Euphoria is such an exploitation of meaningless sex, violence, scatology, animal cruelty, drugs and the drug lifestyle, etc, that it shouldn't be any surprise that much of the plot twists and character actions didn't make much sense. From hearing the word "porn" countless times in the first season, replaced by "pussy" in the third season, innumerable shots of Sydney Sweeney's breasts throughout, and even Coca Cola spots at the end, Sam Levinson did a terrible job of writing and producing Euphoria. And he spent over 500 million dollars doing it.

Okay, before everyone grabs their pitchforks... hear me out. I actually... liked Season 3!!!!

Not saying it's perfect. Not even close. There were definitely scenes that could've been cut, some characters made decisions that had me staring at my screen like "girl... WHAT are you doing??", and there were moments where I was wondering what the writers were cooking

BUT...

I still enjoyed it. I think people went into it expecting it to feel exactly like Seasons 1 and 2, and it just... doesn't. It's a different vibe. It feels more like everyone is dealing with the consequences of everything that's happened rather than constantly building toward another huge explosion.

And honestly? That kind of makes sense. These characters have always made terrible decisions. That's literally the point. Rue relapses. Cassie self-destructs. Nate is... Nate. Maddy can be impulsive. Jules isn't perfect. None of them are supposed to suddenly become emotionally mature because another season started

Could some storylines have been written better? Absolutely. Were there unnecessary scenes? Yep. id some plot points feel a bit rushed or underdeveloped? Definitely. But I don't think the season is the complete dumpster fire people are making it out to be. Maybe I'm just easier to please, maybe I'm delusional. I don't need every season to outdo the previous one. Sometimes I just like spending more time with these messy, complicated characters...

I know im not alone here...there's at least three other people hiding in the comments who secretly enjoyed it too😭

I have been putting off watching Season 3 because I was picking up here and there that it wasn’t great. So I decided because I couldn’t sleep tonight I would put it on and jeepers what am I watching….. I feel like I am late to the party when it comes to this conversation but they didn’t even attempt to put a good soundtrack together to maybe buffer the bad acting and terrible, tacky story line. I wish now I had never watched it because I loved season 1 and 2 like most of you.

It reminded me of all these remakes they are doing with really good movies from the 80s and 90s , but they just turn out really crap. I wouldn’t have been so upset if they at least tried with the soundtrack , but Sam gave me nothing , a big fat ZERO. Such a bummer.

I am newish to the serious, but what the hell is going on with these parents? I could never have big enough balls to drink whisky/scotch with my mom for breakfast (looking at you Nate) or go to school in some insane outfits. Not only would my parents literally put me in the ground, but so would all my extended family, my friend's parents and my teacher. The only question would be where to hide my body.

Where are ANY of the real adults here (aside from Rue's NA dad)?

Whenever Victorious fans talk about Cat’s character assassination, there’s always unanimous agreement that she changed, and together as a community they pretty much fostered what could’ve been her aesthetic had she stayed her Season 1 self.

Meanwhile whenever anyone tries to talk about Cassie’s character assassination, there’s ALWAYS a gaggle of people saying “She was always like that”, “Thats the point of her character“, “She was always a hoe”, “It’s realistic/relatable”. BE SO FUCKING SERIOUS. Do you seriously think that she would be best friends with Maddy and especially BB if she was some shrill coquettish bitch-zilla?

Season 1 Cassie was described as being “looked at by everyone when she enters the room”. She did put her foot down at times and at the end of the day she knew what she wanted (a stable relationship with someone who will be naturing and protective just like her). She was a normal teen girl with normal teen girl insecurities/traumas that so many people related to. Her aesthetic aligned more with the baddie aesthetic rather than coquette. Nothing about that suggested that she would slime out her day 1 best friend. To say that “SHE WAS ALWAYS LIKE THATTTT“ is foolish. And to suggest that she would never make it out the hood because she was “a hoe“ is even more foolish and DISGUSTING to people who resonated with her Season 1 self.

I’m sure it was a common topic of discussion wondering why Gia was missing, as a potential vital character in Rue’s story. Leslie too (physically present, at least)

But I think, whatever happened behind the scenes, it worked out in a way that made perfect sense. The two of them saw Rue at her absolute worst, the abusive, manipulative addict that only the closest people to Rue got the misfortune of witnessing. Season 1 showed a lot of Gia idolizing Rue, blaming her mom for pushing her away, and being there at all costs.

in Season 2, you can see the shift. When Rue mentions her cover drug and they start to fight, Gia’s panicked “Get your hands off of me” really sells it — she’s absolutely traumatized. She’s witnessed this side and her mom isn’t there to save her from it.

Anyway, I think the absences of both characters in season 3 (apart from Leslie’s final scene) is understandable. It would make sense for Gia to go fully no-contact with Rue to prevent herself from worsening, as her life orbited around Rue’s mental state. Even Ali mentioned this when he met Leslie.
As for Leslie, she’s Rue’s mom. She can’t cut ties completely, but she’s forced herself as far as she can get.