#Euphoria Season 2 Yearbook: Everyone’s Spinning Out

The episode starts with a moment that should be intimate, but thanks to Rue’s (Zendaya) escalating drug use, it’s void of all feeling. Jules (Hunter Schaffer) is attempting to go down on Rue, but Rue can’t feel a thing. She idly imagines Jules as famous works of art, then casts the pair in famous movie scenes. They’re Sleeping Beauty and her prince, Jack and Rose from “Titanic,” and Ennis and Jack from “Brokeback Mountain.” This is a cute, creative interlude, but Rue’s too zonked to even narrate it like she usually does with cold opens for the show.

Rue fakes the worst orgasm anyone has ever heard — Zendaya fans, please don’t let this become a meme — and Jules can’t get over it. When she tells Elliot, he says she might just be bad at oral sex. He offers to do a demonstration on her hand, and soon the two are making out. I know everyone is up in arms about Jules and Elliot, but he doesn’t seem like a bad person to me, as demonstrated later in this episode when he tells Jules that Rue relapsed. These kids are too young for life-or-death romances, and Rue is obviously growing increasingly checked out of her relationship anyway. These seem to be the same thoughts Jules is holding onto when she decides to steal a few moments of joy with Elliot.

The whole trio seems extremely close. At one point in this episode, all three of them lay in bed together, and Elliot says they should stop playing “lesbian power games” because they’re clearly all horny for each other. The pair take shifts going to the bathroom, but instead of freshening up for the expected throuple adventure, Rue and Elliot are actually getting high. Or rather, Rue gets high. Elliot blows away the line she set up for him. Interesting.

Before they can figure out their whole romantic deal, the trio decide to run to the convenience store. Jules steals drinks while Elliot distracts the cashier — “Kramer!” — then make a run for it when he chases them down with a bat. The whole night is getting too real, so Rue grabs a drink of her own in the backseat. This once again kicks “Euphoria” into “painfully real portrayal of addiction” territory. Jules tells Rue she shouldn’t be drinking, but Rue is over being parented by her loved ones. She asks to be dropped off at home, and casually tells Jules she can’t stand her. It’s clear that Rue just says this to be hurtful enough to escape the conversation about her sobriety. It works, but it’s awful to witness. When Jules ends up back in Elliot’s bed later, it’s no surprise.