The latest season of Euphoria offers a distorted depiction of the Californian dream. It's all sex, drugs, and OnlyFans.
We’ve had three episodes of the much-anticipated third season of Sam Levinson’s zeitgeisty drama, Euphoria. Framed as a five-year time jump, the new season follows the characters’ lives post-high school. Euphoria has always delved into themes of sex, addiction, and general violence, but this time Levinson takes it many steps too far. Gone are the days of glitter eyeshadows; Euphoria is now something akin to fetish content.
Inspired by old westerns, Levinson creates a season that is all about just how far these kids will go to survive, which seems mostly to rely on sexual exploitation. The season opens with Rue (Zendaya), solo, driving a beaten-up car through the desert. Her Jeep balances across the US-Mexico border, a metaphor for the fine line that Rue lives her life teetering on. Most of the show uses the California desert as a backdrop for all its drama. Airing around the same time as the annual Coachella festival, it seems that pop culture is really digging the desert. Season 3 had many delays, including the Hollywood fires in January 2025, so fittingly, Levinson chose to remind us of California’s battle with its climate.
In an interview with Variety, Levinson explains that this is the first season that he wanted to root in a specific place, to “represent California and our collective dream”. He also revealed that he widened the screen this time, so that we could feel the world around the characters, and get a sense for their smallness. The goal for Levinson was to step outside of the melodramatic aspects of the psychological to focus on what real life is for these characters. Rue’s individual battle with addiction leads her down dangerous routes as Laurie (the infamous drug dealer from the previous season) returns and forces Rue to work as a drug mule. As Rue wanders the desert, we see Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) and Nate (Jacob Elordi) living it large in a very different Californian desert.
Sweeney’s character is desperate to break into the world of OnlyFans. Tasteful as ever, Cassie is all dressed up in doggy costumes. She waves her tail and other bits to the camera, hoping to make it big. A humorous yet uncomfortable scene where soon-to-be-husband Nate mocks her for being ‘a doggy for sale’, sums up this season nicely. Nate is scamming all of his neighbours with some kind of care home business that is ‘in construction’, yet feels disgusted when his fiancée is making money through her online videos. Their home in the desert is Cassie’s paradise until their house is broken into on her wedding night. Another comical scene sees Cassie sobbing because her nose is bleeding whilst Nate is literally having his toe chopped off with shears in front of her.
Whilst Levinson was clearly going for something provocative, playing with the rural dangers of California and the life of sex workers or adult content creators, it fails to offer any real commentary on these situations; instead, it feels closer to a fetish fantasy on screen. Euphoria was praised for its discussions of mental health and for telling stories that made an emotional impact. Levinson would have been better off sticking with the ‘melodramatic’ (as he named it) instead of tackling his real-world fantasies.
If you’re looking for a show with lots of exposed body parts, drugs, and guns, this teen drama might be the one for you! But, hey, at least we know that Jacob Elordi can look hot in all climates.
