‘Spiritually hollow’: The Euphoria season three reviews are already out, and it’s actually SO bad

Brace yourselves, because the early verdict on Euphoria season three has landed… and it’s not exactly glowing.

The new season officially drops on Sunday, with eight episodes and a pretty major shift in direction. We’re jumping five years into the future, meaning Rue, Cassie, Nate and co are no longer teens but fully-fledged adults trying to function post–high school. The core cast is back, including Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Jacob Elordi and Hunter Schafer, alongside new additions like Natasha Lyonne.

HBO

Sounds promising, right? Well, critics aren’t convinced.

At the time of writing, season three is sitting at a fairly tragic 56 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the lowest-rated season so far. For context, season one pulled in 80 per cent, and season two wasn’t far behind at 78. So this is a bit of a drop.

Most reviews seem to agree on one thing: Something’s off. A lot of people are saying creator Sam Levinson has lost the spark that made the show feel fresh in the first place. Moving the characters out of high school was meant to evolve the story, but instead it’s apparently made everything feel a bit scattered and, honestly, less interesting.

Some of the critiques are brutal. IndieWire described the season as “old and boring” (ouch), saying the characters feel stuck rather than changed. Others have called it “spiritually hollow”, especially when compared to the earlier seasons that felt way more bold and chaotic in a good way.

One reviewer compared it to “Breaking Bad meets Looney Tunes,” which… doesn’t exactly scream prestige TV. Meanwhile, the BBC gave it just two stars, saying the show now has very little to say and isn’t nearly as gripping as it used to be.

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To make things worse, critics have only seen the first three episodes, so this is literally the early impression. Not ideal.

There’s also the looming question of whether this is the end. Zendaya recently hinted that season three could be the final chapter, saying she “thinks so” and that “closure is coming.” Which means if this is the goodbye season… it’s not exactly going out on a high.

Of course, this is just what critics think, and if there’s one thing about Euphoria fans, it’s that they will absolutely make up their own minds. But still, it’s a bit worrying when the first reactions are this mixed.

Roll on Sunday. Let’s see if it’s actually as bad as they’re saying.

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Featured image credit: HBO