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Euphoria Season 2, Episode 3 Recap: Girlboss Gone Bad

This week’s Euphoria episode threw a lot at us. At almost every scene, I’d say “same” to myself, especially the pure-gold dialogue around “Oklahoma!”. Episode 3 felt like the culmination of a lot of built-up tension. Let’s break it down, with spoilers of course!

A Breakdown for the Ages

I’m suspecting our gal Cassie lost a lot of fans this week with her continued pursuit of Nate—aka her best friend’s toxic ex-boyfriend. But amidst her Bad Friend Behavior, we saw Cassie have a sort of compulsory, manic, breakdown that resulted in a 3-hour skincare and beauty routine and the scene that’s been teased to us for what seems like years.

 

Whether you agree with Cassie’s choices or not, who among us has not found themselves down a rabbit hole obsession with something during this seemingly never-ending pandemic? I, much like Sydney Sweeney, definitely went through a skincare-obsessed time buying every eye cream, jade roller, and serum the Instagram algorithm threw my way. Whether you dove into skincare, puzzles (looking at you Wordle users), cross stitch, or TikTok, having a controlled hobby to escape to as the world crumbles around us felt comforting. Comforting, until you inevitably come to a breakdown moment—like Cassie’s bathroom scene—realizing that no matter how hard you try to ignore it, things are still bad. Going on year three of the panny without any federal “relief” in sight, child care workers still being exploited, giant corporations union-busting, and states passing abortion bans left and right definitely leaves me frantically trying to convince myself that I have “never, ever been happier” while slugging my face before bed. And for the record, I wish Cassie’s fantasy of telling Maddy the truth was reality.

Sundays are Not for the Boys

Keeping our kings Fez and Ash out of it, this week’s episode harkened back to season 1’s focus on toxic masculinity and purity culture. While Elliot’s conversations with Rue and Jules initially came off as open and accepting of all sexual lifestyles, the vibes feel manipulative as we don’t know if we can trust Elliot yet.

Cal’s background story felt a little lackluster to me, with the exception of the “INXS” bar scene. We see the cycle of homophobia and abuse that was ingrained by his dad and the broader culture of the world as he was coming of age but I have more questions about his and Marsha’s relationship now. So many of the problems faced by the Jacobs family—and really the whole show—could be drastically fixed or avoided by Nate and Cal going to therapy.

Also, who caught that Maddy was sending the selfies in her babysitting family’s clothes to none other than Nate? Eagle-eyed fans were not surprised at the last-minute twist of a Nate and Maddy reunion!

What I Want For Next Week’s Episode

I’m excited to see Lexi’s play, especially with the involvement of Ethan and (finally!!!) another Black woman character, Bobbi. Like everyone else, I’m also very invested in Rue and Laurie’s girlboss drug empire that can only end badly. See y’all next week for episode 4’s recap!