its a shame that this is generally seen as levinsons best artistic product (and it is probably that as all his other works are much much worse) as it is genuinely very very bad, at least all the aspects he participated in: the general aesthetics pandered to within this film feel artifical and difficult to swallow and almost there to distract the audience from every other aspect of this poorly written show, with a few exceptions which i will talk about this show feels like it is written to deal with difficult issues but has no idea how to navigate these issues in a realistic way so instead it is lead with pretty music and pretty lights which give it a fanatical view despite its dark center. the issues at hand are absolutely issues people i grew up with dealt with i have seen it first hand, teenage years are fucking tough on kids and in that aspect it feels realistic but the way it is done is oddly written and so oddly portrayed that the impact these issues should have are ultimately left with just me feeling slightly sick but nothing else culminated. one of the best parts of this show are the actors their casting on surface are odd because... none of them look like high school students yet the amount of energy they put within each performance is astounding and almost gets me to root and like the whole thing, yet equally with every good episode (the fair episode is easily the best thing levinson has ever participated in) is then immediately downsided with the shows obsession with twists and turns and its need to be the new riverdale. it is jarring to watch some of the rawest performances i have seen from young actors in an incredibly realistic fashion of experiences i have seen myself into bizarro riverdale esc jail scenes and blackmail (not saying these things do happen they absolutely do but are so poorly written in contrast to the other scenes it is aggravating). one thing to give to the show in this season at least (not sure if i plan to watch anything else with this show minus the jules and rue episode) is how well done jules is. i am a transgender man and it is rare to see a trans person on screen done well, to the extent where i try and avoid depictions of trans people done by cis people, so seeing jules be written as not a fragment of a person only defined by her trans identity but as much of a person than every other character it is surprising but heartwarming. ive sat with this show for about a month now and what i was originally left with was satisfaction with this teen drama has now replaced itself with confusion of why this has the fanbase it has (you all deserve a better show) and how sam levinson keeps on making movies and shows which just aren’t very good.