![]() What we actually see is remorseless manipulation, as Rue tries to hide her relapse from Gia. ![]() In her mind, lying and gaslighting is a kind of well-planned heist, a thrilling ruse made light with a wink to the camera. For all of its lack of subtlety, the contrast between Rue’s eccentric guide to “getting away with being a drug addict” and how she puts those instructions into practice speaks to how far she’s fallen. The callback to the dick-pic lesson from last year is a shameless piece of fan service, but it also has its purpose. But Rue’s scenes are the saving grace of this episode. This is all to say that “Ruminations: Big and Little Bullys” is indicative of this season’s primary issues that are beginning to surface: the preoccupation with unnecessary details, the stagnant pacing, the imbalance of time spent with each character. Again and again, we see that Cassie simply wants to be loved, but it’s also mildly infuriating that Sam Levinson apparently doesn’t know how to write her if she’s not attached to a man. In the end, her efforts amount to nothing, as Nate cancels their weekly date to make up with Maddy. What was first a careful, intricate routine escalates to pure desperation. But Nate won’t even give her the satisfaction of his gaze, let alone attraction, and the more he ignores her, the more she craves his attention. to shower, shave, and gua sha herself to doll-like perfection. It has the vibe of me in college struggling to meet the word count and opening so I can make the exact same point with more sophisticated synonyms.Ĭassie is too occupied with getting Nate to like her to notice Lexi’s play. The scenes are different, but the message is the same: she’s passive and wants to change. It’s a ridiculously fun reprieve from her angst, but the issue is … we saw this last week. It’s immediately followed by a mockumentary sequence where Lexi explains the play she’s writing, an autobiographical story following the perpetual outsider living in her sister’s shadow. “She was an observer that’s who she was.” So in a meta twist, Lexi storms out of her house onto a film set where she is the multi-hyphenate filmmaker asserting control of her narrative. “Lexi realized there was a reason she never tried to intervene before,” Rue’s voiceover says. Meanwhile, Lexi has an epiphany after the run-in with Cal at Fez’s work. Knowing Euphoria, it won’t be long before this friendship stops being platonic. They joke and share secrets, but there’s also the simmering tension with the awareness that they’re all kind of attracted to each other. (Rue and Jules running away to have sex afterward feels like retaliation against Elliot’s suggestion that they aren’t affectionate.) Despite the awkwardness, it’s a moment that lays the foundation for this trio’s new friendship. But part of me just also really misses Jules, who only functions now as Rue’s girlfriend.Ĭautious of Elliot, she questions him about his intentions with Rue but remains evasive when asked about her own relationship. Part of me understands that’s just the ebb and flow of storytelling, that some characters have to be sidelined to let others flourish. While certain characters have taken precedence (Rue, Lexi, and, I hate to say it, Cal), others have had a major downgrade in screen time (Jules, Kat, Maddy). Now that the framework is gone, the show is a meandering mess. The structure of last season gave Euphoria a sense of focus, allocating a good amount of time to each character’s story. The only difference is that Cal’s repression has a paper trail while dating apps have given Nate the luxury of staying anonymous.Ĭal’s segment is just the latest development to indicate Euphoria has stretched itself so thin that it can’t handle its ensemble anymore. Cal and Nate are actually a lot alike as broken men weighed down by what’s expected of them. But by observing Cal, there’s something to be said about how adolescence today isn’t wholly unique. For better and for worse, Euphoria has always been a show about teenagers today and how modernity is a corrupting force in one’s coming of age. But this is the longest backstory yet that devotes far too much time to the idea that teenagers have always had the same hopes and dreams and desires. Just as he gets a taste of the life he could have, his trajectory is irrevocably shifted. But before he can soak in the joy, Marsha tells him she’s pregnant. After graduation, the pair sneak off to a gay bar where they share a kiss on the dance floor. This is the year he meets a freewheeling Marsha who teaches him the power of cunnilingus, but it’s also the year he falls for his best friend, Derek. A good quarter(!) of the episode is dedicated to his senior year of high school - a bloated flashback that revels in the nostalgia of open-top car rides, skinny-dipping, and first love. Please indulge me in my bitterness about the Cal cold open.
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