Since the end of summer 2019, fans of the acclaimed HBO drama “Euphoria” have been in a drought. There has been a national championship-winning LSU team, a global pandemic, a major presidential election and even two special episodes in-between the wait for season two. Needless to say, it has been a very long time.
Sunday, Jan. 9 marked the return of East Highland’s darling drug addicts, sensualists and iconic class of high schoolers.
In the season premiere, the episode opened with a dramatic intro and knee-capping flashback to Fezco’s drug-dealing matriarch, who taught him and little Ashtray, played by Javon “Wanna” Walton, everything she knows about the world of violence, sleazy joints and sex. Fez’s grandma, played by Kathrine Narducci, is not a likely role model to die for considering her business dealings, but she would unquestionably die for them as their guardian and business partner.
Flash forward to the present, and the conflict with Mouse, played by Meeko Gattuso, is resolved thanks to Ashtray’s gunslinging. After some intense troubles with Fez (Angus Cloud) trying to find a new supplier, the crux of the premiere is anchored around a New Year’s Eve house party where everyone has gathered in order to ring in the new year with some emotional, anxiety-riddling and bloody results to boot.
The first issue arises when Cassie Howard (Sydney Sweeney) is missing, only for viewers to discover that she is fornicating with Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi) in the bathroom. Alexa Demie’s character, Maddy Perez, pounds on the door desperately in an attempt to use the bathroom. This scene plays out like a horror film with a now meme-worthy moment of Cassie lying flat in the bathtub as Maddie relieves herself across from her and later is hit on by a flirtatious partygoer who comes onto her strong with an even stronger joint.
Conversely, Cassie’s sister, Lexi Howard, played by Judd Apatow’s daughter Maude, receives some unexpected attention from Fez and bonds with him in some very sweet scenes between two outsiders, rather two wallflowers at the party.
Next up, we have Zendaya’s character Rue Bennett, who after participating in a perilous drug deal meets Elliot (Dominic Fike), a new nice-guy character who saves her from overdosing. However, their moment is cut short when Rue reconnects with Jules Vaughn (Hunter Schafer) and finally finds the courage to ask her out as her girlfriend, while still intoxicated on heavy drugs. They kiss in one of the most maximalist “Euphoria“ moments where a giant, golden spotlight slowly captures their romantic embrace almost like taking a Polaroid would.
Then, things get cathartically violent when Fez transitions from sweet into sour and senselessly beats Nate to a bloody pulp after the change of the new year. Lexi watches in awe and horror simultaneously as Nate gets his New Year’s kiss from karma incarnate’s fists.
Moving onto episode two, the structure of last Sunday’s episode felt completely in dismay much like the minds of all the characters. There’s no concrete beginning or end, but it still touched base on just about every character with the two burgeoning love triangles between Nate, Cassie and Maddie as well as Rue, Jules and Elliot being at the forefront. Like the episode’s title suggests, viewers have been quite “Out of Touch” with these kids for a while, so this episode plays some much-needed catch-up on everyone in the show. It’s not as bombastic or dramatic as the premiere, but this season is just getting started.
“Euphoria” season two has not lost any of the style, intoxicating cinematography, jaw-dropping montages or any of its panache. Shot entirely on film, the sex and drug-soaked series remains as euphoric as ever with the highs being high and lows being very low.
This show is quite tricky to predict, but with the third episode coming up, there are many storylines that will keep the fans engaged as season two progresses.
Thus far, it appears as though Cassie is setting herself up for maximum self-destruction. Elliot might mean bad news to some viewers, but he might serve as the catalyst for Rue and Jules’ rocky relationship. Cal is definitely not going to let go of Fez beating on his son and Nate is nowhere near ready to let go of Cassie or Maddie as their enabler, even after licking his wounds. My only hope is Lexi gets her shot at happiness with Fez, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see what creator Sam Levinson has cooked up.
All the feels. All for love.