Euphoria's third season, long delayed by the pandemic and LA fires, finally arrives but fails to justify the wait. The HBO drama, once known for its dark humour and sharp commentary on Gen Z, has devolved into what critics describe as 'grubby, humourless torture porn' obsessed with sex work.
Set five years after season two, the story follows Rue (Zendaya) as she becomes a drug mule to settle debts with dealer Laurie (Martha Kelly). The show's cinematic nods to westerns and blaxploitation can't mask its heavy-handed voiceovers and grim sequences, including graphic depictions of fentanyl smuggling.
Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) and Nate (Jacob Elordi) are now a picture-perfect couple, but Nate's crumbling business and Cassie's OnlyFans content—dressed as a puppy—highlight the show's bafflingly dated and judgmental take on sex work. By episode two, Sweeney is topless, while Grammy winner Rosalía appears as a stripper, underscoring the show's contradictions.
The humour that once defined Euphoria is largely absent, replaced by moments like Colman Domingo's character cursing 'butt sex' or a scene where Nate threatens to kill his housekeeper. Creator Sam Levinson intended the season as a tribute to the late Angus Cloud and a meditation on addiction, but the result feels mean-spirited and exploitative.
With only three episodes released for review, this final season seems to confirm that Euphoria has lost its edge, leaving viewers with a show that is both obsessed with and repulsed by its subject matter.
