‘The “Euphoria” Season 1 Finale Ending Explained, Because You’re Not The Only One Confused’ [Bustle]

“Could viewers have just seen the event that ends Rue’s life, revealing that yes, she’s been omnisciently narrating the whole show from the afterlife? To many, the symbolism of the ending will undoubtedly confirm this theory: the dreamlike sequence, the jump off the cliff, the white light. ‘Euphoria’ has always tried to mimic what its characters are feeling with its camerawork and visuals, and this could be creator Sam Levinson’s way of giving shape to an experience as unknowable as dying. There’s also the bookend scenes of Rue’s mother reading a letter about Rue in church. Doesn’t that feel like the kind of letter you’d read at someone’s funeral?”

‘Modern Excess: “Euphoria” Got Better With Every Passing Week’ [The Ringer]

“Sometimes, ‘Euphoria’ wanted us to look past the panicked trend pieces and music video staging to the confused, conflicted people underneath. And sometimes, ‘Euphoria’ was happy to camp out right there on the surface, leering at intoxicated kids and their impaired judgment like a ‘Dateline’ correspondent facing a deadline.”

‘“Euphoria”’s season finale is structural chaos’ [AV Club]

“It’s especially confusing that a show so concerned with aesthetics and art-housey direction can’t seem to find its rhythm or make sense of its own structure. ‘Euphoria’ experiments with form, seen especially in the final sequence — a gorgeous but ultimately hollow choreographed number that turns Rue’s relapse into a twisted ballet — but sometimes that experimentation is erratic and indulgent. Sam Levinson’s direction has an eye, but it lacks skin. There’s no connective tissue outside of the stylization itself. And it isn’t enough to really hold a story together and make it feel lived in. The finale is visually immersive but too chaotic in its narrative for anything to stick.”

‘“Euphoria” Is High on Scorsese’s Supply’ [Vulture]

“Levinson also shares Scorsese’s fondness for voice-over from unreliable narrators, tasking Rue with columns and columns of speedy exposition to keep the unloading of back story kinetic. Levinson constantly indulges in elaborate crane shots of questionable utility; when the ensemble convenes at a carnival for a night of debauchery and drama, Levinson stages an almost ostentatiously complicated shot that careens from ground level into the air and back down to earth, as if for no other reason that to show that he can.”

‘How “Euphoria” is trying to shatter what it means to be a “real girl”’ [Entertainment Weekly]

“If Nate is a definer and protector of femininity and Maddy is a veteran navigator of it, Jules is a disrupter. Like Maddy, Jules recognizes and plays into certain norms, but in her case, it’s more about safety than climbing the social ladder. As a trans girl, Jules has to play ball to minimize backlash that can come with defying binary thinking and living outside the gender binary for people like Cal (Eric Dane) — who displays fear seeing her outside the confines of his motel room — or Nate — who seems to be obsessed with her while also actively trying to destroy her life. Jules doesn’t check off half the things on Nate’s proper girl list, but that means she does check off the other half and that seems to be confusing and infuriating for an abusive and controlling, misogynistic gender essentialist like him.”