Euphoria season three, episode eight, In God We Trust, spoilers ahead.
After seven years, three seasons and countless twists, Euphoria has come to an end with a ‘devastating’ finale, leaving fans shattered.
After years of wondering whether Sam Levinson’s popular – if not controversial – HBO series would return for a third season, against all the odds, it finally started airing earlier this year.
The cast – many of whom are now high-profile Hollywood stars – all returned, including Oscar nominee Jacob Elordi (Nate), Emmy winner Zendaya (Rue), Sydney Sweeney (Cassie), Alexa Demie (Maddy) and Hunter Schafer (Jules).
Set post-high school, in the new season, Rue’s past addiction caught up to her, thrusting her into the life-and-death drug cartel world; Nate and Cassie are trapped in a miserable marriage; Jules is attending art school, and Maddy is trying to make it in LA.
Up until this point, the show has already made quite a splash.
It’s been blasted for Cassie’s character arc as an OnlyFans creator filled with a surplus of explicit scenes and not including Labrinth in the soundtrack. Elsewhere, it shocked viewers after Nate was buried alive and ultimately killed by the bite of a venomous rattlesnake.
Now, it’s done it again with the climax of the entire season, revealing that Rue had died from an accidental overdose.
More specifically, crime boss Alamo (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), who has been terrorising every episode, gives her spiked fentanyl under the guise of a painkiller.
After watching a dream sequence, we flash back to reality, where she’s lying dead on the sofa.
It’s a tragic ending for one of the most tragic characters on TV, and in her final moments, we see her reunite with her mother and Fezco (Angus Cloud), hug her dad and see her high school sweetheart Jules, all in a poignant imaginary sequence.
Meanwhile, her longtime friend and mentor Ali (Colman Domingo) is left behind to grieve her death and take vengeance, so he grabs his gun and kills Alamo in a showdown.
Needless to say, after three seasons of rooting for Rue to get sober and reclaim power over her life, this is not the happy ending viewers were waiting for (even if some predicted it).
‘My heart is shattered into pieces…’ Moxito wrote on X.
‘Zendaya what an actor you are!!!! She managed to completely convey life leaving her body and peace of being in her father’s arms again. Come get all the awards baby girl!!!’ Bellamy Keppner shared.
‘We watched Rue suffer nonstop, have very little good happen to her, only to pass away in the end is the definition of anticlimactic and stupid writing!
‘She should have gotten a good ending, and this is a horrible end to the show!’ Mr_Tashiduncan complained.
‘Didn’t want this ending for Rue at all. She deserved so so much better. I genuinely cannot stop crying, this isn’t fair,’ Diya echoed.
‘Rue Bennet’s dying scene has me sobbing,’ Blair declared.
‘Rue being dead from the overdose the entire time and this scene with her mom turning out to be one last imagined goodbye before she passed away… yeah, this ending absolutely broke me,’ celebsnapz said.
‘So Rue was already dead from the overdose this whole time? And her reuniting with her mom was just her imagining one final goodbye before dying??? nah this ending completely shattered me,’ sammeyo mourned.
‘Just watched the Euphoria S3 finale “In God We Trust” and I’m speechless… Sam Levinson went full dark. Series finale vibes? Gutted but it felt earned. What a ride. Who else is processing this?’ simzo04 posted.
Ana agreed: ‘I’m sorry, but Rue was never making it out of this story alive. If you expected a happy ending, I don’t think we were watching the same show.’
Rue’s death comes just a week after Nate’s brutal death, a choice creator Sam defended – and his words feel eerily foreshadowing.
‘There’s this kind of funny thing where I know what the audience wants in terms of justice or karma and with that in mind, I always think: “Well, how can I give it to them?”
‘How can I give them what they want, but make it so horrific and anxiety-inducing that by the time it happens, the audience isn’t so sure they wanted it?’ he said.
Euphoria is available to stream on NOW, HBO Max and Sky.
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