Euphoria Series Finale (SPOILERS): A Messy Ending for HBO's Hottest TV Show

[00:00:00]Speaking of TV, we have a pretty big TV ending, series ending, which is crazy to say.

[00:00:08]Uh >> [laughter] >> I'm so glad I jumped off this ship.

[00:00:11]>> Oh, but so you didn't watch it?

[00:00:12]>> I didn't.

[00:00:14]>> Oh.

[00:00:14]>> I think I've seen clips, and I've seen people talk about it, but I haven't seen it, but Euphoria season 3 has finally come to an end. The finale has come and gone. People are talking about it.

[00:00:25]Sabrina, what did you think of the finale and the season overall?

[00:00:31]>> All right.

[00:00:33]It was literally so bad. Like it was not good.

[00:00:38]There were interesting moments. There were glimmers of something that could be interesting.

[00:00:42]Any momentum was killed by Sam Levinson's indulgence in himself and his ideas, and you know, as an artist, we always talk about like kill your darlings. You might think you you've written a really beautiful line or whatever, but sometimes you got to know when to rein it in. You got to know when to get rid of stuff. You could have maybe hold on to that line. Put it in a different project in the future.

[00:01:03]It is very clear that he had maybe like another show idea, but after like The Idol didn't do very well or whatever, he decided to combine this movie or show idea into Euphoria season 3 because it does have a lot of overlap in terms of like, you know, vibe and whatever. Um but it is a hard pivot. It is so such an odd choice to do for the final season.

[00:01:28]Um it really did every single character so dirty, whether it's Hunter Schafer's Jules barely being in the entire season, having no character development, no nothing. Glimmers of her just painting.

[00:01:41]Okay, cool. Whatever, it is what it is.

[00:01:44]Um butchering Nate Jacobs' character and everything that they set up in the first two seasons. Um having spoiler alert, sorry, but like having essentially Lexi and Maddie be the cause of Rue's passing um does not sit well with my spirit. Um they all had such a beautiful relationship and complicated and whatever, but honestly Lexi and Rue's relationship and then Maddy and Rue's relationship were my two favorites. So the fact that it was both of them that were essentially the cause is insane, especially considering we had Rosalía's character. Like she was kind of actually setting the stage of like, "Oh, she's weird. She's a rat. She's this." And maybe it could have been her.

[00:02:31]And cuz like they abandoned her character, too. They had her in episodes. They had things going on, and we just never see her again. So it's like Sam Levinson does not know how to follow through on anything, and I think that's like the reason that the first season of Euphoria was such a success is because it was like taken from Petra Collins. And I actually I mean we fully said it. Like I believe he's a hack.

[00:02:55]Like I don't think I think that somebody should have been in there to just rated it a little bit and make a good story.

[00:03:01]As far as the actual finale episode, it was interesting enough. It was one of the better episodes of the season. Not really saying much.

[00:03:08]Um shout out to Colman Domingo. Um my close personal friend Colman Domingo. I wish I had the photo of us right now, but um he was incredible. And I expected everything to kind of happen the way that it did except for that. But like, you know, Rue's passing and everything else. Um But yeah, it was just messy, disjointed uh completely abandoning everything that was set up in the first two seasons. It abandoned things that would be set up the episode before. Like it just did not have a through line. It's like I don't even know how to discuss it because it was so messy to begin with that I can't even like discuss why it was so messy, but it's disappointing. I'm really glad it's over, to be honest. Um I really believe that after the first season, they should have ended it. I think that would have been one of the best seasons of television. Um, at least like, you know, in this last decade. That finale of the first season was so beautiful. Because what it became is just so different, too, anything that they were setting up.

[00:04:09]And I it's such a disservice to the actors that spent seven years, over seven years, um, locked into these characters.

[00:04:18]And having to work with Sam Levinson.

[00:04:20]What do you think, RB3?

[00:04:22]>> Yeah, no, I I agree. I mean, it was it was weak sauce.

[00:04:26]Um, yeah.

[00:04:27]You know, seeing I've been talking about this whole fake religious analogy that they've been kind of building towards the entire season.

[00:04:34]And I think it's kind of weak. I think it's a little bogus to try to even exploit that kind of storyline this late in the game. If you want to do something like that, at least establish that early on. There's multiple times where people are like saying Bible things, or like quoting Bible things, or just like complete misinterpretations. That's just me being the pious little religious boy in me. Like, come on, y'all didn't even half even try to do any You know, they say it's all written and directed by Sam Levinson all himself. Just things like that, you need a writers' room for.

[00:05:02]Like, you really need a writers' room to give you an outside perspective on um, a lot of these things. Like, and it just didn't have didn't have enough of that. Didn't have a you know, I mean, I know Sam Levinson's wife is also an executive producer on the show, too, Ashley Levinson. But, I need another woman in the room to kind of be like, "Yo, tone down on the sex scenes." Like, like really, enough's enough. Like, I you know, like in the finale, thankfully, didn't go too crazy. It was more violent.

[00:05:28]That's just the thing though. It was like max violent, max sex, but minimal character, minimal you know, even like aesthetic. Like, like you said, Sabrina, the everything from season 1 is just had a a vibe.

[00:05:43]Colors pop.

[00:05:45]Music. Music. You were sorely, sorely lacking Labrinth this season, sorely.

[00:05:51]>> Oh my god.

[00:05:52]>> It hurt so much to see it. And I we're talking spoilers, y'all, so spoiler alert. Spoiler alert to everybody who hasn't seen Euphoria yet. This is a big spoiler that I'm about to unveil. But yeah, we see the untimely passing of of Rue. Something that they've been convoluting to really since the beginning. You know, really since the end of season 1. You talk about that finale episode there. At the time, I thought it was a little cheap to end a TV show with like a big dance sequence or whatever. But to kind of almost end it on like this not as It just wasn't as graceful the way they did this. Now I'll say the whole ending montage which I'm showing here on screen of her seeing her mother and going and running to see Fez from heaven, and you know, like we get that last cameo of Angus Cloud. I don't know if this was like archival footage or where that came from. That sequence itself was beautiful. Like that moment is some beautiful stuff. And you know, seeing how that that death is kind of playing out with the heartbeat and her seeing her mom and her getting that hug from her father.

[00:07:04]All tough stuff, but it's also like you could really feel Hans Zimmer did a good job with the score, but you know, like Labrinth would have just tore it up like emotionally. Same thing I think it was in episode 6 or episode 7 when she's like in the church by herself and she calls her mom. Like those would have been those big musical moments that I just kind of miss, you know? So um It was great. It was not great. It was It was okay.

[00:07:30]Um There was also, of course, like Cassie grieving slightly over Nate. I feel like again, Nate got so shanghaied for the season. But then we see Cassie kind of having that little moment of grief at the end. She can't you know, she give barely tears for her husband. She ain't give no tears for for Rue when she died. Like literally everybody in the show is like, "Ah, she dead?

[00:07:53]All right. Like >> like it doesn't even make sense because they've actually stayed connected. Like if we had had this time jump and they were all so disconnected, I could maybe understand a little bit of just like, you know, and if you have people that are addicts or struggle like this, you kind of like grieve for a very long time. So somebody like Lexi, I would understand if she's just so worried all the time. She's kind of just like grieving the whole process while Rue is still alive. I can understand a little bit of that.

[00:08:25]But nobody cared. Nobody cared whatsoever and they were all still close. Rue was still hanging out with them. Rue was staying at Lexi's. Rue was staying at Maddie's. But yeah, like you said, this huge moment that this entire series is leading up to. I mean, I knew it was coming, but obviously it was cemented when Alamo kissed her forehead cuz you know, you see in a lot of like The Godfather or whatever, it's like that's like the death. It's over for her. Um and the way it went down with Ali and everything, I do think is very very fitting cuz that was somebody that she was able to go to that really did understand her situation.

[00:09:04]But the fact that again, why are we not having anything outside of of course the sequence, we're not having anything with her mother's character. Even when Ali goes to call the mom, it's like, "Hey, got bad news."

[00:09:16]And then he leaves the room and it's like muffled phone conversation for the rest of it. It's like, how are we not getting Storm Reid, the actress who plays her mother? It just is so lackluster. We spend so much time on, you know, Kitty's BBL.

[00:09:34]Uh that was actually really funny.

[00:09:35][clears throat] I liked that. But like it serves nothing. We're in the finale now and things just aren't landing and hitting the same way that they should be because it's just lack of care.

[00:09:48]Um and I guess going back to our old conversation, Sam Levinson is a really good example of somebody who was so privileged, nepo baby, never really had to work for anything and now he's kind of telling these stories that I'm sure he can resonate with to a certain extent, but he also will really never understand because, you know, Maddy's struggling outside of Nate and Cassie and Lexi, the rest of them aren't like affluent throughout the entire show. You're actually talking about real struggles that people face and that's something that he never had to ever really experience in his life the same way. So, that's why I don't I think you you lose the grit. He just watched [ __ ] Tarantino and mixed it up with Euphoria and then that was it.

[00:10:32]>> Yeah, it it feels superficial. I mean, I the episodes I saw >> Yeah.

[00:10:36]>> [laughter] >> feel superficial, so I can't imagine how everything else closed up. Yeah, I'll be three going.

[00:10:41]>> I was going to say that this meme I saw on Twitter was funny. Sorry, but the Amish girl had a better reaction to Rue's death than half the main characters in the show.

[00:10:50]I had to show the Amish girl being all sad like, yeah, yeah.

[00:10:54]>> had like one dinner with and it's a beautiful sequence that we could have seen everybody do. We even saw like the parents' funeral very briefly. We didn't even see like Rue's or anything.

[00:11:04]>> All right.

[00:11:05]>> this is the main character of the show.

[00:11:07]This is the narrator and it's we don't see anything with her family. We don't see any of the fallout and it's honestly the same thing with Nate, too.

[00:11:15]>> Yeah.

[00:11:15]>> Not that I think he deserved a lot of it, but it's like they're kind of like, oh, Nate disappeared.

[00:11:21]>> All right. And then they they didn't give him I mean, the whole thing with Nate, too, they didn't give him any sort of agency this season. Like and it's very clear Jacob Elordi had a tight schedule and he's only going to be there for like 4 days or whatever.

[00:11:33]So it's like it was kind of annoying on that level, but you know, it's like I wish they just would have given us like storylines for these characters that actually concluded in like a solid place, you know, like the only one that kind of gets I mean even even Lexi kind of you don't even know where she's at, you know, I don't know.

[00:11:53]I don't know. It's like I don't even know it's like they announced it was a series finale and everybody thought it was a series finale, but then also too it kind of felt like they they didn't have everything fully wrapped up like there's still so much more to see with like Maddie and all that stuff.

[00:12:08]But I will say the last stand out moments, I mean the standout of of course coming to me we're talking about him grieving a singer, but also that shootout sequence y'all.

[00:12:22]Actually that shootout sequence at the end some of the best cinema out there, you know, just in terms of like like fake Western cowboy stuff. And I say that also too I'm a little biased because the homie J Washington pulled up out of y'all saw that part J Washington had a he'd been tweeting about being in Euphoria for for a cool minute, but the homie J Washington had his moment in the sun. We saw him close up and like put your dick on the wall and he did it, you know what I'm saying? And you know, yeah, yeah, I was like yo J >> What you going to do? Like not listen to Colman Domingo? I'm going to listen to Colman Domingo.

[00:12:58]>> Yeah, now with that shot when now with the sawed off shotty, you know what I'm saying?

[00:13:01]>> god, when he was sawing off the shotgun I was like no way they're John Wick-ing like I like it. I'm I'm down for it since everything was set up the way that I did I'm like okay, let's see where this goes like what the hell sure.

[00:13:13]Um and I agree with you.

[00:13:15]The sequence is so cool.

[00:13:20]Does it really I mean I guess we built up to that with the vibe of this season, but still to think about that Rue special episode that came out like in between season 1 and 2 with just her and Ali talking at like Frank's diner in Burbank.

[00:13:35]That to go from that to Ali here and then like abandoning Islam and like going to like the Amish family. I it just is so baffling. It's all so baffling. Andres, even if you didn't watch the rest of it, honestly, I wish you could have watched just this episode to truly understand how infuriating little moments. It's like little brief things. He shows up to the Amish house wearing a hat that says Zion on it. It's like, okay, like let's not be like we're really on the nose here, Sam Levinson. Thank you.

[00:14:08]He abandons Islam because of all of this and then he's like, yeah, at the Amish family's house and they're grieving Rue way better than anybody else in her actual life is. Somebody that met her for 2 seconds. I understand the symbolism of this place, but it's just the way it was done just felt so cheap. I would rather like I needed a little bit more time with her friends and family. Along with this, we could totally could have ended it here.

[00:14:34]Take off the Zion hat and also maybe don't abandon Islam. I don't [ __ ] I don't know.

[00:14:38]>> Yeah, it's weird. I don't know. There's a lot I can talk about just because I'm you know, interested in that the weird Christian nationalism that has been happening these past 20 years and now obviously these past more years when it comes to Zionist Christian nationalism, which is actually a thing. Um yeah, weird to incorporate that in your show. Very strange.

[00:15:01]>> Very strange.

[00:15:02]>> Yeah, I don't know.

[00:15:04]I think this guy I said this last time we talk about Euphoria. Every time we talk about Euphoria.

[00:15:09]I'm curious to see what he does next and if he's still going to fail upwards like he's been doing by stealing from women and then making it his own.

[00:15:19]Yeah, I just curious because I do feel I still think it's telling and I shared that video with you guys for a reason and I it's funny but I think it's telling that he literally grabs Zendaya's arm and says, "Hey, let's go." And her assistant or whatever manager is like, "No, we're leaving."

[00:15:38]Like that to me says a lot and that was at the premiere and I was like, "This is spelling something weird." So >> Yeah, she didn't take pictures with anybody. She was there for 2 seconds.

[00:15:47]And I don't know if she even executive produced this season. Does anybody know?

[00:15:51]Cuz I think she might have not. And like I know she had Of course she connects with Rue in such a specific way. This was like her breakout role outside of like the Disney of it all and her career might be so different if it wasn't for this character. So she has such an appreciation. She embodies her for years. Again, spends 7 years tapping into Rue here and there.

[00:16:13]And then for you to just do it like that. Again, same thing with like the Hunter Schafer of it all. Same thing with Barbie Ferreira not even being on set or in this season at all. Same for Jacob Elordi just phoning it in because he has nothing to work off of. It really is just such a shame overall.

[00:16:30]Um but yeah, I would do the same thing if I was her. Clearly she did want a more even though I think the passing was inevitable based off of her still being back and forth in the lifestyle and never really being like actually fully clean.

[00:16:47]Um I know Zendaya wanted something a little bit better for Rue. She did have high hopes and I think that is also important to see too. I think realistic stories, absolutely. But I think seeing hope like with Ali's story, stuff like that I think is important as well and it just I don't know. It feels icky. The whole thing.

[00:17:09]All of it.

[00:17:10]>> Yeah.

[00:17:10]>> Uh Wiley sent us a superchat as well. He says, "I lost a brother to fent a couple months ago. That most The most impactful thing was Colman's speech at the meeting afterwards.

[00:17:20]Interesting.

[00:17:21]>> So sorry to you.

[00:17:22]>> It's like yeah, no, I'm so sorry Rue.

[00:17:24]Yeah. And that's >> That's definitely tough.

[00:17:25]>> And I'll say that was that was powerful stuff was really at picking up from Ali's journey. Like honestly, if if the whole season had as much depth as it had from you know, her passing onwards. Like that's when the season really got like kicking, but it's like literally the last 40 minutes of the show. You're like, oh, damn. Like I kind of wish the whole season was this emotionally impactful and rocking and meditative. Uh but yeah, that whole commentary on how, you know, fentanyl is a big business. How people, you know, the the customers that not even the customers not even blaming the customers. The industries, the companies, the chemical companies, the the countries that aren't even allowed to be made. Like this it's a big business that people are profiting off of and it's costing human lives and this is sad. I mean, they they they they had that stuff. I mean, they had it there.

[00:18:15]Um they really had it, but it just came a little bit too late.

[00:18:21]Uh you know, uh like you said Sabrina, it is a you want you want better for Rue. At the same time though, I do understand going that tough route and they said in the director's commentary thing that, you know, like Aug- you know, the whole death of August Cloud really kind of impacted the production of it and you could kind of see that all the way through.

[00:18:41]Um and it's it's it's heartbreaking stuff and it was a emotional finale. It wasn't it's funny like really the last like three episodes are really where the season like actually started to get like somewhat decent. If >> and ironically is when they kind of toned back less on Cassie's only fans stuff and more to like the actual emotional drug dealing like consequences of it. Um I think it has some stuff there.

[00:19:08]Um but it it just man, they just they lost the sauce in and and and in so many ways and got too focused on how could we show as much tits and and and gun play every episode, you know?

[00:19:21]>> And I guess that's kind of like my thing is I feel like Sam Levinson didn't pick a through line and then stick with it.

[00:19:28]It's like, okay, we have these meditative moments here and there, most of it literally being with Ali. We have Rue finding religion. We have all of this, but it doesn't really I guess obviously towards the end it especially with Ali's character it did absolutely hit.

[00:19:44]But we have that mixed up with still the hypersexualized OnlyFans kind of rounding it in like the era even referencing COVID and stuff like that.

[00:19:55]And so I guess like it just felt like certain scenes were not in the same show. It'd be like completely disjointed. Like I'd see one thing and I'm like, okay, I get why he did this, but then it's like he just skips over to something else. And yeah.

[00:20:12]I think you know, season 1 really really fantastic.

[00:20:16]Season 2 was fun to watch and it still was a lot better than this one. This one is just honestly horrible. I it is such a balance between yes, these are realistic things and you know, Euphoria has never shied away from difficult topics. It literally starts off the first season even especially with Jules' character, those are such heavy difficult scenes that that character is put into. Um but it does reach a point of just being I think with Maddie and Al Mo's relationship, I think we could have completely skipped that. Um I don't think we had to show Al Mo or like we didn't see it, but we showed the leading up to it. Like sleeping with Maddie. And then continuing to want to sleep with her again until what happens to him happens to him. It's just It's very, very odd.

[00:21:10]It's just constant exploitation of women throughout the entire show, and none of it really serves a clear purpose. I'm okay with touching on difficult topics if you have something to say, but I don't really think in that sense that he has something to say.

[00:21:26]>> Yeah. Yeah, I think he ran out halfway through or something. It was very weird for sure.

[00:21:31]>> Oddly.

[00:21:31]>> Um I want to move on to something I Oh, yeah, go ahead.

[00:21:35]>> I just want to say you're absolutely correct. I would All the black people though killed it.

[00:21:39]Zendaya deserves an Emmy for this season. You know, again, I know she won it for season 1. She deserves an Emmy.

[00:21:46]Colman Domingo deserves an Emmy.

[00:21:48]Um the guy who played Ali Muhammad Brown, I give I forget his name off the top of my head. He was actually phenomenal, and he's British. Like, what the heck? Um >> Did you see the So, you saw the Drew Ski skit, I'm assuming?

[00:21:58]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:21:59]>> Yeah. Where it's like And then he had like, "Oh, I had to tap into the role."

[00:22:03]And then the same thing happened with this one. It was perfect timing like right when that one dropped, and they showed a behind the scenes with the guy who plays Ali Muhammad, and it's like, "You come into my house. You talk to my [ __ ] and you don't even say hi." And then it cuts to the actor, and he's like, "It is the quintessential Ali Muhammad Brown line."

[00:22:22]>> [laughter] >> And I was like, "Bro, you cannot say quintessential right now after that."

[00:22:25]>> No No way.

[00:22:27]>> So, he's phenomenal. He is absolutely phenomenal.

[00:22:30]>> Naya is great. And even He was great.

[00:22:32]And even the silent homie who ended up uh low-key helping at the end, too.

[00:22:36]>> Bishop.

[00:22:37]>> Bishop. Bishop. Bishop came in clutch.

[00:22:39]So, he was fire. And then again, one more time, showing love for for the goat, Jay Washington, for his for his for his for his appearance. Time stands finest. Quarter Life Crisis finest.

[00:22:51]>> Did us.

[00:22:51]>> Um you know what I'm saying? Multiple.

[00:22:53]And he He worked with great directors like Cade Hughesby, Robert Butler the Third, and Sam Levinson. You know what I'm saying?

[00:23:00]And Spike Lee. He was in a Spike Lee movie.

[00:23:02]>> This one is not like the others.

[00:23:03]>> [laughter] >> Well, yeah, yeah, yeah. He was also in Spiegle Chi-Raq as well, so uh so we good.