‘Euphoria’ Season 3, Episode 7: Only Fangs

20:25Joanna Robinson:You know? And so we know that this existed inside of Ellie. It is different for us to watch him with his two young daughters at the table and then hear him beat his wife in the next room. So to take this character who has done the work to walk the path of redemption, to try to do good in this world, and have to confront how dark it actually was for him before that. But I think what that sets up, for me at least, is when we ask the question of euphoria, who deserves redemption? I think Ali is a really interesting case for us to think about. As Ru discovers, a little late Ru, inside of this episode, that she is involved in sex trafficking and the disappearance of Angel and all this sort of stuff like that.

21:17Joanna Robinson:And Ali asks her, do you ever think about the people who took the fentanyl that you smuggled and stuff like that? But as Ruth continues to confront the reality of her self-described evil that she has done, does she still deserve redemption in Jerusalem and the homestead at the end of the story? What do you think about that? I mean, she's kind of fast-forwarded past the reckoning part. And she's just like, this sucks, and I want something that's not this, so maybe I can find a salvation in this life or the next. Right. But I love that Ali plays that role in her life. of like one of the very few people who is not, he's not really judgmental.

21:52Like he's very straightforward with her about what she does and her behavior and what it entails and what the repercussions of it are in a way that's very different from like the way Lexi talks to Rue in this episode. You know, it is very straight and very honest, but ultimately not something that is coming down with a verdict. And I think Rue needs some of that right now because she has not levied any of that introspection that it seems like Ali and Louis C in the course of this flashback has like really carried in through his life. Like, I'm with you that seeing some of that darkness and us as an audience reckoning with a character that we like to watch on screen and has been an instrument for good within whatever euphoria can be, seeing the darkest sides of him, I think, is good for everybody involved, including us.

22:34Joanna Robinson:It was interesting because, you know, I was doing one of my favorite post-episode activities, which is poking around the subreddit. And a lot of people are like, oh, fuck Ali. I can't believe I ever rooted for him. And I was like, that's kind of the point of partially the point of euphoria. is forcing you to confront, you know, I think in the best episode of Euphoria, which is Rue's complete, like, breakdown in season two, confronting the absolute ugliness of addict behavior. But are we still rooting for Rue at the end of the day? We are. And am I still rooting for Ali at the end of the day? I am.

23:10Joanna Robinson:And that's what this, that's what a lot of good television does, which is challenging you to empathize with people who have done things that repulse you. I would say especially Rue because she's still in a point in her life where so many of the worst things she's done, she hasn't really like atoned for or measured up to in any meaningful way. And so many of the things she's done were just like lie, cheat, steal, as she's talking about with Lori and her crew in this episode, in the name of the next fix. It was just like a period of her life where it's just on a treadmill of like, how do you get to the next hookup from something?

23:43and this is like she's now at a point where everything is slowing down she's maybe even getting like taking starting to take some things for granted in terms of like throwing around the DEA and assuming she's in the clear and that she has this like uh you know protection from on high but at least there is a moment here for her to consider something other than where the next high is going to come from and one would hope within that like a way to fully understand hey so you've been moving fentanyl from one place to another for a really long time now as Ali mentions don't you think that maybe like literally somebody at least some people died from this so for you Rob

24:21Joanna Robinson:in the 93 minute finale that we're getting next week and this we should say this was an 80 minute penultimate episode but in the 93 minute finale and uh our producer Kai noted very uh emphatically it says season finale not series finale it does indeed uh on the trailer for next week interesting But you need to see Rue really reckon with what she's done. Is that what you're saying or no? I don't know if the action-packed nature of where the season is is going to lend itself to that too much. Then again, this is a show that like in the middle of a climactic resolution can go to a church mind palace.

25:00So maybe that is ahead of us in some way.

25:03Joanna Robinson:You're never going to get over the musical number. And it was just absolutely great. I'm simply not. Someday you'll recognize that it was absolutely great. I also wouldn't be surprised if, you know, it seems like Rue dies one way or another and then we get her on the homestead ending and it's one of those like season finale open endings if you can decide whether Rue herself physically made it to the homestead or if this is like the afterlife, you know. Do you think we get like a - The church at the end of Lost. A graduate style, like totally neutral facial expression that you have to read for yourself as far as like where she has ended up emotionally.

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27:39Joanna Robinson:Rob, why is the ambulance bugged? This ambulance is doing a run down to Mexico. You know, it's a great question. Is someone else working for the DEA or are they able to bug the ambulance because of the evidence they already got? Like they needed Rue on the phone to get to serve certain evidence, maybe to get a warrant to be able to bug Lori's property, bug Alamo's property, bug the ambulance. Does that sound right to you? How literally did they do it? Oh, I don't know. That mechanism, I don't, I mean, we certainly don't see Rue like planting a bug at any point, but I'm guessing that's cinematic convenience.

28:14Joanna Robinson:Sounds great. Nate's death. I just, I just want to go here next. Let's just hit it right up top. Jacob Elordi, you're free. You're done. Godspeed. But what will his brand partners think? You know, the luxury, he couldn't be buried with a luxury bag. Yeah. Made of snakeskin, perhaps? Right. Wow, interesting. Listen, all right. Here's what Sam Levinson was trying to achieve with that as told to Esquire. There's this kind of funny thing where I know what the audience wants in terms of justice or karma. And with that in mind, I always think, well, how can I give it to them? How can I give them what they want but make it so horrific and anxiety-inducing that by the time it happens, the audience isn't so sure that they wanted it.

29:02So how do you feel about that based on your choice of voice as you read that quote? I mean, Sam Levinson's whole thing,

29:11Joanna Robinson:he doesn't describe himself this way, but it seems to me his whole thing is he wants to provoke. Like he's trying to provoke reactions. He enjoys when people get agitated about euphoria and whether that's positively agitated or negatively agitated, It is people engaging in the art that he's making. Yes. So that is his goal. Well, let me say this. I think that quote, that idea is a great idea. I don't know that it was executed. I don't think it was executed well because I haven't felt anything about Nate Jacobs in four calendar years. Like he's been so functionally irrelevant to the season. Well, that's not true because you just watched season two of Euphoria.

29:47Joanna Robinson:Yeah. In theory, if I were a normal watcher of this show. Season two of Euphoria when it aired. Yes. You would be like, who is this pod person, Nate Jacobs, this season? I really agree. Like, if Nate had been behaving like himself, if he had had a plot that was more in line with what we saw in season two, I'd be like, yeah, get him, Snake. And then, oh, no, maybe not like this. You know, like, maybe I would have gone through that whole thing. But as it was, yes, we had a visceral reaction to this. Oh, for sure. As soon as the Snake went down the pipe, I, like— That part is undeniably effective.

30:17I, like, turned away from—but I wasn't like—I was like, oh, no, not like this.

30:21Joanna Robinson:only because it felt like kind of dramatically inert to me for Nate to just die in a box via snake, you know? I genuinely had like no emotional reaction to Nate dying, only a physical reaction to the snake. And feeling kind of like, you know, nice for you, Jacob Elordi. You're done. The sweet release of death. Yeah, there you go. Anything else you want to say about it? Did you enjoy seeing his dumb brother one last time? I did, but that was another like, did you really have to have the dumb brother kicking around like almost in earshot but not quite and Nate's like kind of unconscious until it's too late.

30:53It's like, we really didn't need that. I agree. You know what we did need though? I mean, Nate really needed to train with Pai Mei. Like, how do you not do, does Kill Bill not exist in this universe?

31:03Joanna Robinson:Oh, Kill Bill definitely exists in this universe. Well, then what's Nate doing? He didn't even attempt it. He should have some bloody knuckles at bare minimum. Were you thinking most of The Bride when you were watching this? I mean, that's where I go first. In terms of a successful escape from a coffin burial, do you have another touch point? Did not Ryan Reynolds get buried? Also, canonically? I'm going to be honest. Don't know how it ended. I also don't know how that ended. I'm not just showing up for Ryan Reynolds movies. I was thinking also about the bride. And I think it's Rue had the yellow sweatshirt on inside of this episode, right?

31:33Joanna Robinson:So always thinking about the bride and with yellow leisure wear. Lexi's role in this episode is to... Listen, I was mostly on Lexi's side in that scene when she's just like, I'm trying to get some writing done. I am on deadline. line. You and I both were like, we've been there. You were like, Joanna, this is why we prep in separate rooms now for euphoria. So you won't yammer me about Nepo babies while I'm trying to prepare. So I was, as a writer, empathetic to Lexi. Of course. And then she took it to a tough place, you know. To a couple tough places. Like, here's the deal. Lexi is being very kind to Ru.

32:13Joanna Robinson:you can crash on my couch anytime, Ru. Like no questions asked. You can come and crash and stay here. But also if I'm writing, leave me alone, which I think is deeply fair. Yeah. Are you using again? I don't know that I would like not say that if someone started talking about a burning Joshua tree and God speaking to them. Every time I've tried to explain the plot of season three to somebody, they have asked me that question. So that feels fair. No wonder your mother doesn't speak to you anymore. That's the one. That's tough. fucking yikes. But here's the real problem for Lexi and for Maddie. I don't think either of them are so dumb as to just yammer on about the DEA in this game of telephone.

32:55I want to draw the line between them. I think Lexi would accidentally narc a narc. Sure. Maddie, I don't. I don't. I just don't believe any part of it.

33:04Joanna Robinson:If Maddie, if Maddie had sold Rue out to get what she needed from Alamo. If it was a transaction. Right. If she's just like, hey, I heard Rue's talking to the DEA. hey, give me that million dollars because I care about Cassie more than Rue for some reason, or I don't know. I could understand. But her just sort of flippantly saying it was deeply bizarre to me. And she knows this guy. And she has been close enough to him at this point to understand the gravity of some of these. Not entirely. Not until the end of this episode she doesn't understand the gravity of what she's dealing with. Until the gunslinger comes out, sure.

33:35But she at least knows not to mention the DEA around the drug dealer if your friend is working with the DEA.

33:42Joanna Robinson:this was I turn I don't usually I try not to speak during these episodes of Euphoria because you and I are frantically taking notes but I did say they massacred her character in that moment it really felt like that to me she's not that dumb she really isn't that's like a hallmark of her character is that she's smarter than most people around her yes I think hashtag not my Maddie tough tough for you Jules' role on this episode a name on the phone yeah so here's my again we might have to get the lawyers involved in this one I would rather be Jacob Elordi, done, or Hunter Schaefer. Still here, but not really here.

34:17That question to me boils down to, does Hunter Schaefer get paid for this episode? Because Jules' name shows up on a phone. Or would it have to be like the face on the contact profile on the phone in order to get paid? Does any of that count?

34:29Joanna Robinson:Interesting. Let's get Sag involved. Okay. Let's get the many lawyers who emailed us about contract law. That's what I'm saying. Jules, what do you want to say? I don't understand anything that's happening with Jules. I've seen nothing in this season to date that would justify having her involved in the show and not just being off at art school across the country, across the world. She lives in Paris now. Congratulations. Get her in for one phone call with Rue and that's it. Why are we doing this? What do you think of... So Maddie, at the beginning of the season, when she's talking to Rue about Jules and she's saying she's a sugar baby, essentially.

35:04Joanna Robinson:She's a sex worker. And Maddie emphatically says, I'm not a hooker. Yes. Yes. But inside of this episode, appears to me to trade sexual favors for a million dollars. Trade something. Well, a million dollars in playing cards. Right. How does that feel for you? That feels like narrative just desserts in a way that I think is interesting. I'm interested in a lot of the machinations around Maddie in this episode. So this idea that Cassie and Nate have reached a point of desperation where Maddie is the only person who can bail them out. Like that's good juice for storytelling. Yeah. Maddie having to eat her words and make compromises that she never thought she was going to make.

35:44Like, that's good storytelling for this character as far as I'm concerned. What they do within the finale, I don't really know. Hopefully with the, like, jumbo runtime, we get some good Maddie time in addition to everything else. But I'm a little worried that this was her big episode and she's going to get a little lost.

35:59Joanna Robinson:Everyone, Cassie to Maddie to Rue, um, Lexi doesn't care, I guess. Uh, Jules is unaware. Is invested in Alamo, like dying before That's true. the show is over. So I'm always hoping as a perpetual optimist while watching Succession, I'm always hoping people will work together and there's a possibility that if these people work together. You have a team up. I do. In the chat, one of our listeners, Haley, suggested that Maddie has become the Yaz. That's an industry reference of season four. Do you agree or disagree? I don't even know how to parse that. Slapping Cassie, saying I'm your boss. You work for me all of that.

36:39That tracks.

36:40Joanna Robinson:Does that feel like we're going down the Azpap pipeline for Maddie? I mean, I feel like I've gone pretty far out on this limb with Maddie that if she becomes like an overt sex trafficker, basically, that's going to be a tough look for me personally. So I'm going to reject it on principle and selfishness. Okay. Well, I... But I can't say I don't see the comparison. I mean, it is right there. And at the same time, I will say for me at this point in the story right now, Maddie cracking her knuckles and intimidating Cassie, and I guess hitting Cassie, plays differently than what we've seen from Yaz on Industry.

37:13Maybe it's just the extent of it. Maybe it's the manifestation of that behavior over time. I don't know. This stuff is weird and messy, and these two characters have a history and complicated relationship. This isn't like finding a random woman and exploiting her. This is two people who have exploited each other back and forth in various ways.

37:30Joanna Robinson:But do you think the point of this episode, when we see Maddie put so much on the line for Cassie and say, not just that she's a money tree, but she's special and she's different. Does that feel like the embers of their original friendship being involved here? That Maddie's like, I'm not just invested in Cassie financially, I'm invested in her emotionally. That's part of what I mean. This idea that she's a money tree is, yes, the thing you say to Alamo, but trees are not that fruitful. There's just no way Cassie is going to make enough money. I don't know. 100 ,000 subscribers overnight. I don't know.

38:08Joanna Robinson:Buddy, listen. Much of the Cassie stuff in this episode is played for laughs, and it is a huge relief. It was getting laughs from us. The whole Dylan and Cassie interaction, the seduction. Specifically the beanbag poof that Dylan is resting on, I just found to be really funny. Can I do a breakdown for you of what Dylan is wearing in this episode? His hat says, violence in movies and sex on TV, which is a family guy the opening theme of the family guy he's worn it I would say in four episodes we just never remarked upon it and I just wanted to say family guy has entered the chat okay he's wearing a denial of death cult girls t-shirt which is from James Franco's cursed fashion brand yeah do you want to guess how much that shirt goes for I am loathe to know it's$300 shirt is it secondary market or can you still buy it from the website you can still buy it oh wow So that's just retail, MSRP,$300.

39:04Yeah, yeah, yeah.

39:06Joanna Robinson:Upper twos on some sites, but threes on other sites. So Denial of Death cult girls t-shirt. Yeah, just like a shitty looking$300 t-shirt and a family guy hat. And that's Dylan Reed, the face of young Hollywood. How do you feel about it? I think the future's in great hands. You know, this really is the entire future of the planet eroding under our feet. Marcy Playground here. How'd you feel about it? How else could we feel about it? people of our age. Yeah. I'm happy anytime it's in a soundtrack. An incredible needle drop moment. Yes. Incredible think of Cass. Do you think, okay, because we saw Maddie clean the apartment of all its various accoutrements.

39:44I'm just further proof she's the only person who can get anything done here.

39:47Joanna Robinson:In order to set it up so that Cassie could bring Dylan back here. Yeah. Do you think Maddie programmed the playlist and she said, Cassie, when you get home, this is the playlist you put on Marcy's playground. Yeah. If she has to put all the dildos into the kiddie pool, she's definitely micromanaging the playlist. Dildos in the kiddiepool at gmail.com. There were so many missed opportunities in this episode. Finger in the water at gmail.com. Dylan drinking the finger water. Yeah. Tough. I don't like that. Finger water? What would you call it? I mean, it's what it is. I just don't like it. It's kind of like finger tea by the morning because like it's sort of oozed into the...

40:22Joanna Robinson:Yeah, it has been steeping. I will say that Sydney Sweeney's delivery of like, oh, who moved? It was really funny. Her like her, you know, when he's like, stop coming. I need water. That was really funny. Like, we really liked that in the room. It was really good. That dude was being ridden to exhaustion. Like, the world's most loyal horse, Dylan Reed, just could not stop himself, could not stop anything happening. Were you thinking, okay, perhaps it's just because Sharon Stone is here. Yeah. But when Cassie put the cell phone under the mattress, I was thinking of basic instinct. Is that? I'm sure that has to be in the ether here, right?

40:59All right. Even just some of like.

41:00Joanna Robinson:What is an ice pick in modern day, if not a cell phone that you've uploaded a damaging photo to? And how did we get a frozen finger without a shot of an ice pick anywhere involved? It's a great question. Again, real missed opportunities here by the show. If you were delivered the finger of a beloved of some kind, would you just put it loose in the ice bucket in your freezer? You know I would not. I know you wouldn't. I find the behavior of TV characters regarding the freezers to be very confusing. I remember on a previous season of Slow Horses, someone put like an absurdly expensive diamond in like a pint of Ben and Jerry's.

41:35Yeah. It's like, what? Why would you think this is a safe place to put it? Why would you think this? You're just putting a loose finger in the freezer?

41:41Joanna Robinson:It was a loose diamond too, right? She just like put the diamond into the ice cream and we were like, absolutely not. It needs to be wrapped in something at the very least. So that's my only solace here is like there was no saving that finger after it was loosely put in your ice dispenser with tap water. Like that's just not going to work. What if the water had been filtered? Maybe it would have helped a little bit. Here's what Sam Levinson had to say in that Esquire article about the, if Cassie and OnlyFans stands for social media and narcissism. Okay. This is the contrast he's trying to get through here.

42:15Joanna Robinson:I thought if I've got an audience that's paying attention and sort of captivated by it, I want to tell a story about God and family and America and the importance of believing in something greater than yourself. which I think is the kind of antidote to the narcissism of social media and technology. Okay. So do we then think of Cassie Maddie OnlyFans, all of the selfies and all of the videos and all of the things that we've seen, you know, the party that Cassie goes to, which is just people trying desperately to get in front of a camera, et cetera, et cetera. All of that versus the homestead on Jerusalem Road.

42:49Joanna Robinson:Like, are these the two, the hell and heaven sort of, polar opposites. I mean, the homestead didn't seem great. It was quiet. It was secluded. I wouldn't want to live on that homestead. No. I want to live on like a hippie, crunchy, lesbian homestead. I don't want to live on like a so many crucifixes on the wall homestead personally. So what else does it need to have? No crucifixes. Zero crucifixes on the wall. Sure. But plenty of livestock, you know. This is the problem with the with the dream of the trad wife back to lander sort of thing is just sort of like it comes with really problematic politics.

43:28Joanna Robinson:And I'm like, can we have all of that and vaccines at the same time? That's my idea of heaven. I think you're asking for too much. I think we can get there. This is the future liberals want, I think. Okay. One final quote from this Esquire article. This is Sam Levinson talking about the Wild West imagery in this season. He says his characters, they're in the real world and the consequences are real. There's no safety net. I like this Wild West frontier aspect to it where you can make something of yourself, but you're going to have to live with the consequences. So consequences as I think the main theme of this show, this season, this episode, Maddie and Cassie completely disheveled and shell-shocked, makeup running, hair must, looking at each other and just being like, you know, as you like to say, the reaping that comes after all of the sewing.

44:21Joanna Robinson:Like, here we are. Here's Maddie in debt to, who, like Cassie, has inherited debt. This is all Nate's fault. It really is all Nate's fault. He's taking down his entire graduating class with him. But like... Well, even more than that, Alamo takes on a not insignificant risk in all of this. Yes, he stands to benefit from whatever money he siphons off of Maddie and Cassie and everybody else in the same way that he does from all of his dancers and all the people work from him. but like him killing Nas is not a thing that will come without repercussions for him somewhere down the line. Like there's always - Oh, you think of all of Armenia is coming?

44:56I'm not saying all of Armenia, but I'm just saying there's often a guy behind the guy, right? And so that's kind of what he's alluding to with Maddie too, is that like, even though this guy is dead, it's not as if he's not going to have to be looking over his shoulder for the foreseeable future for what may come for him.

45:11Joanna Robinson:Interesting. A very sort of like Last of Us, these are the consequences of your actions. Unfortunately, the chickens do come home to roost. The parrots, the paladins, do paladins roost? Maddie's number one boy at dmall.com if you know about roosting habits. Tell us about parrots. Is that a parrot? I honestly don't know. That's the quote card for it. Tell us about parrots. If you were curious about the translation of the Armenian that is spoken between Naz and his hench, Artur, at the end of his life when he's gurgling blood, kill the whore's son is what he was saying in reference to Alamo, right?

45:47Joanna Robinson:And Artur says, forgive me, as in like, I can't kill him. So like, you know, I'm going to get in this, I don't know, was that a backhoe? I don't know what that was. A dirt scooper? We're not construction, guys. She's so of the people. Okay. That's one thing that could have saved it. It's like, what if Maddie was driving that thing? Just hauling some dirt, just digging up Nate's corpse. On the Maddie front, in her very on-the-nose, like Mother Mary mini dress that she wears in this whole thing. What did you make of the shot of her sort of pinned up against the wall under the taxidermied animals inside of Alamo's house?

46:22Joanna Robinson:He's got her mounted on the wall with the rest of his kills. Again, a little on the nose, but also I love it. So much of the visual language of the show works that way, where it's very clear what they're going for. It's smacking you over the head about as hard and aggressively as it can do it. And yet the nature of how often it happens makes me conditioned to expect it and like it. So I'm here for those kind of visuals, just like I'm here for like the, you know, Rue with her head on fire standing in front of the bonfire. She's being like interrogated by the Nazis. All that stuff with euphoria just kind of works with me.

46:53I'm a sucker for it.

46:54Joanna Robinson:I like it too. Like her being framed by the fire, the halo of fire that she has. And again, as I mentioned, like the Nazis in Faye sort of like prancing around the fire, looking like demons saying ala akbar while they shoot off machine guns is just a hodgepodge of images. And you're like, there's nothing like euphoria. on a Sunday night. I mean, when a Nazi is preaching to you about your lack of character... I wrote this literal thing in my notes. Your life is taking a turn. It's really tough. Also, here's another Nazi rule. Okay. As I like to dish them out. Do not follow a Nazi tram stamp to a second location.

47:30Joanna Robinson:Oh. The minute you see a Nazi tram stamp, I don't care what your relationship is with the owner of said Nazi tram stamp. It's too late. Don't follow them down those stairs. Don't follow them down those creaky stairs. Don't rattle around some keys with them. Don't do it. You know, just make a break for it. Rules to live by from Joanna Robinson. Is Faye going to make it out of the opening minutes of the finale alive? I mean, she did at least rat Rue out. Yeah, but how did Rue get out? Who's to say? She snuck out. Don't believe her lies, you know? Okay. Maybe there's a... Yeah, the memento excuse works every time.

48:08You can pull the wool. Yeah. I'm going to say, Like, Wayne does not strike me as the smartest guy in the world.

48:13Joanna Robinson:No, but nor does, with love and respect, Faye. How dare you? So, are you going to defend Faye after the end of the episode she has here? I do think she could outfox Wayne into thinking that she's a little more helpless in this scenario than she perhaps was. But. I think Faye is not making it out of the first few minutes of the finale. That's what I think. And that's really sad, but also don't get a Nazi tramp stamp not even once, you know? I also would recommend not getting it once. But like, how would Faye die but Rue survive? Like, that's the sequence of events I would have a hard time understanding.

48:46Joanna Robinson:Running? I don't know. Yeah. If they get into a lover's spat and Rue takes that opportunity to run. So, I saw a lot of people confused as to why all of the driver's license of the various young women, including Angel, were in the safe there. Yes. And my, you know, I think what we're meant to believe is that when the Nazis in the Obama masks, if you recall, broke into the safe at the club. The one behind the painting. The one behind the painting. Yeah. This is part of what they took was the stack of driver's licenses of the girls who have been trafficked, organ trafficked, sex trafficked, I don't know.

49:28Disappeared in whatever way.

49:29Joanna Robinson:Here's my question. Yeah. I'm not an organ or sex trafficker. Okay, yet. What's the advantage of keeping the incriminating evidence of the girls you have disappeared in one way or another. You know, I couldn't tell you, and I've been going around the country assembling organ and sex traffickers and preaching to them about this very idea. Yeah, put it in the shredder. You just can't do it. No. Why would you keep this sort of documentation laying around? I don't care if it's in a safe. I don't care where you think you have it hidden. Put it in the shredder. Just destroy it. Yeah, absolutely. It does no good for you.

49:59Joanna Robinson:How dumb does Rue look when Lori's like, hey, should we do these nasty things to her? And Rue's like, is that what Alamo does? And then she's like, golly gee, why is Angel's driver's license in this stack of driver's licenses? Like I know that Rue, we know that when Rue dropped Angel off, she was freaked out, but not, or choosing not to be fully aware of what circumstance she was leaving her in. But can she at this point, after everything she's seen, after what she saw happened to Kitty, et cetera, et cetera, Can she be as naive as we find her here in the penultimate episode? It seems impossible.

50:38Look, some of the naivety, I believe, right? The naivety where when she's talking to Lexi, she talks very openly about the DEA, something you should never do if you're working with the DEA or undercover in any capacity. Like we mentioned earlier, I kind of believe that because she might, a character like Drew might think she's out of the woods, right? Like the worst part of that is over. She even says like, my life was so, so bad from the moment I believed in God. and now it's like finally starting to take a turn. So maybe she thinks she's safe enough that she can talk about things like that. it's great,

51:06Joanna Robinson:all that's happening now is I'm bashing my face open on dashboards. Just normal road trip stuff. Really fun stuff, yeah. But this part, I really have a hard time grasping why Rue, this character we've seen, at least be perceptive enough about the world around her to not... Somewhat wily, you know? Street smart, if nothing else. Like, she has to know. She's seen too much to think like, oh my God. Right. I'm totally taken aback. Heavens to Betsy. Yeah. Like the guy I've been running drugs and guns and girls for. Right. Might be a murderer. Yeah. Come on. I did Google why you Botox a tongue just in case you want to.

51:46Do you want to share it with the audience?

51:49Joanna Robinson:It makes oral sex easier to practice. I also Googled puppies and the SS. Was that real? That is true. So I'm going to burn this laptop after this podcast is over. So snakes sizing up their owners to eat them, not true. Debunked. Yes. SS officers in training, raising and then murdering puppies turned into dogs, true. What's interesting to me is that it was, I read an article that was, you know, it was written by or part of a study about how mass murdering happens. Okay. And so the psychology of mass murdering, essentially. But I'm just sort of like, is Wayne reading? like where do you think Wayne picked up this little kernel of information you know Nazi forums you know sure just reddit.com the dark web our listener Miranda asked just let's just take a light break from what we were just discussing Miranda asked would you rather drink from the finger water or let Alamo touch your toes in the hot tub Rob which would you rather see you said that like maybe there was an exchange of services involved with Maddie and Alamo you think it was just foot stuff maybe it was just, you know, this little piggy.

53:01I don't think. Wrong. No, no, no. I don't know. How? Look, clearly there was an exchange of something going on there. I don't know. Everything that Alamo was into. I don't know how deep in Maddie got. And clearly she also was just like on the hook financially.

53:14Joanna Robinson:Yeah. I think, wait, so the either or was finger water or Alamo messes with your feet? Yeah. I guess I'm giving up the feet. But you have to answer this too. What are you choosing? I'm finger water. You're drinking the finger water? Yes, yes. Absolutely, I'm drinking the finger water over letting Alamo touch my feet. There's some flesh-eating bacteria in there or something. I don't want any part of that finger water. Rob, earlier time we filmed a promo. Yeah. And your feet wound up on the first take and you're like, we need to retake that so my feet aren't on the camera. That wasn't so I'm not showing feet.

53:46I just wasn't aware of the framing. And so I'm like moving my feet like a madman, you know?

53:50Joanna Robinson:I know for a factor you're anti-foot stuff. I'm not. But you're more anti-finger water. That feels like a bad idea. That feels like life-altering consequences, drinking finger water. Don't drink finger water. And don't get a Nazi tramp stamp, the more you know. One of our listeners, Blonde Fisquana, right? The Jerusalem address is 613. Okay. John 316 is one of the most iconic biblical passages about belief in God. Do you think, numerologically speaking, that is something that Sam Levinson is playing with? Of course. Why not? Of course. All right. Anything else you want to talk about that we have not gotten to yet?

54:34I mean, do we want to talk any more about the Ali and Rue stuff? Is there anything else from their follow-up conversation worth hitting?

54:41Joanna Robinson:I mean, it's desperately sad because it was desperately sad in his flashback to watch him talk to, like, Emmanuel and these other young men and try to put them on the straight and narrow and try to get them to hang on and them not hanging on. And Rue, thinking about Rue as just another young person that Alamo could not reach. Her forgive me post-it. But, you know, it has all the hallmarks of like one last job. She almost literally says one last job inside of this episode. And he's like, don't go. I'm begging you, don't go. We'll go get your mom. Don't go. The we'll go get your mom is really the smoking gun of like, there's just no chance they're making it to Mording to go get her mom.

55:20Yeah.

55:20Joanna Robinson:because we're not giving Nika King more lines in Euphoria. Well, I mean, it did seem, am I mistaken, in the preview for the finale? Did we see some shots of Rue in her childhood home? I thought we got it in this. I mistook Lexi's kitchen for her childhood kitchen in last week's preview, so I'm done with guessing where Rue is based on shadowy kitchen. They all look the same to us, apparently. She's in a kitchen or hallway or living room in a potentially suburban or apartment home. Okay, great. Whose is it? Couldn't say. Tune in to find out. Tune in to the finale. Anything you want to say about the Ali-Rue conversation that we haven't gotten to?

55:59I think mostly just, like, I do like the ways in which he is seeing through even the religious parts. Like, something that he brought to Rue's life or tried to help her along when she is saying, like, hey, God spoke directly to me and it was crystal clear. And also, it's literally what he said to Moses. Yeah. Like, the way he reacts to her is very different than Lexi's again, but it's not like he believes it even for a second. And yet he still is just like, how do I help her? Like, how do I get her to stay here and not do the thing that even she knows is ridiculous and yet she's still going to do anyway?

56:30Joanna Robinson:I know. It's upsetting to us. Coleman Domingo is so good. He's really great. In this. If anything, I think maybe we didn't say enough about his performance in the cold open, which straight up just like Coleman Domingo getting high in slow motion is cinema. like I will just I could watch those him like shadow boxing to a drum roll on a jazz beat it's just like fucking phenomenal stuff and so like these I found the cold open to be or the backstory for Ali to be just like really moving and really difficult and exactly kind of what I wanted Ali's story to be to the extent we were ever going to see it it's kind of a can't miss thing because of that character I feel a little bit but I thought it really delivered I do think it's worth noting and a listener or Lindsay 17 in the chat.

57:19Joanna Robinson:And we noted this in the room as well. The hooker telling Ali she doesn't quote do blacks because she doesn't want to die hit really awkward knowing there's no writer's room. And Sam Levinson was responsible for every word in that scene. Just a great opening note, I think for this episode, for sure. Entirely fair. Counterpoint, the gag about Rubin and the gray area. Yeah. I did think was very funny. Pretty good. Anything else you... Okay, so we got a question that we don't know the answer to, which is, What does Maddie step on in the scene that she shares with Rosalia? Rosalia shows up, no neck brace.

57:52Joanna Robinson:So welcome to the neck brace free lifestyle, Rosalia. I guess the lawsuit's over. Magic is the character's name. But she's hanging on the bed. Maddie steps on something. Rob and I, I don't know how many times you rewatched it. I rewatched it like five different times. I couldn't get to the bottom of it. Trying to figure out what it was. An earring. So like another girl was just there maybe. or it's Rosalia's earring, Magic's earring. Is it connected to Tish, the girl who died in the first episode? I thought it was a bit of mirror. The only reason I thought that was because of like the bad luck associated with stepping on, like breaking a mirror and stepping on a mirror.

58:28Joanna Robinson:But it seems to be an earring and I don't really know whose earring it's supposed to be. It seemed like it almost like fell out of the swimsuit. And so I took it to mean like Maddie is kind of stepping into somebody else's clothes. Like this idea of she's now just part of this machine. He picked it out for you. Some other girl wore it before you. Exactly. Sure. And I think we see moments like, like this is such a reality check episode for Maddie, right? She's getting in deeper and deeper. She's increasingly in Alamo's debt. And everything we see with Big Eddie in particular is such a cautionary tale for her.

58:58It's like...

58:58Joanna Robinson:Do you think that's why the colostomy bag is there? But that's kind of it. It's like, this guy will squeeze you for everything you are worth, even if it is literally shit into a colostomy bag. And so she doesn't know the extent of that yet. but like Big Eddie is, he has like a walker. His stitches are getting like prodded and poked by Alamo. And it's like, hey, go out there and write the thing you wronged. When all he did was like be there when he got shot. And try to be loyal. Yeah. Yeah. This is why when Maddie in the first place confidently really felt like she knew what she was doing walking into the silver slipper with Alamo and all it felt like was doom.

59:35Joanna Robinson:Yeah. And I don't know how she gets out of the bind that she's found herself in. Other than Alamo, dies, do a lot of problems get solved? It sounds like you're angling for... Or does Armenia come? All of Armenia come to create new problems. Maybe Armenia is our only hope. Do you think Nate got the ending he got because he disrespected the flower? Maybe so. So does the henchman live? Do we see if he lives or not? Yes. I did note that he did stop to smell the roses at one point. And I was like, you know what? He respected the flowers. He respected it. He gets to live. Okay. But maybe this is a thing.

1:00:15Like, I mean, I know a lot of people out there thinking Nate and Cassie. I mean, those kids just have the perfect relationship, right? They have love. They have support. They have all of these expensive floral arrangements. Yeah. But in the end, they can't save you if you're just going to stomp on the flowers and call them dirty names.

1:00:29Joanna Robinson:Ali, who directly said out of his mouth four or five things that I heard Sam Levinson himself say at the luncheon that I went to a couple weeks ago about fentanyl being a uniquely American problem, about finding something bigger than yourself outside of yourself, stuff like that. So using Ali as his voice in the show. So Ali preaching about like the lack of material goods, right? And so like is the larger critique, I mean, definitely is, but the larger critique, the pursuit of wealth, the ways in which you will debase yourself in the pursuit of wealth and how the answer is this sort of like aesthetic living, but helping people around you.

1:01:12It's just a very strange way for euphoria to wind up.

1:01:16Joanna Robinson:Sure is. Like the idea that all we have is other people in the story that involves these characters and the places that they've been together and the things they've done to each other. I can't say I see that thread going all the way through, but I can see that thread as far as like, how do you pick up the pieces from two seasons of Euphoria and jump forward in time and tell something that feels distinct, but also of the world and also of the characters. And also, here's just the thing I have to say about the state of the state of everything. I mean, I think here's what I feel like I might understand about that.

1:01:44Joanna Robinson:If you're Sam Levinson and you've burned some bridges, you made The Idol and The Idol did not get renewed for a second season and people didn't like it. And you have the opportunity to make the final season or perhaps not the final season of a show that a ton of people are watching with some of the biggest stars in the world. Would you not then use that to say the biggest things you feel like you possibly could say about the state of our world? If you're like, maybe this is my last chance to have this big of an audience about something I'm thinking about. Like maybe the real Euphoria is the friends we made along the way.

1:02:17Joanna Robinson:Speaking of friends we made along the way, let's do a finale survival chances roundup, shall we? Yes, please. Lexi. 100%. Does she keep her job? She seems like she's getting promoted. Does her story make it to air? Do we see any of LA Nights, but it's the story of the characters of Euphoria in the finale? My first inclination is no, but also what would you show of Lexi if not that? That's been her whole season arc is getting some time on LA Nights. Jules. Jules. I mean, we do know that she appears in the finale. She paints in the finale. She does paint. She will be on, Hunter Schafer will be on screen in the finale.

1:02:51Joanna Robinson:Correct. 100 % survival rate because otherwise what are we doing here? Okay. Maddie. That's tough. Significantly lower proximity to danger. Makes sense. But now you're talking me into like the team up angle in which this - A Charlie's Angels moment. I'm thinking more like death proof, faster pussycat kill kill. You know. it gets real violent it gets really grisly but the girls all team up I mean hope beyond hope it's not what's gonna happen but we would love to see that I do think Maddie is more likely let's dream of that version of Euphoria tonight she's still more likely to survive than not 70 % Cassie Cassie has to survive for Rob's theory of Sydney Sweeney being the star of Euphoria season 4 to maintain season finale Joe yeah not series finale 100 % Cassie's survival rate okay so the Cassie Howard show is season 4 of Euphoria I think I mean, it's already that show.

1:03:44We've been watching it.

1:03:44Joanna Robinson:A little bit. Rue. I don't know, given what you shared earlier about this season ending on something resembling a hopeful note. But not for everyone. Not for everyone, but it can't be Rue, right? I think it might be Rue. I really think there's no way we don't get the final shot being Rue on the homestead, whether or not she's a lot. She's actually dead or not. She's actually there or not is the question. I think overall. overall. I don't think we get, because I noted that we got the address of the homestead in last week's episode. I don't think we get double, this is the address of the homestead drops in the season.

1:04:21Joanna Robinson:We're going back to the homestead. Yeah, we got to go there. For sure. Cows need to be milled. Crops need to be tended to. Do you think Dominic Fike will be there? Genuinely, is he going to show up this season? I don't know. Was that a rumor? What a misdirect, if so. Yeah. Lori, is she going to live? No. I think Lori and Alamo will probably die. In each other's arms. It's a true love story. Bishop, who is not in this episode, sadly. He's not in this episode. I think he, I could see him squirreling away, you know? Just like being the one guy who makes it out of like the huge gunfight or whatever.

1:04:52Joanna Robinson:Here's my pitch. Season four, Bishop season. I'm down for that. Bishop spinoff? Euphoria colon Bishop season. On this podcast, it's always Bishop season, Joe. All right. I think we've done about an hour. And let me just check if there are any other YouTube chat questions that feel worthy. they're all worthy but do we have time to talk about them I don't know you seem like you really turned your nose at our listeners nope I love all of our listeners Christopher Dominic D 'Amato says the scenes of Rue walking towards Cassie's apartment oh yeah we haven't talked about this the scenes of Rue walking towards Cassie's apartment are the same angles of flashbacks re Ali's dying mentees literally the same shots so maybe like of Ali walking towards the garage One of Ali's sponsees, he's in like the hall outside of a very similar apartment building.

1:05:46I wonder if that's what there's being alluded to.

1:05:48Joanna Robinson:When we see multiple corner moments. In body bags, on stretchers, or on rolling carts, whatever those are called. That makes sense. Gurneys, that's the one. I just want to... We covered the pit. Yeah, we covered it. We're doctors. I just want to flag that I thought it was pretty sloppy storytelling to have Rue walk up to Cassie's house, to Cassie's apartment, have the gun at the eye hole and then be like, let's take you back in time to Cassie's story. But then we continue to tell Rue's story in peril. So by the time we circle back to that moment, Rue's story is already, she smashed her head on the dashboard.

1:06:29Joanna Robinson:So we're already past that in the story. I thought that was really odd temporal storytelling. I don't have any problem at all with the jump to Cassie's story. Let's catch you up to how she got to this moment and then follow through with the rest of it. But you're right. The interim cutting back to Rue just doesn't really make sense. I think we did it. I think we made a podcast. I think we did. Live on camera on YouTube. Thank you all for hanging out with us. There were a few of you here. Thanks for joining us. And thank you to the team that's here tonight. Kai Grady is here. Jacob Cornett is here.

1:07:02Joanna Robinson:Jack Wilson helped us out. Devrinaldo is here, of course. I don't know. Who else did we see? Chris Wallers is banging around. Takes a village. Yeah, all kinds of people are here tonight. Anything else you want to say about Euphoria before we say goodbye? Thank you, Joe. Thanks for doing this. Thank you, Ramoni. And thanks to Jules. You know, we just missed our call, but we'll get her next time. We'll connect with her next week. See you soon. Bye.

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