After a nearly four-year hiatus, the third season of Euphoria returns to many mixed reviews concerning the story quality as its episodes release.
Euphoria (2019), created by Sam Levinson, follows a group of high school students as they engage in violence, sex, drugs, and a littony of other vices. Euphoria appeared to connect with a new generation of young adults who resonated with the extreme activities of these fictional characters.
In January of 2022, Euphoria entered its second season. While Gen-Z culture developed in response to the pandemic, it seemed like a new titan of television was about to enter its stride. Issues began after the second season finished airing, sparked by the tragic death of cast member Angus Cloud, in July of 2023. Cloud’s character was supposed to have a larger role in the third season. Along with Cloud’s death, fellow cast member Eric Dane’s health declined from ALS during the filming of the third season, and he passed away in February of 2026, two months before season three’s premiere.
These events affected many members of the cast and caused some critics to wonder if the future of the show was safe. Coinciding with Cloud’s death and Dane’s decline in health was the explosion of the cast’s fame and notoriety; specifically, Zendaya, Jacob Elordi, and Sydney Sweeney.
Since the third season took longer to release, it looked as though we would receive a very different Euphoria from the one last seen.
The change in setting and time from second to third season was very jarring at first. With such a time gap, it may have been necessary to find new stories in the lives of these characters as they inevitably got older. However, the violence, drugs, and gratuitous nudity feel less “exciting” and just uncomfortable. In a high school setting, the extreme and almost cartoonish actions of these characters felt realistic. They depicted depraved Gen-Z kids partying and doing drugs, representing the unfiltered American high school experience that many people could relate to and gravitate towards.
However, in season three, this “unfiltered experience” is just sad and uncomfortable to watch. Watching teenagers screwing up and creating problems for themselves, while painful, still presents the theme of hope. A hope that after high school, they might develop into functioning members of society. Season three flips this idea on its head by presenting us with the 20-year-old versions of these characters, all grown up after high school, and yet dumb as ever.
The season touches on interesting ideas such as the manipulation of OnlyFans models, but also the freedom that the platform provides for creators who hope to control their content. The other storylines follow the intricate politics between drug tycoons, the consequences of shady business deals, and even the process of breaking into the industry as a young artist. While these could all work as framing devices for arcs on Euphoria, they serve seemingly no other purpose in season three other than to prompt comments from viewers like, “Doesn’t this look like a bad situation to be in?”
The many plot threads lack substance because of the jarring separation between everyone’s storylines. While the first two seasons featured separate narrative arcs, the characters’ stories were still interconnected and converged at many points throughout the seasons. The third episode of this season did bring most of the original cast back together, it felt stale and unnecessary with the interactions between the actors being very scarce.
An event as monumental as the wedding between Nate (Jacob Elordi) and Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) felt like it was building up to something more with its entire main cast present for it. But all that came out of it was disappointment, a great example of the change in dynamic from seasons two to three. With the entire cast together for only one episode so far, the show now feels like an anthology. Like a beautifully shot series covering the lives and mistakes of a group of people who are separate and engaged in stories removed from everyone else.
A turnaround in quality seems unlikely with two episodes left before the finale. Euphoria is likely to be another show that fell flat in an attempt to wrap everything up in a bow.
Tags
Euphoria, Review, TV show, Zendaya
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