Euphoria Season 2 arrived in January 2022, and through its eight episodes there have been some insane moments. From the very beginning of the first episode to the intense season finale, there were plenty of instances where you might have been staring at the TV in shock before heading on over to Twitter to talk about your theories and feelings.
While it will be a long time before we get Euphoria Season 3, we can share some of the biggest moments here that will surely have an impact on the next season, and all the drama that followed.
I Mean - The Whole Nate And Cassie Situation
Okay, before I get into this, let me just say this - Sydney Sweeney’s acting this season was top tier and she deserves plenty of praise, as well as Jacob Elordi.
That being said, my God did I hate Cassie this season.
This isn't necessarily a huge moment, but a huge change in character for her that altered the course of the season. From the first episode, Nate and Cassie began this horribly toxic relationship that started out in a bathroom and changed their lives forever, in a really bad way.
Cassie, who basically fell in love with Nate just because he showed her attention, threw away her whole entire friendship with Maddy just to be with a guy who is half-assing her the whole time.
Don’t get me wrong - Maddy is no saint either. I haven’t forgotten how she framed an innocent man in Season 1 to avoid Nate getting sent to jail after he choked her. But I know for a fact that Maddy would never sleep with her best friend’s ex-boyfriend, because she’s fiercely loyal to her gal pals, but Cassie is loyal to male validation due to her issues with her absent father, and that's the unfortunate reality.
And When Cassie Had A Literal Mental Breakdown And Threw Up In The Hot Tub
Was that hot tub scene in Episode 4 of Euphoria disgusting? Most certainly - no one can deny that the scene was the definition of movie magic and truly made you feel grossed out. But, that scene felt particularly huge compared to many others in this show.
It’s in that moment that we really see how far Cassie has fallen down the rabbit hole just from her few escapades with Nate. She’s so in love with him that she drinks herself to the point where she can barely speak because she's jealous of his interactions with Maddy, but is so overwhelmed with guilt about it that it causes her to throw up.
The contrast between her need for Nate’s validation and her guilt towards Maddy, who was her best friend for years, makes this scene not only cringeworthy but heartbreaking because Cassie is that far gone. She stood by Maddy for ages, telling her how bad he was for her, and now she's dating the abuser. It's just a horrible situation.
Rue’s Chase - And Episode 5 Overall
Episode 5 of Season 2 of Euphoria reminded me just how talented of an actress Zendaya is. When Elliot and Jules revealed to Rue’s mother that she was back on drugs, they try to secretly take her to rehab. But Rue, knowing her family, finds this out quickly and straight-up jumps out of the car, trying to avoid being caught by her family.
This, in turn, leads to a chase that quite literally leaves destruction in Rue's wake. While the opening scene of Zendaya snapping at her family and crying over her drug addiction and stress about the drugs felt Oscar-worthy, there’s just something about this chase sequence that impressed me.
Rue goes from revealing Cassie’s affair with Nate, to getting chased by the police, to getting morphine pumped through her veins by the drug dealer she took drugs from, to somehow making it home alive and finally trying to get clean, all in the course of one night. Again, Zendaya’s acting was perfect, but that chase was just amazingly well-done.
Ethan’s Performance In Lexi’s Play
My inner theater kid was screaming during this performance because, damn, did Ethan rock his role in Episode 7 of Season 2 of Euphoria. For this whole season, we have been hearing about Lexi’s play, and finally, she put it on for everyone to see at school.
From the moment it started, it was clear where she got her inspiration from, but the single greatest moment from the show was Lexi casting Ethan to play Jake, a knock-off version of Nate. While Ethan played many roles in the show, Jake was the most memorable, and his performance of “I Need a Hero” while surrounded by well-endowed men to reference Nate’s struggle with his sexuality was iconic in every way. Ethan out-performed everyone and Kat should be upset that she let him go.
Was it okay for Lexi to basically out Nate to the whole entire school? Of course not. But the thing is, it’s not like she named him in the show, and Nate has done so much horrible stuff to Maddy, Cassie, and so many others that at this point, I really don’t feel that bad for him.
When Nate Called The Cops On His Father
Eric Dane as Cal was a brilliant pick, as his goodbye speech with his, uh...penis hanging out was a hysterical moment of the show. I think the bigger moment, though, happened in the finale of Euphoria Season 2, when Nate called the cops on his father.
After Nate stormed off from the school following Ethan’s big musical number, he drove towards where he knew his dad would be - his construction company warehouse - with a gun, looking like he was ready to kill. Instead, he had lead the cops right to him.
In this moment, for the teeniest amount of time, I actually felt bad for Nate. While that performance was still funny, you can tell that Nate has some deep-rooted issues that he knows are because of his father’s problems, and that his father barely had any care in his heart towards him for years.
Now, Nate doesn’t know how the heck to deal with these complicated feelings in his head and his best revenge towards his father is to turn him in for the sexual crimes he committed.
Again, that doesn’t change the fact that Nate has still been a horrible human, but at the end of the day, I think he just seriously needs therapy. Badly.
When Ashtray Killed Custer - And The Chaos That Followed
Oh, fans are not happy about this one. It was revealed in the first couple of minutes of the Euphoria Season 2 finale that Custer, a former friend of Fez's, has became a police informant, so Ashtray impulsively kills him, stabbing him in the neck to try and protect his brother.
This, in turn, leads to a series of events that end in tragedy.
The feds were going to swarm the place soon, so Fez was going to take the blame for Ashtray’s kill, but Ash didn’t feel that was fair, so he locked himself in the bathroom with a crazy ton of firearms. When the police did storm the apartment, Ashtray shot at the cops through the door, despite Fez shouting and begging him to come out.
Even through all of that, Ashtray accidentally shot Fez, and then faked getting hurt so he could shoot down a police officer who opened the bathroom door. Within seconds, he is shot dead by another police officer, leaving Fez screaming for his adopted brother.
The amount of tears I had during this scene were unlike anything I’ve felt in a long time. At the end of the day, Ashtray wanted to stand by his brother since he always took care of him, but he was also probably a scared kid who didn’t want his big brother to go away for years on end.
But now, he’s gone, all because of his impulsive actions out of fear.
It’s heartbreaking to witness, and even more sad to realize that we don’t even know if Fez made it out alive due to the accidental shot to his stomach. God, do we really have to wait for Season 3?
I know that the next season of Euphoria is years away, but until then, check out these other shows that are similar to it - and please, in the meantime, don’t sleep with your ex’s boyfriend and let it turn you into a Cassie. We don’t need another one of those in this world, thanks.
