By Tyler Banark

At this point with Euphoria, I have accepted that a lot of the time, the dialogue is going to be dreadful. On one hand, I shouldn’t be surprised by this, as this show has mostly had this aspect. On the other hand, Sam Levinson and company throw so many other things at the audience to capture their attention that it distracts them from the dialogue. The conversations we see the characters have feel so off and often make the viewer sit back and think, “wait, did so-and-so just say that?” The latest episode, America My Dream, is a testament to this feat. Yet somehow, it turned out not as bad as the premiere. 

One highlight of season one was that each episode opened with a focus on a specific character and provided exposition on why they were the way they were. It was done a couple of times in season two, but then it went away. The first two episodes of season three have done this by having Ándale catch audiences up on how much time has passed and where each character has been. In America My Dream, we see how Maddy (Alexa Demie) became a popular talent manager within Hollywood. From asserting herself as an assistant to taking on clients of her own on her terms, we see that Maddy is past the days of being a flashy, mean but valid girl. Demie is 35 years old, and it feels as though she convinced Levinson to let her character mature and go beyond being what we saw in the first two seasons. Here’s where things get interesting with this episode: Cassie reaches out, they reconnect, but there’s a possibility for Maddy to get revenge on her for stealing Nate. It hasn’t been confirmed, but I have a good feeling about it. 

Nate and Cassie are continuing to find ways to make money to afford their wedding, and it’s caught the attention of investors and Nate’s dad, Cal (the late Eric Dane), now out of jail. Dane and Elordi have always played off each other well, and their scenes together in this episode prove that. As for Sweeney, it appears she and Cassie are digging holes for themselves that will be tough to get out of. Cassie has begun making even more erotic content, and in the scene where we see how she’s been going about this, the show makes it tough to see where the line is drawn between Sweeney and her character. Is Sweeney herself making these choices, or is it Levinson’s script? Who knows, but we’ll see how it all resolves itself as the season progresses. 

Meanwhile, the show now has Rue shifting gears on working for Alamo. While she helps around his barn, cleaning up after pigs and strippers, she also got a gig being a manager of sorts at a strip club, as she helps the owner send a stripper to rehab and keep everybody in line. This move hints that Laurie is unhappy about Rue leaving and that her debt still isn’t paid off. As Alamo and Laurie talk, the crazy dialogue hits its peak as their exchange of words feels stale. Yet, we’re to believe a possible feud is going to take place between these two? I know stuff is going to hit the fan between Alamo and Laurie over who “owns” Rue, but I’ll believe them to be fearful when the show actually makes them out to be that. 

All in all, America My Dream was a better episode, largely due to the further development of characters for the season. There are likely to be a thousand more directions this season will go, but as long as the gross factor doesn’t get dialed up beyond what it already is, I can live with that. Audiences did get a little taste of what’s to come for Jules’ story as she and Rue are seen hanging out at the end of the episode, so I’m excited to see where that’s going to go and what Levinson has in store for Jules. It’s surprising how optimistic I am coming out of this episode, but nevertheless, I’m expecting that to keep changing at the flip of a switch. I’ll indulge in this joy for now, even though I don’t think it’ll last long. 

3 stars