With the HBO Max hit series, Euphoria, coming to an end, it’s important to take a minute to look back on this emotional rollercoaster of a ride and be able to truly appreciate the hectic, and borderline chaos-inducing, journey that director Sam Levinson and the actors of the show took the audience on.
The show’s compelling writing, dynamic cinematography, and, of course, the comedic narration by the show’s infamous protagonist, Rue Barnette (Zendaya), allowed the series to garner a large fan base and major streaming success. For the second season alone, each episode averaged about 16.3 million viewers across all platforms.
So what exactly did Euphoria do right? One of the most obvious answers are the characters and their not so straightforward stories. Plot twists allowed characters like Nate Jacobs to transform from lines on a script to real life people going through real life crazy situations. The characters were never supposed to be perfect—far from it. But that’s part of what allowed the show to amass such a large audience.
Although a bit exaggerated in comparison to the average teen, the characters were relatable in a “I never want to get this bad” kind of way. Fans would watch the show and see the outlandish things that seem like a normal day at Euphoria High and be pulled in by just the sheer insanity of it all.
While Euphoria had its light hearted moments, the show was definitely for mature audiences as it delved into much more complex and developed conversations on drug abuse, sexual assault, internalized homophobia, and anything else you could possibly think of a “teen” drama covering.
Though viewers would often complain on authenticity and the reliability of the show to the supposed age of the characters, many agreed that the show never shied away from sensitive topics that are often underrepresented in media. There is so much that went right with the show that left fans discussing the show years after it’s original airing in 2019 and now fans have lost their minds over the Season 2 finale.
While the show in and of itself was full of twists and turns that made for an almost euphoric experience, the season two finale did leave viewers like myself a little underwhelmed. One thing that the series suffered from was the leaking of scripts for future episodes. This meant that fans, specifically on Tiktok and Twitter, already knew what was going to happen and how the show would end before it actually did. This affected a lot of people’s thoughts and feelings going into the last episode—already knowing they were going to walk out an emotional wreck.
Despite this, the show ranked up numbers and left off with a bang, literally.
In the middle of the series’ weekly uploads, it was announced that the show would be renewed for a new season, leaving Twitter in an uproar. After what occurred in the last season, it’s hard to see what Levinson would pull out from his hidden hand. A lot of fans speculate that Chris McKay would be making a heavily anticipated return after being almost dumped from the series after his onscreen girlfriend, Cassie, had her character development moment. Others bet that the situationship between Maddie, Cassie, Jules and Nate will reach astronomic levels in the next season. No matter what happens, one thing will remain true: the fans will definitely eat it up.
