Opinion | Thank God 'Euphoria' is Over: An Analysis of Misogyny in Season 3 of This Hit TV Show

In the season finale of Euphoria, the main character, Rue, dies from a fentanyl overdose, showing the extreme consequences of substance abuse. This is what Euphoria was supposed to be about: drug use and addiction. In the New York Times interview Why ‘Euphoria’ Had to End This Way, Sam Levinson, director and creator of Euphoria, states that his vision for Euphoria was to depict a personal story about addiction, possibly reflecting on his own background as a recovering addict. 

In Season 3, however, the focus of Euphoria shifts. Following the characters’ lives post-high school, the new season shows that Rue has fallen deeply into the trafficking world, working as a drug mule and manager at a strip club. Cassie fails to live the American Dream with her high school sweetheart Nate and falls into sex work. Jules is a student in art school who engages in sex work for financial support. Even Maddy works at a Hollywood talent agency and manages OnlyFans models as a side hustle. The evident common theme with all these characters is their deep involvement in sex work, almost implying that struggling women inevitably fall into the world of sex.

Forcing all female characters into the sex industry in some manner gives Levinson’s show misogynistic undertones. Crafting each woman’s storyline so that it revolves around sex creates only one career path for women, ignoring the existence of diverse ambitions, interests, and identities among women. The fact that Euphoria’s target audience is young adults and teenagers makes this message even more dangerous. Rather than portraying sex work as a possible experience, the show overhypes the industry, pushes the idea that these experiences are inevitable for women, and reduces all women in the Euphoria world to their sexual value. 

Season 3 also included other deeply striking problems with its excessive nudity, fetish content, and casual depictions of violence against women. Notably, the fetish scenes of Cassie walking around Los Angeles as a 50-ft, naked, Godzilla-woman, dressing up as a baby with a pacifier and diaper, and dressing up as a dog all monsterize, infantilize, and dehumanize her, respectively. The casual depictions of violence against women, including Kitty being raped and Angel being trafficked and potentially killed, are unsympathetic to victims and are glossed over as if they are everyday occurrences. Contrary to common public opinion, I do not believe season 3 glamorized the sex industry. If anything, its graphic scenes painted it as a repulsive one. Still, it was a superficial, one-dimensional representation of the sex industry that focused on the objectification of women, instead of exploring interpersonal emotions of the victims. Such graphic scenes also served no purpose in advancing the plot of Euphoria, suggesting that they were simply “gooning” content for men. 

So thank God Euphoria is over. Season 3 was a disgrace to women and the past two seasons of this previously respected show. Seasons 1 and 2 were praised for their raw and realistic depictions of addiction coupled with its neon cinematography and moving soundtrack. Season 3 and the season finale were both disappointing, almost giving up entirely on the storyline about personal struggles with addiction. Even if the finale tied it back to the original theme with Rue’s overdose, the show’s concentration on sex work throughout the season and rest of the finale made the show’s reputation impossible to redeem. What was once a nuanced drama turned into superficial depiction of mens’ fetishized imagination.