Season 2 reminded us that the show is at its best when it’s not doing the most.
If , for some reason , you tune intoEuphoriafor the first time ever for itsSeason 2finale — and managed to completely pretermit the countlessmemesand online chatter about it beforehand — you might not have any clear-cut sense of what the show really is about . Is it a gritty offense dramatic play where 12 class olds engage inScarface - like shootouts every episode ? Is it melodrama that belongs on The CW where complicated teens turn their parent over to the policeandoccasionally die out in song ? Or , is it an earnest series that explores how genuinely sad immature people can be ?
On Sunday nighttime , the HBO drama helm by Sam Levinson wrapped up its eight - episode 2nd season with " All My Life , My Heart Has Yearned for a Thing I Can not Name " that somehow mat like all of those thing at once . After a time of year that was at timesartistic and engagingand othersfrustrating and exhausting , the remainder ofEuphoriawas just overwhelming . As theEuphoriafinale attempt to be a offence drama more than it ever had been before , it lost flock of when it really shines : when it focalise on the emotional turmoil of each of its individual characters .
Euphoriaperhaps has always need a little bit of restraint , and the coda proved how exhausting it can feel when it refuses to hold back at all when it probably should . The episode also failed to answer a smattering of question — like Rue ’s stack with Laurie going awry , Fezco ’s fortune and how that will effectuate Lexi , and Rue and Jules ' family relationship — and as the show will presumptively harness these conflicts in Season 3 , it ’ll be tax with find some grace of God in doing so , alternatively of making a law-breaking drama out of it all .
Zendaya|Eddy Chen/HBO
The close was a unmediated continuation of Episode 7 , " The Theater and Its Double , " resuming in the middle of Lexi ’s ( Maude Apatow ) playOur Lifeand the dramatic event unfolding at Fezco ’s ( Angus Cloud ) . Furious with how her younger sis portray her , Cassie ( Sydney Sweeney ) interrupts the output by bound on stage , go off about how she ’s " dwell " and Lexi has n’t , and attempts to absolve hooking up with her best supporter ’s ex Nate ( Jacob Elordi ) , which erupts in a confrontation between her and Maddy ( Alexa Demie ) . Meanwhile , we see that as Fezco is about to leave for the play , he realizes that Custer ( Mouse ’s former associate played by Tyler Chase ) is a police witnesser and a maraud is at hand . It ’s then that the show demand an overpowering turn ; Ashtray ( Javon Walton ) impulsively toss Custer ’s throat and locks himself in the bathroom with all of their weapons , convinced that he can front off with the authorities from behind the door , so Fezco wo n’t have to take the downfall for what he ’s done . When the police get , a gunfight of Tarantino - like caliber ensues , with Fezco tap his little crony to stop fire , and he ’s ultimately wounded and Ashtray is killed .
While that ’s going on , the show also remain its confuse attempt at give Nate — who , yes , is the product of abuse , but also blackguard woman himself and let another male child take the fall for his wrongdoings — some colour of a redemptive arc . It turns out , he stormed out of the romp to face his father , Cal ( Eric Dane ) , who had been partying and hide out at his business ' warehouse facility , and turn him over to the police for solicit harlotry . Butas the show must go on , Lexi ’s play also resume , resulting in a standing ovation and the finale ’s few endearing here and now .
It was as ifEuphoriamishandled its fictitious character this time of year , right up to the last moment of the last . Hunter Schafer and Barbie Ferreira , who play Jules and Kat , were severely underutilized . Sydney Sweeney ’s Cassie was needlessly degrade , and yet , we were hypothecate to find Nate redeemed for confronting his Padre who he once fight down . In many ways with how the time of year ended , it feel like storylines were rushed to roll up so that time of year 3 could start with a blank slate . All time of year , Cassie tortured herself for being with Nate — only for them to break up and her and Maddy to fight it out in the finale , like none of it even count . The same become forDominic Fike ’s fibre Elliot , who land recklessness into Rue ( Zendaya ) and Jules ' life , only to intromit to Rue that they probably should n’t quell champion belong forward . ( That was after he perform her an original song , which , although it was sweet-flavored , it scanned like a " stream Dominic Fike on Spotify " sparking plug . )
Javon Walton|Eddy Chen/HBO
When the last whirl itself back to focus on the elements of the show that fans run to relate with most , that ’s when it feel like it still had a glimmer of what makes it a particular teen drama . While Ashtray ’s ultimately cruel and unnecessary death may have gotten the most pant , it was n’t the most emotional mo in the episode . It was when Rue reconnected with Lexi , commend her for the ways in which she processes her trauma , and the two girls comforted each other in their pain . When the show is intrepidly vulnerable — from its explorations of addiction , clinical depression , gender identicalness , and brokenheartedness — Euphoriais at its best , and it ’s what we can hope it holds onto buy the farm into Season 3 .
Throughout the season , fan had been conjecture aboutEuphorialike wild — come up with theories on TikTok and Twitter that saw one character as another ’s long - mislay blood brother and suspect a sex activity - trafficking outrage was about to surface , read the show as something closer toRiverdalethan an HBO drama . Perhaps that was n’t necessarily their shift , considering how far off the rails this season went at times . Zendaya has even speak about this , cite inInterviewsaying , " There ’s two versions ofEuphoria : the TikTok interlingual rendition , and the real story that digs a lot deep . " Here ’s to hope that the show return to form in Season 3 , exploring its complex characters ' emotional turmoil — and it does n’t continue to become the TikTok version of itself that it claims it ’s not .
Maude Apatow|Eddy Chen/HBO
