Euphoria Season 3 Reviews: Critics Aren’t Convinced By New Direction

After keeping fans waiting for more than four years, Euphoria is finally back for its third (and, quite probably, final) outing.

Unfortunately, the majority of critics are saying that the new episodes have not exactly been worth the wait.

Because of the delay between seasons, creator Sam Levinson took the decision to age up his teenage characters, with season three reintroducing the usual gang – played by returning stars Zendaya, Jacob Elordi, Sydney Sweeney, Hunter Schafer et al – as young adults.

However, early reviews have said that the show loses its footing in this change, and while there’s been praise for the cast’s performances, critics are not convinced by Euphoria’s new direction – with some even going as far as saying that the new episodes indulge the show’s worst tendencies.

With that in mind, here’s a selection of what critics are saying about Euphoria season three so far…

“The show has lost its zeitgeisty edge. Euphoria has become a series with very little to say, none of it very audacious or compelling.”

“A show which was once blackly funny is now humourless torture porn […] Euphoria season three is grim TV that seems hellbent on rattling us for the sake of it. If its cast seemed desperate to get it over and done with, well, now we know why.”

“Euphoria may still have the gloss, budget and star power of prestige TV, but it’s no longer enough to disguise what increasingly feels like the misogynistic fantasies of a creepy old man.”

“In a first season that emerged at a more progressive moment for pop culture, it took an equal-opportunity approach to exploitation. Now that sexism is in again, its default to the hetero male gaze is unmistakable.”

“As Euphoria’s creator, writer, and director, Sam Levinson wants to craft a show about the pervasiveness of fentanyl, the dangers of addiction, and the lawlessness of the American West. Instead, what he’s made — yet again — is a cannily shot phantasmagoria that’s as beautifully lit as it is emotionally hollow.”

“Euphoria always skewed nihilistic, so none of these ideas are out of place in what may be its last season. But Levinson’s series was never this spiritually hollow, and it was always more active, insistent, and ambitious.”

“The first three episodes of season three (out of an eventual eight) do feel like Euphoria: bombastic, stylish and able to offset grandiosity with sly, cutting humor. What they don’t feel like is tethered to the grounding ballast that kept the first two seasons on the rails even at their most over-the-top.”

“The transfer across to the world of adulthood quite simply [falls] short. Not only has the show lost its way: it’s become a bizarre parody of its former self […] Zendaya’s performance, revealing Rue’s struggles, is a shining light in this disappointing return.”

“There’s a great show lurking in here somewhere. So much of Rue’s journey proves it. Yet Euphoria keeps smothering that greatness with something far grosser, and that’s something no amount of reinvention can hide.”

“Television’s Mount Rushmore of antiheroes and antiheroines is crowded, and if Zendaya’s Rue isn’t carved into the primary peak, she’s somewhere immediately adjacent. But the series as a whole?

“Attention-demanding things that played as extreme and terrifying when they were happening to teenagers simply become ‘things’ when the protagonists are in their 20s; heightened ideas that played as gloriously melodramatic and precariously edgy expressed through high-schoolers barely count as ‘ideas’ when run through a 20-something prism.”

“It is testament to how well-rounded the world of Euphoria is that these new episodes feel true to their characters and an accurate continuation of the saga. Levinson’s spectacular misfire on The Idol shouldn’t detract from his ability to construct tense, witty and morally knotty plots. Against those scripts, his actors (who reports suggest had been lukewarm on a return to the show) appear to be having great fun.”

“Dazzling […] This is Euphoria with a much wider canvas. Before, it was a slickly stylish Instagram-friendly tale of various teenagers from a middle-class suburb in Los Angeles doing irresponsible things. Now they are in their 20s and the terrifying expanse of adult life symbolised by the dusty desert lies ahead.”

Euphoria returns on 13 April on Sky, Now and HBO Max, with new episodes every Monday.