Revisiting Euphoria Season 3: A Fresh Perspective Amidst Cultural Shifts
By Published Apr 28, 2026, 5:15 PM EDT Liz Hersey is an Editor and Critic for ScreenRant's TV team, editing, reviewing, writing, and creating content about the iconic shows you love to watch. She began her editing career at ScreenRant in 2019, shortly after joining the site as a Writer that same year.
With a passion for all things books, Liz frequently attends Toronto literary events and conferences, and loves interacting with her book lover community. In addition to being an avid reader of the romance and thriller genres, Liz is a writer of several short stories, and is currently at work on a young adult witch novel.
When she's not working, reading, or writing, Liz can be found seeing movies at her local cinema, attending live jazz events, or curling up on the couch to binge her favorite TV shows.
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The following article contains spoilers for Euphoria season 3, episode 3, "The Ballad of Paladin".
While season 3 was always going to feel different than what came before, the direction the HBO series took has been unpopular, to say the least. Taking place after a five-year time jump, are all grown up in season 3, strewn across Southern California in pursuit of their dreams.
If that sounds chaotic and directionless, it is. While coming-of-age shows always lose something when the characters graduate high school, . The natural next step for an edgy, dystopian teen drama would be an edgy, dystopian young adult drama, but season 3 is something else entirely.
One of the is that the show feels, more than anything else, like a Western crime drama. The vast majority of time is spent on protagonist Rue Bennett being forced to work as a drug mule for Laurie. Though she is now a troubleshooter for sketchy strip club mogul Alamo, Rue finds herself caught in the middle of an escalating turf war.
Nate and Cassie's storyline as a seemingly perfect couple is at least more entertaining, though its dark suburban satire tone doesn't match the Euphoria fans have come to fall in love with. of Cassie trying to make it as an OnlyFans content creator have certainly got people talking, but they're empty and shallow, existing only for the sake of gratuitousness.
It also doesn't help that the core group is all living such separate lives without the glue of high school holding them together. That's what makes the most recent episode, "The Ballad of Paladin," such a breath of fresh air, as everyone reunites for .
However, it was bittersweet watching the characters interact again, because as great as it was, it also became glaringly apparent how much Euphoria season 3 has changed everybody for the worse — well, almost everybody.
Maddy Is The Only Character Not Ruined By Season 3's Obsession With The American Dream
It's beat-you-over-the-head-level clear that the theme of Euphoria season 3 is the American Dream. (Episode 2 is even called "America My Dream".) It's this theme that ties the characters together, ultimately to the show's detriment.
After getting out from under Laurie's thumb, Rue thinks she has it made working for Alamo. She's surrounded by beautiful women, she knows how to keep things running smoothly, and she's got her spark back. Notice how has the same confident tone as her narration?
However, despite enjoying the work more, Rue just traded one tyrannical boss for another. When called to do a job for Alamo, she's forced to abandon Jules at the wedding because she is owned by her work. It's unfortunate that this new storyline robbed viewers of more time with the former couple, which season 3 sorely lacks.
Meanwhile, as a sugar baby sort of feels like Euphoria, but for all it tries to be sexy, it's maudlin and depressing. Jules has essentially abandoned her artistic pursuits for a pile of money and living an isolated Rapunzel-esque life — complete with the long hair — in a penthouse in the sky.
As shown in episode 3, Nate and Cassie's obsession with flaunting their picture-perfect life has violent consequences. While an indebted Nate getting his pinky toe chopped off is certainly a fascinating contrast to the former jock who got away with everything, he and his new bride feel more like avatars of season 3's American Dream obsession than real characters.
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In trying to mature, Euphoria ends up becoming unrecognizable in a third season that feels totally disjointed from its origin as a shock teen drama.
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Fan-favorite Maddy Perez, on the other hand, remains entirely and unapologetically herself. Her capitalist pursuits working as the assistant of a high-powered Hollywood talent agent may fall in line with the American Dream theme, but, unlike the others, her storyline does so in a way that doesn't morph Maddy's character to fit the narrative.
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Every moment of Maddy's (far too limited) screentime is gold, particularly her episode 2 scene with Cassie, in which Maddy brutally dismisses her former best friend's OnlyFans videos as "desperate" and lacking in taste. It's obvious that Maddy is relishing the opportunity to tear Cassie down under the guise of managerial advice, but in typical Maddy fashion, her harsh words are actually honest and helpful.
Episode 3 makes the case why Alexa Demie is easily the most underrated member of the Euphoria cast. Maddy arrives at Nate and Cassie's wedding in a totally on-brand revealing dress, and at first, she's eager to watch these two toxic people tether themselves to each other for life. However, as the night progresses, Maddy is overcome with genuine emotion.
Despite knowing she dodged a bullet with Nate, when she was a teenager, Maddy's only dreams were to be in a passionate romance and live a life of "doing nothing." Now, Cassie, who was sleeping with Nate behind Maddy's back in high school, is living that dream. Add in Nate's mom's mean-spirited speech aimed at her, and it's enough to rattle anyone.
Maddy's pain was nowhere near the biggest moment of the episode, but it was so layered and complex that it was reminiscent of previous Euphoria seasons. Sure, she's sad to return to her dingy apartment knowing that Nate and Cassie are living in a mansion, but unlike the newlyweds — and season 3 as a whole — Maddy hasn't been ruined by the American Dream.
Cast
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Rue Bennett -
Hunter Schafer Jules Vaughn
Sam Levinson Expand Collapse
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