Eric Dane as Cal Jacobs
An sudden deep dive into Cal’s teenagehood opens the third episode of Euphoria’s second season, “Ruminations: Massive and Little Bullys.”
Chronically attractive Cal explores his sexuality for the very first time, with each his girlfriend Marsha and his finest buddy Derek, who he appears to have a real romantic attachment to – for the primary and (seemingly) final time in Cal’s life, it’s not nearly intercourse.
However Cal’s budding, tender romance together with his finest bro is interrupted by a fateful cellphone name, with Marsha informing him that she is pregnant; Cal reluctantly steps as much as be a father, whereas mourning the lack of a probably shiny future. After all, we all know how a lot of a dreadful dad, management freak, and usually terrible human Cal finally ends up being, however it’s attention-grabbing to see the weak facet to such an intimidating character.
Subsequent, yet one more scene of Rue blissfully out of her thoughts on medicine, deliriously dancing out within the open, having guilted her sister into accepting that she must smoke “some weed” every now and then, to forestall her “panic assaults.” Rue’s new deceit is depicted by the lens of her creativeness, by which Rue is an skilled professor, educating a category on how one can be a profitable drug addict. Though, it’s apparent how a lot it pains her to misinform her candy little sister.
Rue’s new “weed” behavior provides {the teenager} an ideal excuse to be completely intoxicated, whereas writing it off as being a foolish stoner, in a hilarious montage of slip-ups and hiccups. However there’s solely to this point one can stretch out a weed excessive; if her associates don’t already suspect the reality, they’ll determine it out quickly sufficient.
The remainder of the episode feels uncharacteristically sluggish, dragging out the connection issues of Jules and Rue, whereas once more emphasizing Lexi’s incapability to take management over her life – that being mentioned, the latter is depicted in one other attention-grabbing fantasy, displaying Lexi directing the story of her life, which evokes her to jot down her personal college play to compete with the limitless tedium of Oklahoma!
Whereas Lexi strives to take management, her sister Cassie spends a number of hours a day squeezing, stretching and mostuzing her pores and skin, to the purpose of oil overdose, ensuring her hair, make-up and outfit are completely composed, all within the hope of securing a single admiring look from Nate, who refuses to acknowledge her existence whereas in school.
After all, the 2 meet up often to have loud, steamy intercourse classes, by which Nate by no means appears to say a phrase to Cassie that isn’t extremely derogatory; he by no means lets her neglect her large betrayal. Poor Cassie is hooked on his twisted type of affection, and the stress is beginning to eat her up on the within, in stark distinction to her polished look.
Cassie virtually reaches breaking level when a pupil errors her outfit for an Oklahoma! audition, resulting in Cassie, utterly unprompted, shrieking out the main points of her sordid affair to her associates within the toilet, a tense second of launch that solely happens inside Cassie’s thoughts.
However Nate, it appears, nonetheless pines for Maddy, as we see him enter her home, bouquet of flowers in hand. Watching Maddy open her door feels akin to a hot-blooded virgin inviting a vampire to their abode; one thing darkish and dreadful is certain to observe. However does Nate really need Maddy, or does he need the underage intercourse tape, starring pricey previous dad?
In the meantime, Jules, Rue and Elliot have shaped a decent friendship, taunt with sexual stress, simmering, unexpectedly, between Elliot and Jules. For Elliot has found out that Rue isn’t a very sexual particular person – it is smart why the 2 haven’t succumbed to their hormones but, regardless of having taken so many inhibition-dissolving substances collectively. Clearly, Rue prefers unnatural highs, acrid chemical compounds over candy endorphins.
It isn’t fairly clear if Elliot is being horribly manipulative, or brutally trustworthy, as he barrages Jules with compliments, clearly crushing on her. It’s a plot twist within the love triangle, as he and Rue appeared to have real chemistry, past their shared ardour for substance abuse.
Emboldened by her lies, Rue is falling into depravity quick, now with ambitions to deal medicine, in an effort to pay for extra medicine. Seeing as Fez (understandably) doesn’t even need to hear her loopy scheme, Rue turns to the deeply sinister, amusingly understated teacher-turned-kingpin, Laurie.
Laurie is impressed by Rue’s concept, which is to blackmail three harmless schoolgirls into changing into devoted sellers, apparently. Earlier than she leaves, Laurie warns to by no means betray her, or she’ll ship some “sick folks” after Rue. The warning is all of the extra menacing by Laurie’s pokerfaced, deadpan supply – this girl isn’t the kind to magnify.
The spotlight of the episode, nevertheless, comes after Cal makes the panicked determination to retrieve his intercourse tape, which he believes is in Fez’s home, as a result of that’s what Nate advised him. Cal quickly finds himself on the point of mind injury, because the cruel Ash repeatedly cracks his head with a shotgun, daring Cal to name the police – moderately helpfully, he even gives the person his cellphone.
Ash has brutally known as Cal’s bluff, so Cal is pressured to elucidate what he actually desires. What follows could be the darkest comedy of the present to this point, as Fez listens to Cal confess to his crime, involving a lady that Nate additionally has emotions for, sparking some unsettling father-son connections in Fez’s thoughts.
After all, Fez is in full disbelief that Cal would admit to having intercourse with a young person (to not point out, recording it), and horrified that he must be the one to listen to about it. Fez is such an exquisite character, the ever-reluctant introvert who simply desires to promote his medicine in peace, with out being suckered into silly schemes and the sexual escapades of strangers, however the dude is destined to spend his days being drawn into ridiculous, deeply pointless drama, and it by no means stops being hilarious.
After the 2 lastly understand that Cal has the improper home, Cal humbly asks if he can merely depart. Fez agrees, on the situation that Cal retains his sociopathic son in examine; certainly, we’re going to see some sparks fly between the 2 very quickly. Nate’s lie hasn’t simply humiliated Cal past perception – it additionally armed Fez with Cal’s deepest, darkest secret.
Whereas this episode was a bit sluggish, even stagnant at occasions, the brand new twists in Rue, Nate, Cal and Fez’s tales are very promising certainly; it’s all destined to go horribly, deliciously improper.
Take a look at my recap of the earlier episode of Euphoria right here