For a show that has turned into a shock value spectacle, Euphoria Season 3 fumbled one of its biggest character deaths.
Nate’s death surprised me only because I felt nothing at all while watching it.
And that feeling of emptiness is indicative of this series’ most prominent issue.
(Eddy Chen/HBO)
Euphoria Season 3 has given its unlikable characters pointless storylines, making every episode feel completely inconsequential.
Without stakes and without true motivation, it’s nearly impossible to care about what this show is trying to make us feel.
Let’s Talk About Nate’s Euphoria Season 3 Plot
Everybody can agree that Nate felt out of character this season.
The same angry guy who once pointed a gun at Maddy’s head is now a watered-down, wimpy man who’s only concerned about maintaining a perfect suburban life with Cass.
The show was setting us up to root for Nate, but it was hard to really invest in his story at all because we weren’t given a reason to.
(HBO/Patrick Wymore)
Sure, we know that Nate cares about Cassie and wants to give her a good life.
But nothing in this season has set us up to root for them as a couple or shown us why they’re even together. Even their wedding episode was painfully boring.
If Euphoria had leaned into the toxic relationship aspect of Nate and Cassie’s relationship, we might have been able to empathize with Nate’s perspective more.
Also, the Armenian gangsters’ plotline felt very out of the blue. The conflict feels so artificial and drawn out because we barely know how Nate got involved with them in the first place.
It even became a recurring joke among Euphoria viewers that every week, Nate was losing another limb for no reason. So, it wasn’t surprising at all once Nate actually died.
(Patrick Wymore/HBO)
The whole season seemed to indulge in how he’s tortured by these gangsters rather than in investigating his emotional landscape.
Euphoria’s focus on splashy moments and its tendency to forget to flesh out its characters isn’t just affecting Nate — it’s affecting all the other characters, too.
An Ensemble Cast of Forgettable Stories
To be honest, I don’t think there was a single character on Euphoria that I was rooting for this season.
None of the characters have ever been likable, but at least they were interesting.
For example, the love triangle between Maddy, Cassie, and Nate in Euphoria Season 2 was messy but fun to watch.
(Patrick Wymore/HBO)
But this season has barely given us any memorable stories for the characters, offering only brief, disjointed glimpses into their lives that don’t give us enough time to care.
Jules’ story definitely illustrates this: her desire to become an artist and her side job as a sugar baby are mentioned a few times, but we’re never told why we should care, especially since she doesn’t want to associate with anyone from high school at all.
Maddy’s role has also been very confusing.
Obviously, she’s supporting Cassie in her OnlyFans career, but she’s a shell of her ambitious self.
She seems perfectly content to serve other people’s stories without really gaining anything other than money for herself.
(Eddy Chen/HBO)
Maybe that’s all she truly wants, but the Maddy from previous seasons was power hungry. By now, she should absolutely have figured out a plan to create her own agency.
I feel similarly about Lexi. She obviously wants more than to be a PA on L.A. Nights, but we’re never shown what her true ambition is.
Last, but not least, Rue — the main character — has even lost her sense of purpose.
Euphoria is a confusing show, because how do you manage to fumble a character written for the legend Zendaya so badly?
In previous seasons, I was heavily invested in Rue’s story. Her struggles with addiction, her relationship with Jules, and her family gave her a clear sense of direction.
(HBO/Screenshot)
But this season, Rue has felt like a character who has no autonomy.
Everything that happens to her is a result of her circumstances and not of her choosing.
She feels like a football that’s being tossed between Alamo Brown and Laurie in their feud.
The same applies to her DEA arc. It feels a little too coincidental that she would get pulled over for smuggling drugs, and the first thing the agents would ask her is to be a mole.
Plus, the show seems to keep shoehorning in religion without ever fully developing why she would feel this pull toward believing in God.
(Patrick Wymore/HBO)
For a character who narrates the entire show, Rue has felt like the character with the least control and motivation.
What a shame that Euphoria will likely end on this low note of completely ruining character development across the board.
What do you think of Nate’s death on Euphoria? Are you excited for the season finale?
Let’s keep the conversation going — it’s the only way the good stuff survives.
Say something in the comments, share if you’re moved to, and keep reading. Independent voices need readers like you.
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The fact that Nate’s death barely surprised anybody proves that Euphoria Season 3 has lost the plot a long time ago.
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Seven episodes into Euphoria Season 3, the HBO drama feels less like a comeback and more like a chaotic experiment that lost its way fast.
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Cassie’s Euphoria Season 3 arc sparks backlash over repetitive storytelling, humiliation, and Sam Levinson’s handling of female characters.
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