After a season filled with loss, difficult choices, broken relationships, and characters desperately trying to find a sense of purpose in their lives, Euphoria Season 3 reaches its conclusion with Episode 8, titled “In God We Trust.” In the season finale, Sam Levinson brings together the emotional journeys of several major characters while continuing the show’s exploration of addiction, identity, power, faith, and the pursuit of happiness.
Rather than focusing solely on shocking twists or dramatic confrontations, the episode spends much of its time examining where these characters now stand after everything they have endured throughout the season. Some are forced to confront the consequences of their actions, while others struggle with grief, regret, and the lingering impact of past decisions.
At the same time, the season 3 finale raises larger questions about the idea of the American Dream and whether the endless pursuit of validation, success, control, or freedom can ever truly lead to fulfilment. By the end of the episode, Euphoria delivers a reflective chapter that looks at what people choose to chase in life and what they ultimately lose in the process.
In this article, I will break down Euphoria (Season 3 Finale) Episode 8, explaining how Sam Levinson chose to bring closure to his characters and if they were able to attain their wild American dream, finally, like they imagined one day they would. Please note that there are major spoilers throughout the article.
Euphoria (Season 3 Finale) Episode 8 ‘In God We Trust’ Recap:
Why does Wayne run away with Faye?
The episode picks up from the moment Faye screams to wake Wayne with Rue inside their room. As Wayne wakes up and realises the situation, he tries to pick up his gun, but Rue knocks Faye unconscious and hits Wayne’s leg using a wrench and tries to escape. However, Wayne has already alerted his team about Rue, and as he tries to catch her, Rue somehow manages to get away. Just when Rue thinks she is safe, Harley chases her on horseback using a lasso and drags her to the ground. However, G, who had been watching everything from a distance, shoots at Harley, allowing both him and Rue to flee.
Meanwhile, we see Maddy and Cassie at a diner, completely shocked and scared after what happened to Nate. At one point, Maddy asks Cassie what she would do, to which Cassie goes to her side and tells her that they will figure it out together. Back at Alamo’s, Rue impresses her boss, and he congratulates her with money. He even tells her to take the week off and hands her a pill for the pain to recover from her injuries. On the other hand, when Faye tells Wayne that the drugs are laxatives, he realises that Laurie’s place has been a setup. He senses the danger and flees with Faye before things turn worse.
Why does Laurie kill herself?
Soon after, as Laurie waits for the delivery van from Mexico to arrive at her place, the crew senses that the DEA has surrounded them from all corners. Just as the delivery van with Big Eddy comes in, the enforcement team barges in to arrest everyone. While the crew gives up and gets arrested, Laurie panics and goes up on the roof and hangs herself to avoid going to prison. As the DEA agents check the ambulance van, surprisingly, they do not find anything. It turns out that Bishop, who had accompanied Big Eddy discreetly, had driven the original pickup truck to Alamo’s place.
How does Rue die?
The next day, we find Rue at Ali’s house, where she learns about Fezco’s escape from the correctional facility. She immediately reacts to the news, and despite Ali’s warning, she leaves to pick him up as promised. As she drives and looks for Fez frantically at all the places he could possibly be, she somehow manages to end up in the house she grew up in. Once she lets herself inside the house, she finds her mother reading the Bible. Rue approaches her mother, and the two embrace, leading to a very emotional moment between the mother and daughter. It feels like Rue had been looking for this connection forever but just didn’t know how to act on it. However, the next moment reveals that the scene was only a dream. We then see Ali waking up the following day and discovering Rue dead on the couch. Devastated, he checks the pills next to her on the table and, after testing them using a drug-testing device, finds out that the pill contained fentanyl. It turns out that Rue died from an overdose. Ali then calls Rue’s mother and passes on the sad news to her.
Are Cassie and Maddy still together?
The story jumps ahead a few months, and we see Cassie and Maddy now living together in the house where Nate and Cassie lived together. We find out that Cassie and Maddy work together, and the two use the house to help some of the girls by giving them a place to stay in exchange for room and board while taking a certain percentage of their income. Cassie even asks Lexi to work with them and help them write stories that can profit them further, but Lexi politely declines. We then see Maddy getting ready and Cassie taking out a wad of cash from the safe deposit, putting it in an envelope, and handing it over to Maddy, who tells her not to wait for her as Bishop drives her to Alamo’s.
Why does Ali decide to stop going to his meetings?
We also find out that Cassie and Maddy have not shared a word about Nate’s fate with a single soul, as Lexi asks if Nate is ever going to come back. The conversation between Cassie and Lexi then turns to Rue as Lexi shares that she has a lot of guilt about the things left unresolved between her and Rue before her death. Briefly, we also see Jules at her place still living with the married man. As she paints a portrait of Rue, we see her grieving silently. Ali, on the other hand, struggles the most with Rue’s death. During his last AA meeting, he declares that he no longer believes in any faith, and Rue’s death pains him the most. The next thing we see is Ali taking out his gun and preparing to meet Alamo.
Euphoria (Season 3 Finale) Episode 8 ‘In God We Trust’ Ending Explained:
How does Ali avenge Rue’s death?
At Alamo’s club, Bishop brings Maddy to Alamo, who later shares with her that he just had an epiphany. He reflects that all his life he thought he controlled women, but somehow always felt that he was not in control. He then takes Maddy to a private room and suggests that he is old and now wants to finally live his best American dream. He proposes that Maddy marry him and have kids with him. However, their conversation is cut short when Ali enters the club asking to meet Alamo. Initially, G tries to calm the situation, but when Ali hands him the pills that caused Rue’s overdose, things turn nasty. Ali shoots G instantly when he doesn’t serve his purpose, leading Alamo to take charge.
Why did Bishop betray Alamo?
Seeing Ali with a gun, Alamo puts Maddy in front of him to protect himself. However, when Alamo thinks Ali is not going to back down, he explains how he is going to kill him. When Alamo asks who sent him looking for him, Ali mentions Rue’s name, and the two decide to settle business with a duel. However, Alamo doesn’t realise that he has already been set up when Bishop handed him an empty gun. As the duel begins, Alamo has no way to defend himself, and before he can finish his words to Bishop for betraying him, Ali shoots him in the chest three times.
What happens in the end of Euphoria Season 3?
As Ali leaves, Maddy sits quietly, reflecting on how she is no longer under Alamo’s control as Bishop takes her home. The story moves forward, and we find Ali visiting the house of the Christian family Rue had taken shelter with at the beginning of Season 3. He introduces himself to the family members as Rue’s father and joins them for dinner. The ending of Euphoria (Season 3 Finale) shows that right before dinner, he offers a prayer in remembrance of Rue’s memory, thus ending the episode.
Even after escaping Laurie, can Wayne and Faye ever change?
In the end, we see Wayne and Faye finally reaching a point in their run where Faye finds a kind family willing to offer her a lift. But Wayne, being himself, pulls out a gun, and we know the two are only going to do something stupid instead of leading a safe life ahead, even though they have managed to get out of Laurie’s corrupt world.
Why does Jules seek validation?
On the other hand, Jules, who seems like a sensible person, never really takes a stand for herself and ends up becoming a textbook version of someone trapped in narcissism, making tall claims about doing something substantial with their life but never actually being able to do so because they fear they will never receive the validation they seek. In Jules’ case, she constantly seeks male validation, even though she could easily turn her life around for the better as a talented artist.
Are Cassie and Maddy really free?
Cassie and Maddy, at the same time, continue to spend time with each other as they find an odd kind of comfort in their friendship, mostly because of their shared connection with Nate before and after his death. While they are deeply trapped in the realities of the Americanisation of independent young women and how exploitative their lives have become, they still have each other to rely on since the worst has already happened to them. Their decision not to speak about what happened to Nate is another example of how men and their misogynistic influence continue to shape women’s lives even when they are no longer around.
Was Nate a victim of privilege?
While it is sad that Nate had to die this season because of his poor life choices and inability to take control of his own life, his character arc also reflects the privilege of being a white man in America, someone born with a silver spoon but lacking the ability or skills to truly work their way up in life, ultimately facing the consequences of their actions. This is why Maddy and Cassie’s situations become stronger in comparison because, in the end, they are the ones who continue making a living, even if it comes through exploiting themselves. Yet again, the promise of the American Dream ends up ruining them in its own way.
Will Rue’s death define Lexi?
Lexi, on the other hand, may have finally found herself moving forward professionally, but she now has to live with the guilt that she never made things right with Rue before her death. Even though it is not really her fault, because addiction often blurs the line between imagination and reality for those struggling with it, Lexi still feels that, despite Rue trying hard in the end, there was a part of her that never truly believed in Rue because of her history with addiction.
Did Bishop see Alamo’s downfall?
Bishop’s character comes out even stronger in the end because of his faith in God. It seems like he knew Alamo’s end was near, and he was only a catalyst in Ali’s revenge for Rue’s death. Bishop had seen multiple times how Alamo ruined people’s lives because of his ego and his refusal to back down whenever women challenged his control, even if it meant steering his life in a more positive direction. Bishop also trusted Maddy because of her wise and bold approach to life, and this is probably why he chose to betray Alamo. He knew Alamo was exploiting her purely for his own ego.
Was Ali trying to save himself?
Ali’s character is the one who takes centre stage in the ending of Season 3, and that works strongly because he has been the most important figure in Rue’s life throughout her battle with addiction. Time and time again, he was the one who helped her believe in herself. It almost feels as if he was trying to save himself whenever he felt like he was drowning from not being able to save young people from drug overdoses. When Rue’s death, caused by Alamo, finally happened, it completely tore him apart because he knew Rue was beginning to put herself back together and become stronger.
Is the American Dream addictive?
In many ways, the show’s ending suggests that addiction is not just about substance abuse. It is also about addiction to life choices driven by ego, power, money, fame, and control. The American Dream constantly pushes people to chase something, and in doing so, it often comes at the cost of life itself. It damages not only the person chasing it but also the lives of everyone around them. There is never really an end to that pursuit.
As the season finale comes to an end, we hear Rue’s narration saying, “Long live America,” while an American flag waves outside the Christian family’s property, where Ali finally visits. In a way, it feels like Ali is saying goodbye to Rue, who had become completely drawn to the simplicity of their lives, lives where there was nothing to chase and no endless ambition to pursue, only the act of living life as it comes.
