Space Net’s All New Review: Euphoria Finale

Where do I begin? Anyone who’s been force feeding themselves anxiety for the past few weeks knows that this is not a melodramatic question to ask. It’s fair as fuck. We’ve lived with these characters. Laughed with these characters. Cried with these characters. Grown to really care for them. And when you care for someone you’ll always have your worries about their well-being. After watching the “Euphoria” season finale I think it’s safe to say that the characters we love are not alright and neither are we. If you asked me, I’d tell you that us viewers might be even worse off than Fezco. Yeah, he got shot but at least he has some closure.

“Euphoria” director & writer Sam Levinson definitely deserves every bit of praise he’s received since the release of his show. The guy writes it all himself and directs. Something not as common in the film industry as one might think. For the last eight Sundays at 9 o’clock, I type HBOMax.com into my laptop and fall into the world that Levinson has made us feel addicted to. Charming irony considering his show centers around the struggles of addiction. After I’ve devoted an hour and some change of my time to the viewing experience that is “Euphoria”, I do what most fans of the show do. Head to the Twittersphere for some “Euphoria” adjacent memes and discussion. After some laughs, I sort through the criticism. As much as it pains me to say I’m not too much of a fan to say that some of it isn’t warranted. When it doesn’t take much effort to think of several other episodes within the season better than your finale, you have a serious problem.

Fuck rumors of drama on set. Fuck the notion that Levinson needs a writers room. That’s missing the point. I can understand the artistic liberty of an open ending but you can’t cook in front of your audience all season just to never end up putting food on the table. That is my issue with the season finale. A common complaint amongst fans is plot holes but I disagree. I think the problem is the lack of plot conclusion. I frequently choose to believe that every decision Levinson makes is for a reason but sometimes it’s hard not to feel like some characters as well as their storylines weren’t left out in the cold. “Kat” (Barbie Ferreira) went from being a staple character of the show to “Maddy’s” (Alexa Demie) sidekick which in result lead to “Ethan” (Austin Abrams) getting little to no screen time until his moment in the finale. “McKay” (Algee Smith) literally only appeared in the first episode of the season. “Jules” (Hunter Schafer) pretty much became a side character as the season began to wind down and “Elliot” (Dominic Fike; one of my favorite characters this season) seemed to serve more as a plot device to chaos as opposed to a real stand alone character (which I really hope changes next season seeing as he and Rue are no longer friends). Now some might say that it is a show and there is a season 3 but there are also far too many questions that have been left unanswered. Plus season 3 is two years away. For two whole years we’re left to wonder about the 10k “Rue” (Zendaya) still owes the plug, how “Lexi” (Maude Apatow) is going to react to the news about “Fezco” (Angus Cloud), and how the hell is “Cassie” (Sydney Sweeney) going to recover from her very public social suicide.

Are you beginning to understand the problem? Yes, a season finale is meant to keep you wanting more. It’s a show, not a film. You want your viewers back for the next season so you can’t always wrap shit up neatly with a bow. What I do firmly believe is that a show’s season finale should never leave a viewer feeling abandoned because emotional investment does not come cheap. Neither do attention spans. Sam Levinson doesn’t owe us the ending we want or even the ending that we need but I would say he does have a duty as a writer to properly conclude the stories of characters that he beautifully & graciously started. Honorable mention to Jacob Elordi (Nate). I know we all love to hate Nate Jacobs but only because Elordi is that good at acting. Would love to see him more elsewhere. Another honorable mention to Colman Domingo (Ali). He wasn’t in the season finale but Ali is one of the wisest characters to ever to be put on screen and if this was a season review he’d be a large part of it. I rate the finale 3 out of 5 stars.