This week’s “Euphoria” was its best and darkest episode yet.
We returned to the backstory cold opens in this episode, this week turning towards the Jacobs patriarch Cal (Eric Dane). He had a homoerotic relationship with his best friend in high school, and Cal took every opportunity to look at his best bud’s body: in the locker room (à la his son), in the car, and while the two practiced wrestling. When their friendship culminates with a kiss right before the boys go to college, Cal learns his girlfriend is pregnant. We also learn that Cal genuinely enjoys performing cunnilingus. The whole introduction underscored the show’s obsession with the carnal, and though it was among the better ones the show has offered, it didn’t feel entirely necessary or explanatory of Cal’s adult behavior.
After the cold open, the episode switched right back to (surprise!) Rue on drugs. When her sister Gia (Storm Reid) notices her strange behavior, Rue gives a tutorial (in the style of season one’s ‘dick pic’ tutorial) in how to do drugs and not get caught. It’s an important moment in the episode, because it skillfully cuts between emotionally tense moments between Rue and her immensely concerned sister and the more comedic moments of the ‘tutorial.’ Rue acts out the steps she demonstrates, but her experience proves it’s not nearly as easy as she makes it out to be. When she chooses marijuana as her “cover drug,” she and Gia get in an emotional and physical argument about Rue’s unbelievable selfishness. As part of her “gaslight” step, she confesses to Gia that drugs are the only thing that keep her suicidal thoughts away. The whole scene is the jarring emotional roller coaster we’ve come to expect from “Euphoria,” but it’s navigation of two extremes makes it all the more effective.
In that same scene, something rather significant happens in that Rue acknowledges that she is a character in a television show. Television is an escapist medium, she argues, but “Euphoria” doesn’t offer the hope viewers might be craving, especially in Rue. It’s a moment of desperately needed self-awareness, but it also highlights the very thesis of the show in combining gritty realities with dreamy visuals. “Euphoria” is fundamentally escapist in its visual appeal, but incredibly sobering in its content. Kudos to creator Sam Levinson and a wickedly talented Zendaya for pulling this whole scene off.
In other meta moment, Levinson addresses Lexi’s “observer” status by portraying her as the showrunner for her own television show (“This Is Life”) in which she is the lead character. It’s almost like those bits from “Scenes from A Marriage,” showing Lexi walking amongst the camera crew and her “set.” As noted in my recap last week, these dream-like sequences are some of my favorite moments in “Euphoria,” so this was a treat.
Thinking back on the episode, there were so many awesome scenes I could write about. I especially liked the moments of friendship between Rue, Jules, and Elliot. Jules interrogates Rue’s new friend to find out if he has a crush on her, and he throws it right back by asking about her sexual history (a “whore”) and gender identity (“most trans girls don’t wear binders”). The lighting is perfect, and the banter between the three actors flows incredibly naturally and their chemistry is magnificent. Hunter Schafer in particular keeps proving herself to be a force of nature, and this episode was one of her best.
These neat scenes were punctuated by the overwhelming darkness of the episode. It seems Rue’s new drug of choice is heroin, and she decides the best way to easily get more heroin and more money is to pay Laurie, the drug lord from two episodes ago, a visit. I hear “Euphoria” get criticism for its unbelievability a lot, and I think that criticism fails to recognize the point of the show, but this scene was too unbelievable for even me to get on board with. Essentially, a (presumably) sky-high Rue convinces a skilled drug dealer to let her sell a suitcase full of drugs on her behalf. I’m not familiar with the drug world, but it seems like a stretch at the very least.
Anyway, Rue brings the suitcase to her NA meeting, and her sponsor Ali disapproves. He’s desperate to help her, but her ad hominem attacks, specifically referencing Ali’s history as an abuser, make her incredibly frustrating to help. In an episode filled to the brim with emotionally charged, brilliantly acted scenes, Colman Domingo’s work stands out here. As he walks away from her, Rue’s fate is more or less sealed, at least for now. Rue slips into the fentanyl-induced abyss shortly after, and there’s no hope of her recovery.
This episode was easily the best this season and, I would argue, one of the best overall. The cold open set up a focus on the body and, more importantly, characters’ relationships with their bodies. Of course, it was the acting that really made this episode so successful, and I look forward to more stellar performances in the coming weeks.
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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 !