'Euphoria' again pushes the limits with its second season

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(CNN) -

After a two-and-a-half-year hiatus between seasons, with a two-part special in between,

is back , offering the latest version of youth angst.

Despite the presence of award-winning Zendaya, the HBO series remains so relentlessly bleak and nihilistic that it is overly defined by how far the series creator, Sam Levinson, will set the standard in terms of nudity, sex, and use of drugs

(Answer: quite far, no doubt).

Euphoria

goes the extra mile to differentiate itself from the soap opera style of

or other television contributions to the genre, striving to rival the cruder movies that have explored these areas or premium series like

and

, which in turn, it is a source of controversy.

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However, any TV show ultimately comes down to the characters, which is where the series falls short, even with the flights of fantasy - giving certain episodes an almost dreamlike quality - and the heavy-handed storytelling provided by Rue (Zendaya), whose struggles with addiction persist.

Zendaya and Hunter Schafer in HBO's 'Euphoria'.

Levinson structured the season as a series of stories involving individual characters, gradually pulling those threads together over the course of the seven pre-released episodes.

However, there is a repetitive quality in the topics covered, among which Rue's relationship with Jules (Hunter Schafer) and the triangle formed by Cassie (Sydney Sweeney), Maddy (Alexa Demie) and Nate (Jacob Elordi) stand out. , each of them hurt and damaged in their own way.

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The new season also doesn't entirely escape the previous trend of reducing parents to monsters or ineffective scolding reminiscent of the invisible voices of old Charlie Brown cartoons, despite an effort to flesh out some of their stories.

Criticizing

 as someone raised on previous generations of teen dramas runs the risk of being something of a "Get off my lawn," and the series has its share of critical admirers and die-hard fans, earning Zendaya an Emmy for her season one and the intensity of his performance.

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That said, as written, the characters almost challenge viewers to care too much about them, and the series' attempts to be avant-garde are sometimes downright repulsive, including a late encounter where a gun is wielded like a gun. kind of foreplay.

Of course, in the age of streaming, a series like this does not pretend to be to everyone's taste and it doesn't have to be, with the advantage that

attracts an audience that may not see much more on HBO or HBO Max .

.

(It returns alongside another series featuring a different twist on dysfunctional families,

, which is not a particularly compatible pairing.)

's teens

 (played by twentysomethings, as usual) haven't ripped through the market for self-absorption and obviously haven't invented it.

Ultimately, though, this latest installment of episodes unfolds with the kind of grim, unpleasant efficiency that can make one feel as numb as Rue seems.

The second season of Euphoria premieres January 9 at 9 p.m. Miami time on HBO.

Like CNN, HBO is a unit of WarnerMedia.

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