The Reel Review
The third and final season of Euphoria fast forwards five years after high school, where the former teens immersed in a world of sex and drugs have now become young Gen Z adults making even more colossally disastrous life choices. Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney and Jacob Elordi star in this coming-of-age drama series on HBO Max.
As over-sexualized as the first two seasons of the series were, there was at least plenty of interesting character development that made breakout stars out of much of its main cast. But creator Sam Levinson chucks that out the window this season in favor of a bizarre Quentin Tarantino-esque crime drama/Western vibe with cringey vulgarity, amateurish dialogue and one-dimensional characters. Ew.
It’s like Levinson hates his Gen Z characters and wants them to pay dearly in this cautionary tale about taking shortcuts to gain financial success. Cassie (Sweeney) marries Nate (Elordi) before becoming a social media-obsessed Only Fans porn influencer aided by Maddy, her former bestie from whom Cassie stole Nate. Nate, meanwhile, is cartoonishly subjected to a different type of porn – the torture variety – at the hands of an Armenian loan shark. Rue (Zendaya) dangerously bops back and forth between two rival drug lords. Jules (Hunter Schafer) and Lexi (Maude Apatow) are largely sidelined with barely sketched out, throwaway storylines. This tasteless, substance-free season would be best buried in a shallow grave and never exhumed.
REEL FACTS
• Euphoria was actor Eric Dane’s final TV credit. He died of respiratory failure in February 2026, just ten months after being diagnosed with ALS, which he discovered he had for a year and a half prior to his diagnosis.
• Euphoria is the fourth most-watched HBO series since 2004.
• Zendaya won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for each of the first two seasons.
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