This post contains spoilers for The Idol episode four, “Stars Belong to the World.â€
A veil of secrecy has been shading The Idol, the new HBO jawn from Sam Levinson. The show has been mired in controversy, with accusations of exploitation and “sexual torture porn†coming from its production. Episode four is here and we’ve seen some torture, we’ve seen some porn, we’ve seen one pity dong thrown into a pool party. It also made perfectly clear how much I don’t want to live in a big mansion or gated community ever. Sure, there’s nobody around in a remote cabin, but the trees at least provide cover if you’re trying to run from someone. In this episode, we saw Jocelyn move on from cigarettes (cig count: four) to blunts (blunt count: one) and joints (joint count: one). And we still haven’t seen Elizabeth Berkley (Nomi Malone count: zero). But more questions keep popping up. Questions such as:
➽ Does Jocelyn have complete access to all of her money? ’Cause who is playing for those armed guards? Is there no accountant on Team Joss?
➽ After Tedros shaves Jocelyn’s legs in the bath, do they take a shower to rinse off? Or are they walking around with a fine layer of shaving cream and hair stuck to them 24/7?
➽ Do we think Half Magic (Jocelyn and Leia’s makeup line) leans toward liquid or powder formulas?
➽ Why would real, human person Mike Dean want to portray himself as a person who’s super chill about a violent, tediously sexual cult?
âž½ Does Jocelyn do anything to protect her voice? Like warm-up exercises or throat coat? She smokes (and is choked) a lot.
âž½ Have Chaim and Destiny killed before? Will they (please) kill again?
âž½ How many more fake orgasms must we all endure?
➽ Have you read Rent Girl by Michelle Tea? It’s a graphic novel about her time as a sex worker, and there’s this one chapter where she’s on a two-girl call, and the guy is all “I like to give pleasure,†so she and her friend have a competition to see who can make the loudest, fakest orgasm. Good book.
➽ How dumb is Leia to not understand that Izaak is basically the Tex Watson to Tedros’s Manson? He’s a true believer, baby!
➽ One of our previous questions was answered: Nikki is definitely planning on giving “World Class Sinner†to Dyanne. Jocelyn won’t care, but won’t Chaim? What’s the point of having two managers if they can’t keep eyes on two problems?
âž½ Speaking of two managers, do they both get 20 percent, or do they split the 20 between?
âž½ Where were Leia and Destiny during the whole electroshock moment?
âž½ Why did Xander stay? That party was the perfect cover to sneak out undetected. Is he dumb, or vain?
➽ Does Jocelyn believe the lies she’s telling Destiny?
➽ Which of Jocelyn’s friends does she care about? Not Xander, obvs. But she’s feeling betrayed by Dyanne and sticking up for Leia.
➽ Why is the sound mix on kissing always so … gooshy?