I’ve watched plenty of television shows in my life, but few stick with me as much as ‘Euphoria’ seems to do. And I’d consider Season Two of ‘Euphoria’ another example of that feeling.

It’s messy. It’s icky. Sometimes, characters fall in and out of grace with me. But this show is the first I’ve seen where it doesn’t apologize for that.

And that’s why the show, and Season Two, works for me.

‘Euphoria’, the hit HBO series starring Zendaya, Hunter Schafer, Sydney Sweeney, Jacob Elordi and others, centers around the typical and way out-of-the-ordinary drama of high school in the modern age – with sex, drugs and controversy around every corner.

Season Two of the popular series picks up a few months after the plot of Season One, where Jules (Hunter Schafer) and Rue (Zendaya) are still trying to be together in a relationship that shall we say is less than stable.

Rue is a drug addict and feels she needs them to properly function and deal with the death of her father. Jules sees Rue as someone who can love her and be there for her physically and emotionally like no one ever has.

The best part of this relationship? It’s real.

No, Zendaya and Hunter Schafer aren’t dating in real life, but ‘Euphoria’ is all about the underbelly of what most media shows you in this time of life. Not every relationship ends with marriage and a smooth plotline.

With difficult themes like sexual abuse, drug addiction, relationship violence and grief, ‘Euphoria’ shows their relationship in a raw and messy light from the jump this season. Rue and Jules can’t see eye to eye on what is best for each other and end up splitting up after Jules discovers Rue didn’t stay clean after returning from rehab.

And while Zendaya is the biggest name in the show’s cast, the plot doesn’t just focus on her issues. Honestly, Season Two of ‘Euphoria’ could kind of be characterized as the “Cassie Howard Show, featuring Rue.”

That’s how this season was told, and I wasn’t as big of a fan of it. Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) falls in love with the abusive and insane Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi) for no reason this season and cuts herself off from her friend group. This season, Cassie goes off the deep end and enters a sexual relationship with Nate, who just so happened to be the long-time boyfriend of Cassie’s best friend Maddy (Alexa Demie).

Yeah, Cassie essentially signed her own death certificate if you’re familiar with this show’s dynamics.

And this whole season, the writers tease this huge confrontation between them and it never comes. I like this season a lot, but that was a waste of time.

Even in the finale, we get a 30 second fight and then we don’t cut back to them until the final six minutes of the show. What was the point of this drama? Well for one, it made for spicy television. And two, it set up nicely for season three.

Without getting into heavy spoilers, Season Two ends with a bang and showed me why I care so much about the show and its characters. While I enjoyed Season One more, I certainly appreciated this season taking a new approach in how characters interacted with each other and how the relationship dynamics of the previous season were flipped over.

To say I’m excited for Season Three would be an understatement. Let’s hope it’s not another two-year wait.