“Euphoria” is an HBO Max series released in June 2019, loosely based off of an Israeli show also called Euphoria. In a perfect world, this show is supposed to represent growing up and coming to terms with reality, but in the way that the characters dress while attending high school and even carrying purses instead of backpacks shows where the “relatability” of the show may slip through the cracks.
There are two key components that truly make Euphoria the sensation it started out as, the dreamy, purple and blue cinematography, along with the Labrinth soundtrack.
The style and coloring of the first two seasons of Euphoria was inspired by the photographer Petra Collins, who was originally brought onto the show to help her artistic ideas to life, but was ultimately “let go” to production saying that Collins was too young to help considering the show’s TV-MA rating. Despite not allowing creative direction from the photographer herself, production still continued to use Collins’ creative ideas to inspire the whole aesthetic of the show.
Labrinth was a huge part of Euphoria as a whole and not including his music was another flop of season three. Labrinth posted on his social media prior to the third season’s release, saying he wanted nothing to do with the industry. While there is speculation, no further comments have been made regarding the decision to continue without him.
Jaden Dennis, a creative writing and poetry graduate student, commented about the show’s aesthetic.
“The biggest thing [my friend and I] talked a lot about during [the time of the first season] was the aesthetic of the show,” Dennis said. “[Another thing we talked about was] online culture surrounding the show in regards to how unrealistic it was regarding high school life.”
How not one single Euphoria character was dress coded throughout the entire show may have been the biggest shocker. I mostly remember wearing pajama pants and baggy hoodies to class, but the expectation that young teenage girls were wearing micro skirts, low-cut bralettes, cut out leggings and carrying purses exposed that the direction may have been misguided to the reality of what high schoolers truly dress like.
Although the dress code may not have been very accurate, Leslie Fuentes, first-year speech language and hearing sciences major found that some of the party scenes in the show were more relatable.
“[The show] was very on brand for my high school experience,” Fuentes said. “I went to a public school here in Indianapolis and there were people doing all types of stuff in the bathrooms and at parties.”
While the disappearance of Collins’ purple and blue cinematography in the third season may turn some away, first-year journalism major Desiree Stubbs believed that the absence may actually depict the character’s development as well as both mental and physical growth.
“I feel like that whole glittery vibe is what you think about when you hear Euphoria or talk about the show,” Stubbs said. “I kind of feel like [taking it away is] fitting, especially because they’re not in high school anymore so I feel like it kind of fits your young adult years, and not being a young kid anymore.”
With the first episode of season three released last Sunday, there are many good and bad aspects about the start of the season. On the good side, Zendaya’s acting without fail makes her character, Rue Bennett, somehow loveable all things considered. However, the decision to make 90% of the cast exploited was not something on my 2026 bingo card.
Cassie Howard, played by Sydney Sweeney, runs an OnlyFans to fund her lavish wedding with Nate Jacobs, played by Jacob Elordi. Maddy Perez, played by Alexa Demie, says that Jules Vaughn, played by Hunter Schafer, becomes a ‘sugar baby’ — and even Rue herself gets a new job with a strip club. The decision made by the male producer, Sam Levinson, comes off as a little ridiculous and uncalled for to make all the female characters involved in X-rated activities.
It only made sense in the end that it took production so long to come out with the newest season considering the devastating deaths of two actors in the show, Angus Cloud and Eric Dane, who played Fezco O’Neill and Cal Jacobs, respectively.
While I will personally still be tuning in this season, so far the newest season feels like an entirely different vibe and plot, and disconnected from the first two seasons.