YMMV / The Idol

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Is Tedros gay? Several actions of his have undertones of an Armoured Closet Gay, including him having an overtly serious reaction to Jocelyn joking about it, sexually torturing one of his male followers, scaring Xander from behind and then asking him if he thought he was going to get "buttfucked", and derisively using the word "faggot" on several occasions. This has led some to think part of his issues comes from internalized homophobia.
• Ass Pull: The reveal in the finale that Jocelyn was never under Tedros' control, and that she was using him the entire time to get her career back on track. Nothing about the previous four episodes imply that Jocelyn was doing this, and at the same time, it also isn't true that she isn't under Tedros' control, as she proves she still needs him in her life.
• Awesome Music:
  • "World Class Sinner" (also known as "I'm A Freak") is a damn good song, regardless of what one thinks of the show, with a great vocal performance from Depp, and a genuinely great atmosphere and production to boot.
  • The Weeknd himself delivers an absolutely beautiful and haunting cover of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy" in episode 4.
• Bile Fascination: Due to the massive controversy around this show both ahead of release (due to the details of Levinson's overhaul of the show, as reported by news outlets) and after premiere (due to its acting and handling of its themes, which were routinely mocked online), it didn't take long for people to start hate-watching it.
• Common Knowledge: Whether the show was always meant to be a mini-series or not has never been made entirely clear^note Not helping things is that Moses Sumney claims that he signed on for what he thought was a limited series, while Da'Vine Joy Randolph claims she signed on for two seasons, with a persistent rumor circulating that the series had been cancelled due to low ratings and poor reception. However, HBO has claimed that it was supposed to be a mini-series from the beginning. That being said, some fans are convinced that HBO just said that to save face because they didn't want to admit that the show was too expensive to keep around. Also, it ended up getting cancelled anyway just a month after the final episode aired.
• Designated Hero: Jocelyn is extremely unsympathetic by the finale, where it's revealed she was never under Tedros' control, and everything she did was a part of her plan. This means that even the worst things she did (like torturing Xander) were not because she was getting brainwashed, but because it helped her career. The show was reportedly intended as a story of a young woman breaking out of Hollywood's abuse of her, but appears to have ended up being a story of how a complete sociopath used and manipulated everyone around her to stay in the toxic business.
• Designated Villain: The intimacy coordinator in the first episode is painted as oppressing Jocelyn for... doing his job of making sure that her contract is followed and that she doesn't make the people around her uncomfortable with her (unagreed on) nudity.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Chaim and Destiny are extremely popular for being the only people on Jocelyn's managerial who are decent human beings, as well as the excellent chemistry between Hank Azaria and Da'Vine Joy Randolph. Many fans have been clamoring for a spin-off featuring the two.
  • Other characters people want to see a spin-off of are the pair of Latina housekeepers who we find out are responsible for cleaning up after the debauchery of the main characters we follow. In one scene we get of them conversing alone, they joke about how they rarely sleep and wish to work in a house with sane people living in it. Them being normal everyday people with full awareness of how bizarre the main characters are endeared them to both fans and critics of the show.
  • Leia, largely for being a relative voice of sanity on the show whose clear discomfort towards Tedros and his cult mirrors the reactions of much of the audience, making her a relatable and grounded character in all of the chaos, on top of her being played by Rachel Sennott.
• Fan-Preferred Cut Content: The original version Seimetz had, which reportedly had Jocelyn trying to reclaim her agency back from Tedros, in which she lost it due to his manipulation, is believed to have been better than the final version of the show, as it highlighted Jocelyn's history as a popstar, as well as her past, more than the final product, not to mention having a better perspective for females than the final show, even if it reportedly featured Tedros less. The fact that 80% of her version is believed to have been shot before Levinson took over as director had only increased their desire to see the original product in some way.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • Chaim trying to comfort Jocelyn and make her feel better after her showing off her remix of "World Class Sinner" goes badly, in what makes for an unusually tender scene for a show that's otherwise fairly dark in tone.
  • In a similar vein, Destiny gives Jocelyn a pep talk as she gets increasingly unstable during the filming of her music video. While it's never clear how much Chaim and Destiny care about Jocelyn, they do seem to have some genuine concern over her well-being and take their roles as her self-appointed surrogate parents seriously.
• It's Short, So It Sucks!: The series is only five episodes long^note Supposedly, it was originally six episodes long, which has been quite the point of contempt. The general feeling is that due to the short timespan, characters and plot lines don't have sufficient time to develop or become interesting, plot lines start but are either quickly resolved or dropped because there is no time to focus on them, and some of the twists leave the impression that the show clearly demanded more episodes to tell the full story as they feel like Ass Pulls. This has also caused further criticism towards the sex scenes because some felt that they added nothing to the plot but shock value and fanservice, taking more time that could have been better used investing in character development.
• Just Here for Godzilla: BLACKPINK fans came in droves to see Jennie play a supporting role in an American production, with scenes revolving around her getting millions of views on YouTube — more than the original episodes themselves.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Fucking stretch that tiny little pussy. ^note A line said by Tedros in the second episode that went viral through a post saying that "[the poster] could never look at The Weeknd the same way again" because of how flat and unsexy the delivery of the line was. The face he makes as he says the line◊ also caught on.
    • Abre esa maldita conchita. ^note  The above line, as if it wasn't cringe enough in English, was translated into something even more farcical in (Mexican) Spanish. In English, it translates to "Open that damn little cunt" — making it funnier is that, while it's true that "conchita" is used as a euphemism for "pussy" in some Latin American countries, it is VERY rarely so in Mexico, where "concha" is instead used for a type of traditional sweet bread roll. Needless to say, this translation went viral on Mexican social media basically overnight, with macros of Tedros's aforementioned face mixed with pictures of the bread roll.
  • "Let me catch you looking at her again."^note Arguably the most mocked display of Abel's "acting capability" in the whole show due to his attempts at sounding threatening to the Valentino store employee being hilariously negated by his douchey haircut, feminine voice, and over-the-top profanity and threats of violence that make him seem more pathetic than threatening. Not helped by the fact the store employee looks like he can hardly take him seriously as well, especially considering the employee is taller than Abel.
  • "It's LA." ^note  A short clip made by Rachel Sennott parodying the perception of LA culture, which many fans believe seems to encapsulate the idea of the show, but without the irony of the clip.
  • We have Oshi no Ko at home. ^note  The Idol released when the anime was past its halfway point. Both series focus on the dark side of the entertainment industry but while Oshi no Ko is sincere in its deconstruction, The Idol is criticised for over-sexualisation and an unclear message. Jokes pointing out how Oshi no Ko worked while The Idol failed became common.
  • Release the Seimetz Cut! ^note Based on the fan cry of "Release the Snyder Cut", and used to refer to how people want to see Amy Seimetz's version of the show out of a belief that her show would have been much better, even if only for the fact that Tedros was, supposedly, a less relevant character then.
• Moral Event Horizon: Tedros likely already crossed the line before he kidnapped and tortured Xander to make him recant information about Jocelyn's mother, but Jocelyn taking part in the torture as well (with Xander being one of her oldest friends) makes her very difficult to root for. Even worse come the finale, where it's implied that she was aware Xander was telling the truth, and pretending like her and Xander are still friends.
• Narm: Any time that Tedros tries to be intimidating (such as when he threatens a Valentino employee in the third episode) or sexy (such as when he repeatedly practices saying "Hello, angel" in the mirror in the first episode) are generally cited as having the exact opposite effect due to The Weeknd's acting skills making him come across as being more pathetic than threatening/seductive.
• Nightmare Fuel: Tedros kidnapping and torturing Jocelyn's long-time friend Xander is creepy enough, but what makes it terrifying is that Jocelyn joins in on the torture.
• Nightmare Retardant: The sex scenes between Tedros and Jocelyn are meant to be seen as dark and somber, but Tesfaye's portrayal of Tedros has been considered unable to give these moments the gravitas they need to be scary to the viewer, and instead coming off as cringeworthy Wattpad-like dialogue.
• Questionable Casting: General consensus is that Tesfaye does not have the acting chops to pull off Tedros's character as a perverted creep, a charismatic cult leader or a seductive mastermind, as many watchers considered his performance flat and lacking. This has become such a contentious point that critics and fans alike have since accused the show of being a Vanity Project meant primarily to promote him as an actor. As an article from Vulture points out, Tedros would be a tall order to portray even for a more experienced actor — appearing dominating and threatening to his followers, while at the same time being a loser deep down and trying to hide it — let alone for someone like Tesfaye, whose roles in acting have been extremely limited and mostly of the Adam Westing variety.
• Signature Scene: Jocelyn recording her music video and her subsequent breakdown has been considered a standout scene, and even negative reviewers talk highly of it as a brief glimpse of what the show could have been if it had focused on Jocelyn's internal struggles (supposedly as Seimetz intended).
• Squick: A major plot point of the pilot is a leaked picture of Jocelyn's face covered with semen, which is depicted in a closeup shot.
• Strawman Has a Point:
  • One of the first conflicts in the debut episode is between Jocelyn and her intimacy coordinator over the issue of Jocelyn not being allowed to do a topless photoshoot owing to the production's nudity rider^note A contract that establishes a performer's boundaries when it comes to the issue of nudity or performing sex scenes. The show is clearly taking Jocelyn's side, portraying the intimacy coordinator as a creepy producer trying to control a woman's body and autonomy in the name of Contractual Purity, but to the contrary, most viewers felt that the intimacy coordinator was being perfectly reasonable. It's his job to enforce the nudity rider and ensure that Jocelyn isn't coerced into doing more than she's already agreed to, and he isn't evil for simply pointing out that Jocelyn cannot decide to do a nude photoshoot on a whim without going through the process of writing a new contract. Viewers generally found it odd that in a show about Horrible Hollywood, one of its establishing moments would be about throwing shade at a character tasked with preventing workplace sexual abuse. A few fans have also pointed out that since Sam Levinson had come under fire in recent years for his extensive use of nudity in Euphoria, to the point of many scenes having to be removed on the request of the actors, it is even easier for audiences to side with the intimacy coordinator.
  • Jocelyn's managerial crew going up against her after she tries to create a new single that is more reflective of herself. They may have been unnecessarily nasty to her, especially Nikki, but they're correct that it is too late to make changes on a single that they really need to be a hit (mind you, Jocelyn herself is in a poor financial position at that point, so they can't take chances with her music). Also, a lot of fans don't think the new version of the song is any good, so they easily sided with the people who don't want to release it, albeit they point out that the other version could have been easily released as a remix.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Dyanne is easily the most talked about character in the show and came built-in with the massive BLACKPINK fanbase, yet she only appears in a handful of scenes. As the show set in the plotline of her trying to take Jocelyn's role as a pop star, many fans found that a show focused on their rivalry, or even a broken friendship between them, would have been more interesting than Jocelyn's relationship with Tedros.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • The viewer doesn't really get to know what Jocelyn, her public image, and her music were like prior to her affair with Tedros. As a result, the idea that she shifted in any significant way or another loses a lot of its punch. The series only ever alludes to the idea that Jocelyn had a squeaky clean image, with an audience mostly composed by young girls, but never really shows, as a result, the viewer doesn't really get to have a benchmark for how much she, or her work, changed by the end of the show. The change the viewers do get to see is minimal at best, since Jocelyn was already trying to create a really raunchy, adult song, which was exactly what Tedros encourages her to do.
  • Supposedly, the original idea for the story. It would've focused on Jocelyn trying to reclaim her agency from the industry that took it, which many believe would have been more compelling than the odd nods the final product makes towards this plot.
  • Jocelyn overtaking the cult. Many viewers pointed out that the cultists' shift in allegiance was sudden, undeveloped, and out of character, considering how devoted they were to Tedros just the episode before the shift and how they never showed any signs of favoring Jocelyn. Despite this, many pointed out that the idea of a person overtaking another's Cult of Personality was interesting and thrilling, but was not given sufficient focus to be compelling.
• Took the Bad Film Seriously: Even the most scathing reviews praised the performances of Jocelyn's team, particularly highlighting Davine Joy Randolph
• Tough Act to Follow: While the show was full of areas to critique on its own, part of its negative reception also came from being a follow-up to both Sam Levinson's previous HBO series, Euphoria, and an incredible line-up of prestige television in HBO's catalogue, such as Barry, Succession, and The White Lotus.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Tedros is supposed to be seen as a Crazy Jealous Guy for firing the personal chef for groping Jocelyn. Even though the chef is supposedly not making a move on her, many people who saw the scene out of context sided with Tedros, viewing the chef as overstepping his bounds with Jocelyn and being disrespectful to Tedros. The chef also says he was only that handsy with Jocelyn because he comes from a family of doctors, despite not being a doctor himself as Tedros points out.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Jocelyn became this for many viewers when she tortured her childhood friend Xander after he revealed to Tedros that Jocelyn's mother forced Xander to end his music career. While she is an abuse victim getting brainwashed by Tedros, and in denial about what Xander is saying, the fact that she takes part in his torture (first for him to admit he's lying, and then just to cause Xander pain) and then leaves him hog-tied, made her come off as a sadistic Jerkass with no empathy. After this point, no one could really feel good about Jocelyn taking control back from Tedros, especially since she never apologizes to Xander, and the next episode pretends it never happened, with her even having Xander be her opening act.
  • The final episodes try hard to humanize Tedros, but this falls flat as they reveal that, on top of previous awful behavior, he had also committed several crimes. The finale seeing him humiliated by Jocelyn feels more cathartic than cruel.
• The Woobie:
  • Leia. Even as she tries to help Jocelyn and protect her from Tedros, she keeps getting disrespected and dissed by everyone in the series, something that worsens over time as she becomes the verbal punching bag to Jocelyn, Xander, Tedros, and so on. By the end of the series, she has taken her leave and vanished entirely from Jocelyn's life, which seems to be the better for her.
  • Xander. He's Jocelyn's childhood friend, and only made the mistake of revealing to Tedros that Jocelyn's mother outed him and forced him to end his music career to keep all the attention on Jocelyn. In response, Tedros and Jocelyn hog-tie and torture Xander into recanting this information with a shock collar. No matter how much Xander swears that it's the truth, Jocelyn just keeps telling Tedros to shock him, until he says it's a lie just so it will stop. They then leave him hog-tied until they feel like it.
• WTH, Costuming Department?: A lot of elements of Tedros and Tesfaye's portrayal of him were lambasted by critics and viewers. One of them was his hair in this series, where he wears a rat tail, which many see as destroying any allure, mystery, or dread they might feel towards him.

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