Season Three of “Euphoria” Loses the Plot
Zendaya in Season 3 of “Euphoria.” (HBO/TNS)
Spoiler Warning!
The third season of the infamous “Euphoria” premiered on Sunday, April 12, and it was a mess. Not only was it bad, but it felt like a completely different show. Since when did a show about high schoolers doing drugs become a Western?
“Euphoria,” originally released in 2019, follows Rue Bennett (Zendaya), a teen struggling with drug addiction, and her friends, as they navigate relationships, addiction, and mental health struggles against a glittery, Studio 54-esque backdrop. The second season, released in 2022, had a much weaker plot, but fans enjoyed the comedic elements and were still invested in the characters.
Director Sam Levinson took four years to release the third season, so you would expect that he poured his heart and soul into it. Instead, it was completely soulless. The first episode of season three was all over the place.
Rather than continuing with the high school plot, the season starts after they’ve graduated from college (at least, the ones who went to college). It’s set mainly in the desert, which gives off the vibe of a modern Western, straying greatly from its original aesthetic.
Rue had become a drug mule for Laurie (Martha Kelly), a dealer she was indebted to since high school, and was body packing and smuggling fentanyl across the border.
After meeting a very religious family, she decides to become a Christian because she thinks it will help her find purpose. Religion was never a major theme of “Euphoria,” and while a character exploring their faith makes for a great subplot, it seemed out of place in this specific show.
At the end of the episode, Rue is acquainted with a pimp and begs to work for him to pay off Laurie, claiming that this was her sign from God. This is human trafficking, Rue. We don’t need more female trauma porn, especially in this post-Epstein world.
Meanwhile, Cassie Howard (Sydney Sweeney) is living her “right-wing suburban bubble,” as described by Rue in the narration. Cassie and Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi) are engaged and planning their wedding.
Nate works for his dad’s construction business and drives a Cybertruck, which is very on brand for him. Cassie has aspirations of being an influencer, creating risque content of herself in various kink scenarios. Nate walks in on her maid photographing her dressed as a dog, and is quite confused.
Over a candlelit dinner with Nate, Cassie tells him she’s starting an OnlyFans to pay for the $50,000 floral arrangements she wants for the wedding. This scene isn’t meant to be funny, but the ridiculous plot paired with Sweeney’s dry delivery makes it seem like a joke.
Nate, who was abusive to both Maddy Perez (Alexa Demie) and Cassie in past seasons, calmly tells Cassie that spending $50,000 on flower arrangements is way too much, and if she starts an OnlyFans, not to show her face to protect her privacy. Since when is Nate the voice of reason?
This first episode felt like a social satire, but I’m not sure about what. Politics? Religion? Rich people buying $50,000 floral arrangements? Perhaps the dialogue was so bad that it came off as satirical when it wasn’t meant to be. It felt like someone wrote “Euphoria.”
Levinson has already faced backlash for episode one and future episodes based on the trailer alone. The grossest part of this first episode was the body packing scene, which features various bodily fluids.
In the trailer, Cassie makes content in various kink scenarios for her OnlyFans, one of them being age play, with Sweeney wearing a pacifier and a diaper. The trailer also shows that Jules Vaughn (Hunter Schafer) becomes a sugar baby, Rue starts working as a stripper, and Maddy helps Cassie with her OnlyFans content, making four out of five female characters sex workers.
However, the show was problematic from the start. Levinson claims to have based it on his own experience with drug addiction as a teenager, but many have accused him of romanticizing the serious subject matter. He’s faced backlash for the excessive sex and nudity, as well as his hypersexual portrayal of women in the first two seasons, especially because the characters were minors. Levinson is incapable of writing a show without humiliating women.
Despite the problematic material in the first two seasons, the show delved deep into the characters’ psychology and their interpersonal relationships, all paired with whimsical, otherworldly cinematography, costumes, and makeup.
The script was well written, and the original score by Labrinth complemented the club-like atmosphere. Stripping away the glitz and glamour in season three showed audiences what the show really is: a very badly written playground for male fantasy.
