On Sunday night, the season finale of the hit drama Euphoria premiered, and it caused quite a stir among fans.
The HBO Max and HBO hit drama focuses on the lives of several high schoolers as they navigate intense storylines such as drug use, sexuality, family and friendship. The second season of the show, which premiered Jan. 9, 2022, has been a hot topic on the internet. Fans are curating memes and conjuring up theories on platforms like TikTok and Twitter.
When the season finale aired Sunday, the episode garnered 6.6 million viewers, according to Deadline, and it was among the trending topics on Twitter for the remainder of the night as fans relayed their reactions to the ending.
Amy Szmik, a junior studying journalism, said she felt the ending did not offer her the satisfaction for which she was hoping.
“I feel like it was just super random,” Szmik said. “It felt unfinished, and it felt very rushed. There (were) way too many questions to still be answered. It didn't feel like an actual season finale.”
Carly Getter, a junior studying communication sciences and disorders, felt similarly after watching the finale. Getter said despite the beginning of the season built up intensity and interest, she thought the ending did not mirror the same energy created from the beginning.
“I did think that sometimes we were led in the direction of, ‘This episode's going to be really important,’ and then it was more … stuff that's unrelated,” Getter said “But I felt like there's a lot of mystery that they introduced that they didn't close up.”
The finale focused on finalizing the play created by Lexi’s character, a full of meta-references and dramatic confrontations, while also showcasing the conflict at Fez’s house amid a SWAT raid.
During the latter, fans had to say goodbye to beloved character Ashtray, who was shot by the SWAT while refusing to surrender.
Elizabeth Amstutz, a freshman studying acting, said the death scene was shocking to her when watching it live.
“I was so confused at first,” Amstutz said. “I was gasping the whole time. And I was like, ‘What does he think?,’ ‘What's his endgame here?’”
Although Ashtray’s death scene was intense, the finale offered some closure and optimism for central character Rue, played by Zendaya. Rue, who has been portrayed as addicted to and heavily dependent on drugs since the beginning of the series, seems to have finally gotten sober, offering fans a glimpse into what a clean version of Rue actually looks like.
Amstutz said this version of Rue seemed much happier and full of life, something that she is excited to see moving forward.
“I really liked that they didn't have her go right back to Jules because … she needs to focus on herself right now and not anyone else,” Amstutz said. “So I really liked that instead of going for a romantic relationship, she ended up back with Lexi again. I thought that was really sweet. In the end, the show is about female friendship, so I really liked that her arc took her there.”
Throughout the show’s run, it has received controversy surrounding its heavy material and, in particular, its focus on high schoolers. Getter said the series has often been criticized for its glamorization of drug use; however, she said the depictions this season were far more intense and jarring.
“It looked sad, it looked painful and it looked awful,” Getter said. “I feel like they really showed drug use in this season as something that is really hard to escape from and I didn't think that they were gonna let her stop. So I liked (that they did). I was happy for her.”
Alongside her disappointment in the finale overall, Szmik said she felt the entire season was rather lackluster, particularly the script, which she said, often fell flat in its approach.
“I think the biggest thing about it is there's a huge drop in quality from last season to this season,” Szmik said. “The only reason it's good is because the actors did really good with what they had.”
Lexie Vincenty, a junior studying english creative writing, asserted that this difference between the first and second season was actually a positive change that offered a more creative and experimental version of the series.
“I like this one more because it had that different feeling which made it enjoyable to watch,” Vincenty said. “And there were little things they added artistically (and) visually that made it seem a bit different, but it was still the same characters.”
Currently, the series has been renewed for a third season, with no official set date for its release. Despite the unknown release and the uncertainty of what year the next season will center around, Getter is hopeful for the coming season, but she believes the structure will change.
“I'm really hopeful that they'll show what's happening with Fez, that was really sad for me, he's probably one of my favorite characters,” Getter said. “For some reason, I feel like next season's not going to have to do a lot with Rue, I think they might shift characters a little bit.”
Although Vincenty did enjoy the second season, she still found the finale to be weak. She hopes the loose ends will be tied up in season three.
“I feel like there's a lot of things still up in the air,” Vincenty said. “I think it was good in the sense that it makes everybody think about what we're going to see the next season, but I wish they would have given us a tiny bit more closure.”
