Sam Levinson's HBO show Euphoria has always aimed to ruffle feathers, but its new season's provocations ring hollow, critics say. The third season, set five years after the last, continues a portrayal of women that feels both old-fashioned and eerily prescient, projecting a shallow, manosphere-inflected fantasy of their motives.
In the latest episode, Cassie Howard, played by Sydney Sweeney, furiously screams at her new husband Nate Jacobs, played by Jacob Elordi, after discovering he borrowed huge sums to fund their luxury lifestyle. The wedding, revealed months ahead by Levinson, was a cinematic spectacle that descended into disaster.
Now in their 20s, most of the young women are at the behest of men. Cassie is disempowered in her relationship with Nate, who seems to want a tradwife fantasy. Jules Vaughn, played by Hunter Schafer, dropped out of art school to be a full-time sugar baby, and Rue Bennett, played by Zendaya, works as a drug mule for a strip club boss.
Euphoria has always objectified its female characters and pitted them against each other, but in the first two seasons, they felt more in control. Now in the real world, the misogyny feels more confronting. However, the show fails to explore nuances of female subjugation like HBO's Industry, instead coming across as a manosphere-tinted fantasy glamorised with gorgeous costumes and stunning cinematography.
