REVIEW: ‘The Idol,’ Episode 5 — “Jocelyn Forever”

The Idol Episode 5, from The Weeknd and Sam Levinson, spirals downward for the last time. From seeing Xander get tortured to Jocelyn continuously being a pawn to Tedros, Episode 5 is a mess of a finale that is both egregiously written and grossly uninspired.

Beginning with an argument between Jocelyn and Tedros about Jocelyn’s authenticity, it fits right into how The Idol refuses to let Joss be her own entity. As she attempts to edit her music, she stands her ground and wants Tedros to leave. She feels he’s done enough to her and wants him out of her life. He berates her about her needs and in a surprise pivot of direction, Jocelyn digs into how Tedros is a creepy, obsessed loser. Jocelyn holds no reservations about detailing the stalking and manipulation Tedros used to worm his way into her life and while Lily-Rose Depp gives her all to this confrontation, The Weeknd fails to impress. His acting undermines the power Jocelyn is finally given as his lackluster performance is grating and distracting.

Jocelyn continues to reclaim her power by taking her new music to her label and enacting a game plan to sell her new world tour. It’s this sprinkle of dynamic change that showcases Depp’s ability to play a flawed, interesting character. It sucks that her power is tied up to Tedros because her dialogue is consistently interrupted by his agitation toward her. His abusive nature is apparent if a viewer knows what to look for. He asks why she didn’t tell him about her plans, how could she do this to him, and that she’s uninspired without him. Tedros keeps attempting to pull Jocelyn towards him, trying to plant guilt and belittling her.

Tedros being in the scene still feels trite and embarrassing for The Weeknd. How do two male writers expect a character to regain her power if they refuse to let Jocelyn shine in a scene all by herself? It’s clear that they cannot commit to positioning anyone higher in power than Tedros. Whether it’s at the hands of The Weeknd wanting a lingering camera on him at all times or it really is terrible writing, it’s painful that a show invested in wanting to say something important about the underbelly of stardom isn’t brave enough to say anything new in The Idol Episode 5.

The rest of the episode centers on Jocelyn trying to convince her record company about her tour plans with her newly adopted music cult. This could be something not seen a lot in current media but instead feels like a fever dream of Tedros’ concoction. He continues to undermine her and he fights with her industry people, claiming her talent and her ideas as his own. The subplot focuses on Leia (Rachel Sennot) trying to figure out why Jocelyn’s ex is being accused of being a rapist.

I think many aspects from characterization to dialogue in The Idol are astoundingly bad but this takes the cake. Yet another way to minimize Jocelyn’s attempt to stand on her own, she is positioned to either go along with the accusations leaked to the media by Tedros and his followers or silently hold on to the truth for herself. Her own complicated relationship with her ex is a fact that makes her opinion of him unreliable. When she stands up to Tedros, dialogue like, “I’m going to kill you B****!” feels like a mockery of the severity of the issue and a gross continuation of his abusive nature.

This episode is a mess of half-baked ideas that cannot land. Hearing Jocelyn finally perform her new song to Finkelstein (Eli Roth) was one of the best scenes of The Idol Episode 5 and the show in general. A song where lyrics describe her own imprisonment towards men who view her as an object resonates but is cut with footage of Tedros being arrested. It can’t be understated how good Depp is as a translator for the emotional and visceral and viewers cannot enjoy it fully without The Weeknd. It’s frustrating that anything interesting is derailed by the male gaze of power.

The most baffling sentiment within The Idol Episode 5 is the ending, which paints Tedros as Jocelyn’s savior, as well as the love of her life in a six-week time jump. After standing up to her abuser, kicking him out of her life, and regaining her agency as she embarks on a sold-out world tour, she props him up on her stage. Words cannot describe how insidious and trite the idea of a woman still desiring the man who manipulated her life, art, and friends through obsessive stalking and abusive control is. There is a seed planted that this decision is to elevate Jocelyn into a position of power over Tedros. However, if that was their intention, it was executed with no explanation or reasoning for Jocelyn’s decision rendering it a poorly written story beat.

It’s very rare that I find so much disappointment in a piece of media that could have been so good if the showrunners were not dedicated to painting female suffering for the male gaze. The Idol Episode 5 reminds us that, according to Sam Levinson and The Weeknd, Jocelyn can only live forever if she’s tied eternally to her abuser.

The Idol is streaming now on MAX.