've made us upset with these characters, and then expect us to care about them just because it's the finale. It's as if Jules doesn't have a storyline outside of her relationship with rue, and Elliot was only there to wreak havoc on the both of them.

List of loose ends (it might seem like I'm being tough on the show, but it's only because I know it's potential and had such high expectations)

-how was rue able to get clean? What happened to her at Laurie's? Did the cops really never connect her to the break in? (you have to remember she committed grand larceny)

-where is Laurie? Rue says she "stayed clean the rest of the school year" so Laurie never tried to get her 10k back? Is she really as dangerous as she was built up to be if she just floats 10k for no reason? We could wait for season 3 but why would that make sense?

-where is Samantha? What purpose did she serve, besides talking to Maddy in the pool? What was the point of the obvious sexual tension between them? Was her giving Maddy the purpose dress really the only reason we saw the camera in the clock?

-what happened to fez and faye?? Why in the world did ash do what he did in the bathroom? Did he just want to die? Avoid jail? Why would ashtray start shooting through a door that he knows fez is on the other side of? What was Lexis reaction to fez being shot?? What is happening with grandma now?? Was her only purpose in the season fez backstory?

-why does Cassie feel guilty one minute, and call Maddy the C word the next minute? She's constantly flipping her moral values. Is Maddy going to try to be friends with Cassie again, or is she just being the bigger person?

-where did kats cam career go? Sure she was dating Ethan, but to just not mention it until episode 7 in a confusing way that may or may not be Nate's dream sequence seems redundant since we gave up on that plot line a while ago.

-where's Leslie? Where's Gia? Where's Ali? Where's Jules dad? In fact, where are all the parents (besides suze lol)?

A lot of these things could be answered in season 3, but we have to remember all the plot lines abandoned from season 1, and realize that we most likely won't get closure on most of these things. In case you forgot about how many plot lines were abandoned, here's a bit of a refresher.

Abandoned plotlines from S1 -Jules/Nate relationship -Cals "meet ups" -MCKAY -Cassie's abortion -Jules journey with her gender identity -Nate's sexuality -the jacobs family third brother from the family photo (really upset this wasn't visited) -TYLER CLARKSON -Daniel

I think the reason this upsets me so much is because I know if the show had went a different route with season 2, they could have made it the last one and if done right, could have gone down in history as one of the best shows of all time. Now, I fear, that even if season 3 is even better than season 1, it won't matter.

Season 3 wont come out until 2024, at which point the actors will no longer look like high schoolers (Alexa demie will be 33 years old). They could make it college age, or not in the setting of a high school, but then it wouldn't even be the same show anymore, and everything we originally loved about it will certainly change shape.

Every scene in this episode was so emotional, there's a lot of unspoken feelings with this cast (Gia and Ali in particular). It's so hard to not have strong opinions with these characters, and it's shot as beautifully as ever.

There is tension coming from all directions as we get to the last two episodes. Every character's fate seem to be building to something really big. Different from the last season's more gloomy finale, it seems that a lot of various conflicts among various characters will converge at the end.

I'm very excited to see where these characters are going, and I think that's the point of the show. You may not love all the characters, but you're eager to see where they go. Nate, is evil, but I'm so curious to see where his future takes him. Cassie is off the deep end, but aren't you curious what she does next? This show doesn't define characters by their choices, and rather than trying to "redeem" the bad ones, it shows us that characters aren't "good" or "bad" but simply human. We all sometimes make bad choices when nobody is watching, and this show is just honest about it. When a character does something bad, they aren't doing it in spite of our presence, but because they have no obligation to do the right thing behind closed doors. We have moody, intense teenagers living intense lives and you're bound to find at least one person you can sympathize with, even if it is someone who makes choices you don't agree with.

Overall, this episode is a great representation of what the show does best... developing characters. The point is to have us relate to/feel for these characters so strongly that at a certain point their actions can influence their moral compass, but not the person we know them to be. No matter what rue or Cassie does, they will always be the ones we became attached to in season one, and we come to see their struggles as hurdles to life rather than these irredeemable character developments.

We care for these characters as if we knew them personally, and that's such a great thing for a TV show to do. I cannot wait to see the back half of euphoria.

Beautifully shot, strong performances, great editing, satisfying ending. If you're on the fence, just watch it; It's only an hour and a half and is sure to creep you out at the very least.