‘Euphoria’ Season 3 Kills Off Major Character In Game Changing Death

Alexa Demi as Maddy Perez in Euphoria season 3

Photograph by Eddy Chen/HBO

Spoilers ahead for Euphoria season 3 episode 7

It took seven episodes, but Euphoria season 3 finally revealed the purpose of Nate’s (Jacob Elordi) storyline in “Rain or Shine.” All season he’s been trying to pay off his debt to Naz (Jack Topalian) but failing spectacularly at doing so. In his effort, he lost his pinky toe, his finger, and then ultimately his life though it wasn’t the Armenian funeral products salesman that laid him low.

But it seems Nate’s plot had less to do with him and more to do with how it’ll affect Maddy’s (Alexa Demie) life moving forward. Maddy made a deal with Alamo (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agba) to save Cassie’s life, and by extension Nate, however it all turned out to be for not.

Now Maddy’s on the hook with the man who was supposed to be her business partner at a time when she’s been fired from her PR job and Cassie’s starting over on OnlyFans. She needs a way out and Rue (Zendaya) maybe the one who gets her from under Alamo’s thumb.

How Nate Died on ‘Euphoria’ Season 3

Nate was buried alive as a means of motivating Cassie to pay Naz a $1 million within 72 hours otherwise her husband would die of dehydration.

The problem was that she didn’t have that kind of money, not even a fraction of it since she’d deleted her OnlyFans after landing a part on LA Nights. Though she had gotten it back and accumulated over 100,000 followers thanks to a stunt she pulled connecting her to the show’s star Dylan (Homer Gere), she needed Maddy’s help to save Nate.

Unfortunately, Nate didn’t actually have 72 hours. Naz had buried him in a custom pine coffin at the construction site where Nate’s senior living community Sun Settlers had stalled in development. The coffin had a hole cut into it that fit a tube long enough to provide him with the oxygen he needed and a semblance of hope that someone might hear his cries for help.

But it wasn’t a person that noticed Nate was trapped underground. It was a snake. The reptile slithered its way down the tube. Once he realized what joined him in the coffin, Nate was terrified. But he had no way to help himself and the snake bit him.

By the time Maddy and Cassie got to him, Nate was long dead. His eyes were glassed over and his tongue was swollen. The snake was still laying on his chest.

Nate’s death was anticlimatic after a season worth of watching him fail over and over again to make a life for himself in the business his father Cal (the late Eric Dane) had been so successful in and then be beat and maimed for not being able to pay off his debt.

However, his demise has set-up a situation that could pull Maddy into Rue’s storyline just as the young drug mule turned strip club manager has discovered Alamo makes girls disappear.

Maddy Makes A Deal With The Devil For Cassie

Like Cassie, Maddy didn’t have $1 million. To keep Naz from cutting up Cassie’s face, she went to Alamo for help. But it came with a cost. The request changed their business dynamic. He had her put on a black bathing suit and join him in his hot tub. As he questioned her about the circumstances of her request, he beckoned her closer, the implication being that like his girls, Maddy would have to trade access to her body for what she wants.

They later arrived at the Sun Settlers construction site with what Maddy thought was a bag full of money. She was going to trade it for Cassie and Nate, but Alamo shot Naz instead. His enforcer Artur (Matthew Willig) cut his losses and listened to Alamo when he was told to put his gun down.

Using an excavator, Artur dug Nate’s coffin up. At the same time, Maddy learned that Alamo hadn’t given her the money she asked for. The bag was full of beef. But because she asked for $1 million, and he took a life, she still owes him. He said he’d take 20% of all her future earnings through their business partnership.

To add insult to injury, Nate wound up being dead anyway and now Maddy’s over a million dollars in the hole with Alamo. But there is a silver lining and it all centers on what Lexi (Maude Apatow) told her over the phone about Rue’s ramblings.

Alamo’s Reckoning Is Coming

Though Maddy had laughed off Lexi’s conversation about Rue stating she’s working with the DEA, and told a confused Alamo a bit about it, Rue’s mission is what she needs to get out of this mess.

Rue had thought she was going to find money in Wayne’s (Toby Wallace) safe. But instead there was a hefty stack of driver’s licenses in there, including Angel’s (Priscilla Delgado), Rue’s love interest who’d supposedly ran off from rehab.

Earlier in “Rain or Shine,” Laurie (Martha Kelly) had told Rue that Alamo sells his girls when he’s through with them. But she didn’t know what the queenpin was talking about. Her ignorance to the kind of man Alamo is amused Laurie.

Over the course of Euphoria season 3, it’s been abundantly clear that Rue’s “mentor” is more nefarious than she originally knew. While she’s trying to make amends for the evil she’s participated in, Rue thought she was going to get him and Laurie caught in the act of ferrying drugs across the border. But she’s stumbled into something even worse, human trafficking.

In what may be the series finale, Rue will be in the fight of her life thanks to Faye (Chloe Cherry) sounding the alarm once she learned there wasn’t any money in the safe. Though Rue doesn’t know it, if she succeeds in telling the authorities about Alamo’s trafficking, she’ll not only bring him down, she’ll also free Maddy from his grip as well. Alamo’s worst fear is being played by a woman, and that fear is on track to being realized.

New episodes of Euphoria season 3 air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and stream exclusively on HBO Max. Follow me on Forbes for weekly coverage of the season and news about the business of TV.