A character’s violent end was designed to intensify fear and disgust through extreme, anxiety-inducing imagery. The creator aimed to satisfy audience desires for karma while making the outcome so horrific that viewers might doubt they wanted it. The sequence combined multiple forms of suffering, including bodily harm, confinement, and a venomous threat, escalating phobias and emotional reactions. The character was widely viewed as abusive and irredeemable, yet moments of humanity were emphasized to complicate moral judgment. The final outcome was framed as a grim comeuppance that followed years of toxic behavior and audience expectations.
"“There's this kind of funny thing where I know what the audience wants in terms of justice or karma and with that in mind, I always think, 'Well, how can I give it to them?'” “How can I give them what they want, but make it so horrific and anxiety-inducing that by the time it happens, the audience isn't so sure they wanted it?”"
"Between having a finger and and toe cut off, being buried alive, and then thrashing inside his coffin with a venomous rattler, the demise of Jacob Elordi's Nate Jacobs compounded phobia upon phobia. The outspoken fans/haters of Euphoria have long wanted the selfish, controlling, and abusive Nate to get what's coming to him. Well... be careful what you wish for, people."
"Levinson says he knew from the get-go that Nate was finished this season, and after all the grief Elordi's character unleashed over the years with his own domineering toxicity, there was no question that it would be a bad end. The fans largely saw Nate as deplorable and irredeemable, prone to anger and violence, but throughout this season Levinson muddied the moral waters by repeatedly highlighting flashes of his humanity. It was all a setup for the grim suffering that unfolded onscreen tonight."
Read at Esquire
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