It’s hard not to be intrigued by Euphoria. The darker, more colorful version of Degrassi produced by Drake, starring Zendaya is not something many expected. From the first news of Zendaya joining the cast, it became clear that this could be her adult breakout role.

It certainly seemed like the type of role all Disney stars aim to do to get away from Disney; the lead character is a recovering drug addict trying to get her life together while navigating the struggles of being a teenager in today’s hypersexual, incredibly violent society.

Zendaya, known for playing sweet and normal girl-next-door type roles, really steps it up as Rue, our incredibly unstable and frustrating narrator. With a dead voice dripping of bitterness, Rue seems to be the perfect storyteller for the lives of those around her; each character with a past- and present, darker than what appears at surface level.

That’s probably what makes Euphoria the hottest show right now on TV. Its stunning cinematography and lighting is like one long, hazy acid trip. Yet, while so beautifully shot, the characters live in this ugly world of way more than just typical high school drama. Rue and her friends aren’t worried about getting pimples; they’re too busy hooking up with classmates’ dads and becoming web cam girls. In fact, the only truly beautiful moments seem to be when Rue finds comfort in her highs- a bittersweet truth about life as an addict.

From the first episode, we’re thrown into a chaos of degeneracy. And it only gets tougher and grittier (and glitter-ier) from there, as the teens all face demons of their own. Jules, the new girl Rue starts crushing on, struggles with having safe relationships as a trans girl. Perfect jock Nate is essentially the poster boy for why viewing pornography at a younger age is bad for you. Something is wrong with him, and viewers will wish his girlfriend, Maddie, will leave. But she won’t, because all she knows about love is that Nate will do anything and everything for her.

And that’s where the show starts slipping a bit. While it aims to tell the story of everyone (and I mean everyone), the story that should matter, which is Rue’s, loses some of its magic and shock factor. With everyone dominating for most-messed-up-backstory, it almost becomes overwhelming to find enough sympathy for some of these characters.

Is that messed up? If so, Euphoria aims to really play with your emotions.

Creator Sam Levinson is disturbingly genius at untapping every parent’s possible nightmare when it comes to raising teens. Drugs, pregnancy, rape, illegal crimes, the dark web… Euphoria is hard to watch. It’s heavy. Even the episodes that deal with just Rue’s mental health are hard to stomach, as we see the heavy burden things like loneliness and lack of love and support can do to an individual. Rue’s spiraling- and really, the spiraling of everyone around her, is just heartbreaking. This show isn’t for those easily triggered.

But it makes great TV. The question is, should we be pushing the envelope this far?

There’s no denying Euphoria is beautifully shot, and the writing for the most part is funny and shocking. But, we definitely need to address Euphoria’s elephant in the room: massively explicit sex scenes that technically involve under age kids.

Listen, I get it. Euphoria wants to be dark and dirty and real- graphically real. This is no Gossip Girl or 90210 where they only have sex off camera for couples. Euphoria’s teens get down and dirty, just like real teens supposedly do. Except the girls from Euphoria are subjected to hypersexualization from the beginning, and the sex that involves their characters is usually rough, borderline non-consensual and demeaning.

Teens have sex, there’s no lie about it. But it should also be kind of worrying to see heavy, graphic sex between supposed ‘minors’ being thrown into a show that’s on a platform for adults. It begs the question, why is teen sex so obsessed over?

There are plenty of shows that can satisfy the need to see graphic sex, and hey, there are probably plenty of websites doing it as well. Using high school students as the characters in a show saturated with sex is just questionable, even more so when the creator has said before "I think most people’s first sexual encounters happen through the lens of pornography." I see where the inspiration for Nate’s character came from, but seriously, that’s alarming.

It’s not groundbreaking showing the sex lives of teenagers through an almost pornographic fascination. It’s creepy , especially when you create a series about the wonders of teen sexuality for the eyes of adults- people who are way older and yet still may prey on these barely functioning young adults.

Euphoria isn’t terrible; in fact, it’s great at how it tells the dark, ugly stories that we may personally know all too well. But it doesn’t mean you need to show a 17 year old getting her back blown out to tell the story right.

Euphoria: Every Parent's Nightmare

The Side Bar: John Pate's Online Hip-Hop Community Shifts the Culture Forward

Midsommar: How to Break Up with your Boyfriend