HBO’s Euphoria is a hit today with Gen Z. First off, it has Zendaya. ZENDAYA. Zendaya’s acting in this series is some of her best work, which adds to the success of the show. Oh, and there are other actors too like Hunter Schafer, Jacob Elordi, and all of them but that’s not important. (But for real, the other actors are absolutely amazing.) The series details a seventeen year old girl named Rue who struggles with drug addiction. There are so many other characters in the story. First off, Jules, who is played by Hunter Schafer. Jules is transgender and she struggles with finding a place in acceptance. Nate.. oh god. There is also Maddy, Lexi, Cassie, McKay, and Kat. 

Each character in the show has their own story, and they have their own problems in society, and somehow all of these tie in together through their character interactions. With season 2 dropping and season 3 being confirmed, the Euphoria storyline and plot only gets thicker and more intense as each episode releases on Sunday evenings. And Season 2 has just finished. There’s a lot of unanswered questions and a lot to look over, so let’s get it started.

So first off in Season 2, Rue and Jules reconnect and get back together, and Cassie hooks up with Nate. Already this season is off to a great start. One of the most tense scenes in the episode is when Cassie and Nate are in the bathroom, and we hear someone knock on the door. And it’s Maddy. Maddy bangs on the door and yells at Nate to open the door. Nate is trying to console a crying Cassie, who is worried about her best friend (note: her best friend) walking in and finding out. Eventually, Nate makes Cassie lay in the bathtub and makes sure she keeps her mouth shut. Maddy walks in and uses the bathroom, with Cassie sitting a few feet away from her. After this, Cassie starts to grow attached to Nate, and she falls in love with him. Cassie decides to wake up at 4 AM to perform a vigorous routine to make Nate notice her, to no avail. Until one day she dresses up as Maddy, and Nate notices her then. Mega yikes.

During this, Rue meets a guy named Elliot at a party, and they’re both addicts. Rue and Elliot hang out a lot more, to the distaste of Jules. Rue is still continuing to abuse drugs, and she’s showing no signs of being clean. Rue decides to approach a woman named Laurie, and propose a business opportunity that includes drugs. Rue takes a suitcase full of drugs that she would use to sell and bring in profit for both her and Laurie. Rue hides the suitcase in her room. Rue comes home one day and her mom is angry that Rue is smoking weed. Rue explodes at her mom and sister, and she starts frantically looking for the suitcase. Rue is frantic to find this suitcase because she knows if she doesn’t get it back to Laurie, Rue’s life is in danger. Rue then finds out that Jules and Elliot told her mom about Rue’s continuing drug abuse. Rue explodes at Jules, before breaking up with her. Rue is upset, and her mother consoles her. Rue agrees to go to the hospital, only for her mother to start taking her to rehab. Rue jumps out of the car and runs along the highway. She runs for a long time, before getting chased by the cops. Rue finds herself in Lexi’s house, where Kat, Maddy, and Cassie are. She goes upstairs to clean herself off, and then she comes downstairs to an intervention. 

Rue’s mother tries to reason with Rue, but then Cassie interjects and tells Rue, “Just take it one day at a time.” Rue then asks Cassie how long she’s been seeing Nate, thus it being the first time that Maddy ever finds out. Maddy then gets angry and starts asking Cassie why Cassie is crying, and Cassie then turns it around on Rue and says, “I don’t why you’re believing she’s a drug addict.” Which- really Cassie? Really. (Props to Sydney Sweeney for the amazing performance). Maddy then learns that this was happening after New Years, when Maddy was debating getting back together with Nate. Rue escapes the house amidst the chaos. 

Okay enough about Rue. Let’s talk about Lexi. Lexi is the most normal one, and she starts writing a play based on the people around her. While doing this, she starts talking to Rue’s drug dealer, Fez, who has a heart of gold. She tells him everything about her play and they bond over how real the other is, and how they both have a soft spot. Lexi invites Fez to the play, to which he agrees to come. Lexi and Fez by far have the healthiest relationship in the entire show, believe it or not. I mean just look at them. They like each other, they talk all the time, they don’t judge each other for who the other is, and it’s honestly very healthy. Take note, Cassie. We all wanted to see Lexi and Fez get together, we all did. 

Also Jules cheats on Rue with Elliot. I’ll let you take whatever side of that situation. 

But the biggest fireworks are the play. Cassie has totally changed, letting Nate dress her however he wants (*ahem* as in making her look like Maddy and Jules) If you’ve seen season 1, then you know that Nate definitely has some kind of feelings for Jules. Everyone is sitting in their own spots watching Lexi’s play, and that’s where Maddy finally gets the idea that play was actually about all of them. Everyone watches the events that happened in their life be played out in stage, however no one does anything and the rest of the audience has no idea that all of it was just a parody of events that actually happened. 

Then we see the biggest scene of all. I won’t talk about what it is, but it basically outed Nate as a bisexual man. The audience loves it, but Nate is furious. He takes off, Cassie trailing behind him like a puppy. Nate yells at her before telling her to move out of his house and that he was done with her. Cassie walks back down the hallway and then stares in the theater door, wide eyed and breathing heavily. Yikes..

In the season 2 finale, we witness a.. Somewhat of a beatdown? There wasn’t anything that went along with Maddy absolutely wrecking Cassie, though at the end of the episode, we see Cassie with her hair messed up, her nose bleeding, etc., and Maddy with nothing but a scratch on her foot. Earlier, Cassie walked onstage and tried to have her “moment” by talking about how Lexi’s life wasn’t hard and that Lexi was only a bystander, and that Cassie has way more trauma than Lexi. That’s when Maddy decides to take off her shoes and go after Cassie. 

The worst part of the episode? Biggest spoiler ahead. Ashtray dies. That was the worst part of the finale. I sobbed for hours. Fez is bereft, not caring about his severe gunshot wound. Ashtray takes refuge in the bathroom with three guns locked and loaded. Fez begs Ash to come out of the bathroom, but then police barged in and started shooting. R.I.P. Ashtray.

Also, can we just not hear Elliot sing for four minutes? The finale really was milking the whole Elliot thing, even though the only good he ever did for Rue was to have the title of friend. Then he cheated with Jules. Speaking of Jules, I think it’s pretty evident that she and Rue are not getting back together. Rue was silent and just kissed Jules’s forehead when Jules said she still loved and missed Rue. 

We do get a narration where Rue says she stayed clean for the rest of the school year. And that’s pretty much it. Very underwhelming finale in my opinion.

So Season 3. We all know that season 3 is going to be dropping sometime next year. Well, we know that there are going to be more Cassie and Nate, since Maddy told Cassie that “this is just the beginning”. Is it possible that what happened to Maddy will happen to Cassie? Or is it possible that Nate will realize that he really does love Jules and try to have a healthy relationship? Will there be some kind of friendship rekindling between Jules and Rue? Will we actually see Lexi and Fez happen??

Only time will tell.