Euphoria: Season 3 Episode 1 – Recap and Review

The show, which gave birth to a handful of this generation’s biggest stars, returns and reinvents itself as an Americana crime drama.

ByAmari Hours Posted on

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Episode 1 “Àndale” Recap and Details

  • Director(s): Sam Levinson
  • Writer(s): Sam Levinson
  • Public Release Date (HBO Max): April 12, 2026
  • Check out more of our “Euphoria” coverage.
  • Images © of HBO

It’s Been A While: Rue, Lexi, Maddy, Nate, Cassie, Laurie, Patty, Dylan, Laurie

It’s been almost 5, going on 6 years, and a lot has happened since then. Lexi works in Hollywood, on this show “L.A. Nights” under a big-name producer, Patty Lance. Nate took over his dad’s business, and while economic factors are keeping him from living off the hog, he has Cassie by his side – still. Granted, she is a hole in his pocket, with desires for $50,000 just for flowers, for their wedding, but he got the girl. One who is willing to go on OnlyFans to get what she wants.

Maddy? She is in similar circles to Lexi. She is a manager of talent like Dylan Reid, who stars in “L.A. Nights,” and while she may not make much money, she is good at her job. Now, you may wonder what about Rue? What about Jules?

Well, Jules isn’t in this episode, but apparently, she is someone’s sugar baby to make ends meet. As for Rue? Well, let’s just say Laurie didn’t forget about Rue’s debt and has been making her work to pay it off for years, with no sign of their arrangement ending in sight.

Is God Lighting My Path Or The Devil With Flames?: Ali, Rue, Laurie, Alamo, Faye, Wayne, Harley, Lexi, Bishop

But as you can imagine, even if Faye is there to keep you company, having to become a drug mule for a monotone psychopath like Laurie isn’t the way you want to spend your 20s. Granted, between her, Wayne, and Harley, alongside Faye, they’ve made a dysfunctional family. But swallowing golf ball-sized bags of fentanyl isn’t fun, and between Lexi and Ali, both push Rue to be or find something better.

Lexi pushes the need for a long-term plan, and Ali? His focus is on Rue’s sobriety, and the topic of God as an anchor is presented. Rue, especially after the life she’s had, isn’t really keen on God. But when all else fails, faith has the potential to bring you happiness. Rue knows this all too well after meeting some Texans who only had their faith, each other, and their homestead, and seemed happy.

But for Rue, lack of internet, weed, and beautiful women doesn’t sound like heaven on Earth. If anything, when Laurie sends Rue to drop off some drugs to a man named Alamo, it was like the Devil sending a demon to the pearly gates. Yes, Bishop, almost as dry as Laurie, didn’t necessarily make Rue feel welcomed. However, as she explored Alamo’s home, saw half-naked women, and even helped one put her top on, while her butt was in Rue’s face, Rue was in heaven.

Add in Alamo was pretty cool, even liked Rue, and really sold his version of the American dream, and Rue wanted to jump ship. But, with the drugs she delivered being laced with Fentanyl, Rue had to prove she wasn’t sent to sabotage Alamo’s establishment by Laurie and that if God sent her, they were on her side. A bullet proved this to be true, and now it seems Rue might get her first real experience with joy through running one of Alamo’s strip clubs.

New Characters in Episode 1

Wayne (Toby Wallace)

  • Character Summary: Wayne is Laurie’s nephew, who is a part of her drug-dealing empire.

Harley (James Landrey Hébert)

  • Character Summary: Harley is Laurie’s brother, who helps her deal drugs but might be looking to get out of the game.

Bishop (Darrell Britt-Gibson)

  • Character Summary: Bishop is Alamo’s gatekeeper who has a similar demeanor to Laurie and seems to hate Rue.

Alamo (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje)

  • Character Summary: A pimp who runs multiple strip clubs in California, all nude, who takes to Rue and sees her as a potential asset to his organization.

Patty (Sharon Stone)

  • Character Summary: Patty is a notable Hollywood producer whom Lexi works under.

Dylan (Homer Gere)

  • Character Summary: Dylan is an actor on the show Lexi and Patty work on, and is one of the clients at Maddy’s job.

Daisy (Jessica Treska)

  • Character Summary: Daisy is the daughter of a religious man whom Rue meets in Texas, who leaves a strong impression on her.

Tish (Emma Kotos)

  • Character Summary: Tish is one of the first of Alamo’s girls that Rue meets, whom she finds herself instantly attracted to – and the feeling might be mutual.

Kurt (Christopher J. Grove)

  • Character Summary: Kurt is a major, maybe Nate’s only investor, regarding building “Sun Settlers,” the retirement community Nate is trying to complete.

Review and Commentary

Highlights

Getting Invested In Small Characters [85/100]

What was incredibly unexpected was not just the shift in tone and visuals, but also how impactful small roles felt on the show. Whether it was one of Alamo’s girls, Tish, whom Rue had a little crush on, or the young lady from the religious family she met in Texas, Daisy, it makes you want to take note of Mary Vernieu, Bret Howe, and Jessica Kelly’s names just as you would Zendaya’s, Jacob Elordi’s, or Alexa Demie’s. For their eye for talent, even if Sam Levinson often gets the credit, is remarkable.

The Genre Shift Is A Welcomed Change [84/100]

Like many, I was unsure what Euphoria could do, if it should come back, and if it ever did, where would it go? The shift to being an Americana crime drama type of show, thus far, seems like the best thing they could have done. For as Euphoria goes from teenage excess, the push that you are invincible, the world is your oyster, to hitting us with the reality of a dream deferred, it’s just a perfect shift.

Whether you’re talking about Cassie and her beauty not affording her a way out, but almost a lateral move where she isn’t rich and living a façade to Maddy having access to fame, but her check being paltry? It all feels like a giant wake-up call.

Mind you, not always in the worst way. Lexi going from that dramatic play to working on some nighttime soap, being given subtle praise, and making a name for herself, is the rare case of the dream realized. It is that silver lining we all so badly want that represents the sacrifices, the times you bit your tongue, kept your head down, and waited on that opportunity; it can be worth it.

Heck, I would even throw Rue’s situation in there. From the challenge of needing something to believe in when humanity offers you so little, to looking for signs from any place or person imaginable that God hasn’t forsaken you? That there is some plan for your existence beyond suffering? What we’re getting with this new season feels like Sam Levinson, to give him some positive comments, trying to deconstruct the American Dream, and reconstruct its pieces from the shredded contract past generations left in the trash bin.

On The Fence

Cassie and Nate [74/100]

For the majority of characters, they have a trajectory that is easy to get into. You want to see Lexi and Maddy’s careers in Hollywood and entertainment progress. Rue? Between her journey to find God, even in the most unlikely of places, get from under Laurie’s thumb, and maybe find happiness being Alamo’s protégé? There is something there you can imagine enjoying for eight episodes.

Cassie and Nate don’t have that. What we’re given with Cassie is nothing more than the tease of seeing what you likely already have from Sydney Sweeney. Not an arc, progress, something akin to a notable new chapter, but the same thing we’ve been offered with a new backdrop.

Then, with Nate, as much as taking over his father’s business means something new for him, I think being tied to Cassie is dragging him down. That, and it doesn’t feel like he is set up to go on an adventure you want to join him in. Struggling to convince Kurt, an investor, to finance him building a retirement home? Watching Nate deal with government bureaucracy? What’s the appeal here?

To me, with how things are presented with Nate and Cassie, assuming the show returns to focusing on one or two characters an episode, I hope they get them out of the way quickly. For right now, it feels like having Elordi and Sweeney benefits the marketing of the show far more than the substance of it.

Overall

Our Overall Rating [81/100]

Euphoria may not return in the grandest fashion, but considering how early reviews were painting this show, I think many, including myself, were expecting something far worse. But, outside of uninspiring storylines for Nate and Cassie, I would submit Euphoria has potential to reinvent itself in ways that could make this one of the better seasons of the show.

Even if Sam Levinson continues to try to forge a career out of taking inspiration from John Waters’ work, while utilizing the kind of budget Waters was never given. Perhaps for good reason.

What To Check Out Next

Visit our main TV shows page! There you’ll find other shows we’ve covered, or look below for more of our coverage for this series:

TV Shows We’re Covering This Season

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