Spoilers Ahead!
After a rollercoaster eight weeks, HBO’s student drama Euphoria aired its season finale on Sunday 27th February. The show that dominated Twitter homepages and TikTok ‘For You Pages’ across the world doubled its viewership in the US alone when compared to season one. But what actually happened in Sam Levinson’s record-breaking finale? Well, apart from Elliot (Dominic Fike)’s song that had him trending on Twitter for days.
This episode picked up right where it left off, with Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) eerily watching sister Lexi’s play that has shown Cassie’s family, friendships and relationship trauma fictionalised along with past events at East Highland High School. Cassie forces her way into the play, and after being confronted by Lexi, her mother and Maddy, a physical fight breaks out across the school corridors between Cassie and her once best friend. My sympathies didn’t go to Cassie or Maddy, but to Lexi. After staging what has to be the biggest budget school play ever staged, the only thing people will remember in ten years is the riot that it led to.
We finally get an update on Cal Jacobs, living out of his office, and partying with people closer to his children’s ages than his own. Nate arrives to visit his father but brings the police. The last we see of Cal is him being led away in handcuffs, however, actor Eric Dane has confirmed he will be back for season three.
Euphoria fans have been waiting for Fez and Lexi to have their time to shine since the first episode of season two which saw them hitting it off on New Year’s Eve. At the start of this episode we see Fezco getting ready to sit front and centre for Lexi’s play; roses in hand deciding whether to wear his good tie or not. We knew from last week’s episode that Fez never makes it – but the season finale is not what we expected.
After killing Custer, Faye’s boyfriend, Fezco’s younger cousin Ashtray grabs a gun and hides from the impending SWAT team about to enter their house. Fez gets caught in the crossfire attempting to save Ash, but after shooting a police officer, we see the red laser burned onto Ashtray’s head before he’s shot dead. We know this was not in the original script, with actor Javon Walton revealing Fez was the character supposed to die in the season finale before director Sam Levinson changed the plot just a day before filming.
Rue looks good in the season finale. She’s clean, playing the part of a supportive friend to Lexi, as she watches the effect her addiction had on those around her through the play. The final minutes of the episode see her reconciling with Jules after the emotional turmoil they’ve been through this season. It’s a satisfying end to the season, but plot holes cannot be ignored. Does everyone else remember that Rue had thousands of dollars worth of drugs that got flushed down the toilet? Or does anyone know what happened to Kat – who was a lead character in season one?
If you’re like me, you loved season one, you were sceptical but still enjoyed season two, however in another two years, I’m not sure whether thirty-year-old actors will be able to pull off High School Seniors in Season Three.