#Euphoria Season 2 Yearbook: New Year, Dirty Work

“Fezco’s grandma was a motherf***ing G,” Rue says in voiceover, introducing one of the best cold opens the show has ever delivered. Within seconds, we see just how true her words are. Fezco’s grandma (Kathrine Narducci) steps out of a glossy, golden vehicle carrying a pistol. We see her heeled boots first, then her bright blue suit, complete with a jacket that says “GODS WORD GODS WILL.” We see her walk into a sex club, past oiled up dancers who eye her warily. She crosses through the dressing room and seedy back rooms and into the office of the establishment’s apparent proprietor — a man whom she promptly shoots, mid-fellatio. Fezco’s grandma hits him once in each leg before he even has the chance to zip up, then returns to her car, where a young Fez is waiting. Fez has a fresh black eye, and she strokes his face with a perfectly golden-manicured hand. “I just spoke to your daddy,” she says, in a hilarious understatement. “You’re gonna come live with grandma now.”

Fez might have escaped from an abusive situation, but it’s clear the one he ended up in wasn’t much better. The very next shot we see shows Fez, still very young, cutting piles of coke with a Blockbuster card. The next few moments cover his upbringing in quick vignettes, and it’s like something straight out of “Goodfellas.” His grandma takes him on as a drug dealing partner, and the family gains a new member when a baby left as collateral is never picked up. That kid becomes Ashtray — the tattooed, baby-faced kid we’ve seen by Fez’s side in the present day. When his grandma accidentally clips him with a tire iron while beating someone who owes her money, he loses two months of memory. Soon after, his grandma gets sick, and Fez has to take over the business completely, raising Ashtray in the process.

Finally, ten minutes into the episode, we catch up with Fezco and Ashtray in the present day. Last season, Fez lost some valuable inventory after Nate (Jacob Elordi) called the cops on him, forcing him to flush some of the drugs he was supposed to be selling for a guy named Mouse (Meeko Gattuso). When Mouse and one of his goons come for Fezco, Ashtray grabs a hammer and delivers some well-placed blows to the pair, critically injuring (or likely killing) one and leaving the other screaming over a badly broken nose. Cue the opening credits. Everybody at home, take a breath while you can.