Return of Euphoria Sparks Mixed Reviews
The US hit drama Euphoria has made its highly anticipated return, featuring the original cast including Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, and Jacob Elordi. However, critical reception has been divided, with many reviewers suggesting the new season does not reach the heights of its predecessors.
's review stated that season three, arriving four years after the previous installment, "was absolutely not worth the wait," while the Telegraph described it as feeling "tired and dated."
Conversely, some critics offered more favorable opinions. The Times described it as "a dazzling (and stomach-churning) series," and the Independent praised it as a "generation-defining show [that] paints a clear-eyed, unflattering portrait of modern America."
The series' portrayal of sex, drugs, and adolescent turmoil has consistently generated shock value. The latest trailer for upcoming episodes has reignited controversy, particularly for a scene featuring Sydney Sweeney's character in a sexualized baby costume.
In the trailer snippet, Sweeney's character Cassie, now an OnlyFans content creator, is shown with curly pigtails, a dummy in her mouth, and legs spread in a provocative pose.
"This isn't character development, this is fetish content. Disgusting," wrote one social media user, while another commented, "This is just disturbing."
Currently, only the first episode is available to viewers, in which Cassie persuades her fiancé Nate (played by Elordi) to permit her to post videos online to help finance their wedding.
'Torture Porn' Criticism
Hannah J Davies of awarded the season two stars, characterizing the HBO drama as "a grubby, humourless work of torture porn that's obsessed with and repulsed by sex work."
Regarding Cassie's storyline, Davies commented,
"The way the show handles her cam girl ambitions, in particular, feels bafflingly dated, while storylines around sugar babies and kink feel simultaneously voyeuristic and judgy."
The characters, who debuted in 2019 as high school students, are now portrayed in their early twenties.
Zendaya, who has won Emmys for Best Drama Actress for both previous seasons, plays Rue, who is now depicted as a drug mule working to repay a debt to a dealer.
Davies acknowledged the strong performances of both Zendaya and Sweeney, and noted that creator Sam Levinson appears to be making a statement about the impact of synthetic opioids on ordinary Americans.
"But did he have to make his characters' lives so horrifically bleak in order to do so?"
Eleanor Halls of The Telegraph also gave the show two stars, describing it as increasingly resembling "the misogynistic fantasies of a creepy old man."
"Essentially, Levinson has trapped all of his female leads in the performance, or exploitation, of sex work, and the camera peers and leers at them with every shot," she wrote.
Halls noted that Levinson has written the strongest dialogue for Rue, "the only character he seems to care for."
"Unlike Cassie, who has become such a caricature of an airhead sex kitten that you wonder if Levinson might actually be trolling America's pin-up Sweeney, Rue is endearing, funny, complicated and unpredictable."
However, as the season progresses, Halls concluded,
"even Rue can't quite make you care about this sorry group of amoral ghouls, who seem to loathe themselves as much as each other."
'Breaking Bad Meets Looney Tunes'
Lauren Sarner of the New York Post described the new season as "an unhinged disaster" and "an off-the-rails roller coaster of insanity."
"Whether that's good or bad depends on if you want to see the biggest Gen-Z superstars - Zendaya, Jacob Elordi and Sweeney - in ludicrous situations that feel like Breaking Bad meets Looney Tunes," she said.
She added,
"It delivers that in spades. But if you want narrative coherence and character consistency, Season 3 leaves you wanting."
Regarding Sweeney's character, Sarner remarked,
"If there's a loftier point to be made beyond the camera ogling her, it's nowhere to be seen."
BBC Culture's Caryn James gave the show two stars, stating it "has lost its zeitgeisty edge."
"Euphoria has become a series with very little to say, none of it very audacious or compelling," she wrote.
Variety's Alison Herman described the show as "never not entertaining" but now resembling "entertaining but disjointed fan fiction."
'Captures the Moment'
Roxana Hadadi of Vulture commented that "so much of this early phase of Euphoria's return feels completely airless."
"Moments that gesture at America's prevailing culture as a corrupt, hypocritical thing that trickles down to infect everyone are a fascinating glimpse into what might be Levinson's unfiltered thoughts on our collective psyche, but then he'll cut to another shot of a female character being joyfully objectified, and the sense of Euphoria offering something deeper, something more insightful, collapses."
Among the more positive reviews, Nick Hilton of the Independent awarded four stars, stating,
"These new episodes (the three made available to press, at least) feel true to their characters and an accurate continuation of the saga."
He added,
"This is brassy, unsubtle filmmaking that captures the moment we're living in, where attention has been commoditised and only extremes of content – the naughtiest! the sexiest! the grossest! – get eyeballs."
Ben Dowell of The Times also gave the show four stars, writing,
"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 twenties and the terrifying expanse of adult life symbolised by the dusty desert lies ahead.
While the stage is set for more heartbreak and danger, you also sense that this show has grown up along its ensemble."
The first episode concluded with a tribute to two late cast members, Eric Dane and Angus Cloud, as well as executive producer Kevin Turen.
The third season does not include music by Labrinth, who previously composed the dramatic score and several songs for the first two series. The London singer and producer has stated he is "done" with the industry.
Zendaya has gone on to star in film franchises including Spider-Man and Dune
