Season 1 of Euphoria follows Rue Bennett and her fellow high school student friends
through their experiences with relationships, identity, and trauma. Rue is a 17 year old
recovering drug addict who’s dealt with lifelong mental disorders and has yet to
fully process her father’s death from cancer. Rue’s constant fluctuation between relapse and
recovery is a struggle for not only her, but her mother Leslie and her younger sister, Gia.
Rue’s childhood best friend is Lexi, although their relationship has been strained. Lexi tries
to be there for Rue, but is constantly pushed away by Rue’s self-destructive tendencies. Lexi’s older
sister is Cassie, who’s in a relationship with college freshman Christopher McKay. Cassie has
been grappling with being abandoned by her father at an early age, while McKay struggles under the
immense pressure his own father puts on him to be a professional athlete. These issues lead to a lot
of friction in their relationship, including McKay being hesitant to label Cassie as his girlfriend,
and Cassie cheating on McKay with fellow high schooler Daniel. Eventually, Cassie gets pregnant.
Another high school student is Kat Hernandez, who throughout the season grows more confident
in her body. After unknowingly being filmed while losing her virginity,
Kat discovers the massive money that could be made by becoming a cam girl.
And so, she starts posting pictures and videos of herself online for money while also continuing to
experiment and explore with her body. Eventually, Kat meets and begins dating her classmate Ethan,
but her insecurities and paranoia constantly create conflict between the two.
Star quarterback Nate Jacobs is an abusive bully, using violence and
anger to mask his sexual insecurities. He’s in an on-again-off-again relationship with Maddy Perez.
During a break in their relationship, Maddy has sex with a college student named Tyler
in front of everyone at McKay’s house party. Upon learning of this, Nate goes into a rage,
breaking into Tyler’s home and beating him to near death. When Nate and Maddy rekindle their
relationship, Nate gets angry with Maddy and grabs her by the throat,
leaving bruises. When those bruises are discovered and reported to the police,
Nate breaks back into Tyler’s home to force him into falsely confessing to the crime.
Nate’s father Cal has his own sexual secrets that he hides from his family,
namely his pattern of filming himself having sex with young gay men and trans women.
His most recent sexual encounter is with the new in town high school student, Jules.
When Rue meets Jules, she is instantly smitten. Much to Rue’s dismay, Jules begins a
texting relationship with a man she met online named Tyler. Jules and Tyler exchange nudes,
but when they finally meet in person, Tyler is revealed to be Nate who threatens Jules to keep
her mouth shut about her sexual encounter with his father or he would report her to the police
for sending underage nudes. The betrayal leaves Jules shell shocked, but she finds comfort in Rue
and the two kiss. While Rue wants this to lead to a relationship, Jules isn’t quite ready to commit,
and even meets a new girl named Anna while on a getaway night out in the city.
And then there’s Rue. Rue’s struggle with sobriety takes many turns throughout the season. Her close
friend and drug dealer Fezco begins to worry for Rue’s wellbeing and refuses to sell any more
drugs to her, but that is complicated when his violent supplier Mouse shows up and forces Rue
to try fentanyl. When Rue discovers that Nate had pretended to be Tyler to threaten Jules, Rue turns
to Fezco to intimidate the bully. In retaliation, Nate reports Fez to the police, forcing Fez and
his young partner, Ashtray, to dispose of their stash. This puts Fezco in a huge debt to Mouse.
In the season one finale, Cassie gets an abortion with her family by her side,
Kat and Ethan reconcile, Fezco robs Mouse’s supplier to pay his debts,
Nate and Maddy peacefully break up, and Rue confronts Nate over his threats toward
Jules, making her own threats to expose Cal. As the finale comes to a close,
Rue and Jules make plans to run away together, but Rue backs out at the last minute and leaves
Jules to depart on the train alone. Back at home, a heartbroken Rue snorts oxycodone.
And while that’s everything that happened in season one of Euphoria,
there were two bonus specials released before the premiere of season 2.
In Part 1, Rue meets with her Narcotics Anonymous sponsor Ali to recount her relapse.
Ali imparts a lot of wisdom on Rue and explains that forgiving oneself
was a key part of change and that he had faith in Rue’s continued improvement.
In Part 2, Jules is in therapy, where it’s revealed that her mother is an addict and
that her feelings for Rue are complicated by her feelings for her mother. Despite this,
Jules admits to loving Rue, but she also was still in love with the fake “Tyler”
that Nate had pretended to be. When Jules returns home, Rue is waiting for her. Before
Jules can apologize for leaving Rue behind, Rue wishes Jules a simple “Merry Christmas”
and abruptly leaves. The Rue and Jules relationship remained as complicated as ever.
And that's everything you need to know before seeing season 2 of Euphoria. Let me know some
of your favorite moments from season one in the comments below and what are you most
looking forward to seeing in season two. Like this video if you found it helpful,
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