LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: 'The Idol' premiered on HBO on June 4 amid a barrage of negative press around series producer Sam Levinson and actor The Weeknd. Now, fans have taken offense to too much "on-screen smoking," as they fail to see Lily-Rose Depp's character go a minute without lighting one.
The premiere introduced us to Lily's Jocelyn, a pop sensation. She's recovering from her mother's death and a spell in a mental health center, and she's now dealing with a controversy involving an intimate leaked photo. She's also nude or almost naked in almost every scenario, including an album cover photo shoot, in which she insists on exposing her breasts. When an obnoxious intimacy coordinator attempts to keep her covered, they lock him in the bathroom! We also meet her crew, which includes Dan Levy, her publicist, and Rachel Sennott, her best friend/assistant Leia, as they work to keep Jocelyn from discovering the photo leak.
Smoking hot photoshoot!
Lily plays Jocelyn, a pop diva who is recording a music video as the pilot begins. She is working on a return after canceling her tour in the aftermath of her mother's death — and she may be on the verge of a nervous collapse. However, as one of her handlers points out, "Mental illness is sexy." That's why, for her cover image, she's wearing a medical bracelet. There's also an unusual parallel with Simone Biles, who prioritized her mental health as well.
During the session, she tells the photographer that she wishes to go entirely topless, but is unable to do so because of her rider. Hank Azaria, her manager, comes up with a solution by locking the intimacy coordinator in the bathroom and paying a colleague $5,000 to keep the door shut.
While she appears to be confident for her team, it is evident that she is suffering during recording; yet, the team watching is happy for her, comparing her to Britney Spears. Meanwhile, everyone learns that a photo of her has been published online – a selfie she snapped while covered in bodily fluids.
'Damn jocelyn can’t go a minute without smoking'
In just one episode, fans made one common observation as one wrote "Damn jocelyn can’t go a minute without smoking." Another viewer quipped, "Jocelyn if she keeps smoking every 2 minutes of screentime." One fan noted, "The show is nothing but pretty shots of two drug addicts smoking on cigarettes every five minutes." A fourth user tweeted, "Just watched the first episode…. That was 54 minutes of Jocelyn smoking cigarettes lol and Abel’s character is creepy af."
Calling the scenes provocative, one fan tweeted, "I feel like I need a Cold shower and a stop smoking patch after watching #THEIDOL intrigued will keep watching. It’s provocative and wild. A bit raunchy. We shall see where it goes from here." Calling out Lily's character, another person wrote, "The Weeknd looks like a sleazeball and Lily looks like a 12 year playing dress-up with a serious chain smoking problem. The feminist in me truly hates this. Yet will I still watch every week? Yes." Another viewer noted, "The Idol is so bad. Things I haven’t seen in this episode: good acting. Things I have seen: lily-rose tits and her chain smoking the whole time." One fan compared her to, "Jocelyn was smoking them cigs like NBA Youngboy."
'The Idol' airs new episodes every Sunday on HBO Max at 9 pm ET.
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