[category]
[title]
HBO's Euphoria has always gone for shock value—but some fans are saying it's too much this season.
Season 3 premiered on Sunday and really stuck the landing for jaw-dropping moments, including Rue's job as a drug mule and Cassie's new OnlyFans foray.
Be warned, the rest of this article contains spoilers.
RECOMMENDED: Here's everything to know about season 3 of 'Euphoria' returning April 12
The students of East Highland High School—Rue, Cassie, Nate, Jules, Maddie and Lexi—are grown up in season 3. After a five-year time jump, the characters are navigating life after graduating college. Rue is south of the border in Mexico and in debt to a drug dealer while Cassie and Nate get married and live in the suburbs. Jules is in art school and Maddie is working for a Hollywood talent agency. Lexi is an assistant to a big time soap opera showrunner.
Fans and critics are already scratching their heads after watching the shocking incidents of episode in which Rue (Zendaya) swallows and ejects "balloons" of fentanyl and asks for work inside a prostitution ring. Cassie (Sydney Sweeney), whose first scene has her dressed in a dog costume for a kink scene she's filming, convinces Nate (Jacob Elordi) to "let her" create OnlyFans content to afford $50,000 flowers for the wedding of her dreams. Jules has apparently become a sugar baby in New York, too.
A newly released trailer for the remainder of the season also shows Cassie dressed as a baby with pigtails, a diaper and a pacifier for one of her videos. "I just feel like if more people knew me, I would be huge," Cassie says in the teaser.
With a 50% on the Popcornometer on Rotten Tomatoes, the overall feeling is that the first episode, characters and plot lines feel hollow and weird. And many fans, who are used to the kind of shocking and often depraved behavior in Euphoria, say showrunner Sam Levinson is going too far, while others defend the show, saying it's the name of the game for Euphoria.
"This is so embarassing even for jacob. But, how Sydney sweeney can agree to do something like this?💀 It's like a humillation ritual," one person wrote on x.
This is so embarassing even for jacob. But, how Sydney sweeney can agree to do something like this?💀 It's like a humillation ritual #euphoria #euphoriaseason3 pic.twitter.com/uMqBFSQWhd
— Notearsleftdave☔ (@Davebarrerita) April 13, 2026
"They got my girl zendaya swallowing balls of drugs with lube and then shitting them into a strainer that is then used to strain pasta for her and others to eat… there’s something seriously wrong with you sam levinson"
they got my girl zendaya swallowing balls of drugs with lube and then shitting them into a strainer that is then used to strain pasta for her and others to eat… there’s something seriously wrong with you sam levinson #Euphoria pic.twitter.com/6H5hxCI9Db
— alex ✵ (@portersluvv) April 13, 2026
I don’t have a problem with it. I know what kind of show euphoria is. We can still point out how disgusting it is.
— ً (@mIvnqt) April 15, 2026
rue and faye are drug mules, cassie is a right winged onlyfans creator, nate owns a cyber truck and failing at his dads business, maddy not getting paid what she deserves, fez in jail, jules is a sugar baby… and we still got 7 weeks to go #euphoria pic.twitter.com/7KKu6fJ3VI
— ele 𝜗𝜚 the boys s5 (@kittijmn) April 13, 2026
View this post on Instagram
On Reddit, one fan said "Cassie becoming mature is way too advanced for the writers brain. Making her even more provocative is so male brain but predictable. Like we have seen Sydney’s boobs for gods sake, just give it a rest. I’m bored for Sydney."
Another added that they found it weird Cassie would do OnlyFans despite being married. "Like surely if she's going the 'traditional' path she would want to focus on kids, pilates, the house etc? Doing sex work would suit someone who is single and craving male attention otherwise it makes zero sense. She's got Nate's attention, what more does she want and why? Just looks like a Sam Levinson sex fantasy to me where every character has got to be involved in sex work somehow."
On another thread, people were talking about how embarrassing the puppy play scene was and grossed out they were over the balloon situation.
"This was pretty bad, but the whole fentanyl balloon scene almost made me tap out of the entire episode," one person wrote.
Critics bashed the episode across the board:
The New York Post said it's an "unhinged disaster" while Glamour questions who the show is even for anymore. "In a 2026 context, its boundary-pushing sex scenes feel more gross than provocative," Stephanie McNeal wrote.
The Guardian gave it two stars, saying the drama has become "a grubby, humourless work of torture porn that's obsessed with and repulsed by sex work."
Another two-star review, The Telegraph said the show "increasingly feels like the misogynistic fantasies of a creepy old man."
"Essentially, Levinson has trapped all of his female leads in the performance, or exploitation, of sex work, and the camera peers and leers at them with every shot," she wrote.
Regardless of the criticism, Euphoria is getting people to talk. Horrified reactions are reactions nonetheless. Plus, the show is no. 1 for daily online audience engagement, according to televisionstats.com. Clearly, shocking audience members is working for it.