EUPHORIA (Season 1 – Episode 5)

Previously on EUPHORIA:

1. Kat and Ethan are navigating their relationship all the while Kat is navigating her new way of thinking ever since she lost her virginity and became a Pornhub model.

2. Cassie rides the carousel while simultaneously cheating on Mckay and having a full blown orgasm while on Molly after grinding on one of the horses of the carousel.

3. While Rue is learning of the identity of the man Jules slept with at the motel, Rue heavily informs Jules that Cal (DominantDaddy) is also Nate’s father.

4. “Tyler” and Jules finally meet and she finds out face to face that it was Nate all along.

5. Maddy confronts Nate about the photos and he rather than explaining of the purpose of the photos, he begs her not to tell anybody even though she’s already told Cassie and Kat about it.

Our next past backstory is Maddy. This gives us a forefront on Maddy’s past and how she became the glamour girl we all know in present time. We first see a young Madeline performing in a pageant. For as long as Maddy knew since the day she was born, everyone loved and adored her. When you are VERY young, you start to think about what made her stand out as an extroverted glammed up small human. At the end of the day like most individuals at her age, she just knew she was different. She had something special inside of herself that only she fully took note of and ran with as soon as her crawling turned into walking and her non-words turned into actual ones. This gave her the spark in her confidence to the point of where she competed in pageants. She loved it because you didn’t have to be pretty, tall, blonde or white. You just had to have a boat load of confidence ready to use when it is required. But if you think of alternative future’s young Maddy could’ve become Miss Universe in our present day and time. However, this show mirrors real life at certain points. What do I mean by that? A beauty pageant coach by the name of Marcus Cutler was arrested due to 18 counts of child molestation. Hopefully in the world of Euphoria he was sentenced to life in prison or given the death penalty but that’s just my opinion. Maddy and her mom see this and right then and there her mom tells her that she can’t do anymore pageants because of sickos like him exist in the world. Her dreams were destroyed by a creep who didn’t even meet her. During that week she didn’t want to eat out of the fact that she wasn’t able to do what she had loved. It was in that time, Maddy had realized that she had enjoyed not doing anything. Of course present day Maddy would never say this out loud in today’s society but she never really had any desire to obtain a career or get a job. In my mind she could’ve become a pageant coach while also educating young girls on how to spot and avoid a creep. But I guess doing nothing makes her feel good. She was just interested in continuing to do nothing. Especially continuing that habit during school and with anything else. Her mom was an esthetician at a beauty salon. Meaning she gave pedicures to those who could afford it; rich people. Her father was your half typical drunk who was self skilled at holding onto jobs longer than he could. I mean there are other types of “bad” dads but hey, the alcoholic. Maddy learned over time that two kinds of people exist on this planet.

1. 1.) The people who are occupying the chairs, with their feet soaking in the foot bath.

2. 2.) There are those who are hired to kneel in front of the foot bath in order to make ends meet.

When the customers came in she would study each of them. Some who were in their early 30s, mid-teens, she examined each of them. By listening in on their conversations, she realized that not a single one of them did didly squat. Yes the older women could have kids to raise, a house to clean in terms of being a housewife or any basic thing but they just ultimately didn’t do shit. But in Maddy’s case, none of them harnessed the confidence she possessed. Fast forward to close present day, now it’s time for the beginning of her relationship with Mr. Jacobs, Nate. She had the hots for him long before he stepped upped to her and asked her out on a date. At the beginning of what seemed to be like a typical kind of high school romance, Nate had a bit of class. The kind of where he would leave flowers in Maddy’s locker every single day. He was surprisingly smarter than most guys. To top it all off, Nate was crazy about her. Despite having a decent relationship and having the deepest love for Nate, she did have a few lies of her own. Like before Nate asked her if she was still a virgin and she said that she was. The actual point in time was at 14 years old during a vacation in Panama City Beach. With a much older guy. Older than the age you are allowed to purchase alcohol. This guy was 40 years old. When taking a step back, it sounds highly rape-y and weird as hell but for the full of it, she was in control. Looking into Nate’s eyes, you could see that he really wanted to be the one to pop her champagne. It makes you think for a moment like this dude isn’t such a terrible guy and he just wants to make sure his only girl has an enjoyable first time. But of course to be truthful she obviously had it already. When it comes to individuals like Nate, they don’t want a person they could be with temporarily or in the long haul. They want an OBJECT that can breathe and walk like a human. Something you can own and possess lord only knows for how long. Which is the scary reality than both men and women face in short term and long term relationships. Something along the lines of Sharon Stone in Casino. But that is a movie character. However what made her the coolest character was that she was in control of Robert De Niro’s character. Of course in a similar twist of life imitating art, Maddy did the exact same thing with Nate. Seeing as how Sharon’s casino character was Maddy’s spirit animal. Whereas mine is divided into two people, John Cena and Ariana Grande. But more to the point, Maddy knew how to balance her power over Nate. Aside from that, just like everyone else in the world, she viewed a lot of porn. But let me rephrase it by saying she didn’t just watch it, she analyzed it minute by minute to get the good secrets on how to be great in bed. While having sex she would imagine she was a ventriloquist controlling her own body, twisting it up to make sure her hips were moving in the right direction. Arching her back in just the right way to enhance the pleasure. She wanted to give Nate all the confidence in the world in the way he was with her in the bedroom. Because everyone knows if you make a guy feel confident and powerful, they’ll do anything for you. Buying her a lobster when they are out on a date. Finally buying her a mink coat. They both just loved each other. Basically like Bonnie & Clyde. Yet Maddy had a few notes in her mind about the monogamy situation. In technical terms it’s not like she 100% cheated. Even though there is a montage of her flirting and having sex with other guys who aren’t Nate. But to be fair once more, during those times, she and Nate were on a break. Quite frankly from what I’ve seen from spending 22 years on this planet is a break means you could sleep with who you want and if you strongly miss that person, you should reconcile and resume the relationship. But then there is the psychotic part of the relationship. When you look at Nate in reality, he was the physical definition of an asshole. But Maddy was not “sweetheart” either. In literal terms, she would dream about punching Nate. Hoping he wouldn’t hit her back. That is a fantasy; the reality is due to who Nate was as a person, she was frightened about receiving violent harm from him. Now that he was trying to navigate his sexuality. Of course his first act of violence towards Maddy on-screen was when he choked her at the carnival. Not in the liked to be choked kind of way during sex. But the threatening your well being type of way. Maddy went home that night and she examined the bruise in the mirror of a bathroom. She has now entered the toxic to abusive part of her relationship with Nate. She should just leave him. But the sad truth is, no matter what he was gonna do to her, she would still love him.

We find Rue laying in bed, looking up at the ceiling. Her voiceover self tries to make an argument that there is nothing better in this world than her choice in drugs.

1. Opiates

2. ES 7.5 Vicodin

3. Fentanyl

But as we learned last episode there is one thing that is better than drugs. It’s Jules. She thinks and feels this while quietly masturbating to the thought of Jules. She knows that although both fentanyl and Jules would be amazing, she can’t have both. Otherwise she wouldn’t be sober anymore and her destructive path with drugs would start back up again. She is close to climaxing until her mom opens the door and she hides almost her entire body. All she wanted to let Rue know was that dinner was ready. Minutes later she is eating with her mom and Gia. Now her mother asked both of them how the carnival went for them. Ms. Gia sticks with the lie that she threw up after riding the gravitron so much. Then the attention is directed to Rue since Jules slept over the previous night. Rue might not care what her mother may think but on a positive note, she really likes Jules. As much as that is wonderful, she does snap Rue back into reality a bit. Like all relationships in the beginning, you have to take it slow. Otherwise mentally and emotionally, you are bound to crash. Rue reassures her and claims that they had a long conversation about everything and as high schoolers they’re gonna take things really, really slow. Said no actual teenager ever. We then see Ashtray tattooing the ship name “Rules” on Rue’s bottom lip, trying to prove that she isn’t delicate. She’s already moving way too fast and it can only crash from here. Jules gets her tattoo and Rue momentarily thinks about the night that Jules met Tyler. She could tell from her now girlfriend that it wasn’t good but she was scared to have a sit down with her to discuss it. So she chose to wait until it happens.

Cal is on a different side of town over seeing a construction site project. That is until he receives a call that can’t be left to a simple voicemail. He leaves the construction site and drives all the way to the school where a policeman and Cal’s wife are waiting. They walk inside the school, marching to whatever destination they had to go to. Then Cal makes a detour for the men’s bathroom and vomits like crazy. In his mind, Jules must have ratted him out to the cops since she is still a minor. But alas, a promise is a promise. What had occurred in reality was that Maddy went to school. Of course not in typical Maddy attire like she normally would wear. Maddy was wearing a hoodie, a pair of sunglasses, a turtle neck and less makeup. Given the events of the previous episode this can only get darker. She quickly spots Kat in the hallway and out of concern, Kat asks Maddy if she’s alright. Maddy gives the excuse that she just has her period. Which is a bad excuse on so many levels. Maddy entered her first class of the day and all seemed decent. This could’ve been fine but her classroom was in the upper left wing of the school and apparently the air conditioner was busted on that day of all days. Three hours earlier, Maddy tried her best to conceal the markings that Nate left around her neck to the point of where she ran out of it. Fast forward to back in the classroom. Everyone begins to leave to head to their next classes, Maddy appeared to be sleeping in her seat. What actually happened was due to the molly she took at the carnival, she suffered from a drop of serotonin as a result of it. The Nate situation caused her to be depressed. As a result of that she hasn’t had anything to eat or drink during the weekend. And the kicker? She actually wasn’t lying about being on her period. The teacher notices her unconscious state and calls the ambulance on her. Shortly after waking up she is in the principal’s office. She claims to him that she is okay. After the paramedics found the bruising on her neck and the situation that occurred over the weekend that is probably what everyone in the town is talking about, he ain’t buying it. He understands, that even though she is afraid to talk about the bruising, it’s not her fault. Even though she counteracts that statement by saying the issue is none of his concern, it actually is in reality. She is 17 years old and if his conscience is getting loud about this situation, legally speaking he has to report it. In a montage, he starts talking to various students about what had occurred on the night of the carnival. Various students either describe the chili knocked over, Nate and Maddy’s emotions and one even thought she needed a lawyer. Then some people bring up the two incidents at Mckay’s party. Maddy having sex in the pool and Jules cutting herself when Nate got up in her face. Jules then appears and says she was nowhere near the incident. Granted around that time, she was helping Rue look for Gia and then she re-met with Cal. The principal finally shows up to a class Nate is in and asks him to step over to another room while being escorted out of the classroom.

Elsewhere, Cassie is unexpectedly kissed by the classmate from the carnival whose name is Daniel. She ends the kiss and tells him that she is dating someone. She likes him and she doesn’t wanna mess up their relationship. He understands that; even though he likes her on the same level as Mckay and he thought that she liked him back. She actually does like him but she is currently in love with Mckay. She just doesn’t want him to say anything and he agrees. But of course to begin establishing a…friendship with her, he then asks if he can hang out with her again. She gives a small smile and walks away.

Ethan and Kat finally see each other during class. He begins to ask her if he saw his dozens of texts since she left the carnival. From the looks of it he is oblivious to what Kat saw or what she thought she saw. She is upset with him and she is under the impression that Ethan is using her for sex. But to backtrack, during the night of the carnival while having sex with Luke, Kat had come up with a sudden realization. She was having sex with Luke Kasten. During his time in East Highland, he was considered a god. His dick, as the rumors confirmed to be true, was huge. She explains to her top pornhub fan, Johnny. She looked at him while he was having sex with her and while he was climaxing, that’s when her epiphany kicked in. No matter how cool, cute, sexy or smart you may think a guy is at first glance, at the end, all of them are simply pathetic. Throughout Kat’s life, she tried to be a background character; taking up less space. She was afraid that people were going to continue making fun of her but then she thought, who fucking cares anyway due to only one reason.

“There’s nothing more powerful than a fat girl who doesn’t give a fuck.” – Kat

While smoking a juul, the guy that she fantasized having sex with from the store where she brought her new clothes approaches her. He digs the new look on Kat and wants to hang out with her, she agrees. The scene is then brought back to Kat and Ethan in the classroom He considers the fact that she is being mean and he wants to know why. She doesn’t give him an answer.

Back in the principal’s office, Maddy is cracking under pressure in front of her mother and father. She tries to paint a picture that Nate wasn’t the one who caused the bruising. Her mother is not buying it one single bit. As in the tone of her voice reveals, as much as the rest of the Jacob family wasn’t fond of Maddy, her own family didn’t like Nate either. Like any wealthy kid that breaks the rules, sooner or later he or she has to face the consequences for their actions. Heavily in this case, Nate needs to face his on the accounts of abuse. It turns into a screaming match between Madeline and her mother on whether to move forward on pressing charges. In the end, it’s Maddy’s mom’s words against her own daughter’s words. Which are under so much toxic energy. In the end, the family is pressing challenges. Cal finally steps out of the bathroom after almost puking his organs out. They finally meet up with the principal and explain the situation to them. It doesn’t look good for the family as shown before that there are multiple eyewitnesses and Maddy has heavy bruising. Nate’s folks obviously can’t imagine their son doing something so extreme. They try to talk to the Perez family but one of the officers suggests to Nate’s dad that Cal should talk to Nate first before he is taken to the police station. Cal sits with Nate and flat out asks him, man to child if he harmed Maddy. Nate says the wrong answer and he says no. You can tell the look of fear in Nate’s eyes when he finally looked at his father. He repeatedly says he didn’t harm Maddy and Cal believes him. Cal informs Nate of the charges and he leaves him with a simple order. When he exits the school, he can’t get angry or make a scene. That will just amp up the charges even more. Nate’s dad is fully behind him and that is the scary thing about this situation. I just hope he and the Mrs are putting aside their thoughts and feelings towards Maddy. Nate begins to walk out and as he passes the principal’s office, he mouths the words I love you to a terrified Maddy. They walk through the seemingly empty cafeteria and the camera pans to a few students eating and studying. Two of those students are Rue and Jules. In a quick glance shot, Jules looks at Nate and then at his dad; completely confused on the situation at hand. After they left, Rue breaks the silence and asks why was Nate giving Jules the death stare and if they can finally discuss the fact that Jules had sex with Nate’s dad. With everything that has happened to Jules, she begs to Rue to not say a word. It’s a bury with you type of secret that Rue eventually promises to never tell. Rue then asks her if Nate knows too and Jules lies and says that Nate probably didn’t even notice. Rue then lays down a fact that all of us have been saying: Nate is a frightening guy. His whole entire family is scary as fuck. Jules wants to continue to avoid the conversation. Rue then gives in the thought about the family paying Jules a lot of money in order for her and Rue to live their best lives. Jules finally says to her that the situation isn’t a joke. She then walks off to the bathroom and cries in a stall. Jules didn’t trust Rue despite becoming her girlfriend. Deep down inside she felt that Rue would hate her one day. Question is why; because i can’t be about Nate because they both hate the guy. It makes no sense. We then split to the next scene of Rue hanging with Jules at Jules’ house. Rue starts to ask Jules a bit about her one night stands, mostly her general sex life. Rue finds out that her lady love’s body count might be more than twenty. This makes Rue even more curious and Jules more playful annoyed. The point of Jules’ one night stands is not about the sex at all. It’s the build up that leads to it minute by minute. That might actually be the good part of a one night stand. However, coming from the typed up words of a virgin, I wouldn’t know. Jules then puts the spotlight on Rue and asks her if she has had any one night stands. Rue hasn’t done that and she hasn’t hooked up with other humans she had just met for the first time. Rue’s number is super low, but that depends on how low it’s able to go. She then gives a brief rundown on her sexual history.

1. She had her first kiss at the age of 12 

2. She gave 4 hand jobs in the 8th grade

3. 2 blow jobs in the 9th grade (she was emotionally coerced into one of them)

4. Back in their freshman year, Rue and Lexi kissed because she was going to the freshman formal and Rue tried to teach her how to french kiss 

5. At 15 years old she consumed two xanny bars, drank beer, she lost her virginity

I’ve heard of sexual histories but this one is just super depressing mixed with a whole lotta cringe. Jules then asks Rue if she has ever been in love. She thinks about it but never answers.

We are now at the police station and Maddy is losing her shit. She tries to tell herself that she isn’t abused by Nate by throwing coffee at the two way mirror. A detective finally walks in to the room and speaks to Maddy. She introduces herself as detective Riley. Maddy isn’t going down without a fight at this point and its scary. She’s basically normalized the toxic nature of her relationship with Nate. After refusing to remove the sweater on her own terms, two officers hold her down and handcuff her to the table. The detective cuts open her sweater and takes swabbed samples of the markings around Maddy’s neck for evidence. She then takes pictures of Maddy’s neck as additional evidence. While doing so, Detective Riley tells Maddy something most abused females and males don’t always like to hear. Nate doesn’t love her; if he was able to willingly choke her this hard, while she was still heavily under the influence of molly, Nate doesn’t care about her one bit. At the end of the day, Nate owns Maddy. Nate is in the other interrogation room. A detective is trying to review what Nate exactly did and see if he’ll speak his truth. He still won’t budge and he keeps sticking to his lie that all he did was drag her away by arms length. Nate then builds up his lie even more due to Maddy’s drug use at the carnival. Although he claims to love her, now potentially he’s thrown her one night stands into the mix. They happened obviously when they were on a break. He’s the psychotic good looking boyfriend your parents would warn you about at first hand. The continued aftermath of Nate’s assault was quick. He was suspended from school as a result of the investigation. The football team was rearranged a bit due to Nate’s absence. Teachers started showing survivors of abuse videos. Of course in one particular class, everyone takes quick glances at Maddy due to her current situation.

After we get a shot of Jules and Rue watching the same video too, we are then taken hours later to a building where Rue and Ali are talking. Ali asks Rue about her future with Jules. What would happen in a month, six months, a year, when Jules graduates and moves near her chosen college? Jules will probably say at that time that she just wants to be friends with Rue. Yet, Rue just doesn’t want to believe in that possibility. She answers and says that she’ll still head to New York with her to avoid the long distance. As Ali points out, nothing in high school lasts forever. Friendships, relationships, they all tend to fade away. If you have a strong, healthy attachment then maybe it can survive. But in Rue’s case, it seems unlikely since Jules is her new drug. We all know what happens when Rue gets hooked. Sooner or later she crashes. Rue then suggests that Ali should meet her to get a better understanding. They are at an NA meeting and Rue chooses to speak. She reveals to everyone that she’s been lying on how long she has been sober. Her lie went from 30 days to 60 days to near 90 days. She goes on to say that she has been fully clean for 13 days because of her relationship with Jules. She hopes that Ali will be wrong about nothing lasting forever in high school. One can only imagine the heartbreak she’ll face.

We are then taken to Jules and she is eating at a restaurant with her dad. Her father is now questioning her relationship with Rue. It’s different with her because Jules then says she doesn’t want to speak about it. Are Rue and Jules a thing? I would like to believe they are despite the dynamic of their relationship and what it’s actually based on.

Rue is seen riding her bike and then she stops to text someone. That someone turns out to be Lexi. Rue texts her and apologizes. She hasn’t been a gold star of a friend and she doesn’t want to lose Lexi. So she says she’ll try to make it up to her. With that, Rue puts her phone away and bikes it home.

Mckay is seen on the bench near the football field. He looks just out of it. Mainly due to hearing the news about his boy, Nate. Cassie then tells him about the thing Maddy told her. The many dick pics that was on Nate’s phone. He thought it was Nate’s own pics and he was just sending him to other girls. But it was someone else’s dick pics. Mckay then asks who told Cassie this and then we are taken to both a drained Maddy and confused Cassie in the school hallways near Maddy’s locker. Maddy straight up asks her what dick pics is she talking about. Cassie reminds her about the conversation that she and her had at the carnival. Maddy says that she lied about them due to the molly they both took and if Cassie spreads the news around, she’ll be attacked. Cassie agrees to not say anything and Maddy walks away. Mckay and Cassie are hanging at a near by diner and he apologizes for his behavior at the carnival. He regrets not stepping up to Nate and defending his lady. Which all guys should do. She then apologizes to Mckay but she never instantly says why.

Kat is hanging out with the guy from the mall in the loading dock area. He tells a little bit about himself. He loves making music but he has his job at the mall as a side thing because he feels as though he shouldn’t fully step into music just yet. He then asks Kat what her dreams are but she just laughs at the idea and let’s the guy know that he has an open invitation to have sex with her. He just wanted to chill with her because he thought she was a cool person. She informs him once more that it didn’t have to be like that. What happens next? Let’s just head to another character’s point in time.

With all of this Nate drama occurring, Maddy was cracking. Over the course of an average school week, like an abused person would do, Maddy sent Nate over 273 text messages. Hoping she would hear back from her love but he hasn’t texted her back. Plus everyone in her life went from adoring and loving Maddy to being completely against her due to her situation. “It’s not real love, Maddy” her mother says but Maddy doesn’t want to hear it. Maddy tries to counteract her argument by bringing up her parents relationship. Her mother has been the one slaving over a hot stove whereas her father has been eating and drinking on their lounge chair since before she was born. Her mom thinks that she is being cruel and Maddy gives the age old excuse that love can be translated and transmitted into different ways. It’s not always going to feel good but it’s normal. I would like to disagree; when you simply argue with your significant other, it can be repaired and you two should stay together. But when you bring in abuse, the love is gone. It’s just not there anymore and you aren’t your own person. Her mom says that she has felt the same about every guy she has dated. The whole Bonnie and Clyde look. Yet it never escalated to abuse.

Maddy leaves her house and tries to meet up with Kat but she is still busy with the guy she met at the mall. Kat can’t step away to see her and she hangs up on Maddy. She and the guy are in his car, ready to hook up. Question is, what kind of a hookup will it be? It turns out she just ends up sucking his dick. He ends up praising her for giving one of the best blowjobs he’s ever had. She exits his car and he drives off.

Lexi, Rue and Jules hang out at the roller rink as a nice little hangout sesh between two lovers and a mutual friend. There are some spills here and there but overall they looked like they had a lot of fun. When it’s almost time to leave, Lexi and Jules start to take off their skates as Rue takes one more lap aound the rink. Lexi acknowledges that Rue seems really happy and healthy, to which Jules agrees. She then explains that because of Jules, Rue is a brand new youngblood. Jules agrees again but just with less enthusiasm. It’s slowly hitting her but I think she is starting to understand.

On the other side of town Cal meets with another guy to hookup with. You’d think at this point he would learn. This guy named Minako is definitely different than the rest of the humans Cal has hooked up with. Seeing as how he claims to be from planet Venus. He’s full blown ready to have his guts rearranged by Cal but Mr. Jacobs has his head in the gray clouds. He’s wondering if maybe now is the time to reveal his other life as Dominant Daddy to their kids. I mean they’re old enough to understand so what can be stopping him? His marriage? He already threw it away with the first sexual encounter he’s had in that motel room. Minako obviously wants sex out of Cal since Minako continues to refer to their encounter as a way of getting Cal’s demons out. From the looks of it, I don’t really think that’s gonna happen.

Jules, Rue and Lexi finally leave the roller rink and Jules looks spaced out while getting on her bike alongside Rue and Lexi. They all begin to bike to their homes. Kat is having her mom play with her hair while they are watching TV. Enjoying a quiet time as mother and daughter. Rue and Jules stop at Rue’s house seeing as how this was a sign that Rue should head home and she’ll see Jules the next day. But after rejecting Rue’s offer to stay with her for the night, Rue then asks Jules if she could crash at her place. Fearing the paranoid worst, Jules agrees and the pair head off.

Nate calls Mckay while he is chilling in bed with Maddy. He then tells Mckay to tell Cassie to text Maddy about the app Signal and to download it from the app store. Maddy is driving and she gets Cassie’s text. She downloads the app and recieves a text from Nate. He tells her to meet at the hotel off of an exit 27. This delights Maddy because she’ll finally reunite with Nate. Cal leaves the motel after not hooking up with Minako. While doing so a car similar to his pulls up in the same parking spot as his. Being greeted by a sad Minako over a failed hookup. Minutes later after settling in there is a knock on his door and it’s Maddy. She hugs her abused lover with a broken look on her face. I can’t help but think their relationship will just get darker to the point of where one of them just straight up kills the other. It’s gotten scary at this point. We are then taken to our last shot of the episode. Rue is sleeping in Jules’ bed once more but Jules is wide awake staring at the ceiling. I think it’s dawn on her fully at this point without saying out loud: Jules is keeping Rue away from doing drugs. However, Jules has now become Rue’s new drug. Which means things can only end painfully.