With the last episode of Euphoria being a blur of Rue on the run and blowing up everything in almost every character’s life including her own, this week’s episode brought some time for everyone to cool off and allowed for a lot of this season’s questions to be answered.
The episode opens with a scene of Rue sitting at her kitchen table struggling to open a cherry Jolly Rancher, which represents Rue’s current struggle in withdrawal. The first ten minutes demonstrate everything Rue is going through in her journey through withdrawal, it shows the true raw effects of being an addict, and how difficult for your mind and body to go through withdrawal is. I think that these scenes were extremely defining for the development of Euphoria. A lot of people think that Euphoria glorifies the use of strong narcotics, but it’s completely the opposite. This episode really highlighted that.
Rue decides to call Ali, her sponsor in NA, to apologize to him after what she said to him in episode two. Ali happily forgives her and comes over later that night to cook dinner for Rue and her family. I think in order for Rue to really get clean she’s going to need Ali, and it was really important for her to gain his forgiveness.
The next couple of scenes elaborate more on the aftermath of Rue blurting out that Cassie has been having secret encounters with Maddy’s ex-boyfriend, Nate. This episode was long-awaited as fans grew more and more anxious each week to whether Maddy would find out or not. Although the scene was less climatic than fans thought it would be, it still left us all with our jaws on the floor. The scene was short and sweet, but also insanely shocking, giving everyone a week to recover from it.
Rue continues to be on the run, desperately trying to find somewhere to hide out, and eventually finds herself at Laurie’s house, Fez’s supplier, as her last option. This leads to a scary series of events that has spooked viewers since. But it ends in Rue escaping and eventually returning home.
This episode had so much packed into it I’m honestly glad there was a week-long wait for the next episode because it gives everyone time to process what just happened and prepare for the next Sunday night’s crazy events. Delaney out.
