Euphoria, The Boys & The Final Season Curse

[00:00] Okay, let's talk. So, it looks like 2026

[00:03] is the year of major TV shows in current

[00:05] pop culture coming to an end. Stranger

[00:08] Things ended right when the year

[00:09] started. The Boys ended a few weeks ago,

[00:12] quickly followed by Euphoria. Some of

[00:14] the most popular and watched shows of

[00:16] our time. The Bear is also going to be

[00:18] ending a few weeks from now. I don't

[00:21] know if that's good news yet. Making a

[00:22] final season of a show is like the most

[00:25] difficult thing to do in television.

[00:27] probably right after making a good

[00:29] pilot. Because when millions and

[00:31] millions and millions of people watch

[00:32] your show, you can never satisfy

[00:35] everyone. And that's why a lot of people

[00:37] believe it's impossible to make a good

[00:39] series finale. And with the recent

[00:41] history of big shows ending, it's easy

[00:43] to think that. But of course, it's easy

[00:45] to remember the bad ones. I recently

[00:47] made a video about the series finales I

[00:49] personally despise the most. and I made

[00:51] a very short, very little, 5hour video

[00:54] explaining why the ending of Stranger

[00:56] Things is, in my opinion, one of the

[00:58] worst of all time. But there are also

[01:01] some excellent series finales that are

[01:03] just amazing and close everything out in

[01:06] a way that is memorable both for the

[01:08] story and the characters. It's really

[01:11] hard to do, but it is possible. Flea Bag

[01:14] has one of the best finales I've seen in

[01:16] recent years. Cowboy Bbop is one of the

[01:19] greatest endings in the history of

[01:20] television. We recently had the ending

[01:22] of Succession, which was brilliant.

[01:24] Seriously, if you haven't seen

[01:25] Succession, fix that. The Leftovers has

[01:28] a great finale. The finale of 6 Feet

[01:31] Under is largely considered to be

[01:33] perfect. Pantheon has what I would

[01:35] probably consider to be a top five

[01:37] greatest TV endings of all time. There

[01:40] are many of them, but The Curse of Final

[01:43] Seasons is something that is very hard

[01:45] to escape for most writers. And we can

[01:47] see that in the two recent juggernauts

[01:49] that came to an end. Let's talk about

[01:51] them. Starting with the boys.

[01:56] I'm in my

[01:59] still without

[02:02] cowboy

[02:05] 6 years again.

[02:11] Got nothing to prove.

[02:15] So yeah, The Boys is now over after 7

[02:18] years on the air. And I have thought

[02:21] this is the ending to one of the most

[02:23] praised pieces of superhero media in the

[02:25] last like decade, if not more, featuring

[02:28] what is largely accepted as being one of

[02:30] the greatest villains in the history of

[02:32] the genre and an absurd amount of

[02:34] quotable lines from Carl Urban. Oh,

[02:40] ending the show was always going to be

[02:42] quite the task and there was a lot of

[02:44] expectations riding on this final

[02:45] season. And ever since it ended, there's

[02:48] been a lot of debate on whether or not

[02:50] the series stuck the landing. And I kind

[02:52] of understand the divide with the

[02:53] audience because the answer to that

[02:55] question lies less in the finale and

[02:57] more with the whole season altogether.

[03:00] And that's where the conversation

[03:01] becomes interesting. Okay, I've never

[03:03] made a video about the show before, so

[03:04] quick round up. So everybody knows where

[03:06] I stand with The Boys. Season 1. This is

[03:09] a [ __ ] spectacular season of

[03:11] television. I love season one of The

[03:13] Boys so incredibly much. The way the

[03:15] season has of introducing us to its

[03:17] world, first through the eyes of the

[03:18] general public who believe superheroes

[03:20] are amazing saviors and then through the

[03:22] lens of someone who gets to see

[03:24] firsthand what is hiding behind the

[03:26] hopeful facade. It's just brilliant. The

[03:29] writing is so tight. The characters are

[03:31] super intriguing. The reveal of

[03:33] Homelander at the end of episode 1

[03:35] immediately puts him in legendary

[03:37] status. The social commentary, the

[03:39] satire of corporate shenanigans taking

[03:41] over aspects of our lives, capitalism

[03:44] and superhero media, all of it is just

[03:47] pitch perfect. 9 out of 10. Instantly

[03:50] iconic. Season two, a really solid

[03:52] follow-up that doesn't quite get to the

[03:54] heights of the first season, but that is

[03:55] still amazing on almost every level.

[03:58] Stormfront is an incredibly strong

[04:00] antagonist. The subject matter of the

[04:02] season is really well- handled. The

[04:03] character arcs are absolutely insane,

[04:07] especially when it comes to Homelander.

[04:09] The Victoria Newman twist was

[04:11] diabolical. 8 out of 10. Couldn't wait

[04:13] to see more. Season 3. This, in my

[04:16] opinion, comes very close to being the

[04:19] best season of the show with season 1

[04:21] right above it, just by a hair. Season 3

[04:24] is so much fun. It is such an

[04:27] entertaining season of television. The

[04:29] addition of Soulja Boy, the Tempth V.

[04:31] Butcher with laser eyes, heroasm.

[04:34] Butcher and Soldier Boy in a 2v1 against

[04:37] Homelander. The Black Noir storyline.

[04:39] Queen Mave's character arc. Bro, this

[04:42] season goes so [ __ ] hard. So [ __ ]

[04:46] hard. It is not as thematically strong

[04:48] as season 1, but it is some of the most

[04:50] fun television we got to have in recent

[04:52] years. 8.5 out of 10. I didn't think

[04:54] this show could ever let me down.

[04:57] Season 4 let me down. Despite some minor

[04:59] issues with the show beforehand, The

[05:01] Boys had this kind of consistent quality

[05:03] of writing that made it magnetic and

[05:05] incredibly exciting. The first three

[05:07] seasons were kind of an astonishing

[05:09] streak of being absurdly entertaining

[05:11] while having a level of depth that had a

[05:14] surprising amount to say, and this is

[05:16] where that streak ends. Season 4 was the

[05:19] first time I felt bored watching The

[05:21] Boys. The season isn't atrocious. It's

[05:24] not like unwatchable garbage, but

[05:26] there's a significant and very

[05:28] noticeable decline in the show that is

[05:30] very telling. It's the point where the

[05:32] show starts to feel tired. The logic

[05:34] behind a continuation of this story is

[05:36] being stretched, and this is the season

[05:38] that really feels like, yeah, it's

[05:41] probably time to wrap it up. There are

[05:42] some characters we clearly don't know

[05:44] what to do with. Some of the magic just

[05:46] isn't operating anymore, and the story

[05:48] has gotten ridiculous to a point that

[05:51] isn't really entertaining. There are

[05:53] some moments to enjoy and the

[05:55] performances are still amazing. It was

[05:57] always one of the biggest strengths of

[05:58] the show. But overall, season 4 is a bit

[06:01] of a jumbled mess with too many

[06:02] characters that aren't as well written

[06:04] as they used to be, weird narrative

[06:06] decisions that rely too much on shock

[06:08] value to function, and a story that is

[06:10] starting to wear thin. Five out of 10.

[06:13] Get your head in a game. And that leads

[06:15] us to season five, the final season of

[06:20] The Boys, the big conclusion to 7 years

[06:24] of TV.

[06:27] It's not very good, is it? Listen, as a

[06:30] big fan of this series, despite season 4

[06:32] being a bit of a letdown, I came into

[06:34] season 5 hoping for the best. I really

[06:36] wanted to trust that season 4 was the

[06:38] show's bad day at the office, and that

[06:40] season 5 would close things in a grand

[06:42] and epic way. I tend to trust Eric

[06:44] Krypkkey. He's really passionate about

[06:46] the stories he tells. He cares deeply

[06:48] about characters and he has a great

[06:50] sense of spectacle to give you big epic

[06:53] moments when the story calls for it. But

[06:55] surprisingly, as far as epicness goes,

[06:58] season 5 feels really cheap. It's kind

[07:01] of the least epic and smallest scale

[07:04] season of the show, which I find very

[07:06] jarring because season 4 ramped things

[07:08] up in a way that really signaled season

[07:10] 5 wouldn't be able to possibly get any

[07:14] bigger. And the reason why I find this

[07:16] bizarre is because of the sheer scale of

[07:18] the marketing campaign. The posters

[07:20] alone promised something so epic and

[07:23] massive, it built crazy momentum.

[07:25] Homelander in space, looking over Earth,

[07:28] being ravaged with nuclear explosions.

[07:31] Billy Butcher walking in front of the

[07:33] fallen VA tower. Even the poster for the

[07:36] finale has Butcher walking up to the

[07:38] White House with Homelander hovering

[07:40] over it and an army of soups behind him,

[07:43] emulating the big White House finale of

[07:45] the comics. Like this marketing campaign

[07:47] was promoting the fulfillment of the

[07:49] show's promise, the promise of ending by

[07:52] going scorched earth. But instead, in

[07:54] its big final run, the show has never

[07:57] felt this small. It feels like 80% of

[08:00] the season is taking place on the same

[08:01] like four sets. There's this thing where

[08:04] you can just tell the season is

[08:05] operating on a very tight budget, which

[08:07] Eric Krypkkey has been very open about.

[08:09] And while the show has never felt this

[08:11] small, the bigger problem is that

[08:12] writing wise, the stakes have never felt

[08:15] so muted. The stakes don't feel as

[08:17] tangible as they did in previous

[08:19] seasons, which sucks because season 5

[08:21] does try to establish a certain sense of

[08:23] urgency. But for a number of reasons, it

[08:26] just doesn't really land. And I'm only

[08:28] speaking for myself here. But I think

[08:30] the reason why is that season 4 sets up

[08:32] a lot of things that season 5 turns out

[08:35] to not be interested in at all. And most

[08:37] of that starts with the characters. I

[08:40] think one of the biggest pieces of

[08:41] criticism that can be attributed to The

[08:43] Boys in its last two seasons, and my

[08:45] personal biggest gripe with it, is that

[08:46] the show is not really sure what to do

[08:49] with most of its characters, and in many

[08:51] parts, it ends up choosing to do

[08:54] nothing. So many characters this season

[08:56] that used to be integral to the DNA of

[08:59] the show are just kind of there. They're

[09:02] not really doing much, and even though

[09:03] this is the final season, it doesn't

[09:05] seem like the story intends to end for

[09:08] them. And even when the plot is

[09:09] interested in them, so many choices here

[09:12] are either weird or very obviously a

[09:14] result of the show needing to downscale

[09:16] things. The weirdest example is Billy

[09:18] Butcher. Season 4 ends by turning him

[09:20] into what looks like the final boss. He

[09:23] rips Victoria Newman in half like he's

[09:26] speedrunning a Mortal Kombat fatality. I

[09:28] would like to remind you that earlier in

[09:31] that same season, we watched Victoria

[09:33] Newman take a bullet to the head and

[09:36] walk it off with a smile. She is

[09:39] basically invincible. She's not an easy

[09:41] person to kill. Butcher ends her while

[09:44] knocking out half of the room and his

[09:46] demeanor has completely changed. He

[09:48] walks away looking like a [ __ ]

[09:50] terminator. The message there is very

[09:53] clear. Butcher has become something

[09:55] different, something terrifying. He

[09:58] makes it very clear that if any of the

[09:59] boys stand in his way, he will kill

[10:01] them. There's no care anymore. He's just

[10:04] this sort of killing machine on a

[10:06] mission to end Homelander. And then

[10:08] season 5 immediately walks all of that

[10:11] back. First of all, it largely strips

[10:13] him of his power. Now, you're lucky if

[10:15] his tentacles can even grab someone

[10:17] accurately. He barely even uses his

[10:19] powers throughout the season. And on the

[10:20] sporadic occasion where he does, they're

[10:23] not that useful. and personalitywise,

[10:26] not the Terminator anymore. He's

[10:28] basically just regular Butcher again.

[10:30] It's one of several moments in the

[10:31] season where the show feels like it

[10:33] forgot what it was setting up like 5

[10:35] minutes earlier. Huy is a character that

[10:37] has been a little directionless for the

[10:38] past couple of seasons. He's one of the

[10:40] ones that are just kind of there and

[10:42] he's not nearly as important to the

[10:44] story as he used to be. With his dad

[10:46] dead and his good boy persona being kind

[10:48] of gone, the only thing about him that

[10:50] could be interesting is his relationship

[10:52] with Annie, which I find to have grown

[10:55] surprisingly stale over the years. These

[10:57] two still being together has not made

[10:59] sense to me in a very long time. Annie

[11:02] herself is a character that hasn't made

[11:04] sense to me in a very long time. She's

[11:06] taken a very passive role in the show

[11:08] this season, and after the events of the

[11:10] first three seasons, I really thought we

[11:12] were gearing up for her facing

[11:13] Homelander again after leaving Vault.

[11:16] But no, Annie and Homelander do not

[11:18] speak to each other for all of season 4

[11:21] and all of season 5. It feels like a

[11:23] very incomplete thread. It feels

[11:26] unfinished, and Annie is now just a

[11:28] passive part of the team that sometimes

[11:30] will fight people and punch them

[11:32] repeatedly. Season 4 had also set her up

[11:34] as having unlocked crazy power, but it

[11:36] never plays a part in season 5. Mm is

[11:39] just kind of there as he has been since

[11:41] season 3. And Frenchie is also just kind

[11:44] of there as he has been since season 3.

[11:47] And there are too many characters whose

[11:48] presence just feels tired to me. The

[11:50] more I think about it, the more I don't

[11:52] think I will ever understand what the

[11:54] point of this new black noir was. He

[11:57] made absolutely no sense to me. Sure, he

[12:00] was there to give the public the

[12:01] impression that the seven are still

[12:02] united, yada yada yada, but in terms of

[12:05] the narrative, what was that? There are

[12:08] so many things that felt like a setup

[12:10] with him, but that never leads to

[12:12] anything. We're told that he has to mute

[12:14] a lot of his powers to embody Black Noir

[12:16] because he doesn't have the same powers

[12:18] as him. We're explicitly shown this guy

[12:21] can fly, and it's implied he has powers

[12:23] more similar to Homelanders, but then

[12:25] that never plays a part in anything. He

[12:28] just has a petty argument filler arc

[12:30] with the deep and then he's strangled to

[12:32] death and he never had anything to do

[12:34] with anything that was going on. Boring.

[12:37] >> This season also makes some choices

[12:39] narratively that I found a little

[12:41] convenient. In order for things to

[12:43] function, the show really asks you to

[12:45] push and stretch your suspension of

[12:46] disbelief. I kind of rolled my eyes at

[12:48] the screen when we were told the boys

[12:50] recreated Soldier Boy's blasting power

[12:53] in Kimiko in like a dayish. That to me

[12:56] is just kind of treating the audience

[12:58] like idiots. If it was that easy to do

[13:00] it, why was this not plan A? And the

[13:03] part that really made me sad to realize

[13:05] as the season went on is that I just

[13:07] kind of stopped giving a [ __ ] I could

[13:09] feel my investment in the show

[13:11] dissipating every week. I was bored with

[13:14] the story. I didn't feel any stakes.

[13:16] There was too much filler and I no

[13:17] longer trusted the show to stick the

[13:19] landing. I did not care about the V1. I

[13:22] did not care about the religious

[13:23] psychosis. I did not care when Frenchie

[13:25] died. I did not care when firecracker

[13:27] died. Her death scene was very well

[13:29] executed, but I just didn't care about

[13:31] her character very much. A lot of people

[13:33] are like painting her as this martyr now

[13:36] because the episode where she died tries

[13:38] really hard to make you sympathize with

[13:40] her. But um yeah, in case you forgot,

[13:44] Firecracker was a white supremacist who

[13:46] regularly hooked up with underage boys.

[13:49] She is not a good person. She is not a

[13:52] victim and she is definitely not a

[13:54] martyr. She was taken out by the system

[13:57] she fought for. Ironically, I think the

[13:59] absolute peak in character writing this

[14:01] season was with a train who is only in

[14:04] the season for about 10 minutes of the

[14:06] first episode. I genuinely believe the

[14:09] strongest scene in season 5 is the final

[14:11] scene of episode 1 when Homelander

[14:14] chases a train through the woods and

[14:16] ultimately kills him. A train making a

[14:18] split-second decision to not repeat what

[14:21] he did to Huie's girlfriend Robin in

[14:23] episode 1, which is essentially what

[14:25] sent him to his death is his story arc

[14:27] coming full circle. And then he finally

[14:29] has the courage to stand up to

[14:31] Homelander and realizes he doesn't

[14:33] understand why he was so afraid of him

[14:35] because he can finally see Homelander

[14:38] for what he really is. An insecure,

[14:40] pathetic manchild with nothing. Take

[14:44] away these powers and what are you? Huh?

[14:47] pathetic,

[14:49] weak, sniveling [ __ ] loser.

[14:54] That was just a great moment when

[14:56] Homelander just chokes him out of anger,

[14:58] but a train just keeps laughing at him

[15:01] until he dies. So good. And I really

[15:04] believe this was the show setting the

[15:05] tone. But no, the season unfortunately

[15:08] doesn't keep that energy. I guess the

[15:10] writers really needed to dig deeper for

[15:11] it to be sustainable all season. I know

[15:13] I like digging deeper. I could have

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[16:52] Season 5 is mainly about the boys and

[16:55] Homelander discovering there is a secret

[16:57] old formula of Compound V called V1 that

[17:00] can essentially make someone immortal.

[17:03] And everybody wants to get to it first.

[17:05] And that's that's about it. That's kind

[17:08] of the plot of the entire season. For a

[17:10] final season that is throwing a lot of

[17:12] [ __ ] at you, it's also pretty uneventful

[17:15] and the characters aren't interesting

[17:17] enough to carry a season that is

[17:19] severely lacking in story. I don't think

[17:21] it's unreasonable to say Anthony Star

[17:23] has been carrying the boys on his back

[17:25] since season 3. Homelander is one of

[17:27] those rare villains that feels genuinely

[17:30] iconic. And a huge part of that comes

[17:33] down to Star's performance. What always

[17:35] made Homelander so compelling though

[17:37] wasn't just that he was powerful and had

[17:39] anger issues. It was how weirdly

[17:41] specific his psychology was. He had this

[17:44] unspoken rule where he often spared

[17:46] people who weren't afraid of him because

[17:48] fear was the thing he craved most out of

[17:51] people he couldn't get respect from. He

[17:53] wasn't motivated by money, ideology, or

[17:55] even world domination in a literal

[17:57] sense. What he wanted was validation. He

[18:01] wanted love, admiration, worship. He

[18:04] wanted to be seen as a god while

[18:06] simultaneously being desperate for

[18:08] someone to hug him and tell him he's

[18:10] special. That's what made him

[18:12] fascinating. He was the most powerful

[18:14] man on earth and also the most

[18:17] emotionally fragile. Every room he

[18:20] walked into felt like it could either

[18:22] end with a handshake or a massacre

[18:24] depending on whether somebody bruises

[18:26] ego or not. In the first three seasons,

[18:29] every time there was a scene with

[18:30] Homelander, I felt physically anxious

[18:33] because you never knew when he was going

[18:35] to snap. The problem is that starting

[18:37] around season 4, the writing begins

[18:39] stripping away a lot of those layers.

[18:41] Homelander becomes less of an

[18:43] unpredictable narcissist and more of a

[18:46] generic crazy guy. Earlier seasons

[18:48] treated him like a ticking time bomb

[18:50] whose actions were driven by a bizarre

[18:53] combination of insecurity, loneliness,

[18:55] narcissism, and a desperate, desperate

[18:58] need for approval. You never quite knew

[19:01] what he was going to do, but you always

[19:03] understood why he did it. And he was

[19:06] smart. I think the show ended up

[19:07] forgetting over time that he had the

[19:09] ability to pull some really good moves

[19:11] that didn't necessarily involve him just

[19:13] snapping necks. In season 1, he

[19:15] single-handedly orchestrated a terrorist

[19:18] attack from a foreigner country by

[19:20] giving Compound V to maniacs so VA could

[19:23] justify integrating soups into the

[19:26] military. He was making moves back then.

[19:29] It wasn't just about him being crazy.

[19:32] But by the end of the show, that

[19:33] complexity starts to wear thin, and

[19:35] Homelander often feels reduced to angry

[19:38] man with laser eyes. Anthony Star is

[19:40] still giving an absolutely phenomenal

[19:42] performance, but it increasingly feels

[19:44] like the script relies on his

[19:46] performance to make the character work.

[19:48] And it's a shame because the writing

[19:50] behind him used to be incredible. And of

[19:53] course, you can't really talk about

[19:54] season 5 without talking about what it

[19:56] really is for half of its runtime, which

[19:58] is the Soldier Boy show. Look, the thing

[20:01] is I like the character of Soldier Boy a

[20:04] lot, and I love Jensen Aes in that role.

[20:07] But brother, my Hermono in Christ, his

[20:10] presence in this season feels so out of

[20:14] place. And do you know why? Because it

[20:17] is out of place. Everybody has said that

[20:20] his presence in this season is just an

[20:22] extended ad for a spin-off series coming

[20:24] out sometime soon. And uh yeah, people

[20:28] are right. The entire [ __ ] Bombside

[20:30] story line felt so forcefully shoved

[20:33] into this season. And it's all just to

[20:36] introduce us to characters that are not

[20:38] going to matter to the story we're

[20:40] currently watching, but that are going

[20:41] to be in the spin-off. And I find it

[20:44] really sad because it demonstrates in a

[20:46] very obnoxious way that The Boys has

[20:49] become a lot of the things it used to

[20:52] criticize. It used to make fun of the

[20:55] overly corporate approach to

[20:56] intellectual properties and franchises

[20:58] in Hollywood with everything needed a

[21:01] sequel and a spin-off and the setting up

[21:03] of these endless projects overriding the

[21:06] story of the thing you're currently

[21:07] watching. And yeah, that's what this

[21:11] season does for about half of its

[21:13] runtime. Naturally, it doesn't help that

[21:15] the episode before the finale is easily

[21:17] one of the weakest episodes of the show.

[21:19] And that is what is so tragic about it.

[21:22] In the end, I think season 5 is just

[21:26] very forgettable. It's not insultingly

[21:28] bad. Like it it's not Stranger Things 5,

[21:31] but for a show that has proven to be

[21:33] capable of being one of the most

[21:35] thrilling things on television while

[21:37] having very smart and poignant social

[21:39] political commentary driving it, it is

[21:42] kind of astonishing to see just how

[21:44] boring, aimless, and opportunistic this

[21:47] final season is. Some people were trying

[21:49] to say that criticizing the show for

[21:51] butchering four or five episodes of the

[21:53] season wasn't that big of a deal, that

[21:55] it was just four or five episodes and

[21:57] that people were overreacting. I heavily

[22:00] disagree with that. I mean, yeah, back

[22:02] in the day you got like 24 episodes a

[22:05] season. If you [ __ ] up four or five of

[22:08] them, it wasn't the end of the world.

[22:10] But when you only have eight episodes in

[22:13] the season and you [ __ ] up four or five

[22:16] of them, that's a different conversation

[22:20] now, isn't it? If there is credit we can

[22:22] give the season, though, it's that for

[22:24] how ridiculous the political aspect of

[22:26] the show has become, sometimes being

[22:28] overly tacky and all. The season did

[22:31] predict actual events with almost

[22:34] godlike accuracy. the God thing where

[22:37] Homelander wants to be God and then

[22:39] before the episode even airs, Trump puts

[22:43] out that photo of him as Jesus touching

[22:45] and I was like I think Cry was like,

[22:47] "Come on, give us two days."

[22:48] >> A golden statue. It's It's so un It's so

[22:51] unsettling. It's so depressing.

[22:53] >> The golden statue.

[22:54] >> So therapeutic.

[22:56] >> Homelander believing that he's God.

[22:58] >> The Jesus thing was ridiculous.

[23:02] >> They wrote these episodes almost two

[23:04] years ago. It was shot over a year ago

[23:06] and I think the intention was to so

[23:08] overshoot reality in order to sort of

[23:10] like make a commentary on it.

[23:12] >> So the fact that it's so parallel is

[23:15] just really upsetting.

[23:16] >> The show went from being a satire of

[23:19] American politics and how embarrassing

[23:21] they've become to being a literal

[23:23] parallel that mirrors real life events

[23:26] just a few days before they actually

[23:29] happen. Just think about that. We are

[23:31] living in a time where it's become

[23:33] normal for satirical parodies to feel

[23:36] more like preemptive documentaries than

[23:38] the jokes they are supposed to be. But

[23:40] that's not enough to save the show. So

[23:43] after all of that verdict, is the series

[23:47] finale of The Boys terrible? Is it

[23:50] absolutely amazing?

[23:53] It's okay. It's fine. It's not anything

[23:57] unwatchable. It's also not that good

[24:00] either. It's just kind of mid. It's like

[24:03] a five out of 10. Middle of the road.

[24:05] It's not an awful finale. It's an

[24:07] entertaining episode of TV. But the best

[24:10] way I have to describe it and describe

[24:12] why it didn't land for so many people,

[24:14] and me included, is simply that the

[24:17] finale is a decent episode that has to

[24:21] close out a terrible season. It's just

[24:24] kind of all right. The thing is that

[24:26] because the season was so underwhelming

[24:28] and meandering, it felt very difficult

[24:30] to feel the hype of what was going on

[24:32] and it no longer felt like we were

[24:34] concluding a great story. Most

[24:36] characters, they didn't have arcs

[24:38] anyway, but the finale tries to pretend

[24:40] they did. And that's the big mistake a

[24:42] lot of writers make with final seasons,

[24:44] trying to shove every important ending

[24:47] point into the finale. Everything has to

[24:50] happen in the finale. So, the entire

[24:53] final season kind of [ __ ] around and

[24:55] doesn't really do much. And then

[24:57] suddenly in the finale, way too much

[25:00] happens, but nothing has time to breathe

[25:02] because you can only fit so much inside

[25:03] of an hour-ong episode. One thing the

[25:05] finale briefly touches on that I

[25:07] actually found interesting is Annie

[25:10] realizing she's become exactly what she

[25:12] promised herself she would never become.

[25:14] When she first joined VA, she'd looked

[25:16] at Queen Mave and saw someone completely

[25:18] broken and emotionally checked out. She

[25:21] swore she'd never end up like that and

[25:23] then she did. That's a genuinely

[25:26] compelling idea. The problem is the show

[25:29] waits until the final episode to bring

[25:31] it up. Annie spends most of the season

[25:34] doing absolutely nothing and suddenly

[25:37] the finale remembers she used to be a

[25:39] character. It's like a forgotten

[25:41] Christmas present you receive in June.

[25:43] Nice gesture, wrong timing. The same

[25:46] issue applies to Ryan and basically the

[25:49] entirety of Genvie. Ryan was built up

[25:51] for years as one of the most important

[25:53] people in the story and then he barely

[25:55] participates in the final season.

[25:57] Meanwhile, Genvie spent two seasons

[25:59] setting up Marie Maro, Sam, the virus,

[26:03] and a whole bunch of supposedly

[26:04] worldchanging developments that

[26:06] ultimately amount to forgettable cameos.

[26:09] Marie was positioned as one of the few

[26:12] people who could potentially challenge

[26:15] Homelander. Sam was basically being

[26:17] framed as Homelander 2.0. The virus was

[26:21] treated like a game-changing weapon that

[26:23] took so much space in the entire story,

[26:26] and none of it matters. 3 years of setup

[26:31] leading up to two scenes, missing one of

[26:33] those characters, by the way. Nobody

[26:35] does anything and then they [ __ ] off to

[26:37] Canada. Would you Is this the first

[26:39] draft of the script? What the [ __ ] What

[26:42] was the point? Well, we'll never know

[26:45] because Gen V was cancelled after its

[26:47] second season and we'll never get an

[26:49] ending for these characters. But aside

[26:50] from establishing that everything is

[26:52] built up to through several shows in the

[26:54] last 3 years ultimately doesn't matter.

[26:56] The finale's biggest problem is again

[27:00] the scale. So yes, just like in the

[27:02] comics, the final battle of the boys

[27:04] takes place at the White House under

[27:06] drastically different circumstances, but

[27:08] still in the comics though, the battle

[27:10] of the White House is much, much bigger

[27:13] in scale. The military is there. There's

[27:15] a big soups war. It's absolutely

[27:18] bonkers. But again, the scale of the

[27:20] show in season 5 feels incredibly small.

[27:22] So the entire fight takes place between

[27:23] three people in the Oval Office. That's

[27:26] about it. It's sort of entertaining if

[27:28] you turn your brain off because if you

[27:30] stop for one second to think about it,

[27:32] this battle makes absolutely no sense.

[27:34] Homelander lasers Kimo like three times

[27:37] and she's only kind of knocked back for

[27:39] a second. But in episode one of this

[27:41] same season, he lasered Kimo once and he

[27:45] sliced her in half. She literally had to

[27:48] regrow the bottom part of her entire

[27:51] body. Anyway, I could point out a

[27:53] million of these things, but there's no

[27:54] point. I kind of accepted after season 4

[27:56] that I couldn't use my brain for this

[27:58] stuff anymore. The fight is okay. It's

[28:00] nothing really impressive. It has its

[28:03] moments. I just expected them to deliver

[28:05] on the scorched earth promise that had

[28:07] been shoved down our throats for the

[28:08] past like 4 years. If you haven't seen,

[28:10] after the finale air, there are

[28:12] incredible 3D artists who made little

[28:15] short films depicting Homelander truly

[28:18] going scorch earth, destroying cities,

[28:21] killing countless innocent people in

[28:23] stadiums and highways. Kind of like what

[28:25] he fantasized about doing that one time

[28:27] in season 2, I think. And those are

[28:30] [ __ ] crazy. And that's kind of what I

[28:33] expected him to do. I always believe

[28:35] there would be a final moment of

[28:37] Homelander going way too far and showing

[28:41] the absolute monster he is for everyone

[28:44] to see. The fact that we never actually

[28:46] got to see him fully going berserk and

[28:49] unleashing his power and all the rage

[28:52] he's been bottling up for years is a

[28:55] little disappointing. The boys has never

[28:58] shied away from being so balls to the

[29:01] wall, and I found this was the worst

[29:03] moment to choose restraint. Instead,

[29:05] they make his big going too far moment

[29:08] more of his religious psychosis thing,

[29:10] which is dumb. I don't like the

[29:13] religious psychosis storyline. I think

[29:15] it's so stupid. He didn't need that to

[29:18] snap. We've been watching that

[29:20] escalation for years. He didn't need

[29:22] something like that to bring him

[29:24] overboard. It works in the idea that

[29:26] Homelander can ultimately never accept

[29:28] love. He wants so desperately to be

[29:31] loved, but he wants it on his own terms.

[29:33] And he needs it to be fundamentally

[29:36] unconditional. He needs to be worshiped.

[29:39] He needs to be adored. But even when

[29:42] people do love him, it's never enough

[29:45] for him. He will always find a reason to

[29:47] reject it. And he will never be

[29:50] satisfied. Thematically, it works.

[29:54] narratively.

[29:56] So, we get a WWE match in the Oval

[29:58] Office. Kamiko blesss everybody and they

[30:01] all lose their powers.

[30:10] The end of Homelander is pretty much

[30:12] everything I expected it to be, and I'm

[30:14] okay with that. I think he's a character

[30:16] who had to be stripped of any shred of

[30:19] dignity he could possibly have left. He

[30:22] had to be so overwhelmingly pathetic in

[30:25] his last moments and I think they pulled

[30:27] that off. Anthony Star once again is

[30:30] just a beast of an actor in this show. I

[30:33] think regardless of the quality of the

[30:34] boys going down, his performance as

[30:36] Homelander is something for the ages. It

[30:39] is unbelievable what he did with this

[30:41] character to its very last moment.

[30:44] Watching Butcher beat the ever living

[30:46] [ __ ] out of him and seeing him beg for

[30:48] his life in the most disgraceful way

[30:50] imaginable. Even if I found that ending

[30:53] a little unambitious and predictable, it

[30:56] still felt satisfying to watch. And

[30:58] that's sort of the emotional point of

[31:00] the finale that really worked for me.

[31:01] Butcher accomplishes his ultimate wish

[31:03] to kill Homelander and get revenge for

[31:06] Becca. But he realizes that doesn't

[31:09] really change anything. It doesn't make

[31:12] a difference. They kill Homelander, but

[31:14] with Vault still at the top of the

[31:16] world, it's only a matter of time before

[31:18] another soup takes his place. So, he

[31:20] wants to keep going. Let's not just kill

[31:23] Homelander. Let's kill all the soups in

[31:26] the world with that [ __ ] ass virus.

[31:29] Butcher dying at the hands of Huey was

[31:31] kind of the most predictable thing of

[31:33] all time. I'm pretty sure everybody knew

[31:35] that was coming. The scene is fine. I

[31:38] didn't really feel that much emotion

[31:40] watching it, but it's executed well

[31:43] enough that I could just shrug it off.

[31:44] It just all feels very rushed and

[31:46] underdeveloped. See, my personal opinion

[31:48] of the finale is that it's trying to

[31:50] force two episodes of TV into one when

[31:53] it really didn't need to do that. I

[31:55] think that defeating Homelander should

[31:58] have been the second to last episode and

[32:01] then the finale should have been about

[32:04] Butcher's heel turn and Huey being

[32:06] forced to stop him. This is what I was

[32:08] saying earlier about writers not

[32:09] properly using the episodes of a final

[32:12] season to end things, but rather try to

[32:14] make everything happen in the finale.

[32:16] This whole section of the finale from

[32:18] Butcher snapping and Huey following him

[32:21] to Vaude, it all happens so fast and you

[32:25] can really tell the episode had to blast

[32:27] through it because it was running out of

[32:30] time. But it really didn't need to be

[32:32] like that. Bro, focus. You wasted so

[32:35] much time during the season with some

[32:37] [ __ ] nobody cared about. That one

[32:39] wasn't hard to figure out. To me, the

[32:42] ultimate issue with this ending is that

[32:43] it fails to fulfill any promise it set

[32:46] up. If you wanted Scorch Earth, well,

[32:49] you get slightly beaten down Room. You

[32:51] wanted a thematic resolution to the

[32:53] commentary behind the story? Well, there

[32:56] isn't any of that really because

[32:58] starting in season 3, there's a very

[33:00] important shift to the show in terms of

[33:02] what the endgame is going to be. See,

[33:04] the original big bad of the series

[33:06] wasn't Homelander. It was VA vault as an

[33:10] entity as everything it represents.

[33:13] There was an understanding in the DNA of

[33:16] the story that this wasn't a show just

[33:18] about beating up manchild Superman. It

[33:20] was about dismantling a system engraved

[33:23] in society and run by a corporate entity

[33:26] with too much power. From the literal

[33:28] superpowers of the maniacs it controls

[33:30] to puppeteering the government,

[33:32] orchestrating wars, manipulating crime,

[33:36] all of it for the sake of profit. That's

[33:38] where the biggest part of the commentary

[33:40] that made the show lied. Sure, the show

[33:43] promised that Butcher's endgame was

[33:45] going to be his final stand against

[33:46] Homelander, but as a whole, it was

[33:50] always kind of understood that the

[33:52] show's endame would be with VA. And then

[33:56] the show kind of just forgot about that.

[34:00] In fact, yes, Butcher was kind of right.

[34:02] By the end of the series, nothing has

[34:04] really changed. And while Homelander is

[34:06] dead, the characters didn't really solve

[34:08] the problem of the show. Homelander

[34:11] wasn't the problem. VA was the problem.

[34:14] Homelander was a symptom of the problem

[34:17] created by VA. I never really thought

[34:19] the show would end with Butcher

[34:21] exterminating Soups, but for a while, my

[34:24] personal theory was that the show was

[34:25] going to end with the boys destroying

[34:27] everything that is left of Compound V,

[34:30] which would have ensured that soups

[34:31] would die out with the current

[34:33] generation. Because remember, Homelander

[34:36] was an anomaly and soups are not

[34:38] supposed to be able to naturally

[34:40] reproduce, which is something the show

[34:42] also forgets about because Annie is

[34:44] pregnant at the end. So, I guess that

[34:46] idea was never going to work out. But

[34:48] since the show shifted its focus from

[34:50] dismantling a system to just being like,

[34:52] "No, we got to kick Homelander's ass and

[34:54] that's the end all be all." For me,

[34:56] watching this finale left me with a

[34:59] feeling of the show being weirdly

[35:01] incomplete. So yeah, the series finale

[35:04] was entertaining at times, but

[35:06] emotionally I came out of this final

[35:09] season feeling absolutely nothing. Eric

[35:11] Krypkkey has recently said that he

[35:13] apologizes if people did not like the

[35:15] ending, but that he really did tell the

[35:17] story he wanted to tell, and I believe

[35:19] him when he says that, which is more

[35:22] than I can say about the showrunner of

[35:24] Euphoria.

[35:27] I'm in my round

[35:30] still without

[35:33] cowboy up

[35:36] 6 years again.

[35:39] Don't break my groove again. Got nothing

[35:44] to prove. Yeah. So, Euphoria finally

[35:47] returned with its third and final

[35:49] season, which means two things. One, we

[35:52] are free from this [ __ ] And two, so

[35:54] is the cast. I don't think anyone is

[35:56] happier about the show being over than

[35:58] the cats. It took four [ __ ] years for

[36:01] this season to come out, which is

[36:03] absolutely ridiculous. And you would

[36:05] think that after all this time, we would

[36:07] be coming back with a season that would

[36:09] have been worth the wait.

[36:12] You would think. I would also think that

[36:14] if I didn't know any better. This is Sam

[36:16] Levenson we're talking about. You just

[36:18] kind of know you're in for a bunch of

[36:20] nothing. Somewhere along the way,

[36:22] Euphoria stopped being a show people

[36:24] watched because it was powerful and

[36:26] emotionally resonant with themes that

[36:28] reflected modern youth and became a show

[36:31] people watched to laugh at. It's the

[36:33] latest hatewatch contestant in pop

[36:35] culture. While season 3 was airing, a

[36:37] friend told me that she felt Euphoria

[36:39] had become the new Riverdale. And

[36:41] honestly, I haven't been able to get

[36:43] that comparison out of my head ever

[36:44] since. a show nobody can take seriously,

[36:47] but that for some reason they keep

[36:49] coming back to out of morbid curiosity.

[36:51] And I think that's why so much of the

[36:53] discussion around season 3 felt

[36:54] different. In the early days, people

[36:56] were talking about the characters, the

[36:58] themes, the performances. But now, most

[37:00] of what I've seen about the show in

[37:02] recent weeks is people sharing clips on

[37:04] TikTok being like, "What the [ __ ] was

[37:07] that?" This show is nonsense. It's bad.

[37:13] It's

[37:14] Sam Lemonson needs to be arrested. I

[37:16] finally finished Euphoria. Wh what a

[37:19] terrible season of television.

[37:20] >> Are y'all genuinely enjoying this season

[37:22] of Euphoria? And if you say yes, I'm not

[37:24] going to lie. I don't fully believe you.

[37:26] Like, this is not Euphoria.

[37:28] >> So, Euphoria has finally ended, and I

[37:30] feel like everyone is relieved. And much

[37:32] has been said as the season has gone on

[37:34] about how wildly disjointed this season

[37:37] has felt, how tonally inconsistent all

[37:39] of the characters and their stories have

[37:41] felt from each other, and also just how

[37:43] completely different this season feels

[37:46] to the first two seasons of Euphoria. It

[37:48] literally feels like a completely

[37:50] different show.

[37:51] >> I despised the Euphoria season 3 finale.

[37:53] I think it's bad in the most

[37:54] irresponsible and harmful way. And if I

[37:57] said that episode one of season 3 of

[37:59] Euphoria was like probably one of the

[38:00] worst episodes of television that I have

[38:02] ever watched cuz it's not it's like it's

[38:05] obviously shock value, right? Like it

[38:07] doesn't even make any sense.

[38:08] >> Season 3 of Euphoria was absolutely

[38:10] awful so far. The vibes, the characters,

[38:14] everything.

[38:14] >> Why did any of them do any of that?

[38:17] Everybody needs to make the most

[38:18] illogical choice ever all the time in

[38:21] order for the plot points that you set

[38:22] in place to make any sense.

[38:23] >> It's so hard to watch. It's so boring.

[38:26] It's got this weird creepy vibe to it.

[38:31] Like,

[38:32] >> check Sam Levenson's laptop. Check that

[38:35] man's devices.

[38:36] >> And that's the Sam Levenson way. Every

[38:38] episode feels like a competition to

[38:40] produce the next viral moment,

[38:42] regardless of whether it serves a story,

[38:44] which spoiler alert, it never does. It's

[38:46] kind of like looking at a car crash. You

[38:48] know, it's a disaster. You know, you

[38:50] probably shouldn't be staring, but at

[38:52] this point, you're weirdly committed to

[38:53] seeing just how much worse it's going to

[38:55] get. And boy, does it get worse. Season

[38:59] 3 of Euphoria is without a doubt some of

[39:01] the worst writing the show has ever

[39:03] produced, which is honestly impressive,

[39:05] considering season 2 was essentially 8

[39:07] hours of absolute nonsense. Although,

[39:10] the biggest problem isn't that the

[39:11] season is messy. Euphoria has always

[39:13] been messy. The problem is that the

[39:15] chaos used to come from the characters.

[39:18] It used to serve the characters. It used

[39:20] to serve the story, but now it feels

[39:23] like the characters exist to serve the

[39:25] chaos. All of that to be shoved in to

[39:27] try and justify the existence of a

[39:29] narrative that doesn't even make sense

[39:31] anymore. In other words, season 3 of

[39:33] Euphoria is Brain Rod, a shallow piece

[39:36] of media with no meaning and no depth

[39:39] that throws [ __ ] at you just for the

[39:41] sake of it. This season takes place 5

[39:43] years after the end of season 2. The

[39:45] characters are now adults out of high

[39:47] school and college and their lives are

[39:49] very different. I could sit here and

[39:51] walk you through it, but the reality is

[39:53] it doesn't matter. All you need to know

[39:55] is that Ru now works for this guy and

[39:57] she has to do some really illegal stuff

[39:59] to pay off a debt she owes. Kind of.

[40:02] Everything else that happens around this

[40:04] one plot point is completely pointless

[40:07] and has no correlation to anything

[40:09] you've seen in the past two seasons.

[40:11] Come to think of it, this is basically a

[40:13] reboot of the show. Visually, the show

[40:15] remains stunning, although different now

[40:17] that Sam isn't just ripping off yet

[40:19] another woman he hired to work on his

[40:21] project before kicking them out and

[40:23] stealing their ideas, but it does look

[40:25] good. The visuals are packed with like

[40:27] gorgeous cinematography, dreamlike

[40:29] imagery, and enough slow motion shots to

[40:31] give Zack Snder a boner. Trust me. But

[40:33] narratively, the season kind of feels

[40:36] more interested in shocking the audience

[40:39] for no real reason than telling a

[40:41] coherent story. I found the main story

[40:43] of the season to be incredibly contrived

[40:46] and utterly boring. The crime underworld

[40:49] story with Alamo was a snoozefest only

[40:52] there to let Sam Levenson be the edge

[40:54] lord he is. I don't care about any of

[40:56] these characters anymore. They no longer

[40:58] have anything to do with the characters

[41:00] I knew at the beginning of the series.

[41:01] None of them are likable except maybe

[41:03] from Rue. None of them are redeemable.

[41:06] Some of them die out of nowhere.

[41:08] Honestly, I don't think the show has

[41:09] ever made me laugh harder than when they

[41:11] reveal Nate's dead body. That scene is

[41:14] so ridiculous and again funny. It

[41:17] reminded me of that scene in Pretty

[41:18] Little Liars when the girls open the

[41:20] trunk of the cop car and find a dead pig

[41:22] in it. Like, you have to be 12 years old

[41:25] to gasp at this. But I'm certain Sam

[41:27] wrote this thinking, "Ooh, I'm so dark

[41:30] and edgy. I'm such a provocator." I did

[41:33] like big man and in the role of Alamo,

[41:36] though. He's always so good in whatever

[41:38] he does, and I don't care what anybody

[41:40] says. His ultimate role is as one of

[41:42] Emoteep's right-hand men in The Mummy

[41:44] Returns. The character though is just

[41:46] whatever. Kind of a generic kingpin type

[41:49] of guy. Kind of a nothing burger. Alamo

[41:51] only works because of the performance of

[41:53] the actor playing him, which you could

[41:55] say the same thing about virtually

[41:56] everyone in the show after the first

[41:58] season. The genre is completely

[42:00] different. The entire season feels like

[42:02] Sam Levenson watched Sakario or a

[42:04] Tarantino movie and he was like, "I

[42:06] could do that, too." And then he spends

[42:08] eight hours proving he absolutely

[42:10] cannot. This might as well have been a

[42:11] new show because even the characters

[42:13] feel like completely different people.

[42:15] And at the exception of Ru, nothing that

[42:17] happened in the first two seasons brings

[42:19] any sort of coherence to what's going on

[42:21] with them in season 3. And that's if

[42:23] they're lucky enough to even have

[42:25] something going on in season 3. I'm not

[42:27] even being sarcastic here. This is a

[42:29] real question. Can somebody explain to

[42:32] me why Sam even bothered to write jewels

[42:36] into this season? Genuinely, I mean,

[42:38] good for Hunter Schaefer. Get that

[42:39] paper. Get that yacht. But it's so

[42:41] apparent the whole season that Sam

[42:44] Levenson has absolutely no [ __ ] idea

[42:47] what to do with this character.

[42:48] Generally speaking, Jules is a character

[42:50] Sam never really put any thought into

[42:52] past season 1. She is a [ __ ] tourist

[42:56] in season 3. She doesn't do anything the

[42:59] entire season and then she doesn't even

[43:01] get an ending. And I get it. She can't

[43:04] have a conclusion because there is no

[43:06] story to conclude. She hasn't had an arc

[43:09] since the special episode about her

[43:11] after season 1, which is probably one of

[43:13] the best episodes of the show. But

[43:15] overall, we just kind of lost the plot

[43:17] here. The wedding episode is probably

[43:19] the clearest example of this. This

[43:21] appeared to me as the moment where the

[43:22] show fully jumps the shark and stops

[43:24] pretending there's a larger purpose

[43:26] behind any of it. Drama no longer exists

[43:29] to further character themes or push the

[43:31] story forward. It exists because the

[43:33] show has become addicted to escalation.

[43:35] Every scene has to be louder, crazier,

[43:38] more shocking and edgy than the last,

[43:41] regardless of whether it makes any

[43:43] sense. And the result is a season that

[43:45] feels strangely empty despite all the

[43:47] screaming and crying. It's constantly

[43:49] throwing things at the audience, but

[43:51] very little of it actually means

[43:53] anything. It's chaos, sure, but it's not

[43:56] compelling chaos. It's narrative brain

[43:59] rod dressed up in expensive

[44:00] cinematography and a Labyrinth

[44:02] soundtrack. Oh, oops. Actually, no,

[44:05] because Labyrinth [ __ ] off the show.

[44:07] If I had a nickel for every person who

[44:10] had a falling out with Sam Levenson in

[44:11] the past few years, I probably would

[44:13] have enough money to buy HBO. I'm not

[44:16] going to get into that, though. I think

[44:17] everybody knows about it. We've been

[44:19] hearing about Zenaia and Sam Levenson

[44:21] having a terrible relationship all year.

[44:24] We all saw that incredibly awkward video

[44:26] of Sam asking Zenaia to take a picture

[44:29] with him on the red carpet at the season

[44:31] 3 premiere and she just ignores him and

[44:33] walks the other way. We've all heard

[44:35] that Zenaia and Sydney Sweeney are not

[44:37] on speaking terms and Zenaia refused to

[44:39] shoot with her in season 3, which is why

[44:41] they don't have any scenes together.

[44:43] We've all noticed that the cast barely

[44:45] promoted the season, if at all. We all

[44:48] know Barbie Ferrer was treated like [ __ ]

[44:50] and left. We all know Labyrinth was

[44:52] treated like [ __ ] and left. You all know

[44:54] that stuff. I don't need to talk about

[44:56] it. And this is the thing. If I'm trying

[44:58] to be honest and fair to it, it's not

[45:00] like the season is devoid of any merit.

[45:03] Like I said, and like I've been saying

[45:05] since I made my first Euphoria video 4

[45:07] years ago, it's still one of the best

[45:10] looking TV shows ever made. It's

[45:13] visually gorgeous. The cast is still

[45:16] amazing. Everyone is really good in it.

[45:19] Performances are very strong, as they

[45:21] have been throughout all three seasons.

[45:23] Like, there is a lot to appreciate about

[45:26] Euphoria. Every single problem I have

[45:29] with the show comes down to Sam Levenson

[45:32] and his writing, his script, his [ __ ]

[45:36] ass dialogue, the very weird ideologies

[45:38] he seems to pass through the characters,

[45:40] the faux deep nature of his storytelling

[45:43] that tries really hard to appear

[45:44] profound, even though everything about

[45:46] it is superficial and very poorly

[45:48] constructed. A huge portion of season 3

[45:51] revolves around sex work, and the way

[45:53] the show handles that topic is strange,

[45:56] to put it mildly, because the more time

[45:58] you spend with these story lines, the

[45:59] more it feels like the series isn't

[46:01] actually interested in understanding

[46:03] these characters as people. Instead, it

[46:05] often comes across as viewing them

[46:06] through a lens of judgment and ridicule.

[46:08] Almost every sex worker in the season is

[46:11] portrayed as self-destructive, morally

[46:13] bankrupt, stupid, naive, or some

[46:16] combination of the four. And well, the

[46:18] issue is that when nearly every

[46:20] depiction points in the same direction,

[46:22] it starts to feel less like storytelling

[46:24] and more like Sam Levenson is working

[46:26] through a personal grudge. It is

[46:28] incredibly clear that he despises sex

[46:30] workers and he looks down on them and he

[46:32] sees them as brainless imbeciles. And

[46:34] the part that I feel uncomfortable with

[46:36] is that Sam seems to be taking great

[46:38] pleasure in humiliating these characters

[46:40] every chance he gets. This is something

[46:42] that has been very present in his

[46:44] project since season 2 and especially

[46:46] with the idol. Sam Levenson has always

[46:49] had this recurring theme of punishing

[46:51] promiscuity and there's no difference

[46:53] with season 3. There's a cruelty to the

[46:56] way some of these stories are presented

[46:57] as if the show is refusing to explore

[47:00] these people's lives and instead

[47:02] punishes them for having them. At times

[47:04] it really feels like he's standing

[47:05] behind the camera like, "See, aren't

[47:08] those people pathetic?" and he's

[47:09] expecting people to nod along.

[47:11] >> Sam Levenson seems to think that the

[47:13] most degrading and depraved thing women

[47:15] can do is engage in sex work. And he

[47:17] intends to make them suffer for it.

[47:19] Season 3 seems to be putting the

[47:20] majority of its female characters on a

[47:22] track to participate in sex work. And

[47:24] not just participate in, but be

[47:25] humiliated and degraded by, as evidenced

[47:27] by Cassie's choice to become a sexy dog

[47:30] emoji and a sexy baby, the most

[47:32] exaggerated, egregious, humiliating form

[47:35] of an Only Fans creator you could

[47:36] possibly imagine. And in the first 15

[47:38] minutes, choosing to have Khloe Cherry

[47:41] specifically gagging and choking and

[47:43] spitting all over the fentanyl balloons

[47:45] that she's trying to swallow um feels

[47:47] pretty indicative of how Sam Levenson

[47:50] actually feels about these choices.

[47:52] Jules is a shadow of a character that

[47:54] also feels like is a character that's

[47:55] just being punished being put in this

[47:57] superficial like sex work prison that is

[48:00] a much nicer prison than the one Maddie

[48:02] and Cassie got put in, but still is like

[48:05] a cage for her, a pretty gilded cage.

[48:07] And I feel like all of these characters

[48:09] are put in their cages by the end of

[48:11] this series or killed. And again, this

[48:13] is something that I would maybe actually

[48:15] be interested in if any of these topics

[48:17] were explored with like a modicum of

[48:19] nuance, but they absolutely aren't. Like

[48:21] Cassie is a great example of this, a

[48:23] character that essentially just became

[48:24] absurd comedic relief that by the way

[48:26] was hugely offensive to sex workers and

[48:29] like Only Fance models. In fact, there

[48:30] was a controversy after like the episode

[48:32] the Cassie Zilla episode came out, which

[48:35] God knows how much of the budget went to

[48:37] making Sydney Sweeny's tits as large as

[48:39] [ __ ] possible. Yay, nuance.

[48:42] Wonderful. Um, but like the stuff that

[48:44] she's depicted as doing on Only Fans,

[48:46] like the baby play and the pet play, is

[48:48] literally not even allowed on the

[48:49] platform. And it feels like a

[48:51] conservative guy trying to fearmmonger

[48:54] like what the most depraved idea of an

[48:57] Only Fans model could possibly be.

[48:59] What's the most offensive thing?

[49:01] Sexualizing literal babies. Not even

[49:04] something that these women are allowed

[49:05] to do. And again, for a show that is so

[49:08] obviously and violently anti-ex worker

[49:11] specifically, um it never ever ever

[49:15] even tries to get into the systemic

[49:17] issues at play here. It never gets into

[49:19] who the clientele is or why they are

[49:21] dangerous or the real life dangers and

[49:23] lifestyle of what life is like for sex

[49:26] workers. Um, this show just seems to

[49:28] think that these women are stupid and

[49:30] they get themselves into these

[49:32] situations by being dumb and naive and

[49:36] greedy.

[49:37] >> I'm not going to school you guys on all

[49:38] of this. I'm obviously not the most

[49:40] qualified person to talk about that in

[49:42] depth. All I have is my own opinion and

[49:44] I'm not a sex worker. But you can look

[49:46] it up. A number of sex workers have come

[49:48] out to stand against the show's

[49:50] depiction of them, especially throughout

[49:51] the second half of the season. Whether

[49:53] they be porn stars, Only Fans, models,

[49:56] strippers, you name it. Hundreds of them

[49:58] have been very open and vocal about how

[50:00] harmful and damaging this show is to

[50:03] them, the image of their profession, to

[50:05] the public, and by proxy to their

[50:07] safety. Sam very clearly looks down on

[50:10] those people, and he's not shy about

[50:11] showing it. And it's made even worse by

[50:13] the overwhelming religious angle of the

[50:16] season. Somehow, despite discussing two

[50:18] completely unrelated final seasons in

[50:21] this video, both of them have to do with

[50:23] religion overtaking the story out of

[50:25] nowhere. I wonder if this is a

[50:27] coincidence or if this is a theme that's

[50:29] starting to grow in Hollywood. The

[50:30] season becomes increasingly obsessed

[50:32] with themes of sin, shame, guilt,

[50:36] redemption, God, and when you combine

[50:38] that with the show's portrayal of sex

[50:40] work and how reductive it is towards sex

[50:42] workers, it creates a worldview that

[50:44] feels surprisingly judgmental, not

[50:47] nuanced, not complicated, just

[50:49] degrading. The further the season goes,

[50:51] the more it feels like the characters

[50:53] aren't really being filtered through a

[50:55] human lens. And that's the Sam Levenson

[50:57] way.

[51:03] And this is where we have to talk about

[51:05] Sam Levenson, who is definitely the real

[51:08] antagonist of this show. By the way,

[51:10] I've heard people refer to Sam as the

[51:12] most overrated man in Hollywood. And um

[51:17] no, he's not. News flash, uh you can't

[51:21] be overrated if nobody likes you. And

[51:24] Sam knows people don't like him. He's

[51:26] very aware of that because he constantly

[51:28] uses his shows and his movies as a way

[51:30] to complain about the fact that people

[51:32] don't like him. Malcolm and Marie is

[51:34] pretty much just Sam Levenson being a

[51:37] crybaby and thinking it's unfair that

[51:39] critics don't like his [ __ ] but at the

[51:41] same time, he kind of likes it. Like,

[51:44] okay, let me explain. See, the thing

[51:45] with Sam Levenson is his head is very,

[51:49] very far up his own ass. He made the

[51:52] first season of Euphoria. It was

[51:54] successful. And now he actually deluded

[51:56] himself into believing he is a living

[51:59] legend and a genius even though

[52:01] literally everything else he's ever made

[52:04] sucked ass. The reason why he loves the

[52:06] controversy around his work is because

[52:08] he thinks he's a [ __ ] mastermind. He

[52:11] 100% believes he's the [ __ ] best. He

[52:15] himself refers to the Idol as

[52:18] revolutionary.

[52:20] He genuinely thinks it's brilliant. When

[52:23] The Idol premiered at a festival and all

[52:25] those articles started to come out about

[52:27] the production troubles of the show, the

[52:30] one thing he had to say about all the

[52:32] criticism was

[52:33] >> when my wife read me the article,

[52:37] I looked at her and I just

[52:40] I just said, "I think we're about to

[52:42] have the biggest show of the summer."

[52:45] >> And that right there is the big tell.

[52:47] Like I think Sam just wants people to

[52:50] talk about him. He doesn't care if it's

[52:52] positive discourse or negative

[52:54] discourse. He just wants the attention.

[52:57] As long as you're talking about him, he

[52:59] loves it. After all, he is the ultimate

[53:01] edgeward. He does edgy things because he

[53:04] wants people to notice that he's doing

[53:06] edgy things. And because he deluded

[53:08] himself into thinking he's a super

[53:10] genius, he one thinks he's a true master

[53:13] at work, and two, continues to make his

[53:16] stuff more and more edgy to try and get

[53:19] more and more attention. If you don't

[53:21] know what I'm talking about, Sam

[53:23] Levenson has a certain track record with

[53:26] the types of stories he tells. See, he

[53:28] loves to portray young women being

[53:31] sexually abused and or exploited. And I

[53:34] don't mean that he does it with a point

[53:36] or a message. No, no, no. What I mean is

[53:39] his stories often are excuses for him to

[53:43] simply depict gratuitous artsy imagery

[53:46] of young women being mentally or

[53:48] sexually abused just because it feels

[53:52] more like a weird fetish he gets to put

[53:54] on screen for himself rather than him

[53:56] having to say something about the

[53:58] topics. Some examples of that are the

[54:00] infamous Russian roulette sequence in

[54:02] Euphoria, the Lily and Nick scene from

[54:05] Assassination Nation, the studio scene

[54:07] from The Idol, or even the hairbrush

[54:10] scene where Tedro spends an entire night

[54:12] repeatedly beating Joselyn with a

[54:15] hairbrush because her mother used to do

[54:17] the same thing. And they think that if

[54:20] he makes her experience that again,

[54:22] it'll inspire her to make good music.

[54:26] I wish I was lying, but that's a real

[54:29] sequence. And of course, there is one

[54:31] little moment from the pilot of the idol

[54:33] where he kind of explains it out loud

[54:36] through the mouth of one of his

[54:38] characters.

[54:39] >> Are we romanticizing mental illness?

[54:41] >> Absolutely.

[54:42] >> Mental illness is sexy.

[54:44] >> No, it's not.

[54:45] >> Yeah. If if you live in Sous City, Iowa,

[54:48] you are never going to meet a girl like

[54:50] Joseline. She didn't go to your high

[54:51] school. She doesn't work at the bar or

[54:53] the diner. and she did not marry your

[54:55] best friend. And if on the off chance

[54:57] she did, she is still never ever going

[55:00] to [ __ ] you unless she has some very,

[55:02] very serious mental problems. And that

[55:04] right there is why mental illness is

[55:07] sexy.

[55:08] >> Yep. Given how his shows usually are, I

[55:11] am convinced that this scene is

[55:13] literally just Sam Levenson telling his

[55:16] audience why he writes female characters

[55:18] the way he does. Whether it's Jocelyn in

[55:21] the Idol, Marie and Malcolm and Marie,

[55:23] literally any female character in

[55:25] Euphoria, the depiction of young women

[55:28] in brutal emotional distress as a result

[55:30] of abuse or mental health issues is

[55:33] almost like a kink to him. He doesn't

[55:36] repeatedly show it in every single one

[55:38] of his projects to drive a point across.

[55:41] I think he does it because he just

[55:43] thinks it's hot. He just finds it really

[55:46] cool. naked, crying, abused young women

[55:50] in distress. That's his type. The

[55:54] funniest thing about this season,

[55:55] though, is just how obvious it is that

[55:57] its brain deadad narrative is entirely

[56:00] constructed around the schedules of the

[56:02] actors. There are so many things

[56:03] happening in this season solely because

[56:06] they had to work around schedules.

[56:07] Nate's entire storyline where he is

[56:10] mostly by himself until he dies in the

[56:12] dumbest way possible just screams we had

[56:15] Jacob already for maybe a week where

[56:17] nobody else was really available so we

[56:19] had to get him to do something by

[56:21] himself. Even the scene where his dead

[56:23] body is revealed to Cassie and Maddie.

[56:25] You can tell from how it's edited that

[56:27] he definitely was not on set with them.

[56:30] The entire story line with Rue meeting

[56:32] up with Jules is very obviously set up

[56:34] the way it is because they probably

[56:36] couldn't have Zenaia and Hunter together

[56:38] for more than like a day or two. So

[56:40] like, okay, let's stick them together in

[56:42] a condo and have them yap about nothing.

[56:45] >> You don't want to kiss me like now?

[56:48] >> Yeah, I'd kiss you.

[56:50] >> But do you want to? I

[56:51] >> mean, I find you very attractive.

[56:53] >> That wasn't the question.

[56:55] >> I'm confused. Do you want me to kiss

[56:56] you?

[56:56] >> That's all you want?

[56:57] >> What do you want?

[56:59] a lot of things. Like what? You want to

[57:03] kiss me?

[57:04] >> Then more nonsense happens. Cassie is

[57:06] well, you know, she's never really up to

[57:08] anything, but Sam Levenson really likes

[57:11] certain things and Sydney Sweeney is

[57:13] down for anything, so that's that.

[57:15] Anyway, a bunch of [ __ ] happens for

[57:16] no reason. And then Rue dies. That's

[57:18] kind of the big thing this season. Ru's

[57:20] death is incredibly contrived and not

[57:24] earned at all. The way we get to it is

[57:26] kind of stupid. But again, to be fair,

[57:29] the scene itself, cinematically

[57:32] speaking, is very well executed. It's

[57:35] visually beautiful. It's incredibly well

[57:38] acted. Han Zimmer suddenly remembers how

[57:40] to make good music because he was asleep

[57:42] the entire season. Like, it's a very

[57:44] pretty scene. It's very nice to watch.

[57:47] It's so well put together. It doesn't

[57:49] change the fact that it is narratively

[57:51] dumb as hell. It's trying really hard to

[57:53] be poetic, but again, depth is not

[57:56] something Sam Levenson is particularly

[57:58] good at. He's about as surface level as

[58:00] a leaf in the ocean. Like, if you cried

[58:02] at this scene, I think it's very easy

[58:04] for filmmakers to manipulate you, but

[58:06] that's a whole other conversation for

[58:08] another video one day. Ru's death

[58:10] doesn't feel like the end of an arc. Sam

[58:12] Levenson said it felt like an honest

[58:14] ending. And okay, sure, I would have

[58:17] understood that if the season would have

[58:19] been about her relapsing or a more

[58:22] connected story about the addiction that

[58:24] has been such a part of her character

[58:25] since season 1, but no, she's just

[58:27] tricked into overdosing on fentinel. And

[58:29] it's not like I'm surprised. I expected

[58:31] Ru to die. The second the season starts

[58:34] and they're like, Rue has been clean for

[58:35] a while, it's like, okay, she's dead. I

[58:37] know Sam Levenson way too well. He's not

[58:39] doing that for any other reason that

[58:41] he's gearing up for something shocking

[58:44] because shock value is everything to him

[58:46] and he seems to believe that doing

[58:47] shocking things means the show is like

[58:49] deep and whatever but it's not and it's

[58:51] stupid. I guess it works for the

[58:52] narrative Sam was going for, even if

[58:55] it's a bad one, but I just found it very

[58:57] cheap. Ali going to get revenge for Ru

[58:59] in this [ __ ] ass western shootout is

[59:02] just

[59:04] What are we doing? This is so [ __ ]

[59:06] stupid. I'll see you in hell, you

[59:09] mother.

[59:17] >> Okay, John Wick.

[59:20] Ali abandoning everything he believes in

[59:22] and giving this dumbass speech,

[59:24] essentially saying that helping people

[59:26] the way he has is futile, only to get

[59:28] into a shootout because we're trying to

[59:30] be Tarantino here. Just put me to sleep

[59:33] already. I'm glad at least that Ali is

[59:35] played by Coleman Domingo that makes him

[59:37] stomachable to watch. I genuinely

[59:39] believe Coleman Domingo is like

[59:41] genetically unable to flop. Despite the

[59:45] horrifyingly atrocious script, he

[59:47] manages to still remain present and to

[59:51] deliver and to give Ali a screen

[59:53] presence that makes it bearable to

[59:55] watch. But my god, that story line is

[59:58] stupid. God, it's so dumb and it betrays

[1:00:01] so much of his character. But whatever.

[1:00:03] I just I just can't get over how stupid

[1:00:06] this is. This moment in the finale made

[1:00:08] me realize that at some point Euphoria

[1:00:11] turned into a show for fans of Ryan

[1:00:13] Murphy. And if you've seen this video,

[1:00:16] you know what I think about Ryan Murphy.

[1:00:18] I think he's a disgusting human being

[1:00:20] who exploits people to profit on the

[1:00:22] tragedies that ruin their lives. And

[1:00:24] there are very few people in this

[1:00:26] industry I respect less than him. And

[1:00:28] his shows suck. And this is kind of how

[1:00:30] I feel about Sam Levenson now. It's just

[1:00:32] Edgeelord content with a pretty color

[1:00:34] palette, but it doesn't make it any less

[1:00:36] of lazy Edgeelord content. So,

[1:00:38] congratulations, Ryan Murphy fans. You

[1:00:41] now have a new weirdo to worship. Let's

[1:00:43] hear you guys defend this one. And

[1:00:45] that's ultimately what makes so much of

[1:00:47] season 3 feel hollow to me. Euphoria

[1:00:50] constantly wants credit for tackling

[1:00:52] serious subjects, but it often treats

[1:00:54] those subjects like visual accessories

[1:00:56] rather than meaningful character

[1:00:58] exploration. The trauma becomes the

[1:01:01] spectacle. The suffering becomes an

[1:01:03] aesthetic. At a certain point, it just

[1:01:05] feels performative and frankly really

[1:01:07] boring. If this sounds familiar, it's

[1:01:09] because it's the exact same criticism

[1:01:11] many people, me included, had of The

[1:01:13] Idol. Different show, same pattern. I

[1:01:16] don't want to spend forever rehashing

[1:01:17] that argument, but I think it's

[1:01:19] impossible to watch season 3 and not

[1:01:21] notice how many of the same creative

[1:01:23] instincts have followed Sam Levenson

[1:01:25] from one project to the next. It gets

[1:01:27] tiring to watch this show being so

[1:01:30] utterly convinced to be much deeper than

[1:01:32] it actually is to be much smarter than

[1:01:34] it actually is because it is just trash

[1:01:36] TV trying really hard to cosplay

[1:01:39] prestige television. You're not that

[1:01:41] guy, Sam. You're never going to be. I

[1:01:44] really thought I would have more to say

[1:01:45] about the season, but surprisingly, not

[1:01:48] really. It was just really boring. And

[1:01:50] despite the fact that in terms of

[1:01:52] viewership, this was the most popular

[1:01:54] season of the show, the response to it

[1:01:56] online has been shockingly quiet. There

[1:01:59] just wasn't that much of a big response

[1:02:01] to it. People very much received this

[1:02:03] season as something anecdotal. It just

[1:02:05] kind of came and went and people have

[1:02:07] already moved on. Three seasons in seven

[1:02:10] years, and it feels like the majority of

[1:02:11] people experienced the ending of it with

[1:02:13] a bit of a shrug. I still have

[1:02:15] appreciation for season 1, which is the

[1:02:18] only good season of Euphoria. the only

[1:02:20] one where the commentary felt like it

[1:02:22] had a soul. And I genuinely believe that

[1:02:24] had Euphoria been a one season limited

[1:02:27] series that shook pop culture back in

[1:02:29] 2019 and it had ended there, it would

[1:02:32] have been remembered as probably one of

[1:02:35] the best limited series of our time. But

[1:02:37] now, Euphoria is just this neverending

[1:02:40] punchline that everybody will remember

[1:02:42] for being unhinged and stuff. And okay,

[1:02:44] cool. I guess that's also a legacy. But

[1:02:47] it's just crazy that this is where the

[1:02:49] show ended when you look at where it

[1:02:51] started.

[1:02:54] I'm in my

[1:02:57] still

[1:03:00] cowboy up

[1:03:03] 6 years again.

[1:03:06] Don't break my

[1:03:09] got nothing to prove. Yeah. Astro

[1:03:13] vision.

[1:03:15] Yeah, you will be disapproved.

[1:03:19] I'm in my rank

[1:03:22] still at without

[1:03:25] cowboys

[1:03:27] and six years born again.