Fin
The whole goal of the show is to make viewers feel something…anything really, so long as you at least feel. Whether it be from the flawlessly curated soundtrack, mesmerizing visuals, or autocratic acting - the finale did just that. When I first started watching the show, I thought that the writers, directors, and producers were just trying to shock the baby-boomers and old heads with copious amounts of drugs and alcohol, sex, and violence, but as the show progressed, I slowly realized that the show is just trying to teach us about the authentic experience of Gen Z’ers in high school. Behind the gut-wrenching addiction flashbacks, flaccid on-screen dicks, teen pregnancy, relapses, and fluidity is an absolutely fucking beautiful coming of age story that finally shows the real anxiety-ridden existence of teenagers in this day in age. The Season Finale though, takes storytelling to a new level, flipping between real time – the school dance – and the events leading up to it: Rue’s stay at the hospital following her kidney infection, Cassie’s abortion, Nate’s high-school football game, and Maddy discovering a CD in Nate’s room.
The finale tied together every character’s story-line in a surreal – but – trippy way. The primary focus of this episode however, was on the main protagonist, Rue. For lack of better wording, the scenes leading to Rue’s relapse seemed like a coruscating but chilling compilation of memories. Rue inhales a line before literally and figuratively, tripping, through memories of her childhood. We see snippets of Rue dancing and laughing with her mother and sister and then sharp cuts to her and her mother screaming at each other while her little sister tries to diffuse the situation. The flashbacks end with the revelation that the red hoodie that Rue always wears, the one that Jules begged her to take off for the dance, belonged to her father. She clings to this memory in the same way that she clings to the memories of brawls with her mother over her drug use and of her time with Jules. These memories between her and her family seem to be what led to her to stay instead of leaving with Jules. In the after show recap, Zendaya says “I think she’s just repeating and thinking about all the trauma that she’s already kind of caused her family. In that split moment, she just thinks about her mom and her little sister, which is something that we’ve never really seen her do.” She chooses her family over Jules, who as we have seen throughout the season, has been the main reason why Rue has stayed sober. Lexi said it. Rue's mom said it. Everyone knows that Rue’s love for Jules replaced her love for drugs…that’s why as soon as Jules leaves, Rue relapses. I don’t believe that the finale was about Rue relapsing and returning to heavy drug use again – it’s about her trying and failing – like a human.
Someone has to say it so I guess it will be me; Jules went from being an amazing friend that was helping Rue through her drug addiction, to one of the main reasons Rue goes back to it. In the inceptive episodes, Jules telling Rue that she would no longer be her friend if Rue continued to use was the only reason that Rue elected to stop – then as the season progressed, Jules became extremely toxic to her, almost as if Jules was a drug as well. After watching the episode, I was like…does anyone else kinda think Jules blows (as in sucks, not like...well I guess both of these are sexually explicit so lets just go with Jules stinks lol)? The episode started with Jules apologizing to Rue for leaving her a few weeks ago and then at the end of the episode, she leaves Rue again. Like what? Not only that, she was showing Rue the bite marks that Anna gave her knowing damn well Rue loves her. AND SHE DOESN’T STOP THERE…She even told Rue that she was in love with Anna. I was like Jules…fam…you gotta ease up. Maybe this is a segway into them having a polyamorous character or the show? Or maybe Jules is just extremely selfish? I’m going to go with the ladder.
Nate and Maddy’s relationship is the visual equivalent of the 1994 Northridge earthquake: a catastrophe. Am I the only one that thinks that revenge for them is sort of like an aphrodisiac? They love to do things in front of the other…it seems like they piss each other off just to somehow gravitate back towards each other in the end. The anger, vexation, exasperation, the hatred…the build-up of complete disgust and loathing leads to the most passionate and forbidden rekindling/sex, which is what their whole relationship is built off of. I’m also not sure how many people caught this, but Nate put his hands on Maddy for a second time – and this time, she barely reacted. While Nate and Maddy were on the bed discussing the images that Maddy found on his phone, he jolts towards her, grabs her face/chin, and shakes her until she agrees to not discuss it any longer. Once again, this is always how it happens. Once someone puts their hands on you once, it will continually re-occur. Words cannot describe how enthused I am at the writers and directors are portraying instances of per se low level violence as serious and sometimes fatal for victims.
Even though we love to hate Nate – Jacob Elordi is acting his ASS off. I'm still struggling to put into words just how much his performance in the season finale impacted me. When Nate’s dad came into his room after the game, and Nate attacked him until his dad had him pinned to the floor in his underwear - I was shook. All of the pain from the entire season, between him struggling with his sexuality, finding out that his dad is not only gay, but fucks underage women, losing Maddy – all of it was felt in that short two minute scene. He was weak. For once, he had absolutely no control and the depiction of that supposed lack of control was just…riveting. It almost made you feel bad for him. He was banging his head against the ground over and over and over again as if he just wanted all of the thoughts, all of the trauma, all of the pain to get the living fuck out of his head. This is the first time that we see Nate, who is usually the complete personification of toxic masculinity, having a sort of reckoning – even though he physically assaulted both his father and himself in the process. Side Note: I’m 100 percent positive that the video Maddy stole from Nate’s room was the video of Nate’s dad with Jules. Especially because, earlier in the season, we saw Nate stealing the DVD and replacing it with another so that his dad wouldn’t know that it was missing. Idk, but Maddy’s jaw dropped to the flo and she picked it up verrrrry slow, so it has be Jules and Nate’s dad.
My. Girl. Kat. Her evolution every episode never ceases to surprise me. All of the characters on the show are going through an identity crisis, but none as much as Kat. Three episodes in, Kat turned into a total dominatrix and I was into it, until I could see how much her insecurities were blocking her from her real blessing – Ethan. In the season finale though, she finally accepts that she is worthy of more than just sex - she is worthy of love. And maybe Lexi is finally realizing that too? At the dance, we see Lexi asking the girls for advice about how to approach someone when she wants to flirt. Maybe this means that Lexi is getting a love interest next season!! Taking all bets on who we think it is…my guess is Rue! I think that Lexi has been in love with Rue since they were kids. I have completely vetted this theory and am almost certain that this will be the tea of Season 2. It just has to be.
I feel terrible that I have nothing positive to say about Cassie or Mkay ( I don't actually feel terrible), but like…the finale didn’t exactly make it any easier to do that. McKay wasn’t even in the episode and the only time we really saw Cassie was when she was in the hospital room prepping for her abortion. I need the writers to get these two’s storyline together a little bit because as of now, I’m not really understanding what they bring to the show. Also, WHAT HAPPENED TO FEZ!??!!? Is the tatted man going to put ten rounds in his chest because the money had blood on it? I need to know. Tangent...but does anyone think the writers are trying to put in a subtle story-line about the youth witnessing trauma and becoming traumatized because of what they witnessed. We saw this dynamic a little bit with Rue and her little sister, but in the finale, they showed Fez robbing that rich guy in front of his son. I mean…watching your father get robbed at gun point would traumatize 10 out of 10 kids, but I think the writers are trying to show us that kids see everything, remember everything, and pick up on it once they are older. Idk. This is just one of my bizarre conspiracy theories, but it makes sense.