![]() Jules says it’s because he’s obviously trying to fuck Rue. In addition to her faux weed confession, Rue also asks Jules why she doesn’t like Elliot. ![]() It’s a good cover since most non-drug users and even some casual drug users can’t really tell the difference between highs and Rue is so obviously high on something. Basically she’s managed to convince everyone in her life that she’s just smoking a little weed and that she needs to do that to avoid being suicidal. Rue is in professor mode flipping through an old-timey projector, teaching us how to get away with being a drug addict. Her sister Gia asks if Rue is high and we shift into our first fantasy sequence. Maybe that’s to mirror Rue who is high dancing around her house singing along to “Call Me Irresponsible” by Bobby Darin. Like the previous episode, this is a chaotic hour of television that jumps from character to character and is never quite clear when it’s fantasy and when it’s reality. I will say that I don’t trust Levinson’s perspective. But I will say that his writing feels muddled, that it leaves me confused, and that it makes me uncomfortable in the wrong kind of way. I now feel less inclined to make that kind of declarative statement. ![]() When I reviewed the show in 2019, I was quick to say that Levinson’s storytelling was unrealistic. I just don’t really get what Levinson is going for in how he’s telling these stories. ![]() Is Cal supposed to be bisexual? Or is he gay and read Jules as a male because the Jacobs boys - like their creator - just really love dicks? I’ve talked to enough cis male-amorous trans friends to know that none of this is inherently unrealistic. Just like my confusion with Cal’s habit of secretly fucking young men - with the exception of when he fucked Jules. But Cal’s obsession with the act makes me shrug. It makes sense that Derek would be hurt by Cal doing a sex act he, as a cis boy, reads as aggressively straight. I’m just left confused about what he’s trying to communicate. Levinson doesn’t feel the need to clarify Cal’s sexuality and that’s okay. Based on what I learned in health class this is not due to all the pussy eating. Of course, this show is a tragedy, so the next morning Cal wakes up to a call from Nate’s mom that she’s pregnant. A little dancing, a little crying, a little making out and who knows what else. It’s under the guise of the bar not carding but pretty soon they’re several tequila shots in and when-in-Rome-ing their way to rimming. Sometimes you just have to bro down with your bro at the gay bar and Cal and Derek do just that. And then one day Cal starts “eating pussy” and Derek gets upset. Cal repeats his sexcapades to Derek like they’re in a whitewashed porn parody of Y Tu Mamá También. He gets tangled up in a relationship with Nate’s mom who is extremely horny and aggressive in the way Levinson’s teens love to be. As a teen, Cal stares at dicks the way his son will two decades later. Narrator Rue tells us about his high school best friend Derek who he wrestled with. This episode begins with a queer love story - a flashback centering on Nate’s dad Cal. And yet, it’s some of these moments that have the most potential for complexity. I can’t speak for anyone but myself but the work itself has felt like it’s written by a cis straight white man. In both his film Assassination Nation and Euphoria - I skipped Malcolm and Marie - his writing has had moments that feel off. But even this alone wouldn’t lose my trust if the work itself didn’t reveal these limitations. And sure it’s in part that instead of acknowledging his limitations, he has stubbornly insisted on writing the main seasons himself unlike any other ensemble show on TV. But it’s not just that - while I generally prefer work made by people who share the lived experience of their characters, that’s not always the case. The problem I face again and again is trust. Sometimes I say things “a trans person wouldn’t say” or do things “a trans person wouldn’t do” and I want to see those things on TV.īut it’s about trust. Because in my own life these rules get broken. I don’t want to put rules in place that say this kind of storyline is not okay and this kind is. I don’t want queer media that’s palatable and boring and risk-averse. I’m thinking about the trust a creator asks from an audience - especially when telling stories about people whose stories have often been told wrong. Not because Rue is lying about doing drugs or Cassie is lying about fucking Nate or Cal is lying about his whole deal. This Euphoria recap contains mild spoilers.Įuphoria makes me think about trust. ![]()
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