When Euphoria Forgot What Made It Great

Once upon a time, Euphoria wasn’t just another teen show but a cultural phenomenon in the making. Its characters dominated social media, its dialogue became trending audio on social media, and its fashion defined an entire aesthetic. But somewhere between becoming an icon and chasing controversy, Euphoria forgot what made audiences fall in love with it in the first place.

Euphoria is a critically acclaimed drama television series created by Sam Levinson. Streaming on HBO, it followed a group of high school students as they navigated different stages of their lives, including love, trauma, addiction, and identity.

My First Introduction to Euphoria

My first encounter with this show came through Instagram after Season 2 had ended. For a moment, my entire FYP was bombarded with edits of it. Whether people were trying to recreate the show’s fashion and makeup looks or trying out Cassie’s intense 4 a.m. routine, the show was a constant topic of discussion.

The audience shared their favorite iconic moments from the show, including Maddy’s signature banging on the door with both hands, critical moments from Rue’s narration, Lexi’s insecurities about growing up with a popular sister, Kat’s journey toward confidence, Nate’s violent tendencies, and Jules’s exploration of her sexuality. These were the core themes and characters that made up Euphoria and made people love it, especially members of Gen Z who resonated with the characters.

The Characters That Made Euphoria What It Was

Maddy was an inspirational icon for many teenage girls. They diligently followed her makeup looks and fashion, along with guides such as “How to Ignite the Maddy Inside You?” and “Maddy-ism” tips. Most importantly, what really boosted Maddy’s influence among the audience was that her dialogue became trending audio on social media platforms. With Maddy’s growing popularity, the actress who played her, Alexa Demie, also came into the spotlight.

Cassie had the internet divided, prompting online discussions among people who sympathized with her, criticized her, and acknowledged her perspective while still condemning what she did. She was failed by everyone around her: her father abandoned her during childhood, her mother struggled with the separation, and she was exploited by boys at school. Cassie proved to be one of the show’s most complex characters.

The show’s narrator, Rue, played by Zendaya, also generated her share of discussion as the show aired. She was a young high school student coping with her father’s death who found her escape in drugs. Her repeated relapses and struggle with drug addiction continued as the show progressed. Her scenes with her mom, which depicted a daughter who couldn’t move on and a helpless mother who was trying but had to witness her daughter’s gradual downfall, became the show’s emotional core.

Jules proudly expressed her sexuality and explored different possibilities without shame. Her experiences with dating, her relationship with Rue, and her arc with Nate covered a significant part of the show’s plotline.

And, finally, there was Kat. It is a popular trope in the media that whenever a character gets a makeover, they either lose their glasses, straighten their hair, or lose weight. Unfortunately, continuous exposure to such tropes makes audiences associate normal characteristics with something that needs to be “fixed.”

However, Euphoria treated Kat’s makeover differently. A simple and shy girl, Kat gained confidence not by losing weight but by changing how she expressed herself in public. Through fashion and makeup, her transformation differed from what we typically see in the media. Still, her arc was also a topic of discussion. People questioned whether it was truly empowering and expressed their opinions about it.

The show also featured Nate. A cheater, abuser, manipulator, and blackmailer, Nate struggled with his relationship with his father and his own masculinity. He became the show’s main antagonist.

Lexi had struggled her entire life to match her sister’s popularity. Fez was a compassionate drug dealer who protected Rue on several occasions. Fans called Lexi and Fez the “perfect couple” and described them as the heart of the show.

When Season 2 ended, everyone had high hopes, only to be met with utter disappointment when Season 3 was released.

What Exactly Went Wrong, and Where?

Euphoria Season 3 received mixed criticism from the moment its trailer dropped. The audience expressed how the show ruined its fan-favorite characters. The qualities that made these characters stand out in a sea of teen-show characters were stripped away.

Somehow, everyone is involved in the sex industry, as if there aren’t any other jobs. It left me wondering whether, as a woman in Sam Levinson’s universe, you can either be sexualized or work toward sexualizing others.

Euphoria’s third season felt strangely familiar because we’ve seen this before. Many scenes from the trailer itself resemble those from another Sam Levinson project, The Idol, suggesting that this reliance on explicit content and shock value is becoming a recurring creative pattern rather than an isolated misstep.

Even The Idol was a huge missed opportunity. Its creators had every chance to tell a compelling story exploring the struggles and challenges a female pop star faces in an industry that constantly wants to exploit her. That story could have been supported by the experiences of real-life pop stars who have suffered the consequences of being famous in an exploitative industry. Unfortunately, that isn’t what happened.

Some people might argue that the show has become too sexual, but it has always been sexual. The difference is that, in Seasons 1 and 2, the sexual scenes actually served a purpose. In Season 3, they feel like filler. For instance, it made absolutely no sense for viewers to sit through Cassie making sexual content for OnlyFans. Her character deserved more nuance in her portrayal.

The show deserved well-written dialogue like it had in the previous seasons, but maybe it was written by an underpaid writer who just wanted to get it over with.

Apart from the sexual scenes, there was a gag scene every two minutes.

Euphoria always had the courage to show uncomfortable moments. Whether it was Nate choking Maddy, which ultimately became a serious plotline as the show progressed, or Cassie throwing up in the hot tub, these scenes were disturbing, not borderline disgusting. They served a purpose and contributed to the show’s story.

But the gag scenes in Season 3 were so bad that I don’t even want to describe them.

Though these scenes might claim to represent gritty cinema, their sole purpose felt like publicity. “Negative publicity is still publicity” holds surprisingly true for Euphoria because, despite what people are saying about it, what matters is that they are talking about it. Oscar Wilde once said, “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”

That perfectly describes what Season 3 intends to do.

Regardless of all the criticism, people are still watching the show and increasing its viewership. It continues to be a cultural icon because, despite the horrible third season, Seasons 1 and 2 hold a bittersweet nostalgia that can’t be fully erased by the horror of Season 3.

The trends they started might resurface decades from now. That iconic dialogue may still be used in Reels and Shorts because it is very difficult to escape the cultural phenomenon that the earlier seasons created.

Viewers will mourn the ending they never got but always deserved: a satisfying conclusion for their beloved characters. Instead, they were met with shock-value scenes, extremely controversial dialogue, and a lazily written script.

What the Audience Deserved: Euphoria’s Missed Opportunity

As a former Euphoria fan, I genuinely hope Season 3 is the show’s last. It hurts to say this, but maybe Season 3 was the production company’s way of saying that it didn’t know how to end what it started. Though it breaks my heart, I, along with the core audience, cannot bear to watch our favorite characters continue to be exploited by horrid scripts.

Euphoria wasn’t just another teen drama.

For many Gen Z viewers, it was one of the first mainstream shows that treated young people as emotionally complex rather than one-dimensional. It gave us characters who were messy, vulnerable, selfish, loving, and painfully human. We didn’t admire them because they were perfect. We saw parts of ourselves in them. A part of us resonated with them, and we didn’t even realize that we were living vicariously through them in that world.

The show’s decline feels like more than just a disappointing season. It feels like watching a story that once understood its audience slowly stop listening to them. Instead of building on the emotional depth that made it a cultural phenomenon, it chose spectacle over substance and controversy over character.

Perhaps that’s the greatest tragedy of Euphoria.

It didn’t lose its audience because it became explicit. It was always explicit. It lost its audience because it forgot that its most compelling stories were never about sex or shock value. They were about people.

In forgetting that, Euphoria didn’t just lose its audience. It lost what made it memorable in the first place.