Okay, Let's Talk About What Happened During the Season 1 Finale of 'The Idol'
We can finally say "goodbye, angels" to HBO's controversial new show The Idol because the season 1 finale aired on Sunday. The end came a week sooner than initially expected after the network announced the series would be five episodes instead of six. As to be expected, the finale was packed with uncomfy, confusing, and dark moments, along with some very justified digs at Tedros' unraveling rat tail.
Heading into the finale, it seemed like Jocelyn was still kinda under Tedros' influence, although she did just discover that her backup dancer, Dyanne, had initially brought her to Tedros' club at his request so he could infiltrate her life. The finale's (new) episode title, "Jocelyn Forever" gives a little hint that the pop star might just come out on top. And she kinda did? Let's get into it.
Jocelyn turns on Tedros
The episode opens with Jocelyn in her house, working on one of her new songs with producer Mike Dean. When Tedros (who seems like a sweaty, disheveled, coked-up mess) tries to interject, Jocelyn has fully changed her mind about him and tells him to get out of her house. She says he served his purpose, calls him "a fucking con man and a fraud," and has Chloe reveal in front of everyone that meeting Tedros wasn't a chance encounter.
Tedros doesn't leave and heads down to hang with his crew. Jocelyn, still very much done with Tedros, then tells the group that she wants Izaak, Chloe, and Ramsey to open for her on tour and plans to tell the same to Live Nation exec Andrew Finkelstein at their afternoon meeting. Tedros is pissed he wasn't consulted, but his followers don't seem to care, and it looks like Jocelyn has replaced him as their culty leader; She even says to Tedros, "These are my people now." Tedros, in a last ditch effort to keep Xander on his side, whispers to him that he shouldn't let Jocelyn cut him out of the tour like this.
The Live Nation meeting is weird but kinda amazing (??)
Finkelstein, Nikki, Destiny, and Chaim show up for the meeting at Jocelyn's house, but the pop star is busy getting ready. Her team is getting creeped out by all of Tedros' groupies hanging out in the room with them, wearing next to nothing (per Tedros' instructions) and Finkelstein is ready to leave, so Destiny suggests Chloe to sing her song for them...and they LOVE it. Then Izaak and Ramsey sing a song each and they love that too. They can't believe Tedros found all these amazingly talented people, and it seems like they're about to start drinking the Tedros Kool-Aid (even though Tedros is so strung out he can barely keep his eyes open).
While that's going on, Jocelyn's assistant/BFF Leila—aka the most stable person in this whole show–gets a phone call from Rob saying he's been accused of rape by the girl Xander introduced him to at Jocelyn's party. You know, the one Xander got to say she wanted a photo with Rob then climbed onto his lap while wearing like next to nothing? Leila pulls Xander outside and tries to confront him, but he really doesn't GAF. Back inside, Jocelyn has finally shown up and Nikki reads out headlines about Rob, saying he's being removed from his big upcoming superhero movie. A tear runs down Jocelyn's face as she glares at Tedros, knowing he's behind all of this. She runs out of the room and tells Tedros, yet again, to leave, saying she'll call the cops. He says if she does that he'll kill her. She then goes to Chaim and tells him to pay Tedros whatever he wants to get him out of her life for good.
Back in the living room, Xander is continuing his slide into becoming one of the least likable people on this show (a race with some stiff competition) and announces he wants to sing something for Jocelyn's team, too. They love his voice, and Jocelyn says he'll be opening for her on tour as well—a clear move to take him away from Tedros.
Now it's time for Jocelyn to play one of her new songs, and after putting on a raunchy lap-dance-esque performance for Finkelstein while it plays, he says he loves it. As that's happening, Tedros is being hauled away by private security guards and put into a car. There, Chaim offers him half a million dollars to stay away, but Tedros rips up the check, saying Jocelyn is worth so much more than money. Chaim doesn't seem to mind because he now he gets to do "Plan B," which he says he prefers.
Jocelyn squashes Dyanne
After finding out that Dyanne was responsible for bringing Tedros into her life (and scheming behind her back), Jocelyn gets revenge. Dyanne goes in for a meeting with Nikki, and Nikki tells her they won't be able to move forward with Dyanne releasing her single because of some ambiguous legal issue with one of the writers. As Dyanne gets in the elevator to leave, she says, "It was Jocelyn, wasn't it?"
Chaim's "Plan B" is pretty wild
Even though Chaim tells Jocelyn he was able to pay Tedros off, what he actually does is goes and meets up with Talia (the Vanity Fair profile writer) and tells her if she is able to hold the story on Jocelyn, he'll have an even bigger one for her.
The show then jumps ahead six weeks. Ss Jocelyn is getting ready for the opening night of her tour at SoFi stadium in Los Angeles, we get a little recap on what's happened (and what I can only assume was supposed to be the plot of the now-missing episode) from Chaim, Nikki, and Finkelstein as they talk about what's gone down. Turns out Talia printed a massive story about Tedros, having found and spoken to women he used to pimp out, and because of the story, he lost his club and is being investigated by the IRS.
From that conversation, we also find out Jocelyn sold out her tour, had three massive hit singles, and Finkelstein had to deal with a walkout from Live Nation employees who said Jocelyn's songs were misogynistic.
But then Tedros is back?
Out at the stadium's ticket booth, Tedros shows up asking if Jocelyn left a pass for him and somehow there is, only under his real name, Mauricio Jackson. He gets to Jocelyn's green room and Destiny is waiting there for him. She tells him to take a seat and warns him that if he hurts Jocelyn, she'll kill him.
Jocelyn tells Tedros she misses him (which Tedros says back) and that “none of this means as much without you." (Cringe.) Tedros then notices Jocelyn's hair brush and picks it up, asking if it's the one she said her mom used to beat her with (which Jocelyn confirms). He notes that it's brand new, implying Jocelyn lied about the abuse and was manipulating Tedros.
When it's time to go out on stage, Jocelyn greets the crowd using Tedros' line, "hello, angels." And then she does something even wilder: She tells the crowd she wants to introduce them to the love of her life and brings Tedros out on stage. They kiss and she leans in and tells him, "You’re mine forever. Now go stand over there." And he does.
Let's be real, this ending felt a bit like they were trying to reverse the deeply hard-to-watch power dynamic we had to witness in the four previous episodes, and it was anything but empowering. There's still toxicity, manipulation, and abuse galore. The chances of a season 2 continue to look grim considering how badly season 1 was received, so this may very well be the end of Jocelyn's story.
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