EUPHORIA (Season 1 – Episode 6)

Previously On EUPHORIA:

Kat and Ethan’s interactions are on the rocks after she sees him talking to another girl at the carnival. In the last episode, she barely tried to speak to him when he saw her again.

Jules sent Tyler (Nate) nude photos while she thought that Tyler was a random guy from school that liked her. Nate, a modern day TV villain, threatens to have Jules’ nude photos sent to the police since she distributed child pornography and sent them to Nate.

Fezco cuts Rue off from drugs (hopefully for good) after the Mouse incident happened. Fully wanting Rue to stay away from the drug addict lifestyle. It’s dangerous and he doesn’t want to help her kill herself.

Nate is taken to the police station is questioned for the markings on Maddy’s neck that he caused but they don’t know that. Instead he tries to cover his tracks by making the fact known that she has slept with other guys in the times that they were on the off base of their relationship. The two reunite at the same motel that Nate’s father stays at when he hooks up with young transgender and gay individuals.

Titled “The Next Episode” we see at first glimpse of it being McKay’s story. As soon as he was able to talk, walk and run, from that very day 1 his father demanded excellence out of his son. We see a young McKay training heavily on the football field while reciting the poem “America” by Claude McKay. That irony sits just so gently.

Although she feeds me bread of bitterness, And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth, Stealing my breath of life, I will confess I love this cultured hell that tests my youth. Her vigor flows like tides into my blood, Giving me strength erect against her hate, Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood. Yet, as a rebel fronts a king in state, I stand within her walls with not a shred Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer. Darkly I gaze into the days ahead, And see her might and granite wonders there, Beneath the touch of Time’s unerring hand, Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.

Source: Claude McKay, “America” from Liberator (December 1921). Courtesy of the Literary Representative for the Works of Claude McKay, Schombourg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tildeen Foundations

It’s quite powerful when you look at it and think about it for a few minutes. “However strong you think you are, you are stronger” are the words his father repeats as McKay goes through drills that test his speed and strength. Considering that he vomits from being pushed to his own body’s limit. McKay finishes and heads to practice for football. When you are young and you are full of so much promise, it tends to be forced upon when your parent is overseeing you like that at an early age. McKay’s father put so much pressure on him but he let it slide because his father knew that he was special. As voiceover Rue points out, McKay’s father saw something in him that could lead to greatness one day. We see him in a local game of little league football against a rival team. One of those boys tackles McKay to the ground. Signaling that the other team received a point. While standing around, one of the rival kids rudely shoulder bumps McKay and calls him a bad word. This causes McKay to run up to the kid, push him to the ground and is immediately disqualified from that afternoon game. While sitting down with an upset McKay, not properly caring about his son’s emotions at the moment, Frederick tells Mckay this:

Frederick: You get emotional, you lose. You get angry, you lose. McKay: Dad, he called me— Fredrick: I don’t give a good god damn. Why do you think he’s talking to you in the first place? McKay: Because he— Fredrick: Because he’s trying to get a rise out of you. Trying to make you upset, lose focus. That’s his game. That’s the world’s game. They want to push on you, poke on you, see exactly how much you can take. And how much you can take is what will ultimately define you. Because the measure of a man is in how he reacts. McKay: How am I supposed to react? Fredrick: By taking everything you feel, all your frustrations, your anger, your rage, you bottle it up, you take your position, and when that snap comes, you let it explode.

If that isn’t the most mentally harming thing a parent could do at that very point in time, I don’t know what is. Boy or girl, when your child is harmed, you need to let your mental guard down and speak from the heart. Not in the way that Fredrick is displaying. Fast forward and we are close but not close to seeing present day McKay. We see him on the football field during his freshmen year of high school. All that pressure from his dad really paid off. Off the field, McKay was a shy kind of guy but the more he won on the field, the more confidence he had gained. Ironically, this was all happening due to his father’s beliefs. This lifestyle of having a daily routine in order to build a bright future. That seemingly bright future landed him a recruitment in division one football at a nearby state college that is 30 miles from his house. As his rise in the world of football continue, like most with a dream filled with sports, he began imagining his life as a star in the NFL; the National Football League. Although he has the muscle, he also has brains. He’s envisioned that once he started earning money, he would properly invest it. Using it to build the one thing everyone has dreamed of in their life time; an empire. But once he set foot on his college campus, he noticed that every guy had the same level of skill as him. Some of them were even better than him. During the preseason he would just hang on the bench because he was never called on to the field. In a classroom setting, when the offensive coordinator would break down plays and the do’s & don’t of the field, McKay wouldn’t have his eyes on the projection screen. Instead his mind would be in his notebook wandering. Trying to calculate on the many odds of him one day becoming a pro football player.

129 D1 teams 85 players per team 1 out of 10,965

In layman terms, McKay in his mind, didn’t think he had a shot at going pro. Around that exact time, he started dating Cassie. Like most people eventually do, McKay fell in love with Cassie. Which as some would consider in his life at the moment, it was getting in the way but he didn’t care. Cassie is that 24/7 thought that McKay always has. On the downside he also thinks about those revealing photos of her and the video of her having sex. He tried to understand as to why a girl as special and beautiful as her would have so little respect for herself. It’s sad in itself but it gets even sadder when she tried to play oblivious to what she has done in the past. The best example would be at the carnival. Cassie’s mom even made note of Cassie’s flirtatious nature. But thinking positively, McKay loved the way that Cassie made him feel. How she would dress and how she would walk into a room and each guy would break their neck just to look at her. Every single guy was jealous of McKay but at the end of the day, he was with Cassie and in vice versa, Cassie was with him.

It’s around Halloween and the first costume we see is Jules who is dressed up as an angel. Rue is what I’m guessing to be dressed up as is 007 James Bond. They’ll make the cutest couple at the party which is what they both deserve. Rue figures out from Jules’ body odor that she drank alcohol, knowing that Rue is sober and at times it can be difficult for her to stay that way.

Sir Daniel, the guy that Cassie had been slightly flirting with was throwing a high school Halloween party. He was dressed up as the infamous Ted Bundy. While Ms. Cassie was dressed up as True Romance character Alabama Worley. Cassie was very happy with her costume and she even wore it the previous night for McKay’s college Halloween party. Well okay, I’m totally lying. Although her mother approves of her flirtatious costume of the True Romance character, McKay didn’t as much. In the car, he tells her that she can’t walk into the party dressed like that showing so much skin and eye glitter. So instead, while entering that party, we see that she has taken off most of her makeup, her hair is back to its original form and she is wearing McKay’s football jersey. In his eyes, she is dressed up as a football player. She looked miserable while she was about to enter the party. Back in present time at the high school party, Daniel praises Cassie for her costume, saying it’s the coolest costume he has seen during the night. They even have a shared scene from the movie that they both like which is the two main characters having sex in the telephone booth. Personally, I just find that cringey but people always tend to have different tastes. Kat was in the background listening to the whole conversation and tells Daniel that Ted Bundy was taller. I mean, she wasn’t lying.

So Kat’s parents were absent from that weekend. What does that mean? She was able to focus more on building her pornhub business. Besides Johnny, she now had three other men that were willing to see her twerk and have her trash their self esteem in order to feel worthy. Plus with the added three, Kat was making more bitcoin money than ever. Quite frankly, you just have to applaud that because it’s hard as fuck to earn your coin these days. She was getting a lot of requests for cam sessions but some weren’t of her liking. However that changed the other night when a person by the username Mastersade99 offered her $300 dollars for a 30 minute cam session. Of course she rejected that swiftly. That is until the person finds Kat’s Amazon prime wishlist and buys all 57 items for her. Something tells me that she really went through with the cam session request.

In a minor flashback, we see her in her Halloween costume opening the door to Jules and Rue ready to head out. Much to the worry of Rue, Jules says along with Kat that she is going to get incredibly drunk. Again, much to the concern of Rue since Jules is supposed to make sure that Rue doesn’t drink. The only other time that Rue has seen Jules drink was the first night that they officially met at McKay’s party. When Rue was still heavily taking drugs and trying to stay sober. She doesn’t want to be a Debbie Downer and ruin everyone’s night with having the want for everyone to be sober around her. But alas, that is only a fantasy. However the night just felt off to her for some reason. After Kat and Jules break the ice on what Tequila makes them do, Rue tries to insert herself in the conversation by mentioning of taking Vicodin she took alongside some tequila and it caused her to blackout for a whole three days. But a different kind of blacked out where she still went to school and kept up with her daily routine. I guess that really is your brain on drugs but it makes you still conduct your daily business. Instead of taking it as a light joke and a sign of Rue feeling verbally left out, Kat informs her to try to not go down that path and break her sobriety. Jules then pops in and says that while at the party her job was to monitor Rue to make sure that she stayed sober. Of course now it’s the other way around a bit and Rue has to slightly make sure Jules doesn’t hurt herself too badly. Rue then asks where Lexi is. In another minor flashback we see Lexi greeting Rue and company at the door as Bob Ross. Her mother reminds her that the entire point of Halloween was to look attractive but she doesn’t care. Cassie then heads down the stairs and is wearing her Worley costume, not covered up since it looks like McKay won’t be attending the party. While walking as a group to the party, Rue tries to hold Jules’ hand like any girlfriend or boyfriend would do in a relationship. But at that moment, Jules releases her hand from Rue’s hold. Something just seems really off about this moment. Jules at that point looked miserable.

Cassie then informs the four on what’s been going on with Nate while voiceover Rue directly explains. Due to the abuse incident, Nate was temporarily expelled from the high school. Surely enough this case wouldn’t affect the rest of the family right? Wrong. While all four members of the Jacobs family tried to get a dinner reservation at a local fancy eatery that they have always gone to in the past, they are denied a table due to Nate’s ongoing case. The owner explains that he doesn’t want his business’ reputation tarnished by an abuser. Even though Nate was trying to make it seem like he wasn’t an abuser. The owner offers to wrap up to-go plates for the family but Cal declines and leaves the restaurant. Nate implies that the idea of going out to eat was dumb as soon as his father brought it up. During the first few days of him being expelled, Nate spent most of it laying in bed. Staring off into the endless void. He then chose to secretly drive around and keep a far eye on Maddy and Jules. Going so far as to watch over Jules’ house during the night time. On Friday nights, Nate would sneak off to the motel to see Maddy. She always made him feel things. Whether that would be anger, or in a calmer state when he would feel anxious, she would stay with him through it all. Sexually speaking they also missed each other. Nate asks Maddy after their latest slump in bed if life will always be like this for the both of them. Sneaking off into the night at a motel, just letting their relationship play out. Maddy suggests that Nate should come up with a plan. It would seem as he did in the form of Jules’ nude photos he was printing while the montage of scenes he was in due to the court case was playing simultaneously.

We are back at the party and Jules is having the time of her life. Over elsewhere on the couch, Rue and Lexi try to figure out what might be wrong with Jules since she is getting super drunk. Both don’t know and are reasonably concerned. Then Lexi spots Gia with one of the twins. Turns out to be Troy and not learning from the incident at the carnival, she is getting high with him. This angers Rue to the core as she doesn’t want her sister on a path that is more darker than hers. Right now in my head i’m just thinking of Rue’s first conversation with Ali because it heavily comes into play a lot with Gia’s exposure to drugs now. Rue drags Troy off of the couch into a different location of the house. Cassie drunk texts McKay and says that it doesn’t matter what he thinks about her wanting to look good the other night. Yet she just wants him to have an adult conversation about it. McKay only texts back noticing that Cassie is drunk. She looks at his message and looks back up with disgust. She walks over to the island in the kitchen and grabs a full bottle of vodka. From around the corner Daniel, who has been trying to get into Cassie’s underwear goes and follows her.

In the garage, Rue slams Troy onto a chair and what happens next with her emotions and dialogue just makes you want to give a standing ovation and internally scream “BEAT HIS ASS RUE”. At least that’s what I would catch myself doing.

Rue: “Now let me just be real straight with you. You ever been to rehab, Roy?” Troy: “No, I’m Troy. I’m–“ Rue: “Roy, Troy. I don’t give a fuck. I said have you ever been to rehab?” Troy: “No.” Rue: “Well, in rehab, there are some real fucked-up motherfuckers. We’re talking people who are on the hook for armed robbery, attempted murder, real fucked-up shit. Hardcore motherfuckers.” Lexi: “It’s true. I went once. It was scary.” Rue: “You know what happens when you spend an extended amount of time in rehab? You tend to make friends with those hardcore motherfuckers. So let me be very clear with you. If you so much as go past first base with my little sister, or try to get her high again, I will call Omar, I will call Marlo. I will call Avon, I will call Brother Mouzone, I will call fuckin’ Bodie, and I will call fucking Stringer. And I will have these motherfuckers standing outside of your front lawn. Do you hear me?” Lexi: “Or even Wee-bey.” Rue: “A hundred percent. Do you know what kind of people these are? These are the kind of people who will strip you fucking naked, and go to work on you with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch. Do you hear me?” Lexi: “Rue I think he understands.” Rue: “I don’t think he understands.” Lexi: “Tell her you understand.” Troy: “I understand.” Rue: “There you go. Now go in there, tell my little sister she looks nice.”

Troy walks out of the room with his limbs still on his body while a silent Lexi and Rue snicker at how they switched him up real quick just by threatening him with a visit from people who don’t even exist. He looked so scared to get jump and in this case that is the best thing ever. Most guys around Troy’s age wanna corrupt a girl like Gia in the worst way possible. Whether that be through drugs or going past first base. Troy meets up with Gia and tells her that she looks nice. Much to the pleasure of Rue and Lexi after straightening him out.

Kat is eating some snacks while watching everyone on the dance floor. Over at a corner like a stalker, Daniel is watching over Cassie while she is on the dance floor waiting to make a move. Back near Kat, Ethan approaches her as a street vampire. From the look on Kat’s face, she is not impressed. Ethan takes under the impression that Kat is dressed as a slutty nun but she explains that she is a character named Thana from Ms. 45. A movie of a mute seamstress who is brutally raped at gunpoint. At the end of the movie she puts on a nun costume, heads to a Halloween party and shoots everybody on sight. This doesn’t make Ethan flinch at all. Then he asks Kat another question; what happened at the carnival? This was mainly due to Kat disappearing on him. Kat feels as though Ethan has developed this sort of obsession towards her which she strongly doesn’t like. Kat just wants him to be truthful with his feelings and stop acting like he wants to be her boyfriend. It’s either have sex with her or leave her alone. He just ends up drinking the rest of his alcohol.

Outside we finally get a Fezco spotting. Rue sees him and he is immediately happy to see his former buyer. Although he doesn’t want an apology from Rue, she feels like she really owes him one and I don’t blame her. I’ve seen that scene multiple times. Whether as a clip on Twitter or the live stream and the re-watching of the episode, what Rue said to Fezco was just painful as hell. She didn’t mean any of it and she’s sorry. Fezco goes on to explain that Rue is a drug addict. On the regular, he just doesn’t take a drug addict’s words towards him in a personal manner. Whether it’s I love you, I hate you, you the best, go fuck yourself, it’s the same routine but with different people. At the end Rue makes it clear as a friend, she really does love Fezco and she is thankful he didn’t give her any drugs. I think me and the millions that watch are thankful for that too. Fezco finds out that Rue has been sober for quite some time. He then asks her how it feels. To her it’s a different kind of drug that this time won’t kill her. Even though the lowest points are low and the highest points are high to her.

Back inside the house we see Cassie flirtatiously dancing alone in the crowd. While Daniel stares and proceeds to walk over to her and dance with her. In reality, Cassie and McKay were in an odd place within their relationship. At the college party, Cassie was leaning against the wall drinking while McKay was next to her turning up with some new college friends. While walking McKay thinks that Cassie is still mad at him. She was for a brief moment but he makes her laugh and she stops being mad. McKay takes Cassie back to his room and starts to have sex with her. Everything seems fine and typically sweet. That is until random frat guys sneak into his room. One of them calls him McGay and from then on, chaos begins. While still naked, the frat guys pin McKay to the floor and film themselves doing…something to McKay. It’s divided among fans whether the frat boys humped McKay or literally rape him all the while doing this in front of Cassie. In my personal opinion as a person, I think he was raped. The way they pinned him down and half of them were chanting McGay, I just can’t steer from the fact that what I’m thinking, didn’t actually happen. It did happen and this show will tend to go there. After he guys leave, Cassie asks a hyperventilating McKay if he’s okay. All you could hear from him is his breathing. Cassie texts Lexi as a way to calm herself from what had just occurred. She reveals that a few minutes later he started crying and then he headed into the bathroom. We then seem him in the bathroom and he’s shaking very badly trying to toughen himself back up. He slowly regains his composure and exits the bathroom to see Cassie with a T-shirt on. Signaling that she doesn’t want to have sex with McKay after what had just occurred. Despite what had just happened to him, McKay asks Cassie if she still wants to have sex. To make him not feel like less of a man after what had occurred, Cassie agrees and takes off her shirt. McKay quickly flips Cassie around and after a minute of trying to get himself ready, he uncomfortably does a doggystyle on Cassie. Looking at Cassie’s face, you could tell she just didn’t want to have sex with McKay but she did it for him and not for herself. As for McKay, by not fully acknowledging what had occurred earlier, in the most unhealthy way, he bottled it up. Cassie ends up in the bathroom after McKay finishes on her back. While wiping, Cassie then silently starts to cry. We then flash forward and she is dancing with Daniel. Getting lost in the moment. He then takes her upstairs to an unoccupied room.

We see Ethan take another shot of alcohol and make his way over to Kat. He grabs her by the hand and guides her up the stairs as well. This time taking her to the bathroom and making out with her. Below, Jules is drunk out of her mind. Wandering to the backyard and falling into the pool. Catching the attention of Rue and Fezco.

McKay surprisingly pops up, much to the delight of others who missed having him around at the school. Lexi warns Cassie by texting him but she isn’t by her phone. Instead she is sucking face with Daniel. In the bathroom, Ethan and Kat are still kissing until Kat asks him the amount of people he has had sex with. This seems like a hard question for Ethan to answer and Kat finds out that he is a virgin. He wants to lose his virginity to Kat even though he doesn’t want to admit to any of it. She doesn’t want to have sex with him because she is afraid he’ll get emotionally attached to her and he just won’t know how to treat her right in bed. To prove her wrong, Ethan kisses her roughly but does something different this time. He slowly goes down on her and eats her out, much to her surprise and delight.

Jules, looking angelic while under heavy intoxication, is swimming in the pool just enjoying the quiet. She then swims back up and after Rue asks her what she is doing she starts reciting a piece of Act 2 scene 2 of Romeo & Juliet.

Although I joy in thee, I have no joy of this contract tonight. It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden, Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be. Ere, one can say “It lightens.” Sweet, good night. This bud of love, by summer’s ripening breath, May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.

Rue doesn’t know what Jules is talking about and she just wants her to get out of the pool. Ali was right about Jules because that moment just doesn’t feel right and voiceover Rue echoes with the moment not feeling good. You’d think at that point Jules would grab Rue’s hands to help her out of the pool. I mean she did but much to Rue’s sadness, Jules pulls her into the pool and kisses her. Rue swims back up and she wishes that Jules had told her what had occurred during the previous night. Jules was riding back to her house and Nate stopped her. He needs her to do something for him. He has Jules’ nude photos in tow and he tells her if she doesn’t do her task she’ll either be in jail or be listed as a sex offender. Even though he trashing ironically says he doesn’t want her to do anything she doesn’t want to do. We are then brought back to the party and Jules is still happily splashing around in the pool as Rue looks on scared and steps out.

McKay is still at the party looking for Cassie. Hoping that while drunk, she hasn’t gotten into any trouble. Rue dashes to a nearby bathroom and unties her bow tie as she silently starts to cry. Fearing that her sobriety is a lot of pressure for Jules. Upstairs, Cassie is continuing to makeout with Daniel. He tries so hard to further with Cassie then just heavily making out with her. But she makes it clear that if she were to have sex with him, she would feel really guilty about it since she is still with McKay. Meanwhile downstairs, McKay continues to try to find Cassie and Lexi continues to watch over and make sure her sister isn’t caught. McKay heads up the stairs to see if Cassie is in one of the rooms. As he inches closer, Daniel is still trying desperately to get Cassie to touch him and have sex. McKay approaches the last room and before opening it, Lexi catches him on time and makes the excuse that Cassie went home and is sleeping, that’s why she wasn’t answering his calls. He accepts this result and heads out the house, hoping to hear from her the next day. Back in the room, Cassie and Daniel are still making out and she is continuing to deny his further advances. She then tells him that she feels really drunk and she just wanted to head home. While putting on her shoes, Daniel reveals his true covers. He’s not interested in Cassie as the young woman she presents herself as. In his eyes she is a blonde who is willing to have sex with any guy on site. Calling her boring, saying she wasted her time on playing these games with him and she always complained about McKay. While leaving the room he makes it clear to Cassie; any man that wants to hear what she has to say and not have sex with her on sight is lying. She cries and exits the room completely.

Jules is finally out of the pool and she looks like an angelic mess. She enters back into the party and grabs a bottle of vodka while heading to the dance floor to dance. Rue is still crying in the bathroom with so much anxious nerves running through her mind. Nate is driving to an unknown destination. Horrified by how her night ended, Cassie finally leaves the party and heads home. Kat is still in the bathroom continuing to get eaten out by Ethan. Both finish but before continuing he excuses himself to use the restroom. He finds out that he came in his pants while he was eating out Kat and tries to wipe it off. Rue exits the bathroom and starts to head out until Lexi catches up to Rue. She asks her what’s wrong and heartbreakingly speaking, Rue says that she considered herself as a burden. Lexi doesn’t want her to say that and she embraces her friend. To be quite honest, I think at certain points of our live we tend to think of ourselves as a burden. We either say it out loud or we show it in self hurting ways. There are just some moments in life that take you there and it’s scary. Cassie is still seen walking home as Nate is still driving down an unknown road. Ethan finishes after cleaning himself up and finds that Kat has left the bathroom.

Jules walks to the front of the house and finds Rue and Lexi. She wants Rue to head back inside and dance with her. However, Lexi steps forward and says that her and Rue are going to head home. They just don’t want to be around Jules while she is soaking wet and extremely drunk. Jules considers the two of them boring. She heads back into the party and Lexi suggests that her and Rue should start walking home. But as much as Rue hated Jules at the moment, she couldn’t leave her behind so both of them head back into the party. Nate finally pulls up to Tyler’s apartment and heads up the stairs. Daniel eyes Kat as she finishes applying more lipstick. Cassie finally makes it home and grabs a bottle of vodka to drink while sitting in what looks like the bathroom. She then looks at the open box of tampons and realizes that she would miss or has missed her period since she had unprotected sex with McKay. On the other side of the neighborhood, McKay stops by his dad’s house to just talk to him. He openly expresses that after being in college football as a freshman, he has many fears of not going pro. His father tells him that at the end of the day, his fear is in his head and it’s not real. He’s let doubt creep in so far in his mind and he needs to push it out before things get worse.

Tyler is alone is his apartment still recovering from Nate’s attack. He finishes peeing in the bathroom and steps out to find Nate, yet again in his apartment. He’s frightened like crazy but Nate swears he comes in peace and he just wants to have an adult conversation with him. The conversation? Nate wants to pin his crime at the carnival on Tyler in order to clear his and his family’s name. Making up a story that Tyler had been stalking her because she didn’t sexually find him attractive. Confronting her at the carnival and asking her why she has been radio silent. She replied saying she had a boyfriend; he got pissed and choked her. Which is all a lie. At least not the choking part because Nate did that. His other option is to go about his day. However, Maddy would go to the police station and say that Tyler raped her in the pool at McKay’s party. So either way, Tyler could go to jail if the police buy the new “evidence”. He agrees and Tyler heads to the police station and “confesses” to choking Maddy. Now Maddy who is seeing Tyler “confess” to the murder goes forward with the plan and says that Tyler really did choke her. Two of the detectives walking in the building aren’t fully buying the new development. Even when Jules steps in and lies about witnessing the crime? Maybe but for now they’re taking her word under record. Jules fully goes through with Nate’s plan since he had her nude photos ready to be released to the police. Detective Riley asks her if she was coerced into making the statement and Jules lies and says no. Either way, Jules is at a tough spot. If the statement turns out to be false, she goes to jail. If Nate gives all of her “stuff” to the police, she goes to jail. Jules leaves the police station and leaves off to get ready for the Halloween party. In present time, we see that Nate and Maddy make a surprise appearance at the party. Nate stares at Jules while his hands are all over Maddy. Rue catches a glimpse of this and puts two and two together; Nate HAS to take his medicine.