HBO's Euphoria

…we’re making a finale bingo game tonight.
 
Cassie getting on stage and turning the play into an absolute s*** show was by and large the most interesting of that entire production for me. I was actually hoping that random people would just get on stage and start doing random monologues.
 
My thoughts.

I really, really loved the play and all the focus on Lexi, but I think maybe it would've been better if the play happened in the first half of the season. Because the first 5 episodes felt more interesting and explosive than these last 3 episodes.

I agree that Cassie getting on stage was super entertaining, although part of me felt that was a bit unreal. But when Maddy called her a **** and went after her (because I've met some Maddys in my life) it felt more believable. Lol

Speaking of Maddy and Cassie, I have two things to say: 1) I wish they didn't have divided their confrontation into so many pieces. There was one on episode 5, when Maddy finds out, then later when Maddy talks about revenge, then a flashback showing Cassie hiding in the bathroom. Now this last fight. I don't know, I feel like fragmenting their confrontation like this lost a little of the impact.
And 2) I love Cassie's arc in the first half of the season. But now I'm not so sure I like where they took her, after that scene on the stage.

Regarding Ash, I believe they killed him to avoid problems with the actor visibly growing up. Remember Walt on Lost?

Last but not least, I can't simply not bring up my frustrations with some characters this season. So that "brain damage" scene was the end of Kat's arc? Ew. Going from that "Love Yourself" scene to this it's just... Ew.

I feel like S02 was more explosive than S01, but S01 was more balanced.

I loved that Cassie and Lexi took the spotlight this year, but here's hoping Kat won't get the McKay's treatment, and both her and Jules will get better storylines next year.
 
Yes, but Laurie might also be taken down… post-Fez shootout.

The only thing I’m mad about is not getting a scene of Lexi fishing out about Fez. :waa:
 
Kat and Jules definitely got the short end of the stick this season and hopefully they get better material next season, but man that shootout in the house and Ashtray getting killed beyond wrecked me.

Fezco laying on the ground bleeding out and begging him to come out was rough and as sad it was, I don't think it would have been nearly as effective if they weren't given so much shine this season IMO.

I actually sort of love how it all kind of came full circle in the end with us getting the origin story of those two in the first episode and then the emotional payoff in the finale which felt earned.

Fezco, Ashtray, Cassie, Lexi, Rue and even Call got the most spotlight this season and I'm honestly fine with that, but I do wish it felt a bit more balanced like the last season did.

I know there's a lot of behind-the-scenes drama, especially with the dude who played McKay, but his absence in this season still felt pretty weird especially when he just randomly popped up in one episode.
 
Did Kat have any lines in this episode? The treatment of her character this season was beyond awful. Seriously, it’s really petty of Levinson to basically relegate her to a background character for most of this season. I think Annoying Vape Girl had more dialogue than Kat in this episode. (Speaking of which, who is Annoying Vape Girl? Did they just randomly throw in a Maddy groupie for the finale or has she shown up before?)

Jules similarly got the short end of the stick in the finale but at least we got to see her throughout the season. Though it’s annoying that her whole arc this season just revolved around Rue and her addiction, aside from one scene with Nate. I hope now that they’ve broken up, we’ll get to see Jules go on her own journey.

All that aside, this episode was fire. As a former stage actor who has had a few productions go awry due to cast members messing up lines and audiences members being A-holes, Cassie’s tirade during Lexi’s play felt like my worst nightmare lol. That was just painful to watch. Though I can’t 100% feel sympathetic towards Lexi; while there’s nothing wrong with creating art that reflects your life, maybe it’s not a good idea to put that art on display in front of people who will know exactly who is being (in some cases) satirized.

As for Fezco and Ashtray… damn. I knew things were going to go badly but wow. Powerful and heartbreaking. I’m honestly surprised that Grandma didn’t get caught in the crossfire. Also, Ashtray wouldn’t have been taken out by a single shot. They would have riddled that kid with bullets after what he did. Still, damn.

And then you have Nate and his father. I guess the flash drive has the Jules video on it, since she (I think) is the only underage person that Cal slept with. Because while he’s also had many encounters with sex workers, I doubt there was anything incriminating on those videos unless they actually showed money changing hands. I guess they might since he secretly set up the cameras and so the entire encounter might be there but I don’t know. But even so, I’m not sure that would be enough for him to have serious charges levied against him. Whereas video of him having sex with a minor could put him in prison for many years.

However, if that is what is on that tape, then it kinda makes Nate’s scene with Jules a couple episodes ago feel meaningless. He gave her the power to hurt Cal if she chose to, but then just took it away. I guess that sort of fits his character but it makes that whole thing seem kinda pointless. And now, people will find out (something Jules didn’t want to happen). So I’m not sure how I feel about how that story wrapped up.

All in all though, very good season and this finale was definitely better than the season 1 finale, which felt like a big ball of nothing. I’m glad Rue (perhaps miraculously) got clean and I hope that season 3 won’t see her relapse because her character needs to move forward. She’s been stuck in this place of needing drugs, needing Jules, needing her dead father. I hope we’re past that now and we can see her looking to the future.
 
Vape girl was around a bit in early s1... and she had a joke this season about being pregnant off-screen.
 
Deck Rickard said:
Jules similarly got the short end of the stick in the finale but at least we got to see her throughout the season. Though it’s annoying that her whole arc this season just revolved around Rue and her addiction, aside from one scene with Nate. I hope now that they’ve broken up, we’ll get to see Jules go on her own journey
Click to expand...

I remember in the premiere, when they meet at the party and Jules realized Rue relapsed becausr of her. That was pretty heavy, because Jules shouldn't carry this responsibility. So I thought they would explore more Jules side.of the story. But they didn't, and I feel like there wasn't much for Jules.

Deck Rickard said:
New Did Kat have any lines in this episode? The treatment of her character this season was beyond awful. Seriously, it’s really petty of Levinson to basically relegate her to a background character for most of this season. I think Annoying Vape
Click to expand...

I hope the backlash makes Levinson change his mind. Whatever his intention was with Barbie/Kat, I don't think it worked for him. That breakup scene was really, really, really bad. Like, really bad.
 
Lip said:
I remember in the premiere, when they meet at the party and Jules realized Rue relapsed becausr of her. That was pretty heavy, because Jules shouldn't carry this responsibility. So I thought they would explore more Jules side.of the story. But they didn't, and I feel like there wasn't much for Jules.



I hope the backlash makes Levinson change his mind. Whatever his intention was with Barbie/Kat, I don't think it worked for him. That breakup scene was really, really, really bad. Like, really bad.
Click to expand...

Yeah, agreed. This might be an unpopular opinion but I felt like there was a little too much Rue this season. Especially since her main arc doesn’t really have a lot to do with most of the stuff going on with the other characters. So when she has that crazy withdrawal episode, as good as it was, it felt a little frustrating that we had to wait yet another week to see what was happening with most of the other characters. I know Rue blew the whole Cassie/Nate thing wide open but that took up like 5 minutes of that episode.

I know Rue is the main character and Zendaya is a huge star (and a phenomenal talent) but I hate to see some characters get short-changed (in some cases, maliciously). I hope they balance things out more in season 3.
 
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Deck Rickard said:
Yeah, agreed. This might be an unpopular opinion but I felt like there was a little too much Rue this season. Especially since her main arc doesn’t really have a lot to do with most of the stuff going on with the other characters. So when she has that crazy withdrawal episode, as good as it was, it felt a little frustrating that we had to wait yet another week to see what was happening with most of the other characters. I know Rue blew the whole Cassie/Nate thing wide open but that took up like 5 minutes of that episode.

I know Rue is the main character and Zendaya is a huge star (and a phenomenal talent) but I hate to see some characters get short-changed (in some cases, maliciously). I hope they balance things out more in season 3.
Click to expand...
I didn't mind that episode focused on Rue. Actually, I'd probably enjoy if they did the same thing, but balancing and switching characters. Like you have an episode mostly about Rue, then the next Cassie, then Kat, Nate, Jules, etc.

Hav you seen The Leftovers? Something like that.
 
This is... Rue's show though, and we get to see her world through her eyes - for the most part. And, when they escape Rue's POV they make it a point on why/how in their creative way.
 
Lip said:
I didn't mind that episode focused on Rue. Actually, I'd probably enjoy if they did the same thing, but balancing and switching characters. Like you have an episode mostly about Rue, then the next Cassie, then Kat, Nate, Jules, etc.

Hav you seen The Leftovers? Something like that.
Click to expand...

Yeah I mean it was an excellent episode but I just meant that it kinda stalled the stories outside of Rue’s. I feel like season one did a better job of balancing out the characters. And yes, The Leftovers is awesome.
 
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So will Zendaya be back for another season? Surprised that there seemed to be very little set up for the next season.
 
I assume she’ll be back. But yeah, I guess any potential retaliation from Laurie has just been dropped? Because it was implied that Rue was fine throughout the rest of the school year.

I wonder if Nate will be gone next season, or only a recurring character. Because if it picks up the following year, he’ll likely be away at college. And there were rumors that he wanted this season to be his last (no idea how accurate they were though).
 
Deck Rickard said:
Yeah I mean it was an excellent episode but I just meant that it kinda stalled the stories outside of Rue’s. I feel like season one did a better job of balancing out the characters. And yes, The Leftovers is awesome.
Click to expand...

I agree S01 did a better job balancing out the characters.
And my main problem with that, like I said before, was fragmenting Maddy and Cassie's confrontation.

Deck Rickard said:
Because it was implied that Rue was fine throughout the rest of the school year.
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Speaking of which, how exactly time works on this show? Each season was a year? Becaus at some point this season Maddy's boss says "you're only 18 years old".

I'm confused about time here. When do US americans finish high school?
 
Lip said:
I agree S01 did a better job balancing out the characters.
And my main problem with that, like I said before, was fragmenting Maddy and Cassie's confrontation.



Speaking of which, how exactly time works on this show? Each season was a year? Becaus at some point this season Maddy's boss says "you're only 18 years old".

I'm confused about time here. When do US americans finish high school?
Click to expand...

On average, most Americans graduate from high school at age 18. But is Maddy a senior? I know Nate is but I thought most of the female cast members were juniors or sophomores. I may be mistaken though.
 
Season 1 and 2 are the same year. Season 1 starts at the beginning of the school year, the 2 special episodes are over Christmas (Rue meets with Ali on Christmas Day) and then Season 2 starts at New Years.
I believe that all the girls are/were Juniors except Cassie who is a year older. Maddy, I'm not sure about.
 


Need more Suze next season.
 
Ethan being such a quiet and introvert kid, but changing completely when he's on stage makes me want to know even more about him.
 
Lip said:
Ethan being such a quiet and introvert kid, but changing completely when he's on stage makes me want to know even more about him.
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For sure. Some people are like that; I’ve heard that Freddie Mercury was really reserved and introverted except when he was performing.
 
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Also, I have to admit, I didn't care much for Faye at the beginning. It took me some time to actually enjoy her.

Hopefully we'll see more of her too.
 
Lip said:
Also, I have to admit, I didn't care much for Faye at the beginning. It took me some time to actually enjoy her.

Hopefully we'll see more of her too.
Click to expand...

Yeah, she annoyed me at first but she grew on me towards the end with how she tried to warn Fez. Not sure if she’ll still be on his side though after he more or less helped Ash kill her boyfriend.
 
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