HBO is notorious for showing more explicit sex scenes than most other networks are allowed on television. However, the scene that features the most naked bodies has nothing to do with sex at all. Euphoria's most explicit scene involves over 30 nude men in a locker room, and yes, you see...everything.
The scene occurs in the second episode and shows Jacob Elordi's character Nate changing in the locker room. Nate attempts to be as discreet as possible because he doesn't want to be nude around his male peers, who are all completely naked, in full view of the camera. Yes, that means Euphoria just showed 30 penises, in a scene devoid of sex.
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This is surprisingly rare. HBO may be well known for nudity — Game of Thrones was occasionally met with an eye roll over its abundance of naked women — but on television, it's fairly rare for men to be paraded around, full-frontally exposed. Basically? Breasts are far more popular than penises.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, creator Sam Levinson intended the scene to be an homage to the locker room scene in Carrie, in which dozens of naked teens sham Carrie (Sissy Spacek) after she gets her period for the first time.
Unfortunately, as someone who watched the first four episodes of Euphoria, it's less of a win for women when you know that Euphoria shows plenty of naked women as well. Handmaid's Tale actress Sydney Sweeney is nude in the first episode, during an explicit sex scene with Algee Smith, who is not exposed.
It's no wonder that, per THR, former HBO chairman Richard Plepler would tell people that the series made 13 Reasons Why look like an "after school special." There's a distinct lack of nudity on the Netflix series. If Euphoria's nudity seems like it's making a point, we probably shouldn't look too deeply into it: It's just trying to shock us.
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