By Tyler Banark

Going into the final episode of Euphoria season 3, it wasn’t clear if this was going to be the final episode of just the season or the show as a whole. Zendaya and Sam Levinson hinted that the show would end after this season, but it wasn’t confirmed until this weekend. The verdict? In God We Trust is, in fact, the final episode of the series and ends things on an action-packed note. However, much like the rest of the season, the finale had some shortcomings. Though at the end of it all, those shortcomings weren’t going to matter as they didn’t get handled with the care they should have gotten in the first place.

While Jules makes an appearance here after being mostly absent throughout the season, it further proves that this season could’ve happened without her. That isn’t a knock towards Hunter Schaefer, as Jules will always be an essential character to Euphoria as a whole. If you think about it, though, what was the point of Jules being in season three when all she did was pretty much go to Nate and Cassie’s wedding, paint, and argue with Rue? The only thing Jules does is paint a portrait of Rue, and that’s where the show leaves her off; no arc or development for her. In fact, the last time we see Rue and Jules on screen together, Jules slaps Rue in the face, and her painting falls on top of Rue. It’s truly sad if you think about it, because those two were the biggest characters on the show in the first two seasons. 

Beyond that, In God We Trust sees violent showdowns between Laurie and her gang and the DEA, and between Ali and Alamo. We see Laurie and her crew get their comeuppance, which was a season and a half in the making. Both sequences were fitting and kept audiences engaged, especially Ali vs. Alamo, taking place after a certain death. Both scenes were, without a doubt, the most captivating of the whole season. It got about as action-packed as the show could reasonably get, but then again, this show was never known for action. Furthermore, the episode finds Cassie and Maddy coming to terms with Nate’s death and agreeing to start their own content-creator practice in Cassie’s house. This resolution was good to see after everything the two went through over the last two seasons. With Nate being out of their lives for good, Cassie and Maddy can go back to being friends. There is a plot hole: Lexi supposedly never learns the truth about what really happened to Nate, as Cassie tells her he disappeared without a trace. Why doesn’t she tell Lexi the truth? We’ll never know, but it makes me wonder whether it’ll get out at some point.  

In spite of all this, Euphoria season 3 ended things on much better terms and continued the streak of the second half being infinitely better than the first. Overall, the season had its ups and downs, but I’m glad it ended in a better place than it started. As for the entire series, I’m betting people will look back on Euphoria as the show that started out strong but crumbled under its overbearing creator. It may feel like a landmark series for Gen Z representation, but certain viewers saw it more as a way for Sam Levinson to exploit overtly sexual ideas in either a high school setting or in the real world through OnlyFans. If anything, I genuinely hope that the only person attached to Euphoria that isn’t allowed anywhere near a set is Levinson. Euphoria may have collapsed hard in its seven-year run, but most importantly, people saw this and found disgust in Levinson. 

🌟 🌟 🌟 1/2 stars