'Euphoria' Season 3: QTNA

Image via HBO

Watching Nate riding around with a gun on him after he stormed out of the play was terrifying. There was no telling where he was going to go. Seeing him arrive where his dad was staying was a huge plot twist. Cal Jacobs had abandoned his family and now Nate walked in as he was hanging out with a bunch of young people, who were seemingly sex workers. Nate embarrasses his dad, telling his guests all the things his dad has been doing like having sex with underage people and filming them without their consent. Aside from the gun in his pocket, Nate has another weapon—a USB he says contains “everything.” Before you know it, red and blue flashing lights can be seen outside and it’s revealed that Nate has turned his dad in. 

Nate gave Jules the disc with her video on it, so we don’t truly know if he left it out of the USB he gave to the authorities. [Ed note: For what it’s worth, Jacob Elordi told Variety that he thinks Nate “was being honest to Jules when he said it was the only copy. I played that scene as genuine, anyway. I think it was important that he was telling the truth in that moment.”] If he didn’t, since Jules is underage, there’s a chance she will be involved with the case. That could be traumatizing for her, and it goes against what Nate promised her, but that’s not at all surprising. Typical Nate shit. Filming people without their consent is obviously a crime, and there could be other people in the videos who were underage and Cal would have to pay for those crimes so he doesn’t continue taking advantage of people. Hopefully, Jules doesn’t get dragged into that mess. She has been through enough. —KR

With a bullet in the gut, a dead “brother,” missing out on the love he was pining for, AND numerous charges looming? It feels like everyone’s favorite bad boy Fez may have been pushed to the limit during that Season 2 finale. To be honest, it was only a matter of time; Mouse’s murder was a dark cloud hanging over the entirety of this season, and frankly, there’s always some kind of danger looming for those in his line of business. Someone was going to take the rap, and it looks like Fez got his wish...and his DNA is all over the knife that stabbed Custer. Will we only see Fez dealing with life behind the wall? It feels inevitable; hopefully Lexi understands? —khal

Season 2 ends on a hopeful note as if Rue doesn’t owe roughly $10K in drug money to a monotone stay-at-home gangster. The theme for this past season was every action having an equal and opposite reaction, so it was surprising that Laurie did not appear as Rue walked off into the sunset in the finale. I think we all knew she wasn’t actually going to be able to sell that suitcase from the beginning, so now the question remains, when will Laurie make her move? It was thanks to sheer plot armor that Rue escaped her home after she was drugged in Episode 5, and Laurie does not seem like the type to forget and forgive debts. She literally threatened to traffick Rue in the event that she wasn’t able to pay off her debt in cash. I think she’s going to make her grand return just as Rue gets her life completely together in Season 3, especially if Rue was able to remain clean for the rest of her junior year. Still, that major threat needs to be a point of emphasis in the future. —JR

One thing is for certain: Nate Jacobs is toxic. Even after he left Cassie for dead at the play knowing damn well Maddy was prepared and ready to go after her, there’s no indication that tells me Nate won’t be pursuing Cassie (and maybe Maddy, too) again in Season 3. After turning his dad into the police during the Season 2 finale, chances are he is going to need some consoling. Only time will tell whether he turns to his ex or his new girl. As far as Cassie goes, lashing out against her sister in front of the entire school and making a fool of herself because of her best friend’s ex shows me that the girl has very little dignity left. 

We didn’t get to see the extent of the Maddy and Cassie fight (which is super progressive on their part to choose not to show young women physically assaulting each other over a guy), but we do see the aftermath of them talking in a bathroom. Cassie says it’s funny that she and Nate broke up right before she got on stage, and Maddy responds: “Don’t worry. It’s only the beginning.” It’s unclear if she’s referring to their beef or if she meant Cassie’s tumultuous relationship with Nate. No one understands the on-and-off cycle of a relationship with Nate better than Maddy. Cassie might have seemed remorseful with a bloody nose in the girl’s bathroom surrounded by her former friends, but something tells me that she will have a bag already packed in the event Nate sends a random text one night saying, “I’ll be outside in 15 minutes.” We all want better for our girl, but the heart wants what it wants. —KR

Lexi included Fez every step of the way as she was conceptualizing the vision for her play, up until the night of its debut. In Episode 7, he was getting ready, putting on his best suit, Faye was pressing his white button-down, while he was holding red roses and a folded-up piece of paper with Lexi’s name written on it in his hands. He texted Lexi saying he was on his way, and she said she reserved the best seat in the house for him. Things went south when Custer, who was working with the cops who were investigating Mouse’s murder, stops by before the play. Ashtray stabs Custer, a SWAT team breaks through the door, Fez gets shot and the roses and letter fall at his side. Seeing the cops repeatedly stepping on the piece of paper was crushing. There’s no telling what it said or if it will ever make it to Lexi’s hands, but we hope it serves as some form of comfort and consolation for him missing the play, and as closure since he is likely going to do some time behind bars putting an end, or a pause, to Fexi. —KR

The little moment of reconciliation that Rue and Elliot shared was cute, albeit a little longwinded, but the main thing I kept asking myself through his exhaustive song was if Elliot was going to tell her that he got with her girlfriend? Aside from him knowingly letting Rue’s mom flush the drugs she had to sell, that’s the other major plot point that she still knows nothing about. That alone could completely destroy their friendship, and Elliot doesn’t say anything in their heart to heart. Ultimately, that really just reflects how selfish of a character he is, especially after he asks if they can still be friends when he knows he violated Rue’s trust on multiple occasions. Rue is definitely going to find out, the only question now is when. It really feels like Season 3 is shaping up to be a story of Rue figuring things out, only for her world to fall on her again, and this time not directly because of her addiction. —JR

Going into Season 2, one of my main questions was “Who is Elliot?” and I still don’t think we’ve gotten an answer to that. Elliot is now one of Euphoria’s main characters, but we still don’t know much about him. He hasn’t received a cold open, there’s been no explanation as to where he’s been the entire time in Season 1, and his sudden appearance still feels a little bit suspect. Why would he let Rue’s mom flush the suitcase of drugs when he knew she needed to sell them? Who was the woman he was talking to after Rue visited his place for the first time? Will his drug addiction affect himself and the people around him in a similar way that Rue’s did? We’ve met Elliot, but we don’t really know anything about him besides the fact that he likes making music, doing drugs, and ruining relationships. There’s definitely more to him than that, and hopefully, the nuisances of his character will be explored in Season 3. —JR

This season marked Lexi Howard finally getting the story arc she deserves. We learn a lot about her, and she begins to have a budding relationship with Fez. But in true Euphoria fashion, everything gets taken away from her just as fast as she got it. As it stands, Lexi still doesn’t know why Fez couldn’t make it to her play. We get a montage of them talking on the phone every night, and it’s made clear that their relationship has grown stronger throughout the season, so it will be interesting to see how Lexi reacts to her new (and maybe first) crush now likely being locked up. Maybe her play will be the beginning of her taking wild risks and she’ll take up Fez’s drug business and take care of his grandma? Maybe she’ll hatch some plot to try and free him, or act as his legal counsel. Regardless of how it happens, I don’t see Lexi accepting Fez’s arrest, if he was even arrested in the first place or if she ever finds out what happened to him and Ash. —JR

Episode 6 ended with Leslie Bennett (Nika King) begging and pleading to find a spot at a rehab facility for Rue. Fast-forward to Episode 7 and 8, and Rue seems fine while she’s at the play and we have no way of knowing how she bounced back so quickly. At the end of the finale, she says she stayed clean through the rest of the school year but doesn’t say how or why. “I wish I could say that was a decision I made. In some ways it was just easier,” she says. “I don’t know if this feeling will last forever but I am trying.” She does seem to be in a better place, making amends with people she has hurt and those who have hurt her. It’s important to have faith in her, but addiction is a lot stronger than that. Perhaps staying away from people like Elliott and Jules might help on the road to recovery, but what she truly needs is therapy and to stay closer to people like her family and Ali. —KR

Season 1 of Euphoria—hell, the whole series, TBH—is focused primarily on Rue’s relationship with Jules. The two episodes between Seasons 1 and 2 focused solely on these two and their relationship turmoil. Season 2 started with a reunion that started out in a wrong place and unsurprisingly, a number of the season’s struggles were touched by their relationship at some point. Their moment in the auditorium at the end of the play was touching, but kind of felt like Rue was putting a bow on their time together? Jules definitely looked hurt, while Rue sounded like she was looking ahead. Jules may be Rue’s real vice, though. We may not be ready for a season of Euphoria that doesn’t have a Rue/Jules relationship angle in there somewhere. —khal