By Tyler Banark

I cannot believe it! We are almost at the end of Euphoria Season 3, and boy, it feels like it has been a long one. In the penultimate episode, Rain or Shine, the stage is now set for what I’m hoping is not only the season finale but the series as well. Although I will admit that the second half of this season has been much better than the first, I’ve still found it to be not as enticing or interesting as the first two. But I digress, as Rain or Shine continues a hot streak that won’t change the outcome of how this season has gone. 

In another checkmark in a list of notable names appearing this season, Natasha Lyonne finally shows her face with this episode. However, like Danielle Deadwyler in last week’s episode, it’s a guest appearance dwindled down to flashbacks at the start. The opening flashback in this episode pertains to Rue’s mentor Ali, played by Colman Domingo. We see how he got into rehab where he initially meets Rue, as he cheated on his wife with a prositute played by Lyonne. He found his way out of the darkness that was his addiction problems, but found more to deal with in the form of his mentees. Ali has had numerous mentees over the years since being in rehab, but unfortunately, they’ve all faced sad endings to their journeys and he becomes a witness to that. For the rest of the episode, we see Ali reconnecting with Rue and try to convince her to walk away from Alamo and Laurie. He fails, but it was at least nice to see Domingo return as the sole voice of reason in Rue’s life. 

Meanwhile, Nate’s storyline finally gets wrapped up as it has been thrown under the bus and barely got its feet off the ground. Looking back, season three could’ve been done without his subplot. Yes, we see how impactful it is to the overall plot of the season in the first half, but in this second half, it’s been reduced to him being visited by Naz and his goons and they forcibly cut off a limb. It’s literally a cut to Nate, Naz and/or his henchmen show up, intimidate Nate, and he loses a finger or toe. Now that it’s been resolved in this episode, I’m glad Jacob Elordi can finally move on and do better things besides this show. Now if only Sam Levinson can make this happen for Hunter Schaefer and do something about Jules’ subplot because that’s been getting the same treatment but still ongoing.

The one takeaway to be had from Nate’s storyline finishing up is that it finished by getting interweaved with the rest of the show. The final showdown where Alamo faces off against Naz and his henchman to give them the debt Nate and Cassie owe with Maddy in the crossfire was nice. Slap that on with more characters finding out about Rue’s subplot and inserting themselves, and we have an ultimate setup as to how this season (and show possibly) could end. However that may be, it’s going to feel like a breath of fresh air when the credits roll for my sake, the rest of the audience, and even for the cast. 

3 1/2 stars