Euphoria’s second season ends with both renewed promise and frustration

Euphoria’s second season has been a mixed bag of heavy-handed aesthetics and odd narrative structure, but also brilliant deceptions of grief and addiction, all of which is still present at the conclusion of the season. “All My Life, My Heart Has Yearned For A Thing I Cannot Name” picks up the storyline from last week, centering around Lexi’s play and the fallout from all the disclosures about everyone’s private lives.

Back at the school play, Cassie is still reeling from embarrassment and her breakup with Nate, so she interrupts the performance and berates Lexi. Lexi begins to cry. Maddy follows after Cassie and starts to fight her as Kat trails behind. What’s great about this scene is that it weaves levity into the overwrought high school plots.

Nate finds Cal in an abandoned hideout with queer people he has met since abandoning his family, and he gives a monologue about their less-than-desirable similarities and the trauma his father caused him. Cal is then arrested after the police are tipped off by Nate. Cal got the ending that he deserved, and I appreciate Nate being able to voice his harmful qualities. Despite the good deed, Nate is hardly deserving of any redeeming arc the show may be setting up; he still needs to be held accountable. The fact that Nate suffered trauma doesn’t negate the harm he’s perpetrated on others, continuing the cycle from his own life.

We first see Fezco trying to make his way to the play, but that goal is cut short after Ashtray kills Custer because he’s a police informant. Fezco pleads with Ash to let him take the fall for Custer’s murder and surrender to the police. Instead, Ash engages in a shootout with the police and is killed. This move felt jarringly out of character. Ashtray can be impulsive, yes, but he is also smart—street smart in particular. He would have understood the consequences of this action. Ashtray has been shown to be sly and sharp, traits that should not have been ignored to service the plot.

Cassie tells Maddy that Nate broke up with her before she made a scene at the play and Maddy warns her that this is the beginning. On one hand, I enjoyed seeing Cassie being held accountable for the damage she has caused; it’s what she deserved. On the other hand, there was still no exploration of Cassie’s actions. Cassie’s actions do not exist in a bubble. She got an abortion last season which, along with a host of other factors, left her deeply traumatized. She didn’t just wake up one day behaving like this. Cassie cannot just be a villain with no exploration of how she got here. This was one of several missed opportunities in the finale.

Lexi is able to finish her play after Rue leads the crowd in a chant. The play ends with Rue’s speech at her father’s wake and a heartfelt conversation between Rue and Lexi about life and loss; Rue later thanks Lexi for showing her a version of her life that she didn’t hate. This response reveals Lexi’s true intentions—Lexi saw her sister and friends spiraling out of control, so she gave them a wakeup call via her play. Lexi wasn’t just a bystander; she was also a punching bag, sounding board, and keeper of secrets. Rue’s reaction proves this. This exchange between Rue and Lexi was the most satisfying moment of the night.

As she navigates sobriety, it is nice to see Rue in another light. We now grasp what Leslie, Gia, and Lexi once knew. Rue is deeply kind and empathetic without the influence of drugs. The strongest aspect of Euphoria always has been Rue. Through Rue, the show has explored the nuances of addiction as well as grief. Rue’s relationship to grief is one that mirrors my own in many ways. I lost my dad as a child and my mom as a teenager. The confusion and despair that weighs on you because you no longer have a parent as an adolescent is so heavy. It can feel like an elephant is on your chest for the rest of eternity and you don’t know what to do or how to function. Sometimes you need another person that truly understands you to help you see yourself from a different perspective. Each sequence that dealt with Rue’s grief—this one in particular—has done so in a truthful manner.

Rue visits Elliot and they have a heart-to-heart conversation. Rue thanks him for helping her get clean, in her own sarcastic way. Elliot serenades Rue. Elliot deserved a moment with Rue considering how she lashed out at him in episode five, though not at the expense of more screen time for Jules or anyone else that’s been in Rue’s corner long before he entered the picture. This just underscores Euphoria’s treatment of female characters and who is afforded nuance and grace. Such a shame.

After the play, Jules tells Rue that she loves her. Rue kisses her on the forehead before walking away and giving a closing voice-over about a hopeful future. While I appreciate that Rue chose herself and is taking the necessary steps to succeed in her quest for sobriety, I wish this could’ve been accomplished with a proper goodbye to the Rules relationship. Rue and Jules were never in a healthy romantic relationship but they did truly love each other. It is also disrespectful to Jules; she deserves forgiveness and understanding. Her mistakes are far from the worst compared to those of other characters. This dismissal of Jules plays into and gives validity to the hatred that she receives from the audience that is due to transphobia. The Rue and Jules relationship has played such a major role in the series, and it warranted more recognition and closure.

Euphoria is a world of beautifully shot and heightened versions of the teenage experience; this is even truer in the show’s second season. But the storylines that drew more directly from the series creator’s own experiences—addiction, grief, loneliness, and channeling pain into art—were always better served than those outside of that realm. Jules, Maddy, Kat, and Cassie ultimately got the short shrift. Euphoria is a show that continues to flash signs of real promise and profound insight. I will continue to tune in because I care for these characters and Zendaya’s phenomenal performance. I have hope for future seasons—I just want to see the show’s potential constantly realized and not messily squandered.