Euphoria viewers have been divided by the hotly-anticipated wedding episode featuring Nate (Jacob Elordi) and Cassie (Sydney Sweeney).
After being disturbed by the X-rated and gross-out nature of the third season, fans had been hoping for a return to greatness with the third episode, titled The Ballad of Paladin, which saw the lead cast reunite for the first time.
Yet creator Sam Levinson was still intent on causing surprise, including graphic depictions of violence and fetish scenes that viewers branded ‘uncomfortable’ to watch.
Amid a slew of ‘unhinged’ moments, Sydney managed to shine through, however, with calls for the actress to win her first Emmy after ‘the best television performances of the year’.
Sydney had fans transfixed as bridezilla Cassie whose dream big day descended into chaos upon learning her new husband is $550,000 in debt.
Performing her first dance through gritted teeth and choking back tears, the day went from bad to worse after their wedding was crashed by Nate’s loan shark, who left Cassie with a bloody nose and cut off Nate’s toe in front of her in particularly graphic scenes.
Euphoria viewers call for Sydney Sweeney to win an Emmy for ‘best TV performance of the year’ despite being stunned by the ‘unhinged’ wedding episode
Yet creator Sam Levinson was still intent on causing surprise with graphic depictions of violence as Nate (Jacob Elordi) was seen having his toe cut off
Sydney had fans transfixed as bridezilla Cassie whose dream big day descended into chaos upon learning her new husband is $550,000 in debt
Paying no attention to her husband whilst he was being tortured, Cassie instead lamented the blood spatter on her wedding dress, wailing ‘This is so unfair!
‘It was supposed to be the best day of my life!’
While the scenes were bizarre, fans credited Sydney’s ‘unhinged’ acting skills, sharing on X/Twitter: ‘sydney sweeney saving all her acting powers for this wedding special of #euphoria is crazy. one of the best television performances of the year for this episode alone.’;
‘and the emmy for best actress goes to: SYDNEY SWEENEY #euphoria’; ‘ngl tho, I give it to Sydney for her unhinged + emotive acting in this episode.’
‘i swear sydney sweeney goes into fugue state when she films euphoria cause her acting here is leagues above the other s**t she does i can’t believe this is the same woman’;
‘It’s pretty safe to say tht Sydney Sweeney outacted the other characters in the 3rd episode of Euphoria! The mess has just begun!’
Yet despite impressing with her skills, one viewer questioned her enthusiasm in season three, which has been critically panned.
‘everyone in euphoria is acting in the sense they couldn’t get out of that contract except for sydney sweeney she seems excited which’s worse’, they mused.
Viewers have been left disturbed by series three of the HBO show, which has had a heavy focus on sex work and fetish roleplay and a storyline about Cassie turning to OnlyFans.
Episode three didn’t focus on Cassie’s racy content but still leaned into fetish scenes at the start of the episode, when it was revealed that Jules (Hunter Schafer) had dropped out of art school and was earning a living as a sugar baby.
Unsettling scenes showed Jules having her tight-clad legs licked before stripping to her underwear and being wrapped head to toe in cling film as she acted out her sugar daddy’s fetishes.
Reacting to the scenes, viewers shared on X: ‘Another episode more fetish conten. Why are we Saran Wrapping Jules?’; ‘jules’s sugar daddy wrapping her in plastic wrap was so uncomfortable to watch… #euphoria’.
While the scenes were bizarre, fans credited Sydney’s ‘unhinged’ acting skills, although one viewer questioned her enthusiasm in season three, which has been critically panned
Viewers have been left disturbed by series three of the HBO show, which has had a heavy focus on sex work and fetish roleplay, with the latest episode featuring Jules (Hunter Schafer)
Unsettling scenes showed Jules having her tight-clad legs licked before being wrapped head to toe in cling film as she acted out her sugar daddy’s fetishes – leaving fans unimpressed
So far, the latest season of Euphoria has failed to live up to its predecessors.
Ahead of its premiere, the third season was torched with early reviews, with the show being labelled as an ‘unhinged disaster’ yet ‘pretty uneventful.’
The season currently holds a 46 percent ‘rotten’ rating on reviews aggregator site, Rotten Tomatoes, in comparison to season one and two’s 80 and 78 percent ‘fresh’ score.
While there are still five more episodes to go, fans aren’t holding out much hope for any improvement.
They shared: ‘Every episode of #Euphoria Season 3 so far hasn’t topped any of the episodes in S1 or S2. I’m only watching this season to see how they wrap the series up.’
‘The first seasons of #Euphoria were so superior that even Nate having one of the heaviest scenes of violence after the wedding still loses out to when he got beaten up on New Year’s Eve.’
Euphoria airs at 9pm (ET/PT) on HBO on Sundays. In the UK, the series airs at 2am and 9pm on Mondays on Sky Atlantic and streams on HBO Max and Sky Go/NOW
