It’s been more than four years since we saw the last new episodes of Euphoria, so it’s worth rewatching seasons 1 and 2 before season 3 comes out, but there are some undeniable flaws that stand out when you revisit the show. Although it’s been a massive hit with audiences, Euphoria has divided critics — especially in its so-so second season.
There’s so much to love in Euphoria. The actors all give incredible performances, the cinematography is gorgeous to look at, and even at its trashiest and soapiest, it’s wildly entertaining. But, ahead of Euphoria’s long-anticipated season 3 premiere, there are some harsh realities of rewatching those first two seasons.
Euphoria Season 1 Is A Lot Tighter Than Season 2
Rue at a fairground in Euphoria
The first season of Euphoria is a television masterpiece with a distinctive vision and a singular story. Every episode begins with a montage filling in the tragic backstory of one of the main characters, and the arc of Rue trying and failing to get clean is deftly woven in and out of everyone else’s storylines.
By contrast, the second season is nowhere near as tight. It meanders around the ensemble, sometimes relegating major characters like Rue and Jules to glorified background roles. It feels aimless, a fear that’s sadly confirmed when the season 2 finale comes and goes without paying off almost any of the plot threads.
Every Scene With Rue And Her Mother Is Unbearably Intense
Rue and Leslie fight in Euphoria
The scenes between Rue and her mother are acted beautifully by Zendaya and Nika King, but they’re pretty tough to watch. Every time Leslie confronts her daughter about her drug use, it instantly escalates to a screaming match where they both say some horrible things they can’t take back.
It’s even harder to watch if Rue’s little sister Gia is in the room. Gia just wants the family to get along, but they end up having an unbearably intense argument whenever they get together. The performances are brilliant, but the content is deeply uncomfortable.
Ethan Deserved So Much Better Than Kat
Kat breaks up with Ethan in Euphoria
Ethan and Kat have one of the strangest love stories in Euphoria. It starts off great, as Kat takes a chance on the nice guy and finds that she likes being with a partner who takes her needs into consideration. But shortly after they start dating, even though all her friends are telling her she has a perfect boyfriend, she just doesn’t feel that spark.
This was an interesting storyline to explore — just because a relationship seems perfect on paper, it doesn’t mean it’s right for you — but the way Kat went about breaking up with Ethan was just awful. She makes up an absurd lie to avoid an uncomfortable conversation, then gaslights him when he calls it out. Ethan deserved much better.
Euphoria’s Explicit Content Is Absurdly Gratuitous
Cal sticks his thumb in Jules’ mouth in Euphoria
One of the most controversial aspects of Euphoria is the way it sexualizes its teenage characters. The nudity and sex scenes can often come off as gratuitous. In some cases, the sexual content does serve the story and the characters, as these young people explore their sexuality, but some of it is pure exploitation.
And it’s not just the sexual content; Euphoria has been criticized for glorifying drug use, despite depicting the horrors of addiction in graphic detail, and it’s oddly violent. It’s morbidly satisfying to watch Fez beat Nate within an inch of his life, but the repeated blows to Cal’s head feel excessive, and the climactic police shootout is more befitting of a gritty action thriller than a teen drama.
Lexi’s Play Is Entertaining, But It Doesn’t Tell Us Anything We Don’t Already Know
Maude Apatow as Lexi performing a play in Euphoria.
Throughout Euphoria’s second season, Lexi starts working on an autobiographical school play about her childhood with Rue, Cassie, Maddy, and Kat. In the last two episodes of the season, Lexi finally puts on the play, all of its subjects attend the premiere, and it’s exactly as chaotic as we hoped.
But as the climax of the whole season, this play feels underwhelming. It’s certainly entertaining, but it doesn’t tell us anything we don’t already know. It just takes scenes we’ve already seen and puts them on a stage, with lookalikes playing all the major parts.
Elliot’s Song Really Drags Down The Season 2 Finale
Dominic Fike as Elliot walking down a hallway in a school building in Euphoria
The worst part of Euphoria’s season 2 finale is when Elliot plays a song for Rue. It’s not a bad song, but it brings the episode grinding to a halt and seems to go on forever. When Dominic Fike released the full version of the song as a single, it was actually shorter than it was in the show.
Elliot was already one of the least interesting additions to the cast, and the most uninspired way to add some conflict to Rue and Jules’ love story. So, giving him a massive chunk of airtime to sing a song in the final episode was not a wise move.
Euphoria Sometimes Feels More Like A Music Video Than A TV Show
Sydney Sweeney as Cassie looking upset in a hot tub in Euphoria season 2
With its montage editing and hyperstylized cinematography, Euphoria often feels more like a music video than a TV show. A lot of sequences in the show, especially the party scenes, seem to be stitched together from a collection of random shots that looked cool.
The voiceover narration, soundtrack needle-drops, and sweeping camera movements all ape the kinetic filmmaking style of Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas. But, where Goodfellas used its technical trickery to enhance the storytelling, Euphoria distracts from it.
Nate’s Awful Behavior Never Gets Any Easier To Watch
Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi) leaning his head against a drawer in Euphoria season 1.
Nate Jacobs is a fascinating character, but he’s a truly awful human being — and it doesn’t get any easier to watch him do despicable things and get away with it. It starts when he beats Tyler to a pulp and frames him for his own crimes, but that’s just the beginning.
He strangles Maddy, he blackmails Jules, he gaslights Cassie, he stalks his dad’s sexual partners, and he holds Maddy at gunpoint to psychologically torture her. Jacob Elordi gives an incredible performance, but it’s pretty hard to watch.
Laurie Is Established As A Grave Threat, But It Goes Nowhere
Laurie (Martha Kelly) sitting in her kitchen and talking in Euphoria season 2 episode 5.
Early in Euphoria’s second season, Rue is introduced to a ruthless local drug lord named Laurie. When Fez cuts her off, Rue goes to Laurie and asks for a suitcase full of drugs that she promises to sell at her school and turn for a profit. Laurie tells Rue that if she rips her off and doesn’t pay up, she’ll sell her to sex traffickers.
But Rue has no intention of selling the drugs; she plans to just take them all. However, after Laurie is set up as a terrifying threat and Rue fails to keep her promise, nothing happens. It’s massively disappointing after all that build-up. At least season 3 is bringing back Laurie to pay off those stakes.
Euphoria Is A Prime Example Of Style Over Substance
Mouse offering Rue a drug while she sits on the couch in Euphoria
The main thing that stands out when you rewatch Euphoria is that it’s a prime example of style over substance. The show has style in spades, with aura-farming cinematography and pitch-perfect needle-drops, but it doesn’t have the thematic substance or the emotional substance to back it up.
There is some depth and nuance in Euphoria’s storytelling; Rue and Jules’ relationship was initially compelling, and Nate’s origin story is a masterclass in child psychology. But the show is clearly more interested in looking cool than making a deeper point.