(SPOILERS for this week’s Euphoria will be found below.)
In Euphoria’s latest episode, “Stand Still Like The Humming Bird,” Rue Bennett (Zendaya) finally hits rock bottom. No like, for real this time guys.
The teenage addict has somehow been successful in hiding her relapse from her closest friends and family for most of season two but a confession from Elliot leads to a poorly-staged intervention that sets Rue down a dark path in episode five. She’s overdosed, almost died, and dipped her toe in the drug dealing business but this week’s episode pushes Rue to the breaking point, asking her to hurt the people she loves, steal from complete strangers, and shut out everyone trying to help her get clean. It’s as if Euphoria is finally affirming that no, drugs aren’t cool (even on shows filled with beautiful people and stylized melodrama).
Here are some of the biggest questions we had after season two’s fifth episode.
Did Rue Make It Home?
The last we saw Rue, she was escaping Laurie’s apartment after shooting up morphine for the first time. She spent most of the episode spiraling, suffering through multiple interventions, burning bridges with friends, and trying to score a fix. After breaking into a stranger’s house, stealing thousands of dollars in jewelry and cash, and running from the police, Rue’s last resort is to seek sanctuary with Laurie, the eerily calm former-school-teacher-turned-drug-lord who previously lent Rue a suitcase full of narcotics. Rue was supposed to sell them but those plans were flushed down the drain when Jules told Rue’s mom about her relapse, so now, Rue is forced to gravel at Laurie’s feet while going through some pretty gnarly withdrawals. She begs Laurie for drugs who ends up dosing her with morphine intravenously before putting her to bed but Rue has enough sense to get the hell out of dodge before Laurie wakes up and starts demanding payback. She books it down an alley and the next scene we see is the shot that ends the episode — a glimpse of Rue’s mom waiting at the kitchen table as the front door opens. It would make sense for Rue to return home now that she has nowhere else to go, but it could easily be one of Rue’s friends or enemies paying her family a visit. Maybe it’s Fez, who has come to check on her after their blow-out at his place? Or it could be one of Laurie’s thugs looking for her money.
Is Fez Going To Die?
It feels fairly safe to say that Rue has officially gotten on Laurie’s bad side. She hasn’t paid her back, she’s lost her drugs, and she just snuck out of the woman’s home after she bathed her, drugged her, and tucked her in for the night. Laurie puts off this mellow facade but she’s a business woman and, judging by the company she keeps, probably a pretty ruthless one. Laurie knows of Fez’s relationship with Rue from their encounter earlier in the season when Fez had to explain why he murdered one of the men she worked with, Mouse. Fez vouched for Rue to Laurie and her crew in order to get both them and Ashtray out of a sticky situation. If Laurie can’t get what she’s due from a strung-out Rue, will she go knocking on Fez’s door? If she does, that can’t be a good thing, right?
What Happened With Maddy And Cassie?
Witnessing Cassie’s tumultuous love affair with Nate and her attempts to keep their relationship a secret from her best friend Maddy felt like watching a trainwreck happen in slow-motion — you knew it end in flames and maybe even someone’s death, but you never knew when exactly it would veer off the rails. Well, it did this episode and, even more shocking, Rue was the catalyst. In order to distract her mom and friends from staging yet another intervention, Rue targets Cassie, questioning how long she’s been sleeping with Nate in front of Maddy, Kat, Lexi, and their moms. Maddy, predictably, loses her sh*t, threatening to get violent with her friend and chasing her up the stairs as Cassie cries hysterically and Rue makes her escape. We don’t get to see what exactly Maddy does to Cassie after the reveal but it’s likely going to be worse than anything Cassie imagined. As long as Nate gets his too, we’re fine with it.
What’s Behind The Locked Door?
While Rue is going through withdrawals at Laurie’s house, the camera focuses on a padlocked door at the end of the hallway. Rue’s only half-listening to Laurie talk about opioid use and brain death as she stares at the door and we try to figure out what the scratching sound coming from behind it really is. Laurie’s into some bad things, so sure, it could just be a bigger stash of drugs, guns, and cash but could it also be a human? Another exotic pet? Who knows?
How Is Rue Going To Pay Laurie Back?
Again, we cannot overstate how stupid Rue was to go to Laurie of all people during her weakest moment. Was she forced into a corner? Sure, but seeking help from the woman who you conned an entire suitcase filled with drugs out of with absolutely no plan to pay her back — not our girl’s smartest moment. Laurie has already threatened to traffic Rue if she doesn’t get the money back and she doubles down on that threat during this latest episode, hinting that Rue, as a woman, has something of value and ominously telling her she knew she’d be a part of her life for a long time from the moment she first saw her. Laurie has plans for Rue, the scary kind, and honestly, we don’t know how she’s going to get out of this mess.
HBO’s ‘Euphoria’ airs on Sundays at 9:00pm EST.