Bonnie and Clyde

Euphoria is my absolute favorite show on television/might be the greatest show to hit the big screen in a while. And honestly, I don’t know what’s worse; Mondays – because I have to wait a full 6 days for the next episode – or Sunday’s at 11:01 pm when the episode is over and I have to process how much the last hour of my life has just mind-fucked me. Although it’s my favorite show maybe ever, it is an extremely difficult show to watch because it authentically and veritably illustrates how arduous it is to maintain your sense of self and maintain balance/happiness amidst a shit ton of trauma and social media. I feel like any young person between the ages of 16-25 can really relate to how these high school students try to navigate friendship and love in an environment filled with drugs and sex. I have been anxiously waiting for the episode where they give us some background into Maddy. Up until episode 5, she came off like a total bitch. She seemed selfish, self-absorbed, and was just all around difficult for the audience to sympathize with or connect with. Episode 5 was most definitely her episode though; it was completely centered on her and finally gave us a little bit of insight into why she is the way she is.

Episode 4 ended with Maddy crying about the bruises Nate left on her neck following an argument that they had at the Chili cook-off. Rue, who is played by Zendaya, started off Episode 5 saying that the physical violence between Maddy and Nate is not what is scary to Maddy, but that even despite what he did to her, she’d always love him, and that thought sickened her. This line was so powerful and laid the foundation for them returning to each other and hugging in the end at the motel (the preview of the next episode also shows Maddy trying to help Nate figure out a plan to get out of the situation so we will see how that unfolds). This is the cycle of violence at it’s finest! The average domestic violence victim goes back about 7 times, and if this holds true, Maddy has about 6 more to go. Ariana Romero, a writer for Refinery 29 articulated it perfectly: “When you understand the complicated feelings of abuse survivors, you can empathize with Maddy's fight to keep Nate in her life, despite all the people telling her he’s poison.”

In my humble usually always accurate opinion, this episode portrayed every reaction, of every character in situations of violence, almost exactly the way it usually happens. The victim does not want to press charges because she is still in love, the perpetrator has to craft a story to make him look innocent and put the blame on the victim (i.e. Nate saying that Maddy does drugs and that she is crazy), Maddy’s mom wanting to press charges against Nate regardless of the fact that Maddy doesn’t want to (because that’s how every mom would react if she saw those scars across her daughters neck), the school having to be a mandatory reporter once they notice an instance of violence, students/peers acting like they saw what happened but really hyping the story and lying either because they don’t like Maddy or hate Nate, and the female detective trying to tell Maddy that Nate doesn’t actually love her if he strangled her (especially because studies show that if someone strangles you, they are 3 times more likely to kill you). This visceral representation of abuse is one that the big screen has been missing. In most television portrayals, single instances of violence are either shown as normal/something the woman should work through on her own OR not worth reporting because legal remedies might be too intense for a young man with such a “bright promising future” or whatever those judges tell young men after they do wild shit to young women. I was so happy that for once, they accurately portrayed the situation, of every character, authentically from start to finish.

I also absolutely love the way they are developing Kat’s character! Kat started off the season as a quiet virgin with a shit ton of insecurities stemming from her weight and by episode 5 she’s wearing body harnesses and ignoring her depressed friend to give a random guy a bj in a car. To me, that was absolutely badass. Usually, the fat girls on our television screens are just there to be the emotional support dummy for their super-hot friend…but Kat is nothing like that. She’s doing what’s best for her, figuring out life for herself, and just straight up doing the damn thing! Although some of her actions might stem from insecurities…what high-schoolers' doesn’t? She’s smart, sassy, extremely sarcastic, and in command of what she’s doing! I’m excited to see where she’s at by the end of the season.

And now the moment we’ve all been waiting for…Rules. They always say that the best way to get over one addiction is to start another and that seems to be exactly what Rue is doing. Rue is dependent on her new drug: Jules. She even compared the high she gets from being with Rue to Fentanyl, which is apparently the best drug she's ever had. Several characters during episode 5 told Jules that Rue was doing better because of her and it very clearly made Jules panic. It seems like she might be staying in the friendship/relationship/situationship out of fear of hurting Rue or fear that Rue will start using again if she leaves. This makes me really sympathize with Jules...she loves Rue but is staying in the relationship because of the overwhelming pressure that Rue might relapse if Jules shuts her down romantically. I’m on edge every-time these two come on the screen because I just never know what’s going to happen next. Tbh, Jules is also probably still panicked about the fact that Nate is blackmailing her because she slept with his dad and she hasn't even told Rue that tea yet! Only 3 episodes left so we will see what keeps happening!