The Season 3 finale of HBO’s Euphoria has been sharply criticized as a chaotic and disappointing end to a once-celebrated series, with the episode described as tawdry, tasteless, and wasteful of its ensemble cast. In the 93-minute finale, Rue, played by Zendaya, dies midway through the episode after stealing pills from drug kingpin Alamo and overdosing on fentanyl. Her mentor, Ali, discovers her unresponsive and later takes violent revenge, killing Alamo at a strip club. The final stretch also includes the downfall of Laurie and her crew, who are arrested in a DEA raid, while Laurie herself chooses suicide rather than face capture.
Despite earlier Season 3 storylines centered on Cassie’s OnlyFans career, the finale gives Sydney Sweeney’s character surprisingly little screen time. Instead, the episode focuses heavily on gang conflict and on secondary characters, leaving little room for major returning figures such as Jules, Lexi, and Nate. Nate, played by Jacob Elordi, is effectively removed from the story before the finale and is only referenced through a photo, with no proper farewell or funeral. Cassie lies to Lexi about Nate’s fate, and Lexi believes he has simply disappeared.
The conclusion suggests a strange, uneven form of resolution for Cassie, Maddy, and Lexi, who appear to be living together in a large mansion with tacky yellow decor. The article frames this as the closest thing to a happy ending in a season that otherwise strips most characters of depth and meaning. Maddy, Cassie, and Lexi’s shared living situation is presented as odd but comparatively peaceful, especially when contrasted with the violence and nihilism surrounding the rest of the season.
The piece argues that Season 3 transformed Euphoria from a character-driven drama into a cartoonish gangster story. Earlier seasons were credited with giving Zendaya, Elordi, and Sweeney layered roles that helped make them global stars. By contrast, Season 3 is portrayed as reducing them to one-note versions of themselves: Nate becomes an out-of-character victim of torture-porn excess, Cassie is flattened into a money-driven stereotype, and Rue is buried under grim crime plotting and a half-baked spiritual angle before being killed off. Jules and Lexi are also described as marginalized, with Jules given almost nothing to do beyond painting in an apartment.
The overall criticism is that the show leaned into shock value, gross-out scenes, and provocative imagery without offering emotional or thematic substance. According to the article, the result is a season that abandons the strengths that made Euphoria culturally influential in the first place. HBO has not officially labeled the episode as a series finale, but the show’s future appears uncertain. Levinson has said he has no plans for Season 4, and Zendaya has suggested the story has reached closure.
