Euphoria Season 2 Finale Explained

Ash and Fezco

The most dramatic story arc in the finale was that of the drug-dealing brothers.

Trapped by an approaching police squad, the characters must make a quick decision. To make matters worse, a murdered Custer lies on the couch while Faye looks on in shock. While Fezco tries to save Ash and take the fall, the younger brother is ready to fight to the death. The tragic outcome was perhaps the most powerful moment of the entire series. While Lexi desperately waits for her new boyfriend, Angus Cloud's wounded character witnesses the murder of the person that’s been closest to him in life.

Lexi’s moment of glory

While in the first season, Sam Levinson had Maude Apatow's character play second fiddle, the second season reveals some unexpected sides to her. In the middle of the play, embittered after her break-up with Nate, Cassie runs onto the stage and takes it out on her sister.

But that outburst does not derail the production: Lexi and her crew manage to incorporate Cassie's raw emotion into the play. The audience are cheering and chanting the young director’s name, wanting the show to go on. The culprit has no choice but to compose herself and go through with what she started.

Cassie and Maddy

The conflict between the two ex-girlfriends comes to a head during the school play.

Maddy goes on stage after Cassie but doesn't want to talk: she wants to take revenge on the former friend who betrayed her. After a few slaps across the face and some running around, the girls end up in the ladies' room, where one of the most critical dialogues in the series then takes place.

A tired Cassie confesses that Nate dumped her even before the play ended. To which Maddy replies that it's just the beginning. Sam Levinson uses this minimalist scene to show how one girl passes the baton of her abusive relationship to the next one. We can only hope Cassie doesn't take as long as her peer did to extricate herself from it.

Nate and his father Cal

After Lexi makes fun of the school's most handsome boy, he barely holds back his aggression and runs out of the gym in an unknown direction. It soon becomes clear that the boy is on his way to see his father, the source of all his psychological trauma. Instead of yelling, accusations or physical abuse, the character chooses to call the cops and let them sort things out.

The second season sees Nate, one of the most controversial characters, slowly heading towards redemption and healing.

Rue and Elliot

There were quite a few new characters this season. One of them was Elliot, Rue's boyfriend she used controlled substances with.

Zendaya Coleman's character's constant yelling finally gives way to gratitude that Dominic Fike's character and Jules saved her from death in the end. The friendship between the two drug-addicted teens seemed like a dubious proposition at first, and despite their deep affection for each other, the two characters realise that they are better off apart.

Rue and Jules

The show's main romantic storyline comes to a natural end (or maybe a pause).

Thanks to Rue's flashbacks, we learn that she holds no grudge against her ex-girlfriend, and their glances during the play suggest they're going to have the inevitable talk. But, Sam Levinson avoids melodrama, and instead of a tearful conversation, he masterfully shows the audience how first love can end – with a distinct sense that sometimes you just have to let the other person go.