As with the close look at Rue’s spiral of sobriety after Jules’ departure in “Problems do not always last, ” Euphoria‘s latest special episode zooms in, to dodge the plot for the sake of a careful character study. This time it’s Jules in the spotlight. We do not see exactly what happened when Jules left Rue on that train platform in the final season. We rather see the aftermath of it. The episode mostly takes place during a therapy session, where Jules only talks about gender, family, love, self-esteem, self-harm and more. The text is sometimes too precious, but it all comes together because of the powerhouse that Hunter Schafer is. She consistently delivers an indelible performance, making for a very memorable and special television episode.
The episode literally keeps a very close focus on Jules, and much of it takes place in very long recordings of Jules in the close-up picture by her feelings. Some of these feelings are related to her gender and sexuality: she is considering giving up her hormones because she feels she has made so many of her decisions in life to make her desirable to men. Some of these feelings relate to her mother, an addict with whom she does not have much relationship. Many of these feelings relate to Rue. All these things touch each other. Jules expresses anger over Rue because her sobriety depends on Jules’ availability to her. She initially does not realize that she is talking about Rue in the same way she is talking about her mother. Her therapist needs to point that out. These little moments really make it feel like a real and intensely invasive therapy session. Jules talks as if she knows exactly what she’s feeling, but sometimes she can not see what’s right in front of her.
The direction of the episode is a bit more flashy than ‘Trouble Don’t Always Last’, but there is still a degree of self-control that is not really seen in the first season of the show. The withdrawals from the therapy session are fluid and dynamic. “No girl has ever seen me like Rue saw it,” Jules says as we see Rue’s face from her perspective. Even the lighting of the scene feels intimate and warm. Euphoria is so good at evoking specific feelings, and this Jules-centric episode really feels like a deep dive into the character’s interior.
Tthe more reality-bending parts of the episode work pretty well and lean into some of Euphoria‘s excessive aesthetics, but remains strongly grounded in the emotional story. Jules enters a kind of horror as she remembers singing ‘Tyler’, which was really Nate catching her. She created a fantasy when she sexed him, and that fantasy is stabbed by reality. A reality in which Nate tries to hurt her. The episode twists into a very stylized series that depends on a pulsating score and dance-like blocking. But it still feels strongly rooted in character, imbued with tangible emotion and creates a sense of fear and confusion.
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We also literally see one of Jules’ nightmares unfold, and it’s a stark contrast to the fantasy life Rue envisioned for her and Jules in New York. Rue’s addiction affects Jules deeply, especially because of her relationship with her mother. In the same way Euphoria lends as much empathy to Rue’s experiences as an addict, this episode looks at all the challenges associated with an addict’s support system and being intimate with someone struggling with addiction. We see it in the way Jules thinks of her mother, and we see it in the way she deals with Rue. The two of them share so much. They love each other so much, but that love gives and takes it. There’s so much care at the scene of Rue inflicting Jules’ shots. And then there’s so much destruction in the nightmare that Jules has over the fact that Rue can’t answer the door. Their dynamics remain the strongest part of the program, but it is especially fascinating in how difficult it is to define. The romance between them is just as poignant as the conflict between them. Jules and Rue destroyed and enchanted.
While not much happens in this episode, there is a lot on a character level. “I want to be as beautiful as the sea,” Jules thought at one point. This thought follows memories of her grandmother, a contemplation about femininity, a touch of spirituality with a trans lens. It was crossed with shots of Jules in the sea. It’s beautiful, but there’s a deliberate mess about it. It is reminiscent of the free-flowing monologues of Angela Chase in My so called life, and Hunter Schafer is just as compelling as a teenage girl full of contradictions and complexity as Claire Danes was in that role. Watching the episode feels like reading Jules’ diary. It feels like getting an unfiltered, organic and complicated look on her psyche. Her mind weaves between so many different important moments and memories from her life, but it all relates. Euphoria keeps us so strongly rooted in Jules’ perspective that it’s easy to follow her from one point to another.
Again, none of this could really work if Schafer was not so talented and in control of the material. The dialogue on Euphoria can occasionally feel so deliberately poetic that it is almost distracted or redone. This is sometimes true in ‘Fuck Everyone Who’s Not A Sea Blob’, but it’s also one of the strongest written episodes of the entire series. Sam Levinson is usually the only credit credit for episodes, but this time he shares a co-writing credit with Schafer, who makes her the standout star of this episode on several levels. The text is a quiet but powerful stream of consciousness that captivates. We see Jules moving between so many emotions, desires and perceptions of herself. This is the good mess –mess that feels deeply human. Euphoria let Jules overcome with contradictions. Her monologues have specificity, but also manage to touch on so many things at once. The writing does a lot with a little, and it is not Euphorianormal speed.
Lost observations
- All the awards for Hunter Schafer please! Let her write more episodes too, because this text is really great!
- I was really not sure how I would feel about this episode, as I tend to hate when doing television therapy sessions, but it actually feels like a pretty believable therapy session.
- Zendaya and Hunter Schafer on screen are just as good.