This week, “Euphoria” dealt in fantasy.
Instead of the traditional character backstory cold open, episode two showed a badly wounded Nate (Jacob Elordi) dreaming of his newly discovered love, Cassie (Sydney Sweeney). It then transitions to a discussion of why he’s as evil and insane as he is via a montage of his most dramatic screams and emotional moments. If it’s some attempt to make the viewer feel sorry for him, it sort of works, if only for a few brief moments until he’s back performing his usual villainy once again.
The episode then sporadically transitions between the storylines of its main characters.
Rue (Zendaya) and Jules (Hunter Schafer) are now in a relationship, even though Rue named her as the cause of her relapse. Jules seems ignorant of the fact that Rue is still on drugs, even though Zendaya is just short of slurring her speech with every line. She’s also jealous of Rue’s new friend (and drug buddy), Elliot (Dominic Fike), who clearly has a crush on her.
Cassie deals with the consequences of her actions, specifically, hooking up with her best friend’s ex-boyfriend, and Maddy (Alexa Demie) wants to get back together with said ex-boyfriend.
Rue shows up to NA high, and her trusty sponsor Ali (Colman Domingo) notices and threatens to tell Rue’s mom. Ali is one of the best and most underutilized characters in the show – his presence is at once witty and clever while grounding the show in much needed reality.
But if “Euphoria” is a contest in acting, which by no means it is, Barbie Ferreira wins this week as Kat, dealing with the reality that she’s not actually in love with her seemingly perfect boyfriend Ethan (Austin Abrams). In one sequence, she fantasizes that as Ethan is about to make sweet love to her, a Dothraki-esque hunk emerges from the bathroom (having Tarantino-style murdered Ethan), and the pair have loud, Dothraki-esque sex. In another dream sequence, in which she’s wondering what must be wrong with her that she can’t love Ethan, a horde of scantily clad self-help women shout cliches at her before erupting into a chorus of “love yourself!” Her frustration is palpable, and Ferreira’s comedy work creates the best moments of the episode.
These hyperbolic fantasy sequences are one of the show’s best features. Last season, there are two that come to mind immediately: when Rue taught a tutorial on how to send appropriate dick pics, and when led a manic ‘90s crime movie “investigation” over the Nate/Jules/Tyler situation. It’s nice to see them being put to good use and with other characters. The first one this episode, in the Nate-centric cold open, looked like softcore arthouse pornography with lighting harsh enough to white-out the screen, preventing anything too scandalous from happening.
Sure, it was a bit much, but would the point have been made as well without it? Set to a narration of how Nate was madly in love with Cassie, this sequence proved it was only about her body and his possessive lust. He wanted to own her and her body, as evidenced by his fantasy of a pregnant Cassie by his poolside. Similarly, would Kat’s frustration with her gentle boyfriend be expressed as well if a muscular sword-bearing man had not emerged from her bathroom in a cloud of smoke? Perhaps not. But it’s fun to see it all unfold in the way it does.
My largest issue, or perhaps question, about this episode is (surprise!) its lack of focus. What the show does so well seems to also be its greatest weakness: it successfully enters the mindset of its Gen Z characters, but in doing so picks up their miniscule attention spans. This technique, of jumping between characters and storylines on a whim, is certainly effective, but I don’t know if I like it. I suppose I’m still yearning for the days of the special episodes, but it’s clear those days are long gone. I fear at the end of each episode I’ll write this same paragraph.
Of course, it’s worth mentioning that almost every aspect of the show is supremely well done – makeup and cinematography are the obvious, but in this episode especially the fast-paced editing was a standout. Perhaps my general queasiness has more to do with the fact that it feels too well done for a show about high schoolers. But there’s no denying “Euphoria” holds your attention and leaves you wanting more.
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Emmy is a big fan of all things TV and movies. Among her current favorites are The Matrix, Midsommar, Titane, and Fleabag. Catch her on Letterboxd @ewenstrup !
