*Warning — Spoilers ahead for ‘Euphoria’ season three, episode three*
HBO has continued its legacy of shockingly violent weddings with the latest episode of Euphoria.
After the trailer for Sunday’s highly anticipated installment of season three teased Jacob Elordi’s Nate and Sydney Sweeney’s Cassie bloodied, crying and screaming in their wedding garb, the episode shocked fans with a gruesome ending: the newlywed characters arrive home after their wedding reception to find Nate’s debt collectors waiting to strike. They knock Cassie down and beat Nate to a bloody pulp before chopping off his pinky toe — all while his bride watches and wails in horror.
The brutal nuptials immediately sparked comparisons to Game of Thrones’ iconic Red Wedding episode, which pulled the rug out from under fans with a bloody massacre during season three, ending with several main characters being betrayed and murdered at a wedding feast.
“Haven't seen such a disastrous wedding since The Red Wedding,” one viewer wrote on X. Another agreed: “I thought the red wedding was peak chaotic wedding... then Nate and Cassie said ‘hold my toxic champagne.’”
One person added, “I think Nate & Cassie may have had the most depressing wedding this side of the Red Wedding.”
Another wrote, “Cassie and Nate’s wedding was easily the second most chaotic wedding in television history only after the Red Wedding from GoT.”
While the Red Wedding comparisons ensued, other fans shared that they had been expecting something more along the lines of Succession’s disastrous wedding episodes, one of which ended in vehicular manslaughter, while another tricked fans with promotional trailers before bringing on the game-changing death of Logan Roy during his son’s wedding.
“I was hoping this episode would have the same potential as Connor's wedding in the last season of Succession, but I forgot this is Euphoria,” one complained on X. Another added: “If Sam Levinson thought he can pull off a Succession or GoT type of wedding episode I’m never gonna stop laughing.”
Before the Hans Zimmer-scored episode spiraled into madness, Cassie and Nate’s wedding saw the closest thing to a high school reunion that Sam Levinson’s controversial show has provided so far this season, with Zendaya’s character Rue and Hunter Schafer’s Jules reuniting with Alexa Demie’s Maddy at the over-the-top event, complete with $50,000 floral arrangements and a quickly melting ice sculpture of Nate and Cassie.
The episode also featured the late Eric Dane in his role as Nate’s dad, Cal Jacobs. Dane filmed the scenes after he was diagnosed with ALS, and he died at age 53 in February, before season three of the show premiered.
New episodes of Euphoria season three premiere Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.
