Image via Eddy Chen/HBO
It’s been nearly three years, but just like that, HBO and A24’s teen drama Euphoria has returned to deliver the new cosmic highs and abysmal lows of teenagers struggling to survive high school and their own dizzying journeys of self-discovery. As we return to the Lord of the Flies-like island of East Highland High School, the lives of main characters Rue, Jules, Maddy, Nate, Kat, Cassie, Lexi, Fez, and others still dangle in a disco ball of chaos, confusion, misguidedness, and ecstasy that powered the first season of the series.
We were left on a tragic cliffhanger in Season 1, our omnipresent narrator Rue relapsing after feeling abandoned by Jules. We return to a similar world, with Rue now trying to regain sobriety while also trying not to rely on Jules like the drugs that have controlled her life. This is all the while characters like Nate continue down their sociopathic road of tyranny, Fez trying to be a good drug dealer and a good person, and others like Cassie, Kat, and Maddy attempting to maneuver through their own drama and trauma.
Everything that transpired in Season 1 left us with a lot of burning questions that will hopefully be answered starting Jan. 9. Why does Fez sell drugs, and will he stop? What will Jules and Rue’s complicated relationship evolve into next? Will someone, anyone, beat the shit out of Nate? With all these queries and more, here are the six biggest questions we have going into Season 2 of Euphoria.
When Will Nate Face Repercussions For His Actions?
Nate is a villain, point-blank. Yes, he has a lot of traumatic baggage like almost every other main character in the show, but his tragic backstory does not absolve him from being an abusive, manipulative asshole. At the end of Season 1, he held all the cards. He successfully blackmailed Jules into making a false police report so he could get away with abusing Maddy. He called the police on Fez and got his house raided, and he still managed to have a successful night at Homecoming. Eventually, all of Nate’s bad karma will come back to get him, I just hope it happens in this new season. Maddy has his dad’s sex tape with Jules, but she makes some of the same unhinged decisions that he does, so we’ll see how she ends up using it. There’s also the unresolved storyline surrounding his relationship with his pedophilic father that needs to be addressed more upfront.
What are Fez and Lexi’s Backstories?
Two of my favorite characters in Euphoria are Fez and Lexi, and neither ever got the intro backstory narrated by Rue as they deserved. Ironically, these two characters are arguably closer to Rue than many other mainstays like Jules. Fez is the high school dropout-turned-dope dealer who is partially responsible for getting Rue addicted to drugs, but we get glimpses of why he’s forced to turn to illegal activity with casual shots of his grandmother in the background of his home hooked up to life support whenever Rue visits. Fez doesn’t sell drugs because he wants to, which is apparent in the way that he cares enough about Rue’s health that he refuses to sell her them when she’s on a bender, but seemingly because he has to. The story of how he became this regretful narcotics salesman needs to be explored.
Lexi is the people’s champion and a character that deserves the most in Season 2. We’re literally introduced to her as Rue’s old best friend, who still holds it down for her and is willing to help her at the drop of a hat, and she remains one of the most kind-hearted and reliable characters throughout Season 1. We never get to see how Lexi feels about anything because she lives in the shadow of her sister Cassie, so hopefully that changes. She’s treated like a background character and deserves a backstory episode of her own at minimum.
Will Rue Recover From Her Relapse?
Season 1 ended on the massive cliffhanger of Rue relapsing after leaving Jules at the train station. The midseason special, “Trouble Don’t Last Always,” answered the question of what happened immediately after those events and how Rue has been coping with Jules no longer being someone she could constantly rely on. What might be the biggest question going into Season 2 is whether or not Rue will be able to regain her sobriety, or if she will succumb to her most aggressive vices and go back down another spiral of drug abuse. In the trailer for Season 2, it looks like she has found a new love interest who feeds these destructive tendencies, and it also appears like she might start selling drugs with Fez, so it will be interesting to see how these two storylines develop. Another major plot point of Season 1 was how Rue’s drug addiction affected everyone around her, especially her younger sister Gia. How Rue’s relapse impacted her will also be important to pay attention to this season.
How Will Jules and Rue’s Relationship Evolve From Here?
Rue and Jules’ relationship is volatile and complicated, but at its heart, it’s pure. They love each other in the way that teenagers love most things, explosively and all-out, as if nothing else matters except how they make each other feel. That would be cute if Rue’s mental health didn’t lay in the balance of how Jules treated her. That’s not to the fault of Jules either, but given how Rue grew to rely on her like a nicotine patch, and ultimately relapsed once she was detached from her arm, the way their relationship evolves from here will be a huge indicator of how Rue stays sober. Based on the Season 1 specials from last year, the two are clearly not on the best of terms going into Season 2, but how will Rue cope with not having Jules in her life the way she was before. What, or who, will she replace her with to help curtail her addiction? And if they do get back together in a romantic way, will Rue begin to rely on her in the ways she did before?
Will the Entire Class Make it to Senior Year?
Call me morbid, but it genuinely surprised me that no one tragically passed away in the first season of this show. Given its intense nature, coupled with the fact that teenagers were doing hardcore drugs at least once every episode, I felt like there were death flags for a few characters throughout Season 1. And since things are only ramping up, that begs the question: will the entire main cast at East Highland High make it to senior year? Season 2 looks to pick up during the latter half of most of their junior years, so a lot can happen between then and the summer. We already saw all that transpired in a semester, and with Rue reeling from her relapse, Jules still coming to grips with her identity, and Nate being a complete sociopath, there is no telling what will happen; which is also half of Euphoria’s appeal.
BONUS: Will Anyone Ever Go to Class?
All of the dramatic turmoil and blossoming youthful self-discovery is fun and all, but will anyone ever go to class? While the fits that every character wears traversing the halls of Euphoria consistently slap, I’m not sure if I’ve seen one backpack on anyone throughout this show. I get that there are much bigger things going on, but did Rue finish her third-period English report? Are there no teachers who double as healthy role models? I just think it might be interesting to explore if these kids ever actually go to class for a second since, you know, this is high school.