Euphoria’s deep look at addiction

Rue Bennett (Zendaya) dawns her dad’s red sweater as she departs from a romantic fantasy with Jules (Hunter Shafer) to a close-to-empty diner to meet with Ali, her sponsor, on Christmas Eve. In the aftermath of an argument with Jules, she seeks comfort in Ali in part one of the series’ special episode, “Trouble Don’t Last Always.” As the episode progresses, we follow her journey to understand why she is there in the first place.

Euphoria was meant to film season two in March before the pandemic halted production. Creator, writer, and director Sam Levinson turned to the drawing board to craft something smaller in the meantime that could be filmed with COVID-19 safety protocols. The outcome was a two-part special episode, one from the perspective of Rue and the other from the perspective of Jules. The first part of the special episode premiered on Dec. 6 and arrives three months after Zendaya won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for season one of Euphoria, making the series’ return highly anticipated. 

Audiences accustomed to the hyperactive and fast-paced cinematography of the A24 series may find the episode a snooze, but it isn’t. That same momentum is found in the script. The stillness made by filming most of the episode at a booth in a diner allows for each word to punch a bit deeper in the chest, steal the audience’s breath away at moments of tension and raw honesty. It plays like a tennis match across breakfast plates; one that Ali is winning most of the time.

Rue is a lost child. She doesn’t know if she wants to be sober or not. She isn’t sure of much. Ali calls this poetry. Ali, a 54-year-old man who has had his fair share of struggles with drug addiction, pierces his eyes right through Rue, catching every lie and every mask she fabricates. His main goal is to get her to think twice before chasing the next high. He tries to tell her that God blessed her and that she is here for a purpose, but it backfires. He then compares addiction to corporations chasing trends, calling it a natural process of business that has little care for the consumers. He explains that similarly, the body craves drugs with little care for the person inside. Rue begins to catch on to his persuasion.

The episode is a deep analysis of drug addiction—what it does to a person and what it actually is: a disease. It provides the background that the first season lacks. Through metaphors and deep conversation, Ali describes addiction as a disease that requires a daily, internal revolution, not as a selfish act that people can stop by flipping a switch.

The episode is heavy, but the heaviness was needed to balance out typical portrayals of drug addiction in the media. It isn’t flashy and glorious, it is dark, confusing and takes large amounts of will power and support to overcome. 

Ali turns around mid-conversation to Miss Marsha, one of the waitresses in the diner, to ask her a few questions. The second she spoke, her presence took control of the screen. Something about her story and the way she talked about even the simplest things, like the number of years she’s been sober, felt raw.

Turns out that’s because it is. In an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Zendaya shared that Miss Marsha, played by Marsha Gambles, is a friend to the production. The Euphoria team met her while filming the pilot episode at a church where Gambles worked and they coincidentally were filming.

“We were shooting there, and Sam met her,” Zendaya said on Jimmy Kimmel Live. “And we were just taken by her charm and her personality and her story. She has her own story of addiction and her own battle with addiction. She was so open and honest, and Sam was like, ‘Miss Marsha, we’re coming back for you.’”

Levinson followed through with that promise and brought her back for this episode to share her story. Everything she said was her own words from her own experience.

Euphoria is an honest portrayal of addiction because of the creators in the writer’s room and on screen. Both Levinson, who wrote from his struggles with drugs as a young adult, and Gambles share a perspective of addiction that is often hidden. They share the story of sobriety —the beautiful and the ugly.

Euphoria is also known for its music, particularly the leading song, All For Us by Labrinth and Zendaya. Like many viewers, I expected there to be a new set of songs to coat the episode. Aside from the intro to “All For Us,” the only other song to play was “Me In 20 Years” by Moses Sumney.

Sumney’s breathy, heartfelt vocals slice through the episode like a knife, putting a pause to the conversation. It is a smart song choice that summates Rue’s struggle, looking back at her past to decide her future.

The song plays in the only moment that takes place outside of the diner. Ali, ironically, takes a smoke break as Rue listens to the song Jules sent her earlier. It’s intoxicating, but in the way that warms one’s heart with memories of laughing children at family reunions on Christmas.

The moment portrays the contrast of someone sober and someone who has relapsed, thinking about a life where the struggle is over. Ali calls his family while Rue sits alone in the diner. It goes silent as Ali hangs up the phone and Sumney sings his last line of the song. The worlds collide as Ali returns to the booth and I understand that the separation provided reflection for both characters, resulting in a new beginning so powerfully placed at the booth table.

Euphoria created a safe space to unpack one’s understanding of addiction in the episode where everything and anything is on the table. It may not have the same glittery makeup and edgy costumes as season one, but the special episode finds its edge in its honesty. I never felt tired of being in the diner. I felt like I could sit there with them for as long as they needed to be there. But they eventually had to leave.

The last shot of the episode is on Rue, spaced out in a concoction of thought, drugs and wonder for the next step. I wonder with her. What’s going to happen at the end of the car ride? Where is she going? What’s next?

As Ali drives her in the rain, windshield wipers fling rainwater to the edges of the front of the truck. Her face is filmed through the window, one half blurred by flowing rain and the other half cleared by each wipe. The episode portrayed Rue at a breaking point. She is stuck between two paths: sobriety and a continuing chase for the next drug of choice. As she and Ali tackled her deep inner struggle of finding a way out of addiction, I questioned what it would do for her. Eyes glazed over yet looking forward in Ali’s truck, Rue does the same.