‘The Idol’ Promised Kink and Delivered Vanilla

variety.com:

Alison Herman TV Critic In the end, “The Idol” was neither as offensive as its detractors claimed nor as “revolutionary” as co-creator Sam Levinson believed.

Like so many works of art that too openly aim for provocation, the five episodeHBO drama got in its own way, passing off reductive clichés as radical transgression.

Much of the discourse around the show has centered on sex, the most attention-grabbing of its themes. But flashy as its approach may be, how “The Idol” depicts nudity, kink and power dynamics is less indicative of the series’ core problems than its take on pop music and stardom — ostensibly its primary subjects and the center of season finale “Jocelyn Forever.” Even with such an abbreviated buildup, the episode still managed to underwhelm, offering neither shocking twists nor effective catharsis.

For a show in part about fandom, “The Idol” failed to inspire one of its own. “The Idol” is only the latest in a spate of recent projects to thinly fictionalize the experience of world-famous women and the ecosystem that surrounds them.