‘Euphoria’ season three is anything but ‘euphoric’
Courtesy of HBO
After almost four years off the air, HBO’s popular series “Euphoria” is back, and this season is older, colder and far darker than anything from the previous seasons. The neon lights, eye-catching glitter and high school vibes are changing and morphing away from the dream-like fantasy that originally made the show captivating to audiences.
The show started trends all over social media, “Euphoria-esque” makeup, clothing and parties exploded, perpetuated by the show’s target audience. This new vibe asks a harsher question of reality: What happens when the characters grow up, and life becomes real?
The new season jumps five years into the future; the characters are now adults in the workforce and trying to keep stay grounded as they each attempt to figure out both the challenges of adulthood and how to heal from past choices and traumas.
One of the main characters throughout the series, Rue Bennett (Zendaya) is no longer a teenager spiraling with addiction, but is now caught in a far more dangerous criminal world, working under a dangerous boss named Alamo (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje). She hides all the secrets of her life from her friends. This tonal shift is no longer portrayed through over-the-top parties and emotional outbursts, but through the real-life consequences of their bad decisions becoming permanent.
Something not so permanent thus far in the season is the dissolution of Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) and Maddie’s friendship, which is back up and running again early in the season. Maddie even attends Cassie’s wedding to her ex-boyfriend and former abuser, Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi). But if there’s one thing this duo is good at, it’s deception, and if there’s one thing Maddie (Alexa Demie) is not good at, it’s letting things slide. The viewers are waiting patiently to see what Maddie has up her sleeve, or if she truly had good intentions in heart for her number one traitor in previous seasons.
Cassie and Nate got married in episode three, but viewers and Cassie are quick to realize this wedding, filled with flowers at every step and custom-made dresses, is no fairy tale. Like many relationships in “Euphoria,” appearances can often mask something far darker beneath the surface. Looks can be deceiving, and in this case, money can be too. Their extravagant wedding cannot erase the years of toxicity between Nate and Cassie. It’s safe to say the two’s wedding night got off on a bad … foot. Both literally and emotionally.
However, what makes the storyline more compelling is that Cassie finally begins to show signs of real character growth, stepping away from her obsession with male validation, particularly coming from Nate. Although she is still emotionally connected to Nate, cracks are beginning to form as she realizes the life she thought she wanted was not the reality, or what was promised.
With so many complicated character plots unfolding, the season is succeeding and portraying adulthood as a trap, not just freedom, which is exactly what the characters needed. In prior seasons, they could act recklessly without facing the real-life consequences of their choices.
But as adults now, they are facing the consequences of years of decisions, trauma and emotional damage that force them to sit in the discomfort of being completely alone in the world. This season easily deconstructs the glamorous image in prior seasons, but through this change, the characters become more real.
As the next episodes air, it will be interesting to see whether the characters are truly capable of changing themselves or if they will continue to self-destruct in a cycle of reckless behaviors. Teenagers surrounded by parties and romance emerged as adults. Now, those damaged youths of seasons prior are searching to find themselves, real love and escape from the cycles that define them. It’ll be a long wait till Sunday to see what happens next.