Parents' Guide to Euphoria: Season 3

The first two seasons of this drama were notorious for adult behaviors in a high school milieu; now the characters we've grown to know are in early adulthood, for better and very much for worse. On Euphoria Season 3's better end: Nate, Lexi, and Maddy are all, more or less, gainfully employed, though Nate's successful takeover of his father's construction business is largely smoke and mirrors and Lexi and Maddy just barely have a toehold in the entertainment business. Although we don't meet up with her in Euphoria Season 3's first episode, Jules is also said to be prospering in art school (though it's rumored she's involved in the sex work industry). But Cassie and Rue have continued the downward spiral that they started in high school, still bound up in an unhealthy way with sex, drugs, and commerce that plays out in different ways.

Euphoria Season 3 would be depressing if it weren't for Zendaya's quirky, lovable (and Emmy-winning) performance as Rue; viewers really want to see her succeed, and she's succeeding on enough levels in Season 3 that we have reason to hope. Sydney Sweeney isn't as indefatigable or irrepressible; we feel sorry for her but aren't as affected when she makes a step backwards or manages to make a good, healthy decision. Thus it's a good thing that Season 3 continues to belong to Rue, who gets the most screentime by far. Other elements of Season 3 will be more polarizing, particularly the shift from an easy-to-relate-to average high school to a setting that has feels more like a drug drama or Western; some moments would fit in a neo-noir or thriller movie instead of a soapy drama. Growing up isn't easy, but Euphoria Season 3 is making a fair stab at it; whether viewers will hang in there for its transition remains to be seen.