‘Euphoria’ Does ‘Breaking Bad’ in Season 3

When HBO’s Euphoria was at its strongest, it tempered its thirst for spectacle enough to tell compelling stories about high school students facing the slings and arrows of sexuality, drug addiction, and abuse of all kinds. But because the series’ creator, Sam Levinson, is an uncreative hack with a penchant for shallow provocation, this high point didn’t last. Now in its third season, Euphoria is perhaps the least creative it’s ever been. In its transformation into a crime drama, the series shamelessly apes Breaking Bad.

Some years after high school graduation, Rue (Zendaya) is working in a smoke shop when her old dealer Laurie (Martha Kelly) stops by. Laurie’s none too pleased with Rue after she lost that briefcase of drugs last season. Despite it being worth $10,000, some combination of interest and inflation has rocketed the debt to $43 million. Laurie will graciously accept $100,000 instead, but Rue will have to smuggle fentanyl from Mexico to America as a drug mule.

In a Hollywood Reporter interview, Levinson talked about throwing out his intended plotlines for season 3 and making sweeping changes to the show’s appearance. I commend his commitment to “evolve or die,” and avoid repeating himself too much. As far as the premier goes, the new crime-thriller elements feel rushed and lack connective tissue. There’s a crime lord, a strip club, a ridiculous caricature of a rural family, and a religious turn that comes entirely out of nowhere; Levinson filling his hands with whatever he can find and throwing it at the wall. The new aesthetic feels derivative instead of bold, like it’s self-consciously mimicking Breaking Bad’s early seasons of shaky cam and grimy lighting. Change and evolution are great, but they need to be thoughtful to work.

On what feels like an entirely different show, Nate (Jacob Elordi) drives his Cybertruck home to the McMansion he shares with Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) who is having the typical wedding planning woes. Floral arrangements are expensive, so she’s considering starting an OnlyFans to make some extra cash. Cassie is also engaging in dog roleplay on TikTok, something that made me wonder if Elordi was sharing notes from the Wuthering Heights set. Nate is developing an elder care home, but there are hints the venture is much scammier than it appears.

Elsewhere, in a third, separate vibe, Lexi (Maude Apatow) and Maddy (Alexa Demie) are working on a soap opera called L.A. Nights. Maddy is a talent manager representing the show’s star, Dylan Reed (Homer Gere), and Lexi assists studio executive Patty Lance (Sharon Stone). Maddy seems overworked and underpaid, but Lexie has carved out enough respect that Patty listens to her notes. They don’t intersect as much as you might expect, but maybe that will change later in the season.

I was wondering how this season would handle the character of Fezco, considering that the actor Angus Cloud passed away in 2023. It turns out, Fez is serving a 30-year sentence in prison. In the premier, viewers experience him through missed calls made to Lexi. In the Hollywood Reporter interview, Levinson talked about wanting to honor Cloud by keeping Fez on the show and tackling the fentanyl epidemic. My pronounced disdain for Levinson’s work aside, that’s a wonderful aspiration for the show, and a lovely intention for him to have. It’s not clear yet how Fez’s offscreen presence will do that, but hopefully Levinson can cut through the noisy spectacle to deliver on that goal.

Overall, Euphoria’s grand return to TV is underwhelming. The series works up such a sweat trying to shock and titillate that it forgets to be all that compelling. That’s no fault of the actors. Zendaya and Colman Domingo are Euphoria’s strongest weapons, but there’s only so much great talent can do to overcome such lazy, trite material. After such a long time away, all Euphoria can muster is a reheated Breaking Bad aesthetic and brittle provocations.