Euphoria is HBO’s newest project made to address realistic problems of high school students, and each week, the show just gets better and better.
Last week’s episode ended with Rue (Zendaya) being forced to try fentanyl by Fez’s (Angus Cloud) supplier, and she ends up in a really bad state. After Jules (Hunter Schafer) helps Rue clean up, she begs Rue to stop doing drugs, and Rue agrees.
Rue, however, is in love with Jules and can’t stand her relationship with ShyGuy118, who happens to be Nate (Jacob Eldori). Though Jules doesn’t know ShyGuy118’s real identity, she is planning to meet up with him soon. Jules’ relationship with ShyGuy118 also prompts one of the most accurate and hilarious lessons about nude male photos, which a lot of women can relate to.
Rue gets frustrated with her feelings for Jules, so after two weeks of being clean, she starts popping pills again. Once she’s sober enough, she comes to tell Jules how nervous it makes her that she’s meeting her online friend in person. Rue and Jules share a really intimate moment with sexual tension you could cut with a knife, and then Rue kisses Jules. Jules, however, does not kiss back, and Rue leaves in a panic.
Falling off the wagon again, Rue heads back to Fez’s place to get more drugs. However, Fez has decided that he will not deal Rue drugs anymore because he cares about her too much. Rue then yells at Fez to try, gets him to open the door and ends up blaming her entire drug addiction on Fez.
“You did this to me, Fez,” Rue said. “You f---ing ruined my life.”
After Fez continues to keep his door shut to Rue, she leaves to call a man she met at her narcotics anonymous meeting, Ali (Colman Domingo), who is the only one that called her out for attending the meetings while using drugs. He’s offered to help her, but Rue has always said no — that is, until her relationships with Jules and Fez went south. She calls Ali and finally asks for the help she truly needs.
“Hey, is this Ali?” Rue said. “This is Rue; I was just calling to see if you still wanted to get pancakes or something.”
Meanwhile, the episode spends a lot of time focusing on Kat’s (Barbie Ferreira) backstory. In last week’s episode, Kat discovered that her leaked sex tape was actually a great way to make money. This week, she decides she’s going to monetize her sexuality by owning who she is and the way she looks, which she’s always been uncomfortable with. It’s an empowering moment for Kat, and she ends up making some good money out of it, too, after finding a man to be her sugar daddy for simply messaging and Skyping him.
It’s revealed in the episode that Jules, like the actress who portrays her, is transgender, and the episode tackles transphobia along with the refreshing open-mindedness of some people. The episode also talks about the spectrum of sexuality, and how it’s not simply black and white.
This week’s episode is really well done with interesting camerawork that provides multiple perspectives and a captivating way for the audience to view the story. Plus, the music for the episode, done by singer-songwriter Labrinth, helps supplement the important issues the episode addresses.
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Euphoria airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on HBO.
