'Euphoria' Season 2 Breakdown: We Have Finally Found The Parents At Euphoria High

So, wild stuff huh? I know there are a lot of people out there that were less than enthused by a few things this season, but those who really liked it, loved it (myself included.) This kind of "arty" stuff is really up my alley in TV shows - it's different, and its cool to see these mega stars flex their acting muscles as they're put into positions that depart from what we all already know them as. Undisputedly, this show is intense. It depicts enough drug, sex and death material to have a warning on every episode, something Zendaya echoes on her instagram every week (slide 2):

Overall, yes the show is dramatized and crazy. But it's also not...unheard of. There's a seedy underbelly to every unturned rock, and now Sam Levinson has flipped his own personal addiction story into what we see on the screen. 

Before we get into the finale, let's do some bullet points on the other episodes:

1 - "Trying to Get to Heaven Before They Close the Door"

• The season opener set the world on fire. Here we see Rue continuing to relapse after the big breakup with Jules, with her new friend Elliot AKA Dominic Fike. 
• Cassie is spiraling out because she wants to love someone, anyone, and doesn't feel like it can happen for her
• The whole school ends up at the same party
• Rue and Fez go to this crazy drug lord Laurie's house, they make them all take their clothes off, BAD VIBES
• Lexi and Fezco get to chatting and are heavily flirting
• Nate picks up Cassie on a curb and drives around drunk to the party, Cassie leaves her underwear in his car, they fuck in the bathroom, Maddy tries to bust in on them (not knowing its them)
• Fezco beats the shit out of Nate at the party, he goes to the hospital

2. "Out Of Touch"

• Nate's recovering in the hospital, both Cassie and Maddy are there with him, he's having weird coma sex dreams about Cassie being pregnant with his baby, and his dad hitting on Cassie in these dreams
• Jules and Rue start messing around again, but now Jules is jealous and skeptical of Elliot 
• Kat wants to break up with her boyfriend Ethan because she's bored (Kat really got screwed this season, rumors are she and Sam Levinson had a tiff and she had pretty much zero airtime)
• Maddy and Nate are talking about getting back together all while Nate and Cassie are starting up some new toxic possessive bullshit and having sex in a construction site
• Maddy is babysitting and is trying on all the clothes in the mom's closet, the mom comes home and is Minka Kelly, they have a weird moment where Maddy unzips her dress and its strangely sexual?

3 - "Ruminations: Big and Little Bullys"

• Rue is linking up with scary drug dealer/human trafficker Laurie, and is in the hole for 10k worth of opioids. She obviously starts taking them all herself
• Rue tries to make Jules and Elliot besties, and it works, except now Jules is big time flirting with Elliot 24/7
• Cassie has lost her mind and takes 4 hours getting ready for school every day, basing her look loosely on a mix between Maddy and "slutty little girl in pasels"
• Lexi is going to put on the big school play about all of their lives, nobody knows what its going to look like yet
• Nate's dad (A PARENT! FINALLY!) tries going after Fezco because he beat up Nate. He decides it's not in his best interest and he's leaves after getting roughed up by Ashtray
• Nate shows up at Maddy's babysitting house with flowers (?????? this man is so garbage)

4 - "You Who Cannot See, Think of Those Who Can."

• Shit gets nuts here. Jules and Elliot are making out now?? Secretly behind Rue's back! 
• Cal has his head injury from Fezco's house and is driving around BLACKOUT and ends up at an old gay bar he once went to with his true love (a guy) from high school 
• It's Maddy's birthday and its at Cassie and Lexi's house. Cassie is acting up, blacked out once Nate arrived, and started dancing around drunk in a bathing suit
• Nate and Maddy have a big fight in the hot tub over them not being together. Cassie pukes in the hot tub once Maddy starts listing off the things Nate has said to Maddy, and she realizes its the same stuff he says to her. 

5 - "Stand Still Like the Hummingbird."

• THIS IS THE EPISODE that everyone freaked the fuck out over. Rue's drug habits have been exposed by Jules and Elliot, to her mother.
• Rue and her mom have an ALL TIME brawl in her house when she's confronted about the drugs
• Rue agrees to get in the car to rehab, jumps out of the car and is immediately on the run
• Rue acts like Spiderman this whole episode, sprinting away from the cops
• Ends up at Lexi's house, all the girls are there, Lexi and Cassie's MOM (!!) calls Rue's mom (!!) and Rue, now cornered and trying to steal jewelry, Rue BLOWS UP Cassie's spot about Nate in front of Maddy
• She breaks into a house, steals a bunch of money and jewelry from a safe, somehow escapes
• She ends up at Laurie the drug dealer's house to pay her back for the missing cash with all of the stolen money and jewelry, Laurie pumps her arm full of heroin and locks her in the house. She wakes up in a room (def going to sell her to someone) and ends up sneaking out through a window, running home finally. 

6 - "A Thousand Little Trees of Blood."

• Cal comes home from his drunk ass night and blows up his whole family, roasts them to shit, pees on the floor and leaves them for good
• Rue is detoxing at home
• Nate's mom is getting drunk in the middle of the day 
• Nate waits in Maddy's bedroom with a gun to force her into giving back the sex video of his dad and Jules (they don't talk about him and Cassie)
• Nate gives the video to Jules, telling her she should've had it all along and she can do whatever she wants with it. He then tells Cassie to pack a bag and move into his house (we've lost Cassie for good at this point)

7 - "The Theater and Its Double."

• It's finally time for the big play! "Is this fucking play about us?" - Maddy
• Cassie and Nate show up hand in hand, Cassie is almost unrecognizable as she is having Nate dress her and put bows in her hair like his own personal doll
• Lexi is crushing the play. This episode is maybe the most "art" geared, showing the play, the real life inspirations and the behind the scenes real time reactions of everyone at the same time
• Lexi is upset that Fezco isn't there, meanwhile Fezco is dealing with that fucker Custer who is trying to frame him for the murder of Mouse. Our QUEEN Faye (Chloe Cherry, who I actually forgot to mention. Custer's "girlfriend" but she's living with Fez and Ashtray and is actually a saint) is NOT having it 
• Cassie gets pissed when Lexi is talking about her (in the play), she storms out and acts crazy in the bathroom mirror
• In a SPECTACULAR scene, Ethan (Kat's ex) plays Nate aka "Jake" and they put on a super purposefully gay performance of the men's locker room to Holding Out For A Hero by Bonnie Tyler, Nate gets so mad he's shaking in his seat, storms out. Tells Cassie to "pack up her shit and get out of his house" because it's her sister that's putting on the play. Cassie goes back to the auditorium and looks murderously through the door at the show

8 - "All My Life, My Heart Has Yearned for a Thing I Cannot Name."

• We finally figure out why Fez isn't at the play - he's got the SWAT team invading his house after Ashtray stabbed Custer in the throat
• Before Ashtray fucks up, Custer is trying to get Fez to incriminate himself. QUEEN Faye breaks a glass on the ground so she can discretely tell him to keep his mouth shut
• The SWAT team busts in and Ashtray locks himself in the bathroom with a bunch of guns, shoots at them, shoots an officer in the face, and eventually has to be shot (RIP Ashtray)
• Cassie storms down the ramp and gets on stage at Lexi's play, screaming at her and embarrassing herself
• Maddy gets on stage and slaps Cassie, later pushes her face into a wall on the way to the bathroom to keep fighting
• The play goes on, and it starts to get sad talking about Lexi and Rue's friendship and the death of Rue's dad. Rue later tells Lexi the play meant the world to her, it was a sweet moment
• Jules tells Rue after the play "i'm sure you're still mad at me, but I love you" and Rue gives her a kiss on the forehead before leaving. 
• Rue heads over to Elliot's house to say "fuck you" for snitching, but also "thank you" for saving her life. Elliot sings the sweetest song in the world which for some reason everyone was pissed about, saying it was too long. (I loved it, it comes out on Spotify on Friday.)
• Nate turns his father in to the police, showing them the stash of videos he kept (SCANDAL)
• The season ends with Rue walking away saying she had been sober through the rest of the year, and wants to stay that way if she can.

JAM PACKED SEASON. Idk man. I really loved every minute of it. I though it was well done storywise, sure there are loose ends but THATS WHY THERE WILL BE ANOTHER SEASON. We can't just wrap it up in a bow! What's going to happen with Laurie? What happens when Lexi finds out about Fezco/Ashtray? Will Rue stay sober? What happens to Cassie and Nate? Will Maddy ever hook up with Minka Kelly? (oh yea I forgot to mention, she was chilling with her in the pool having wine one night, and then later Minka Kelly gifted Maddy the dress she was wearing the night she was trying her clothes on.) Lots to think about, lots to unpack. I don't understand the hate, and I can't wait for Season 3.