“The show has lost the zeitgeist” ★★☆☆☆

Four years later, the provocative HBO drama is back, with the return of Zendaya, Jacob Elordi and Sydney Sweeney. But unfortunately, “it’s become a series that doesn’t have much to say.”

Of all the twists you might have expected in the (rumored) third and final season of Euphoria, turning Rue’s (Zendaya) story into a neo-Western tale — driving through the desert, walking past a real weed, working for a boss in a cowboy hat and carrying a golden gun — probably wasn’t at the top of anyone’s guess list. This is just one of the many turns that might make you say, “Huh? Why?”

When the show debuted in 2019, it was provocative and zeitgeist, striking for the matter-of-fact way in which it posited that sex, drugs, and gender fluidity in high school had become cultural norms. Since Season 2 ended, four years ago, Zendaya, Jacob Elordi and Sydney Sweeney have become major movie stars. Although the three comfortably return to their characters after such a long delay, the series has lost the spirit of the times. Euphoria had become a series with very little to say, none of which was very bold or compelling. Based on the three episodes, out of eight, previously made available by HBO, it’s an overwrought attempt to make the closed circle of friends it follows, who are now in their early 20s, somehow different.

It’s easy to see why Zendaya deservedly won two Emmys as Rue, and her performance is perhaps even more surprising today because as her fame has grown, we’ve become accustomed to seeing the actress looking polished and elegant in every public appearance, far from her rambunctious, rumpled persona. Still adrift, Rue struggles with sobriety in Mexico and works to pay off her debt to Lori (Martha Kelly), a drug dealer from the previous season. Zendaya makes Rue compelling even when navigating implausible twists and turns. She moves to Texas and works with a man named Alamo (Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaje) who owns a chain of low-rent strip clubs advertised as “completely nude, always raunchy.”

A very efficient club manager, she distributes drugs to the strippers and keeps an eye on the money. Zendaya is sarcastic and believable as she delivers ridiculous lines like “And that’s how I became a drug mule.” At times, the series references old Western films in dialogue and gunplay, with a tone that is almost satirical but not quite satirical. Sam Levinson, the series’ creator, writer and director, explained the effect, saying that when young people find their way “it feels like the Wild West.” He didn’t have to take that literally. The series struggles to make Rue’s story different than before, yet the paths of Cassie (Sweeney) and Nate (Elordi) are largely the same, wasting the opportunity provided by the time jump. They are engaged and live in a gaudy mansion. He’s more dual than ever, struggling after taking over his father’s construction business, but his character is the most underdeveloped this season so far. Cassie becomes even more corrupt and shallow than she was, insisting on spending $50,000 on flowers for their wedding.