‘Euphoria’ Season 3, Episode 6: Mama’s Got a Brand New Mule

19:48Joanna Robinson:Who gets to survive? Oh, man. Sydney Sweeney. Team Lexi. Of the Howard girls. I'm not saying who should. I'm saying if there were. Who's the cockroach? If there was a flood event and Euphoria gets rebooted around one character, I don't see it based on everything we've seen this season, how it wouldn't be Cassie. I think it should be Maddie. How dare you not nominate your girl? I'm not saying what I want. I'm saying what I believe to be true. This is my stand still and see moment. You know, like I am believing in the vision of the show that has been laid before me. And that is unfortunately for me, not a Maddie forward show all the time.

20:20Joanna Robinson:But in terms of like, who's likely to come back for Euphoria season four, is it Sydney Sweeney or is it Alexa Demme? I don't know why Alexa Demme isn't in everything. So clearly there is a mystical power in the universe I don't comprehend. Stand still and see, Rob. But Sydney Sweeney does feel like she's so game for the show. She feels like more involved and more invested in the greater Euphoria project than basically any other performer on screen. So I think she probably would if it were to continue on. She is one of the few actors giving interviews after the credits roll on the episodes. That's true.

20:53Joanna Robinson:Okay. If you have a different nominee for the NOAA of the mass flood event that might come for Euphoria, press HTV at Spotify.com. Alamo Cold Open. Danielle Denweiler. I have some notes. This is not what I want, Danielle Denweiler. are doing. And like, I don't, I don't mind the idea of this cold open because, you know, we enjoyed the sort of flashback to people's characters' childhoods that we got in previous seasons. We really, really liked that. Yes. Cassie one was really good. The Nate one was really good. Like, they're all, all of them are really good. Cal. I love the Cal one. The Cal one really got to me.

21:30Joanna Robinson:And so, two starts, season two starts with like this Fez's grandma flashback sequence. So, in terms of like Sam Levinson, wanting to make like a sort of 70s exploitation style sequence. He's already done that in season two. And I actually really quite liked that. The introduction of Ashtray and all that sort of stuff like that. This I don't feel like taught me anything about Alamo other than to quote someone on Reddit. His mom was a bitch who played him and he made sure he never got played by a bitch again. That's like - I don't think that's quoting right. That's literally quoting the episode.

22:04Joanna Robinson:So like, well, that's the second part is. So did you feel like this deepened the character? How did you feel about it? Not exactly, because I would say the only thing it really deepened about Alamo is this idea of all the times we've seen him within the season, within this episode, just go from zero to 100 at the idea of getting played by somebody. I would just argue that most drug dealers are probably that way to begin with, or arms dealers, or people work in any kind of criminal underground. They don't need an Oedipal sort of moment for that. Yeah, like you don't want to be made the fool of.

22:35does he need a like mommy issues complex that then leads him to put an imitation of his mom's own leg on top of his strip club to resolve something I'm sure he doesn't need to work it out I'm sure it's fine I don't know that we entirely needed that

22:50Joanna Robinson:that sounds therapeutic it sounds like a nice arts and crafts project right? you just like really process your issues through like mass paper mache I was about to say I think he hand sculpted it yeah yeah yeah but I'm with you on Daniel Dedweiler too like she is I love her so much immense respect for her as a performer. And I would say specifically the like tempestuous characters that she could play where they just have all of this like internal something and you're trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Is that a Station Eleven reference? I mean, we do remember Damage on this show. You know, this is who we are.

23:23Yeah. But like I would have loved to see more of that kind of internality from her character. And instead she's like, look, it's an interesting framing of a story, right, of this idea of the long con that she's playing. but the way it manifests is she's just kind of like a one note temptress who's here to like a la carte her life like I want the money from this guy and I want to live with this guy and I want to live in that city and to hell with my son and what he wants.

23:45Joanna Robinson:Something that we've noted that Sam Levinson does and sometimes to great effect and sometimes you know less so or whatever is he's a great borrower of other texts and what is true about this story Alamo's backstory is pretty closely airlifted from the book Pimp by Iceberg Slim, which is like an autobiography of a pimp. And then this is like the story of his childhood that his mom like was with a God-fearing man who treated her well and stuff like that. And then the only time in his life when Iceberg Slim was happy and then she like ripped him away into an abusive relationship and stuff like that.

24:25Joanna Robinson:So that is seemingly the inspo. And I think, I believe Sam Levinson mentions at least Iceberg Slim in the post-credits sort of discussion. So there is that nod to where he lifted it from. I really wanted to like this more. I just think Danielle Deadweiler is so talented and this is just not, you know, what I would use her for personally. It's like fine enough. But again, did not transform the story or the characters in the way that some of the other flashbacks did. And frankly, I'm not sure I ever quite recovered from the fact that his given name is actually Alamo. Even as a Texas guy? Have you never met an Alamo?

24:55Never met a single Alamo.

24:57Joanna Robinson:Okay. It doesn't strike me as a thing you would do. Name a child Alamo? I guess somebody did. It's memorable at least. Clearly. And we talked earlier this season about like, did he concoct it just so he could do remember the Alamo style gags like he literally did in the season? But I guess it was just in the stars for him the whole time. Right. But he was always loved Cowboys. And there's a lot of like, there's a. Yeah. Well, that's nominatively deterministic for sure. If you name your kid Alamo, like he's going to wear like a raccoon skin hat on his head at some point. That's just a given. I guess so.

25:27Joanna Robinson:Maddie in the club. What do you want to say about it? This is one where I would have almost preferred us having a conversation about this scene, not having access to the post-game interview clips from the cast. Because the way Alexa Demme talks about this scene as like... A girl hangout. Women coming together in their power. Yeah. That was news to me. Sure. Was that apparent to you in the execution of what this scene was? I thought we were just doing a cool like workers unite moment for Maddie. Sure. She's like workers rights. They deserve time off. What are the, you know, the labor laws inside of stroke laws?

26:00I guess that is women coming together. Yeah. She's standing up. Sure. But the rest of it is...

26:05Joanna Robinson:A fun girly link up is how Alexa Demme described it. I guess it's some of that. It's like, you know, this is a club that's in need of art direction as it relates to turning it into an Instagram mobile presence. Maddie has a vision. It is saloon doors and I guess like a coyote ugly kind of aesthetic. I could see it playing online. I just don't know that this was like the girl power moment that was suggested in the commentary. Do you wish they had gotten Piper Perabo, star of Coyote Ugly, to be in season three of Euphoria? Do you think she's available? I think she's quite available. Well, then why not?

26:38Joanna Robinson:They did get Sharon Stone. Sharon Stone is here. Cassie on the set of LA Nights and Lexi's issue with that, despite the fact that she memorized all of her lines very closely, was quite triggered by this honeymoon phrase, even though presumably it was in her size. It's in the script. Yeah. But she gets triggered. She doesn't know what's real and what's not. And she starts, you know, disassociating to a certain degree and improvising. Dylan Reed, shout out Homer Garrett. Like him improvising with her was genuinely, I thought, one of the funniest moments of the whole episode. Joe, no woman deserves to get hit.

27:14Joanna Robinson:How profound, how brave. What a brave moment. I actually did find Dylan to be quite a generous scene partner. That's true. You know, he really rolled with the punches. Which is he really invested in Cassie's story. And I want to give Cassie due credit. You know, like tapping into something deep and dark and unresolved. Is that not just great acting? Is that not the stuff that great performance is made of? Okay, so it's art when Cassie does it. When Alamo crafts a giant papier-mâché replica of his mom's legs. That's also art. Okay, just making sure. I just think they both need therapy. But it can also be art.

27:43Joanna Robinson:Everyone on Euphoria needs therapy. Shout out to Oceana, the George Seurat of the L.A. Soaps. So we love to see her here. Lexi, I do not blame her for calling Cassie out in front of Sharon Stone. What has Cassie ever done for Lexi in her entire life? Nothing. So why should Lexi support Cassie in any kind of way? I just thought this was the kind of pod where women support women. I thought we just established that. Is that not what we're doing here? I support Lexi. I did think, look, the bar has been quite low for Lexi this season. I thought this was among the better Lexi stuff that we've gotten.

28:21Yeah. Both in terms of having actual things to do and also just like the pure disappointment on Maude Apatow's face when Cassie does strike the deal to become a regular. Yeah. There's just some great physical acting. I think overall the idea of Lexi fighting for something this hard and maybe not quite understanding the opportunity that is in front of her to leverage Cassie as much as Cassie leverages her is like a little blind to circumstance in a way that I wouldn't expect of Lexi, but here we are.

28:48Joanna Robinson:That is an email that we got from front of the pod, Matt Medovich, who was like, why isn't Lexi using Cassie here to boost her career? It turns out that she does. She will be. In the writer's room, I did not freeze frame Mahoney my way through all of the post-it notes that were up on the breakup board, but behind Lexi in the writer's room scene, there is a quote from Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi, who I did know was a sports guy. And the quote is this, there is no room for second place. There is only one place in my game, and that's first place. So a profound Lombardiism is on the wall of this writer's room.

29:24Of L.A. Nights. Yeah. What is the first place they're striving for?

29:28Joanna Robinson:In the ratings? I guess. First place in provocative entertainment? Well, that's already settled. Euphoria's got it, baby. First place in George Surratt mentions in an L.A. soap? Also tough competition. What do you hope happens for this? Do you hope that Lexi writes a great episode of L.A. Nights in which Cassie dies? I kind of do. I would love to see that. I would love for Cassie to get a huge elaborate death scene that then she has to act out like, you know, Babylon style in repetition over and over and over to increasing insanity. That is something I'd be interested in seeing. How much trouble is Cassie in?

30:05Joanna Robinson:She has deleted the OnlyFans account, which probably voids some like agreement in the contract with Maddie. I would think. For sure. Or a minimum just the income stream that Maddie relies on. And that's the other thing is like, you know, the finger in the box, like what's in the box. It's we know as a finger as a finger. Yeah. Like she's not going to make the kind of money she needs to make on L.A. Nights. Sorry. Hate to break it to all you want to be starless out there, but she's not going to be making OnlyFans money as a bit player. Yes. On L.A. Nights. So she's not going to be bringing in the money she needs to be bringing in.

30:44Joanna Robinson:She screwed over Maddie in some way. That historically has gone very well for her. Well, you know, how's it going to pan out, Rob? Do you have any predictions? I mean, I don't think it's an accident that in the big Coyote Ugly photo shoot, it is Cassie with the snake posing, getting wrapped up, sizing her up in its way. And her as a character in particular who would be oblivious to basically everyone's actual motivations. Would not shock me whatsoever if all of this was just like Maddie playing with Cassie in the first place. And as soon as she is angered, becomes a whole different beast as a result.

31:16Joanna Robinson:Well, because Maddie, unlike Lexi, is like, I know what I can use this woman for. Interesting. And Cassie has welcomed Maddie into her symbolic bed. How far can we twist this thing? It's a great question. The snake question is something that's interesting to me because I know I told you that I talked to some of the department heads and I was asking about the snake. And I believe it was the production designer was telling me sort of it was someone's idea. like the way the snake wound up on set was not sort of a big plot-based reason. It was like somebody's idea. And so we've been calling it sort of Chekhov snake, expecting that it's going to strangle or eat somebody.

31:56Joanna Robinson:Yes. And then we get seemingly, and that's not to say that it wasn't placed on set and then Sam Levinson's like, I know, we'll have it strangle or eat somebody. And certainly he, and Sam Levinson told me this speech that Bishop gives in this episode was sort of written at the last moment, the speech about the dancer and the snake. Yes. And as we discussed before we started recording, that is a very famous like urban legend story, the story of a python who refuses to eat and then the vet's like, it's sizing you up to eat you, young lady, or whatever the case may be. So that is just an urban legend that was turned into, I thought like a pretty, I don't know, anything Bishop does, I have a good time with.

32:37Joanna Robinson:So like whatever. But I don't know if this snake is going to be a plot payoff or just this metaphorical payoff that you're talking about. Right. I think it's more of the idea. And clearly there are characters all throughout the story who are working with weird motivations. I don't know if Rue is the rat or the snake or kind of both. Again, we've been circling around that all season. I have no idea which one at this point. The rat is dangled in front of her face. Or is she dead? She might be dead. Yeah. I simply don't believe it. But, you know, maybe it is a Jacob's Ladder scenario. Maybe that's something we have to investigate over the back part of the season?

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34:41Joanna Robinson:The Faye and Wayne love story. That is what it is, isn't it? Just a charming love story for the ages. This is a fascinating thing. I will say, I think the second biggest laugh in the room when we were watching was when he plunked that The SS hat. hat on her fucking head. I think some people fall in love harder than others, Joe, but there's like wear an SS hat, get a swastika tramp stamp. Like that is a level of down horrendous that I don't think many people have ever experienced in their lives or will. Are you regretting that it's not swastika tramp stamp at gmail.com? It was right there for the taking.

35:23Joanna Robinson:It really was. Actually, that one's probably taken. Tough. Really fucking tough. All right, we were looking closely at the various bedside reading material that Wayne has. He's got Helter Skelter, a book about Charles Manson. And then he has a book that we're not going to say the full title of. Nor should we. Gone Blank Manifesto, edited by Hollister Kopp. You can ruin your own search history if you want to look that up. Subtitle, Entertainment for the Armed Sociopath. I'm going to read this description. I would love it. Even though we debated whether or not we should. gun blank manifesto was lovingly and sincerely devoted to guns gunplay gun culture gun counter culture gun rights gun art gun porn and ammo it was also one of the most psychotically inspired literary creatures to emerge from the black lagoon of ziendom training its sights on an open range of politically correct targets and combining irresponsibly over-the-top polemics with unapologetically incisive gonzo report reportage for an effect that was as smart as it was funny as it was irreverent.

36:30Joanna Robinson:Does Wayne strike you as smart as it was funny as it was irreverent kind of guy? Or do you think he just saw gun and the slur that's below it on the book and he was like, that's for me? I think it was probably that simple or maybe like a white elephant gift or something. But I also just want to say if you're responsible with the publication of this book, we here at the Prestige TV Podcast give you full permission to use Joanna's full read of that blurb in all of your promotional materials. And frankly, I'd love to see it out in the world. And Rob would like to attend a Nazi white elephant party.

36:58Joanna Robinson:Not what I said. All right. What do you want to say about Faye and Wayne that we have not already? I just like, okay. First of all, I'm rooting for these crazy kids. I'm not rooting for these crazy kids. First, I had a question. Sure. Did Rue not already tell everyone about Faye when she saw Faye's lips on the surveillance footage? I guess she hadn't because that's when Alamo was like, shouldn't you recognize the voices? I could be, I could be going crazy, but I thought I remembered a line at the end of that episode of like announcing her recognition of this person. maybe not naming Faye but like if you say hey I know who that is well maybe she's like I know where she works for Laurie yes and then to later say she's Faye I've got her number yeah I can emotionally blackmail her by mentioning our friend who's in prison and get her to do this for me despite her enchanting love story with a Nazi hmm maybe it is enchanting you know they did watch Pretty Woman together they have had some nice moments but he's quite a Nazi is anything going to come of the fact that that these are fake drugs that they've stolen and, you know, caused Faye extreme gastrointestinal distress.

38:02Joanna Robinson:She was just chugging the pecto on the coffee table. Is that going to come to fruition somehow? I think look, Faye clearly tried to warn him. Obviously it has to come to fruition. And frankly, I would watch a whole spin-off episode or stand-alone Faye episode in which she goes out in the world and is constantly trying to tell people the truth about things, but people don't take her seriously and leading into a bunch of like Mr. Bean style theatrics as a result. I was, okay, so maybe Faye is your spinoff candidate. I was hoping you were asking for a, like, Nazi in gastrointestinal distress episode.

38:38Well, as we learned, Faye is only kind of a Nazi.

38:41Joanna Robinson:Right. Just sort of. I guess that's a thing you can beat. Rob, I feel like once you've got the swastika tram stamp, It's really a binary situation. You're really all in. There's no half swastikas, all right? Joanna speaks from experience. Okay. Great. what a great episode of podcast this is Rue Zendaya guess what great actress also guess what she's alive maybe I guess maybe I spoke too soon maybe she was not killed by polo mallet presumably she was not killed by polo mallet though I did laugh when he like nudged her head at one point with the polo mallet that was pretty great okay listen the elevator scene the church scene yes Both the phone call with her mom and then just sort of the reflection afterwards.

39:29Joanna Robinson:The comedy of her buried up to her neck on the phone with Faye. Very funny. On speakerphone. Good. Most importantly, sliding down in her seat during the Laurie and Alamo confrontation with a real like, ooh, like face. All very good. Funny. Yes. All sorts of stuff like that. I was a little surprised by the fact that like when we were shown so much of that conversation Rue was having with her mom and just Rue's side of it I was like okay they couldn't get Nika King back I guess she's not going to be in the season but then she was there so I was curious why they didn't show that in the after the episode she said I didn't know what Rue's side of the conversation was that I was supposed to be reacting to I mean clearly And this is what a lot of the actors have said about the season of Euphoria is they were only given their scenes or their sides from their scenes or whatever.

40:23Joanna Robinson:So they were kept in the dark of the larger shape of the season. So I don't know. It just struck me as very odd to watch this, to watch Rue for almost all of this conversation and then to switch to Leslie on the other side of the phone. Well, let's let me start with the conversation part first, because I want to give it due credit. I think first of all, Rue kind of like crying and smiling, leaning on the pew will be one of the visuals that I remember from this season. It's going to be one of the things that really jump out in my memory, in my grasp of what the season was and was about. I also think the conversation from Rue's side of it is shot beautifully.

40:59I think immaculately well acted as far as Zendaya's part of it.

41:03Joanna Robinson:I think especially the part where the camera is sort of like coming up behind her, like as if someone was like, there's just this menace to the camera coming up behind her as if someone was going to like walk in and just sort of like shoot her in the head at church or something like that. And then it just like pulls around in front of her. So there's no one walking up behind her, but there is just this sense of like menace and doom looming over Rue here at the end of the season. And especially like as she goes through this speech, which I do think hits quite hard about her need for redemption and salvation and kind of like the grasping at just the idea that a future could be ahead of her.

41:37All of that stuff I think works really, really well. And then we get the panta Leslie, who I was like, again, inexplicable why that's there. Because if you're going to show the one-sided part of the conversation Fez style, just do it. Right. Showing Leslie at the end to say one line and disappear, it felt almost as if the only reason she's there is so that later when Bishop threatens her mom, it's like, oh, we just saw her mom.

41:59Joanna Robinson:Right. Remember her? Interesting. What's interesting to me about that Bishop interaction is Alamo had already sort of dropped that threat in the previous episode when he was sort of describing Rue's home. Right. You know, in the diner scene with Maddie, he was just sort of like, I didn't grow up in a nice place like Rue grew up on a cul-de-sac, like being very specific of like, I know where your family lives. So it's very, I mean, I guess I shouldn't be surprised by Rue's like inability to hold on to a thing, but like for Rue to be so sort of like shocked and appalled and dismayed that Bishop talked to her mom, I was like, Alma already intimated that this was happening, that your family was being threatened and stuff like that.

42:39Joanna Robinson:Do you think in talking to Leslie, Bishop asked at any point, have you been calling your daughter a ton because she's been taking calls from mom on her phone nonstop? Like, do you think he's been like, hey, when's the last time you talked to Rue? She's doing really well. Like, is it, you know, how much does Bishop know, I guess is the question we are always asking ourselves. I presume that that character knows a lot all the time. Yeah. And it's kind of several moves ahead, maybe not of the poker game, but of a lot of other things. And so, I mean, we kicked around the idea of like, could Bishop also be an informant, right?

43:12And it's like, certainly I think when he brings up her mom, you're meant to wonder that. Like, is he alluding to the calls to her fake mom?

43:19Joanna Robinson:I guess, but since he like sawed someone up and fed them to pigs in last week's episode, I'm kind of out on a, he's secretly a DEA agent. How far did he Donnie Brasco his way into this? I don't know. But maybe there's a third way where he is like plotting his way out with a big bag of money or whatever and playing to flip Alamo at the opportunistic time and knows kind of what Rue is up to more than he lets on. I'm glad you brought up the DEA. I'm always glad when you bring up the DEA, but I'm glad you brought up the DEA because that was another sort of like doom moment looming over the episode when the DEA says we're almost there, stay sharp.

43:50Joanna Robinson:I'm like, I don't think this is going well for Rue. Just way too many of those lines. To go back to the church. Yeah, please. Which is what you wanted to talk about. I did think this was another interesting character beat for Rue where she talks so much in this moment about starting over and the want for a new life. And that's kind of the theme of her conversation with Jules too. But I think it's interesting that her imagination can kind of like only go so far as to want to start over by grabbing onto this person she grew up with in Jules. It's like her vision of a future is like, let me try to hold on to this one good thing.

44:21when I think what she needs more than anything is like move the fuck away from all of these people and all of these places and start somewhere completely fresh. And I don't know that she's ever gonna get to that point.

44:31Joanna Robinson:One of the things she was looking at in the church was the like portable 10 commandments that the family in Texas gave to her and their address was scrawled on the bottom of the 10 commandments. So is there a possibility that rather than dying or she's already dead, Rue goes and joins the sort of like Amish farm and like milks cows at the end of the season. It did have a certain appeal. Switches places with the eldest daughter who wants to leave and Drew's just like, I'm going to be milking cows now. Well, first of all, we can't just like will that poor daughter into a life she couldn't begin to understand.

45:04Joanna Robinson:Not, not drug mule. What, you want to be a drug mule? You're already in Brownsville, just cross the border, you know? Is there anything more romantic than getting an SS hat dropped on top of your head and being told that you shouldn't be a mule anymore? He wants to take her away from this crazy life. What else do you want to say about Rue in this episode? Can we circle back to the larger Alamo Lori standoff in which Rue is slinking into the couch and slowly evaporating? I had a bunch of different kind of sensations during like in watching this. For one, like I love the setup. I love the like loading, the dramatic loading of the guns, the kind of like mounting of their respective horses.

45:37There's a shot of Faye in the doorway as the Nazi, et cetera, all go off. It's like very The Searchers, like this like silhouetted doorway shot that is clearly evocative in that way. Then they get there and it's like, everyone's like, you know, it's a classic standoff kind of format. Rue is in the middle. Everyone's holding their holsters. And I just could not escape the feeling that I do not understand what Laurie as a character is doing within this season. Other than you need this narrative counter position. I was just so much more interested in Laurie when she was the queen of her own little hill versus like a feuding warlord opposite Alamo.

46:12I mean, how have you felt about their dynamic?

46:14Joanna Robinson:Well, don't you think you notorious bird lover, Rob Mahoney, just really missed that bird? I am pro bird and anti-snake, I want to say for the record. I'm really pro-snake. You're pro-snake. Yeah. Would you sleep in the bed with the python? No. Then put your money where your mouth is. Would you sleep in a bed with a bird? Well, I don't trust the birds either. We've all been Hitchcocked too much. We simply can't. We had snakes as our classroom pets growing up. I really like. Like a garter snake. Corn snakes. Yeah. Stuff like that. Nothing Python level. No. But you know. Nothing that could suffocate you.

46:50Joanna Robinson:Lori. What is Lori up to? Well, I was wondering if when they raised the whole question about the ambulance operation, if that would cause a light bulb to go off over Rue's head about Angel and what happened with Angel. Yep. You know, and Alamo's pretending that this is for like plastic surgery when we think it's for transporting organs. He's saying it's like, it's the shepherd for BBLs. You know, it's like, this is not how this works. But like, Rue remains clueless at the end of the day about what happened with, and that wasn't your question. Your question is what's going on with Lori. No, we can talk about Rue too.

47:24I want to talk about all of it.

47:26Joanna Robinson:The question is what's going on with Lori. And I don't know because she does not seem to have the upper hand at any moment inside of this confrontation. You know, she robbed him, but they know she robbed him. And so, you know, I don't know. This whole feuding drug lord thing, it reminded me a lot when you and I were talking about Daredevil when you came on House of R. And you were talking about the use of Jessica Jones in a certain scene. And you were like frustrated that Jessica Jones, the character, was being used as like dull exposition machine. And Matthew Lillard, we love him, but was like getting to do all the quipping.

48:02Joanna Robinson:And that's how I felt about watching Zendaya in that scene as a passenger in that scene between Laurie and Alamo. Like, was her slinking down the couch with her, like, expression very funny? Yes. But I was like, there's a lot of rue in this episode, and there's a lot of great character, chewy character stuff. The church stuff is really good. The jewel stuff is good. But I was like, but I'm wildly uninterested in watching her be the passenger of somebody else's. someone else is driving the action inside of the Alamo and Laurie feud. And Rue is just sort of caught up in the middle of it again and again and again.

48:35Joanna Robinson:And that is not what I want for Rue as a character. I think there's also the acknowledgement too that all of that stuff can be true. And yet narratively, you understand why Rue kind of benefits from being in the background. Like she is taping this conversation. She's like trying to be invisible. Totally. But is it interesting to watch one of the most interesting characters, one of like the best and most well-rounded characters on the show, subsumed by these other two people who just don't hold the screen as well. And there have been other times where Rue as a character, as the sort of like observer narrator type of character, has watched like Cassie and Maddie or, you know, whatever the case may be.

49:11Joanna Robinson:But that was like, we were all just sort of riveted to what was going on there. And the Alamo and Laurie stuff has not been nearly as successful for me. I don't think so. I think really the show still relies on having one of a couple characters as a crucial counterpoint in every scene that really like grabs you. And Rue is one of them. And Maddie is one of them. And I think maybe even at times Cassie can be one of them. Cassie definitely is one of them, you know? But having like really the heavyweight moment of this feel like it's Laurie and Alamo. I just don't think Alamo has been built up as a character to warrant that even with the flashback in this episode.

49:44And I don't think Laurie ever was that or that was ever her best purpose within this story. Right.

49:48Joanna Robinson:This, we haven't really given our sort of like broad strokes thoughts on this episode. I think this is maybe my least favorite episode of the season so far. It's just so unwieldy. Yeah. And it is all over the place. And to the extent that it hits for me at all, I think it's mostly Zendaya oriented stuff. I agree. And those things are so good, I'm compelled to kind of hold them tightly. Yeah. But the rest of it is sprawling, not necessarily in a great way. Like even like the Cassie stuff in last week's episode was audaciously fun in a way. Like, even if it wasn't my favorite thing that I'd seen, I was just sort of like, they really went for something.

50:20Joanna Robinson:They really did something. And here, I don't even have that sort of juice to enjoy. But Zendaya, the Rusev in the church, I'm hoping, you know, next week we get more stuff with her mom. All of that stuff is really good. And this is one area where the need to have kind of these backburner storylines, I think, works against the show a little bit, right? we already talked about how we kind of would prefer that you don't even get the Nate check-in within this episode. It doesn't really offer anything to the structure of the story other than remind us that he's still out there being threatened by henchmen.

50:53But if you take him out, then you kind of lose sight of him for a moment in the story.

50:58Joanna Robinson:You don't need to because his finger is there. I mean, that is true. The finger shows up in a box and you're like, oh yeah, Nate, he's in physical, literal physical danger. But I think you could say that about four or five scenes in this episode, where it's just, if you just kind of streamlined it and focused it even more on what's working, I think it wouldn't feel quite this way. Yeah. Anything else you want to say about this episode? I guess I do want to talk about what the plans are here because I'm a little confused at what's being established between these various gangs on what they're trying to accomplish.

51:28Like we have Lori's pitch, right? Which is that she wants Alamo and company, really, Rue is kind of the one who's deputized. She wants deputized to do it, to drive the ambulance for like one last big run with all these drugs, right? Like that's the plan that is pitched. Alamo feels compelled to do it because he wants to get all his stuff back.

51:45Joanna Robinson:Lori, who gave Rue a suitcase full of drugs and that went very poorly, is like, I know, let's give her an ambulance full of drugs and that'll be fine. Well, the only reason I'm a little more lenient on that perspective is that we get this illusion by the Nazi dude, Touffe, that they're about to pull over one big thing on Alamo and he doesn't see it coming. Do we have any inclination as far as what that is within this plan? Uh, to, um, take the truck full of drugs and not share it with him in any way. But aren't they not intending to share with him? I think they are intending to share it with him.

52:22Joanna Robinson:There has to be some sort of split. Otherwise, why would he? Well, I thought the split was you get your stuff that we already stole from you back. Right. You get your money and your drugs. So you get your stuff back. We get all these new drugs hustled across the border. In theory, everyone wins because we're basically holding you hostage for your own drugs, which, as we said, are not drugs. Are laxatives, among other things. Thanks. I, you know, this is a great question, Rob, and thank you so much for asking it. I don't know the inner workings of the minds of a Nazi, unfortunately, so I can't answer it.

52:50I appreciate that about you most of all. And I guess Rue's plan and the DEA's plan within all of this is for Lori and Alamo to get pinched in the process of executing this plan that may or may not benefit or not benefit both of them.

53:02Joanna Robinson:Yeah, pinched is definitely the modern terminology that's raising here. We like to keep our finger on the pulse. It's the coppers. I just like that we're on top of everything that's going on in the show. We definitely have a very good handle on a plot level of everything going on. All right. Anything else you want to say? I do have one final shout out. I think it's very important. I don't want to skirt over it. Alexander the locksmith. I just thought did impeccable work in this episode. The 3D printing. 3D printing. And just like looking real exasperated as he does it. Just like just the huffing and puffing.

53:33Like I'm going to need an hour. We need an excuse to get Rue to the church for an hour. and I'm glad that Alexander was here to do it. I thought he looked resplendent in his like very bizarre looking shirt but you know what? It fit the character.

53:44Joanna Robinson:I feel like this is, so the place that I just moved into has a, here in LA, has a, I guess a hundred year old door and it's got like a very, I've got a lot of questions about the framing of that but continue. Well, it's like, it's a craftsman and like the house itself has been updated but they kept the original door. Kept the original door. And it's like very old and very cool and kind of like warped and stuff like that but like really beautiful and it's got this like very finicky like latch thing that kind of falls out sometimes and so my landlord's like we have a door guy and he was like he's eccentric and let me stop you are any door guys not eccentric that's my question about the locksmith i'm like i'm like they have a very specific set of skills he's a very he like he knows how to fix the hundred year old doors that are on various craftsmen in los angeles so he can be as eccentric as he wants to be we're on a group chat right now and we're trying to figure out a time for him to come over and like fix the latch on the door.

54:38I love that that it's getting fixed for you. I also just believe firmly in my heart that if you are one of these door specialists, if you're a specialist in ingress and egress, you get to be as eccentric as you want. You get to follow your heart whatever weird paths it goes down.

54:50Joanna Robinson:And I feel like this locksmith has taken that prompt to heart, you know? They do seem like a strange sword. When are we going to get a locksmith-oriented show? They have a lot of power. Don't give away free ideas, Rob. Yeah, Dexter, but a locksmith. You know, like, there's a lot of things we could do here. Are we murdering people? Early edition, but a locksmith. Murdering people with the locks? Well, you got to break into their place Nate Jacobs style and wait for them. Okay. You know, presumably. Great. I've never done it. Coming to you on MDM Plus. To me. From Rob and Joanna in 2028. A locksmith that makes it make it Dexter.

55:26Joanna Robinson:Great. Okay. Anything else you want to say? Let's get out of here. I think we really did it. That's enough. Happy Sunday. Next Sunday we will be back with another Euphoria check-in and then it'll be the finale. One of them were threatening to broadcast live. Rob has not agreed to it yet, but we're getting close. We're getting close. Could be the finale. The pitch needs to be made. We need some compensation. I don't know. You don't want to wade through the waters of black exploitation and Nazis and gun blank slur manifestos and all these other things live beamed out to YouTube without any cuts.

56:02Look, the people out there don't know how many of your slurs we have to edit out of this podcast.

56:06Joanna Robinson:How many times I dumped tea on myself? Thank you. Jacob Cornett, Steph Naldo, Kai Grady, Rob Mahoney. Thank you, Joe. Also, thanks to all the men out there who do need instruction on how to jerk off. I thought it was a great source of comedy in this episode. I appreciate it. Thanks to all the men out there who say, like, no woman deserves to get hit. A bold stance. So brave. All right, we'll see you soon. Bye.

56:35you