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    HBO's 'The Idol' offers stylish yet oddly inert debut episode

    The narrow scope of the action in The Idol's debut reveals a story stuck in a claustrophobic bubble, offering bursts of nudity and sex to distract from how little is actually happening onscreen.
    by Eric Deggans Jun 05, 2023 3 minutes
    Lily-Rose Depp as Jocelyn.

    The big questions about HBO's The Idol weren't quite answered by its super-stylish, yet oddly inert opening episode Sunday.

    The series, starring Lily-Rose Depp as a pop star who has come through a mental health crisis and gets seduced by a hipster club owner/self-help guru/cult leader played by Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye, drew savage reviews after two episodes debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in France last month.

    And a expose suggesting to a disturbing degree, turning it into a toxic, male-oriented fantasy, raised concerns about what story, exactly, was going to tell.

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