Euphoria season 3 review
Cast: Zendaya, Hunter Schafer, Jacob Elordi, Sydney Sweeney, Alexa Demie, Maude Apatow, Eric Dane, Colman Domingo
Creator: Sam Levinson
Star rating: ★.5
Sam Levinson’s hit HBO show Euphoria ended in a whimper, with a finale that put to rest a show that was never shy about ruffling some feathers. What started out as a drama about addiction and the complicated chaos of high school relationships has now run out of gas, because there is no way these kids are still in high school even after 4 years. Season 3 jumps five years into the future, so now Rue and her gang are adults. Along with her, Euphoria also becomes a crime-driven, neo-Western drama.
The premise
Zendaya‘s Rue is now working as a drug mule for Alamo Brown, a ruthless strip club boss. She has a tendency to find herself in the worst situation possible, so it is no surprise that when she finds herself in Alamo’s den, she is essentially being pulled by Laurie, who catches up with her in California and informs her that her initial $10,000 drug debt has inflated to $100,000. This means that Rue is now entangled between Laurie and Alamo, and only God can save her.
But the show’s hook pivoted to the hotly debated love triangle among Nate, Maddie and Cassie. This season dilutes even that tension, delivering a series of empty provocations. Cassie (only Sydney Sweeney gets the memo) is now living with Nate (Jacob Elordi), but she is not really happy. As Cassie starts an OnlyFans account to raise $50,000 for the flowers she wants for her wedding, Euphoria becomes a wet fantasy for the male gaze, devoid of nuance or inquiry. Cassie’s baby costume to make pornographic OnlyFans content is a deeply problematic portrayal, not only promoting stereotypes about sex work but also pushing forth pornography that thrives on the concept of exploitation.
The electric Alexa Demie is given no meat as Maddie’s arc is stupidly crafted as an image manager who crosses the line. Elsewhere, Jules (Hunter) has conveniently dropped out of art school to become a sugar baby. Designed in stunning (and somehow outrageous) pieces by Natasha Newman-Thomas, her character is given the least depth and perspective, reduced to a passive, unstable woman with no agency. These women are so varied and complex, yet Euphoria takes some sort of pleasure in constantly pitting them against one another and subjecting them to roles for the male gaze. They have little inner life and control over their own destiny. The misogyny of Euphoria Season 3 could be accumulated to create a monument of its own.
Final thoughts
Season 3 genuinely feels like a shallow continuation with zero regard for the characters and their emotions. The most glaring mistake is the absence of Labrinth’s soul-stirring electronic score, now replaced by Hans Zimmer’s ridiculously brazen addition. Labrinth clearly made Euphoria what it is, and Hans Zimmer is now trying to make it sound like some impoverished Interstellar. The difference cannot be more ridiculous.
Euphoria clearly gets lost in its own maze, unable to see what lies ahead in its machismo-fuelled world of despair and nihilism. It is one thing for the characters to feel directionless, but Season 3 of Euphoria only pretends to navigate their adolescence with hedonism. It is filled with directionless provocations. It runs on caricaturish struggles. A generation looks wasted, cartoonish and ultimately devoid of grace in Euphoria.
I struggled hard to understand what Season 3 was trying to say, what its questions were, and what materialistic delight it achieves in putting these characters through so much pain. The answer is as clear as Rue’s conscience- it has nothing to say because it knows they have made some dark and unforgivable choices from where there is no return.
