I think this show profoundly emphasizes how dark and limited the components of the American economy actually are, and the severe damage it is doing to young people.

Outside of the amazing relationships that the show illuminates, I think there is a message to the audience on how much of the American economy has been hollowed out and degraded, and that teenagers see it even before they graduate high school.

Originally, to me the show looked like the most extreme version of how reckless teenage kids are in the world, filled with nothing but iPhones and drugs. But on a more profound level, the main contributors depicted in the economy are (1) debt (2) drugs and (3) prostitution.

In order to cover up that dark truth, addiction and it's terrible disease are painted over it, and addiction is only ever addressed in society as what needs to be resolved.

We as a society, even in real time, will never admit how eroded the economy looks like from the perspective of a 18 y.o teenager. Traditional jobs in retail and restaurants in 2026? Yeah right, in any big city, anyone under the age of 18 are lucky to even get back of house jobs. AI and corporate greed are at the highest levels ever in human history, leaving anyone of any age and experience to be eliminated from their job.

This leaves 18 year-old men into thinking they need to resort to loan sharks or street dealing. This leads 18 year-old women into thinking they need to resort to sex work, managing or creating.

Every cast-member at some point has to consume or distribute one of the two.