comfortable. Take care of yoursel

[Jin Wah]

HBO's award-winning series Euphoria began its new season last month with a storyline fans wouldn't be surprised by: a violent grandmother, aggressive drug dealers and a house party stacked with alcohol.

Written by Sam Levinson, who is also the show's executive producer, Euphoria follows the story of 17-year-old Rue (played by Zendaya) struggling with an ongoing drug addiction while her classmates navigate love, friendships and trauma.

In January, on the premiere date of its second season, actor Zendaya posted a statement on her Instagram page reminding viewers the content was made for mature audiences.

"This season, maybe even more so than the last, is deeply emotional and deals with subject matter that can be triggering and difficult to watch," she wrote.

"Please only watch it if you feel comfortable. Take care of yourself and know that either way you are still loved and I can still feel your support."

Since creator Sam Levinson’s show about a group of teenagers dealing with heavy issues like grief, addiction, and intimate partner violence premiered, people on social media have remarked on the lack of realism. Rue, a 17-year-old biracial girl living in an almost completely white world, has been struggling with substance misuse since she was 13. Exacerbated by the death of her father, Rue’s addiction threatens everything that’s important to her, including her relationships and her life. For many, it is the lack of strict supervision and physical abuse from Rue’s Black mother, Leslie (Nika King), that makes Euphoria an inauthentic portrayal of Black families dealing with adolescent addiction.

After watching season two, episode five — which Zendaya described in an Instagram post as part of Rue’s “rock bottom” — some were shocked that Leslie didn’t resort to more intense violence as her panicked and distressed daughter rampaged throughout the house. Leslie had discovered and disposed of Rue’s suitcase of pills, not knowing that without them, Rue might be sex trafficked by drug dealer Laurie (Martha Kelly). Faced with withdrawal symptoms and the likelihood of horrific danger, Rue broke doors, threatened her sister, Gia (Storm Reid), hit her mother, emotionally abused her girlfriend, Jules (Hunter Schafer), and cursed at them all. After Rue shoved her sister, Leslie slapped Rue. Rue then broke down in tears, at which point Leslie became loving and desperately attempted to take her daughter to rehab.

The minimal violence in this intense episode left many viewers incredulous. One Twitter user wrote, “Rue mom is so weak, any real black mom would’ve beat the breaks off her ass.” Some of the tweets seem to suggest past pain, like this user who tweeted, “Rue doesn’t act like she has a black mom but a white one .. I breathe in a wrong way and it’s over,” going on to explain that if she behaved in the same way, “I would be dead.”