Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Euphoria Season 2.
Television’s most tweeted about show that the internet couldn't get enough of, Euphoria, came to a close on Sunday with a conclusion that was explosive while still being as messy as it has always been. It marked an end to a season that had some high points, such as another Emmy-worthy performance from lead Zendaya, while also having some very low points such as how Barbie Ferreira’s Kat got almost completely abandoned out of nowhere for no discernable reason. However, there was still hope that the season finale could find some way to stick the landing without losing sight of its characters. After all this time in creator Sam Levinson’s world, there must have been some sort of ending he had in mind that would tie this all up in a compelling fashion, right?
Unfortunately, that was not to be. Instead, the season ended with enough loose plotlines to knit a sweater out of. In many cases, story elements were completely abandoned from the finale such as what happened to Martha Kelly’s unsettling Laurie who Rue still owes money to. That connects to one of the most disappointing and lackluster elements which was the untimely end that befell the show’s most troubled duo: drug dealers Fezco (Angus Cloud) and Ashtray (Javon 'Wanna' Walton). They'd become more fully developed characters over the course of this season, making us collectively wish they could find a better path in the future. This comes after both were left to fend for themselves, meaning they had to become brothers who had each others’ backs no matter what. Regrettably, that was completely abandoned in a series of blunt escalations that prioritized spectacle over substance in this final episode.
It all begins as a tense scene where Fezco becomes aware that Custer (Tyler Chase) is recording him as part of a sting operation after being tipped off by Faye (Chloe Cherry) who initially tries to shift the focus to Laurie. Unaware of this is Ashtray who proceeds to impulsively stab Custer despite Fezco trying to stop him. From there forward, everything hits the fan as the police enter the home. Fezco was going to try to take the fall for the killing of Custer in order to save Ashtray. Unfortunately, and inexplicably, the young kid instead locks himself in the bathroom with all the guns he has in the house for one final stand-off. Ashtray ends up shooting a police officer, Fezco gets caught in the middle, and Ashtray then gets shot and killed himself. It is an extreme scene with a plethora of gunfire drowning out almost everything in order to prioritize the calamity of the shootout.
What gets lost is any understanding of what motivated Ashtray to act as he did or if there were any final things he wanted to say to Fezco, the brother who practically raised him, before going down like this. It all becomes about finding a reason to get to an explosive and shocking scene, losing sight of who any of these characters were up until they were gunned down. Ashtray has no lines of dialogue over this entire episode, rendering his death scene one where audiences have to attempt to scrape together some sort of meaning about what actually took place. Yes, it is clear that both characters are traumatized by the upbringing they have had and only know a life that has been primarily defined by violence.
It is another thing entirely to then have Ashtray make a series of underdeveloped, out-of-character decisions that go beyond rash into being lazy writing. The kid was violent and beaten down by the world, yes. But he wasn't foolish, though the story had to be written to make him be so in order to justify this shootout. As a result of this, the audience is left completely in the dark about Ashtray’s state of mind. The scene just becomes about being chaos for the sake of chaos without any deeper underpinnings to give it weight. It, like much of the show, becomes so hopelessly rushed that it ends up feeling shallow. There is a good story hidden within many of these scenes, though it requires looking far too hard to find it. What is actually there is a mishmash of uncertainty that disguises itself by throwing everything at the wall in the hope something sticks.
This isn’t to say a beloved character's death coming unexpectedly in a show is always going to be a bad thing. Quite the opposite, it is quite interesting to kill your characters off as it can be a powerful way to establish stakes in the story. However, it is another thing entirely to have it be done in such a forced and hackneyed way that it undercuts any emotional investment that could be felt. This is only made worse by the fact that none of the other characters even acknowledge that something bad happened despite the fact that the show seemed to have done a time jump into the future. Wouldn’t Lexi (Maude Apatow) have some sort of reflection on what happened after Fezco never showed up at her play? Apparently not, as the person she shared the most with is promptly made to exit stage right.
It all represents an unceremonious end for Ashtray and, potentially, Fezco as well that speaks to the show’s greater narrative problems that have made this season a near disaster. The show only barely has a handle on how it writes its characters and this scene represents this problem at its worst. For Ashtray to die and potentially even kill his brother, Fezco, in such a scattershot manner is a baffling narrative direction to take. To have the fate of the drug dealer with a heart of gold left on a superficial cliffhanger like this can't be taken as anything but a sign of the show’s lack of care it puts into building strong narrative throughlines. It is highly possible Fezco could be dead, meaning this final tiresome scene may be his last.
For all the excesses to be found in throwing in such a sudden shootout that feels lifted from any number of far better movies, such a scene feels oddly hollow and underdeveloped. Though, of course, the finale just had to spend time on an uninterrupted acoustic song. It is in these instances where Euphoria shows how it is glaringly unable to prioritize character development when it desperately needs to. It ends up making it into a show whose moments of brilliance are almost immediately dulled by the overwhelming moments of mediocrity that Fezco and Ashtray have now become the most recent casualties of.
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