Euphoria Season 3: The Magic Is Gone. Here's What's Left.

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Euphoria Season Three Review: Grubby, Desperate, and Absolutely Not Worth the Wait

5 Things You Need to Know Before Reading

What’s the verdict? Euphoria season three is described as “grubby, humourless torture porn” and “absolutely not worth the wait.”
Where does the story pick up? Five years after season two, Rue (Zendaya) is now a drug mule smuggling fentanyl between Mexico and the US.
What’s the issue with sex work storylines? Critics say the show’s handling of OnlyFans, sugar babies, and stripping feels “voyeuristic and judgmental” and “bafflingly dated.”
Who is missing? The season is dedicated to Angus Cloud (Fezco), who died in 2023 at age 25. Barbie Ferreira (Kat) also does not return.
When does it premiere? April 12 in the US and Australia (HBO/Max), April 13 in the UK (Sky Atlantic/HBO Max).

Euphoria Season 3: Woman lighting cigarette on bed in grim motel room with shadowy silhouettes in background — A distressed woman lights a cigarette as shadowy figures loom in a rundown motel room.

Euphoria Season 3 Is What Happens When Ego Kills Art

Euphoria season three is here – and critics are calling it a grim disappointment. After years of delays, HBO’s high school drama returns for what is likely its final run. But based on the three episodes released for review, the show has lost everything that once made it compelling: its dark humor, its cultural relevance, and its heart.

Five Years Later, Rue Is Still Suffering – And So Are Euphoria Fans

The season picks up five years after season two ended. Rue (Zendaya) is now a drug mule smuggling fentanyl between Mexico and the US. She’s drawn back into the world of drug dealer Laurie (Martha Kelly) to settle her debts. The show frames her journey through cinematic sequences that draw on westerns and blaxploitation, but the effect is more exhausting than enlightening.

“Drug-filled balloons are lubed up and swallowed,” Rue narrates in a heavy-handed voiceover. “And that is how fentanyl is smuggled into the United States.”

The Sex Work Storylines Feel Dated and Judgy: Euphoria Season 3’s Most Controversial Flaw

Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) is now on the cusp of “trad wifedom” with Nate (Jacob Elordi). But she has a secret: she makes OnlyFans content while dressed as a puppy. The show’s handling of her cam girl ambitions feels “bafflingly dated,” with lines like “You wanna sell your body for floral arrangements?!”

The series also casts Grammy winner Rosalía as an “arse-shaking, Spanglish-speaking stripper.” Meanwhile, Jules (Hunter Schafer) – once the “unapologetically queer heart of the show” – is now a sugar baby, reduced to “just another blank canvas for assorted shades of male perversion.”

Euphoria Season 3: The Humor Is Gone, Replaced by Cruelty.

The Euphoria of old could be shocking, surreal, and often blackly funny. Remember the meta school plays? Kat faking a terminal illness to dump her boyfriend? Those days are gone.

The show’s humor now extends to Colman Domingo’s character, Rue’s AA sponsor Ali, cursing about “butt sex.” A potentially droll scene features Nate and Cassie’s housekeeper listing uneaten buffet items. The moment instantly loses its life when Nate threatens to kill her.

Euphoria Season 3: A Tribute to Angus Cloud, But a Disappointment to Fans

The season is dedicated to Angus Cloud, who played Fezco and died in 2023 at age 25. There’s a palpable sense of loss throughout. But that doesn’t excuse the show’s relentless bleakness.

“The performances are mostly good – and sometimes excellent,” the review concedes. “But Euphoria season three is grim TV that seems hellbent on rattling us for the sake of it. If its cast seemed desperate to get it over and done with, well, now we know why.”

The Final Word

What a relief that this is the end. The show that once pushed its cast to A-list status and had “much to say about Gen Z’s relationship to sex, drugs and mental health” has devolved into “humourless torture porn.” After all the waiting, fans deserved better.

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Source Information

The Guardian: Euphoria season three review – grubby, desperate and absolutely not worth the wait

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