‘Euphoria’ Season 3, Episode 7: Only Fangs

Summary

The Prestige TV Podcast: ‘Euphoria’ Season 3, Episode 7, “Only Fangs” Original air date: May 25, 2026 Guests/hosts: Joanna Robinson & Rob Mahoney

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Episode Overview

This episode of The Prestige TV Podcast dives deep into Euphoria Season 3, Episode 7 ("Only Fangs"). Joanna Robinson and Rob Mahoney provide instant reactions, unpack character fates, analyze major themes, and tackle audience questions. The discussion is full of sharp observations, wry humor, and rich speculation ahead of the season (not series) finale.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Nate’s Death and the Snake Scene

• Nate’s Endgame: The centerpiece is the shocking, slow, and excruciating death of Nate Jacobs—bitten by a rattlesnake while buried alive.
• [07:39] Rob: “You do get the scene of the snake crawling up Nate. And it’s one of the most excruciating things I’ve seen on TV in a long time.”
• The hosts debate the creative choice of showing Nate’s demise upfront rather than preserving suspense until the reveal. Discussion includes the use of dramatic irony (knowing he's dead while the characters don't).
• [29:09] Sam Levinson's intention (quoted via Esquire): giving the audience what they want (justice for Nate) but making it so horrific they question if they wanted it at all.
• Both hosts agree the scene is viscerally effective but emotionally inert since Nate's character had grown distant from the show's primary storylines.

2. Ali’s Flashback and the Meaning of Redemption

• Ali’s Past Revealed: This episode provides a dark flashback into Ali’s pre-recovery life, including addiction and domestic violence.
• [21:35] Joanna: “Ali is a really interesting case…does Rue, as Rue discovers a little late…does she still deserve redemption in Jerusalem and the homestead at the end of the story?”
• The hosts examine whether past darkness can coexist with a redemptive present—using Ali as a model for Rue's possible arc.
• Ali’s repeated lines about hope (“You hang in there, the future will be bright”) are interrogated as both hopeful and, in context, delusional.
• [12:23] Rob: “It’s a reminder of who has the luxury of taking the long view.”
• Speculation: Will Rue’s name join Ali's “Book of the Dead,” or fake her death for a shot at hope?

3. The Season’s Big Theme–Collapse of the American Future

• [08:55] Listener email: Season 3 is about the disappearance of the future for American youth, stripping away previous seasons’ sense of possibility.
• Rob challenges: Is this uniquely contemporary, or a universal coming-of-age erosion?
• Joanna: References real-world commencement speeches about the death of opportunity and links the show’s thematic concern to the broader malaise facing Gen Z.
• Poverty, addiction, and sexual commodification are shown as foregone conclusions, not just youthful mistakes.

4. Religious & Symbolic Imagery—777, 666, & “Jerusalem Road”

• [15:31] A listener notes the poker hands: Rue’s “sevens-over-sixes” (divine number) beats Bishop’s “sixes-over-fives” (demonic 666), paralleling an undercurrent of biblical, apocalyptic symbolism.
• Both hosts are cautious not to over-ascribe intention—suggest some of the religious themes may be more misdirection/meme than substance.
• The preview for next week’s finale (“season” finale)—and lines hinting at fate, destiny, and possible open-ended resurrection for Rue.

5. Maddie, Cassie, and the Perils of the OnlyFans Pipeline

• Maddie makes increasingly desperate, ethically murky choices, risking everything for Cassie, at possible cost to herself ("massacred my girl" moment at [02:23] and again [33:02]).
• [35:30] Rob: “Maddy having to eat her words and make compromises she never thought she was gonna make—good storytelling for this character.”
• The show juxtaposes sex work (literal and OnlyFans metaphorical) with traditional ideas of salvation and family. Sam Levinson’s quote: he wanted to show “the importance of believing in something greater than yourself” as an antidote to “narcissism of social media and technology.” [43:02]
• Joanna questions whether the “homestead” is really a redemptive heaven or just more hollow promise.

6. Character Accountability, Consequences, and Reckoning

• The show is laser-focused on the fallout of choices—“the reaping after sowing.”
• Maddie’s debt, Cassie’s commodification, and Rue’s guilt are stressed.
• [44:37] Rob: “Nate’s taking down his entire graduating class with him.”
• [61:20] Ali/Sam Levinson are clear that the pursuit of wealth and material goods (often through self-debasement) is the central critique.

7. Comic Relief and Juxtaposed Tone

• The Cassie-Dylan seduction scene is played for laughs, dissected for its satirical use of young Hollywood tropes, and Dylan’s comical $300 t-shirt (“Denial of Death Cult girls”) is highlighted [39:01].
• Discussion of recurring euphoric visual excess—Nazis by bonfires, burning Joshua trees, and taxidermy-as-metaphor.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [04:08] Rob (on Elordi): “Is Elordi getting into his Tom Hardy, Brad Pitt sort of era, where it’s like, I just don’t want to be there in my full power. If I’m not overly swollen from a rattlesnake bite, it’s just not worth my time.”
• [23:19] Joanna: “That’s what a lot of good television does, which is challenging you to empathize with people who have done things that repulse you.”
• [32:41] Rob: On Lexi—“Every time I’ve tried to explain the plot of season three to somebody, they have asked me that question. So that feels fair.”
• [46:32] Rob on visuals: “A little on the nose, but also, I love it. So much of the visual language of the show works that way—very clear what they’re going for. It’s smacking you over the head.”
• [54:00] Rob: “That feels like life altering consequences. Drinking finger water. Don’t drink finger water.”
• [47:28] Joanna’s rules: “Do not follow a Nazi tramp stamp to a second location.”
• [29:14] Joanna: “Sam Levinson’s whole thing…is to provoke reactions. Whether that’s positively agitated or negatively agitated, it is people engaging in the art he’s making.”

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Episode Timestamps for Key Segments

| Time | Topic / Segment | |--------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:20 | Hosts introduce Euphoria S3E7, set up live format | | 03:40 | Mailbag: theories about Nate, Alamo’s drug money, and predictions | | 07:39 | Snake scene analysis: was it more effective as horror or suspense? | | 08:55 | Listener letter: the collapse of the future for Euphoria’s characters | | 12:23 | Ali’s flashback and the false promise of a “bright future” | | 21:35 | Who deserves redemption—Ali, Rue, others? | | 29:09 | Sam Levinson’s meta-approach to “justice for Nate” | | 32:41 | Lexi and Rue scene—writer’s frustration and ‘DEA game of telephone’ | | 33:30 | The “massacre” of Maddie’s intelligence in the plot | | 35:16 | Maddie’s transactional choices and emotional investment in Cassie | | 39:01 | Breakdown of Dylan’s “Denial of Death Cult girls” shirt and Family Guy hat | | 43:02 | Sam Levinson’s goals: anti-narcissism, God, family, and America | | 46:32 | Taxidermy, Maddie pinned as “another trophy,” visual metaphors | | 54:00 | “Finger water vs. Alamo touching your feet” — comic audience question | | 61:20 | Sam Levinson’s sermon: the pursuit of wealth & meaning of community | | 62:29 | Finale survival odds: quick-fire rundown on Lexi, Jules, Maddie, Cassie, Rue, others |

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Finale Predictions & Open Questions

• Almost every character faces a reckoning: the team speculates who will live or die, with a strong hint that Cassie is being set up as next season’s main character if Rue departs.
• Is the “homestead” a metaphorical heaven, afterlife, or witness protection? Will Rue survive in body or only hope?
• Will Ali’s “Book of the Dead” be updated with Rue’s name?
• Can Maddie extricate herself from debt, or is she doomed?
• How literal are the show’s many religious and biblical motifs?

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Final Thoughts

• The hosts reflect on Euphoria’s capacity to provoke—empathy, disgust, and confusion—often simultaneously.
• They highlight Colman Domingo’s performance as “cinema,” and mourn Nika King’s (Rue’s mom) absence.
• Signature quotes, pop culture riffs, and zany theorizing make this an engaging, detailed exploration for anyone prepping for the finale or recapping the season’s most explosive chapter yet.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Hello. Welcome back to the Prestige TV podcast feed. I'm Jordan Robinson.

[A]

I'm Rob Mahoney and we are live

[B]

here in the studio. Ill advisedly Here we are. Yeah.

[A]

Whose idea was this?

[B]

I don't know, couldn't tell you. We're here to talk About Euphoria Episode 7 Rain or shine. Rob, how are you feeling?

[A]

Confused, startled, alarmed. Not bitten by a snake though, so that's a win.

[B]

We love that for you. If you are watching this live and you're in the chat on the YouTube channel, our stalwart producers are monitoring that chat and we will sort of. If there are questions that make sense for us to answer, they'll, they'll toss it to us and we might answer them later on. So pop those answers in the chat. Why not?

[A]

Do you have any bait for the listeners? Like what would catch Kai or Dev's eye, do you think?

[B]

Um, anything about Maddie? Sure, sure.

[A]

A casual Lakers mention perhaps?

[B]

Oh, okay. Yeah, I just think a little could

[A]

go a long way. It's not up to us. It's up to them.

[B]

How can they email us if they don't reach us via chat? How can they email us?

[A]

You can always email us@prestige TV Spotify.com Joe you can especially email us. Although this week we have a lot to talk about in this particular regard. Maddie's number one [e-mail] youm know how

[B]

on the Godfather he's like look how they massacre my boy. That's how I feel about you. I feel like they Massacred you, Rob Mahoney, Maddie's number one boy, by. Of putting your girl in a tough spot inside of this episode.

[A]

Well, especially if I am Maddie's number one boy. Or really, whatever affection I have for Maddy as a character, Alamo now gets 20% of that affection. So I don't like how this is breaking out for me.

[B]

It's also. It's tough for me to watch characters I really like and admire be so stupid.

[A]

There's a lot of that this episode,

[B]

and there's a lot of that this episode. Also. In general on the feed, we are covering Widow's Bay. We will be covering episodes six and seven this week and then every week thereafter till the end of the season. So that's something we're doing on the channel.

[A]

Also coming up later this week, our look back at Friday Night Lights.

[B]

That's right. Texas Forever.

[A]

Texas Forever. And yet another high school show that we decided, you know what, let's just take the opportunity for a loose euphoria, tie in and say, sure, these things are connected.

[B]

Another show where people die, and you're like, huh? And that brings us to this episode of Euphoria. I'm going to start with some mailbag questions that we got from folks over the past week. Um, so our listener, Sam, shot their shot and said, I think Nate's gonna stumble across Alamo's stolen drug money and get his redemption, but I would enjoy it. Sam, tough, tough week for you and your shot call here.

[A]

Well, there's a week left.

[B]

Okay. You think Nate, swollen tongue, shambling undead Nate is going to find Alamo's money and have a redemption arc?

[A]

Is this a Frankenstein prequel? Ooh, are we just gonna piece Nate back together in the finale?

[B]

We did get. We did get an email about that a couple weeks ago where they were like, are they. By clipping off pieces of his body, are they doing a sort of like a Frankenstein homage in this season of Euphoria? Do you think that's what's going on here?

[A]

Or is Elordi getting into his, like, Tom Hardy, Brad Pitt sort of era, where it's like, I'm just not gonna show up if you're not gonna ugly me up a little bit, you know, like, I just don't wanna be there in my full power. And so if I'm not overly swollen from a rattlesnake bite, it's just not worth my time.

[B]

This is 12 Monkeys, is what you're saying.

[A]

It really is.

[B]

Okay. Clayton wrote in on behalf of Snakes Everywhere to talk about the Snake in the club. And this is. This pertains to the speech that Bishop gave about the snake in the club in a previous episode.

[A]

Snake in the club was like my favorite absolute, like show stopping club hit of the early 2000s. Snake in the club.

[B]

In duck club, I think it was

[A]

in parentheses, Indo club. Snake in parentheses in the club.

[B]

How do you feel about the fact that we were waiting for that snake to do something and it was another snake that killed the main character? One of the main characters of Euphoria?

[A]

The old bait and switch. Yeah, the old snake and ladder.

[B]

Yeah, absolutely. So Cleen wrote in to say snake, owner of a snake similar to the one portrayed. Theirs is a Burmese python. Mine is a 9 inch reticulated python.

[A]

Okay, guy.

[B]

I also have a 4 inch boa constrictor. This is really why I run to read this email. Named Shauna Shipman, who's a character from Yellow Jacket. I think naming your boa constrictor shot a shipment is one of the coolest things you can do. The sizing you up thing, that's not a thing. Snakes are opportunistic. They don't have the type of brain to plan like that. No vet would ever say that. I know it's tv, but I may be. It made me audibly go, ugh. So listen, Clayton, I'm curious how you think about the. What you think of the portrayal of rattlesnakes inside of this episode. Here's a question about that. I'm just going to jump ahead to this.

[A]

Let's do it.

[B]

You know, there's a great Esquire piece out written by my pal Anthony Breznikin about Nate's death. It went up as soon as the credits rolled. So Brez talked to Sam Levinson and all the people sort of about why this is how Nate went out on Euphoria. Was it my favorite character death? It was not my favorite character death at all. But my question is, why would you show us the snakebite and that of any kind of tension when the coffin is open, we know that Nate's dead. Because I don't. I'm not a Clayton. I don't know a ton about snakes. But I know if you're in a confined space with a rattlesnake and it bites you during the day.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

When your wife and high school girlfriend find you at night, you're dead. You're already dead.

[A]

You're cooked.

[B]

So, like, is it interesting to. For us to already know that's a dead guy in the ground?

[A]

The dramatic Irony of like, in particular, I would say Maddie is the one who doesn't know it because she has kind the most at stake here. She's giving up a lot potentially to engineer this whole scenario and pull Alamo into it. And now is kind of like on the hook.

[B]

But not to like Sunday Night Live quarterback this episode.

[A]

Is that not literally what we're doing,

[B]

but wouldn't have been interesting for us to watch all of that happen with the tension of, like, what, Maddie's in danger. What is Alamo going to do here? What are the Armenians going to do while thinking, and can they still save Nate? And do we even want them to save Nate? And then they opened the box and he was already dead. And we were like, wow. All of this for nothing. Is it more interesting to know that during the exchange or after the exchange?

[A]

I think it's more interesting. It makes the final exchange more interesting. Right. That final standoff. We would be on pins and needles just at the idea that the snake was kind of circling the tube in the vicinity. Something could have happened. Or maybe not.

[B]

Like you cut before the snake goes down the tube. Yes. And then we were like, oh, no. Did a snake get him? Or is he still alive down there?

[A]

But by doing it this way, you do get the scene of the snake crawling up Nate. And it's one of the most excruciating things I've seen on TV in a long time. Like, we in the room.

[B]

I wasn't looking.

[A]

It was. It was horrible. Like, it was horrible.

[B]

I've actually never seen you flinch that much watching something.

[A]

Well, it's. It's a double for me. One being buried alive. A horrible fear.

[B]

Absolutely. We're just. We're just piling phobias on top of phobias. We're in enclosed spaces. And then we added a snake.

[A]

And this has reached me at my Texan core. Like a rattlesnake, specifically. These are do not fuck around hours. If a rattlesnake is involved.

[B]

Did you feel threatened as a canonically tall guy? About like tall guy in a too small box underground?

[A]

I did a little bit, yeah. I thought that was an unnecessary shot.

[B]

I did. Pointed at you.

[A]

So did we get confirmation that they crammed him into a regulation coffin or did they make him accustom on the fly?

[B]

I think that's a regulation coffin.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Don't you think so?

[A]

That's especially uncomfortable now. It's my claustrophobia and my being buried alive and the snakes. That's too much.

[B]

Too many things. All right, we got A great email from a listener who did not sign their name, but their handle is Death by Ostrich. Great handle. A really, really good email that I think is actually better than the season of television we're watching, but I'm going to pitch it to you.

[A]

Please.

[B]

Okay. This email reads the critique of season three that Sam Levinson collapsed the character arcs of Maddie, Cassie and Rue into instruments of sexual commodification and shock value is missing the point. This season is about the collapse of the American future. To be clear, the first two seasons were already dark portrayals of American adolescence. Still, the show framed youth through a kind of intoxicating emotional intensity. There was still love, the forming of identity, rebellion and even possibility. Season three strips that away. In this season, the future itself disappears, not only for Cassie, Maddy, Rue and the rest, but for American youth more broadly. Um, and, and there's much more which I, which I might circle back to, but I just wanted to check in what you think about that idea of like, as we watch these characters, right, and their dreams of the future completely evaporate and turn into sort of the worst case scenario for everyone, except perhaps Lexi. But we'll, we'll see. Um, what do you think about that as an idea of what might be on Euphoria's mind or is at least could be on viewers minds.

[A]

This is where I have a hard time separating, you know, the times that we live in from. Is this just an experience that is almost universal among humans? Right, right. Like all of our futures are co opted by some version of the machine. The versions that we encounter now and that I think are being encountered in Euphoria are like maybe especially seedy or out in the open in ways that they weren't previously. But hasn't this always been the case? Hasn't the future always been eroding? Hasn't everyone always been like done before they even really got started?

[B]

Don't you think it's. I mean, how many. I don't know if you're getting served these commencement speech videos that I'm getting served constantly where these clueless CEOs are showing up to commencement, commencements to give speeches about how everything you just studied and learned is useless and AI is the future and they're getting booed soundly by the graduating classes.

[A]

So I know you won't have a job after this, but listen, listen to my platitudes.

[B]

Why are you booing? I'm right. So like, I don't know, it feels I, I would handily give it to the current graduating generation and say, you know, at least when we graduated, yeah, they gave us those platitudes without saying, and machines are coming for your jobs.

[A]

You know, I would say in that way, maybe we're just all being a little more honest than we ever were before. Right. It's like everyone, every worker has always been exploited and manipulated, and now it's like, guess what? We're not even gonna pretend to treat you nicely.

[B]

Damn the man. I love that from you, Rob. This made me think of, you know, we're gonna get. I'm not done with the mailbag yet, but we are gonna get to sort of the Ali backstory that we get here, which I actually think is not just because I love Colman Domingo, but I think what is being presented there is one of the most interesting things that's being presented this season. But his repeated phrase that he gave to these young people who he was trying to help and wound up in his Book of the Dead anyway was, trust me, you hang in there, the future will be bright. Which could be a commencement speech, if you care to think about it that way. Trust me, you hang in there. Tough to have that you hang in there be followed by a hang in. But, like, you hang in there, the future will be bright. But, like, that's not true for all of these young people who he's trying to reach, and doesn't seem true. You know, we're going to talk at the end of this episode about what we probably throughout this episode about what we think might happen in the finale, but sort of, is the future bright for anyone on this show?

[A]

I love that part of Ali's story and the kind of reiteration of that idea, because I think the flashback treats it and the episode treats it as both this very hopeful thing and also this very delusional thing at the same time. It's a reminder of who has the luxury of taking the long view. And for someone like Ali, who has lived through a lot, who's certainly burned bridges and hurt people and experienced a lot of things, but he survived at least that part of it and has gotten through to the other side and is now trying to help other people as best he can, but for so many of these specifically young men that we see, but other people, I mean, he has a book full of dead friends, full of people that he has helped and helped bury. And so it's like the idea that you're just gonna say to them, like, there's light on the other side of this. I mean, not for them, you know, Maybe for him and his own redemption and his own journey and what he hopes for someone like Rue. But that is a luxury that many of these people could not afford, it seems.

[B]

I mean, obviously it is quite ghoulish to speculate about this, but, you know, I think a lot of people are wondering if we see Ali's book full of names of dead young people who he couldn't help save. And there's space at the bottom of the page. Are we gonna see Rue's name there before the show is over? So is Rue's name going in Ollie's Book of the Dead here or is

[A]

there an open ended deliberation? Right, there's like the opening and he has to decide, like, Rue disappeared.

[B]

That was my theory. Okay? Not to like, again, this is a ghoulish theory, but, like, I like the idea that Rue ends on the homestead, like, that she's gonna make it to Jerusalem. And if she has to do that by pretend so that no one can find her, the DEA can't find her, the various drug dealers who she's pissed off can't find her. And if she pretends to be dead, like Jesus, and is risen again in Jerusalem, like, is that. Is that what we're watching here? So he writes down her name in the Book of the Dead because everyone believes her to be dead, but actually she lives on in hope. And that might give us the hopeful ending of Euphoria.

[A]

I love that idea.

[B]

Okay, I got ahead of myself. That's my finale theory.

[A]

Well, let's rewind. Where do you want to go, chief?

[B]

Let me just read this last part of this email that I think was really good. So these characters are no longer simply troubled teenagers. They're economically trapped, spiritually suffocated, and increasingly transactional with one another. Love becomes economic dependency. Sex and crime become the only labor available. I just thought that was really well observed. On the religion front. Our listener Austin wrote in about the poker game that we saw a while back to note that Rue wins with a full house, which is sevens over sixes. Three sevens, two sixes. And bishop is three sixes over two fives. That's his full house. 666. Obviously demonic number 777 is a divine number. So in a season of television where we're lighting Joshua trees on fire, what do we make? And in this episode certainly have, you know, impish demons dancing in hell imagery, you know, but they're Nazis instead. Same def. What do you make of this 7 7, 7, 66 idea?

[A]

This is where I wonder how much is the show actually engaging with the kind of symbology of religion and how much of it is Sam Levinson laughing at us as we attempt to wrestle with the symbology of religion? Like, so much of what's happening with Rue right now is, like, the problem, I would say, with messages from any kind of God, which is if you get to interpret them, they can mean whatever you want them to mean. So Rue has decided this flaming Joshua tree is God speaking to her, as he did Moses, saying, like, your faith will be rewarded, stay the course, et cetera, et cetera. I think there's probably a lot of misdirection in this season, too, as far as, like, vaguely religious things that we're meant to, like, turn our heads at, but may end up meaning nothing at all. May not have any actual relevance other than we are choosing to assign it relevance.

[B]

I think that's perfectly valid. I think, you know, in the preview for next week, we get a line from Alamo saying, like, I think you were right. We were destined to meet to Rue. So Rue believed that finding Alamo was some sort of divine path for her.

[A]

As is everything right now. Pancakes are divine.

[B]

But I do not think that any of us watching this could say, this is what any, you know, kindly deity would want for Ruby Bennet to be in Alamo's orbit. For any of these young women that we care about to be in Alamo's orbit.

[A]

Well, you say that, but, like, all religious texts have moments of incredible peril, of absolutely horrid things happening to mortal people under the guise of, in an Ali like way over the long enough timeline, divine blessings for everyone.

[B]

Two more things to mention before we get closer into the episode. Nika King, who plays Rue's mom. We mentioned how odd we thought that scene was where it's a telephone conversation. We only see one half of it in episode six. In episode six, the actress went on social media to, like, hysterically laugh about it and talk about how she told everyone she was going to be on Euphoria this week. She definitely filmed the other half of

[A]

that phone conversation seems like in its entirety.

[B]

And they cut it. And so she was just like, my mom's here making fun of me because I told everyone after so many years away that I was going to back on Euphoria. And yet this is all I got. So, Nikka King, we celebrate you on the contract info front. I do not think at this point, Cassie's contract is going to come into play. That was a theory that I had.

[A]

What is the finale is all about Drill House contract law.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Just. Just straight up, how do we get her back into the influencer mind?

[B]

But you were right. A lot of lawyers wrote it. Many lawyers listen to the show for some reason. Hope you're tuning in live. They wrote in to let us know what you already said, which is you can sign a contract with an X.

[A]

Yeah, you can put a paw print on that thing if you want.

[B]

It doesn't matter what you sign it with. It matters when you signed it. And if Drillhouse can prove that Cassie signed. But I really don't think the Drill House. I. I'll be astonished if the Drillhouse contract has anything to do with the finale. And last but not least, in that Esquire article that I mentioned, written by my pal Anthony Breznikin, just drops the nugget that Jason Reitman, a renowned Nepo baby in his own right, is the second unit director on Euphoria this season. Just like a legit film director has shown up to be the second unit director of Euphoria this season.

[A]

I mean, why not? If you can, why not? Where are you on Jason Reitman?

[B]

Up in the air.

[A]

Hey, hey. Come on, Joe.

[B]

We're live, baby. Specifically, Brez noted that Jason Reitman shot the scene where Cassie is denigrating some guy's dick. Right.

[A]

The Polaroids.

[B]

The Polaroids. And she says, sammy. And they shot it that way to, like, make fun of Sam Levinson. That's an Easter egg to make fun of Sam Levinson. And he was gonna have Sydney Sweeney ADR it and change it to Jason, but he ran out of time. And so Sammy just. Sammy stayed in the. So there it is. All right. Episode seven, Rain or Shine. Natasha Leon has shown up to play hooker.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

No name. Here she is.

[A]

We had a little bit of a betting pool.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I had thrown out. What if she plays God?

[B]

What if she still plays God?

[A]

I mean, she might. But guess what? She's just another sex worker on the show full of sex workers.

[B]

Maybe God is with us in a Motel 6.

[A]

It's true.

[B]

You know, I think the wrist brace on her was, like, my favorite detail. Very bizarre use of Natasha Leone. But here's what I really love. I mean, there's a lot I didn't love, necessarily, about the Ali flashback, but here's what I loved. Ali is a character we really love and respect and admire, and he has been honest with Ru about the things he has done, and he. Even in season two, you know, she provoked him to the point where he Almost seemed like he was gonna hit her.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

You know, and so we know that there is this existed inside of Ellie. It is different for us to watch him, like, with his two young daughters at the table and then hear him, you know, 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, 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. Like, does Rue, as Rue discovers a little late Rue, inside of this episode, that she is involved in sex trafficking and the disappearance of angel and all this sort of stuff like that. And Ali asks her, do you ever think about the people who took the fentanyl that used to smuggled and stuff like that? As Rue 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?

[A]

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.

[B]

Right.

[A]

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. Like, 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 the way Lexi talks to Rue in this episode. 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 that we see in the course of his flashback has really carried him through his life. 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.

[B]

It was interesting because I was doing one of my favorite post episode activities, which is poking around the subreddit, and a lot of people were like, oh, fuck Ali. I can't believe I ever rooted for him. And I was like, that's. 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. 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.

[A]

You know, I would say especially Rue, because she is 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. So many of the things she's done were just like, lie, cheat, steal. As she's talking about with Laurie and her crew in this episode, in the Name of the Next Fix, it was just like a period of her life was just on a treadmill of, like, how do you get to the next hookup from something? And 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, 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 gonna 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?

[B]

So for you, Rob, 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 our producer Kai noted very emphatically, it says season finale, not series finale. It does indeed, 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?

[A]

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. So maybe that is ahead of us in some way.

[B]

You're never gonna get over the musical number and it was just absolutely great.

[A]

I'm simply not.

[B]

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 season finale open endings of 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 the church at the end of August?

[A]

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.

[B]

One can only hope this episode is brought to you by America's Cookout classics, Heinz, Kraft and Oscar Mayer.

[A]

This summer we're celebrating 250 years of American cookouts with all the classics, Heinz, Kraft and Oscar Mayer.

[B]

Rob, what's your ideal cookout scenario?

[A]

First of all, I want you on the ox. I trust you with that sacred responsibility to pick our music. I'm gonna have to man the grill and I'm gonna need like a copious amount of condiments. I need every possible fixin imag.

[B]

Well, make sure to top your burger with only the best Heinz ketchup and Kraft singles. And you know it's not a cookout without Heinz ketchup and mustard.

[A]

Different vibes, same ingredients. We all know it's not a cookout without Heinz, Kraft and Oscar Mayer. Shop at your local retailer. This episode is brought to you by Spectrum Business. Fast, reliable Internet means everything for your business and even this podcast. That's why I trust Spectrum Business. They keep companies of all sizes connected with Internet, advanced Wi Fi, phone, TV, mobile services, plus 24. 7 US based support. Millions of business owners already trust Spectrum business, so visit spectrum.combusiness to learn more. Restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas.

[C]

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[B]

Rob, why is the ambulance bugged? This ambulance is doing a run down to Mexico.

[A]

You know, it's a great question.

[B]

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 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?

[A]

How literally did they do it?

[B]

Oh, I don't know.

[A]

Like 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.

[B]

Sounds great. Nate's death, I just. I just want to go here next.

[A]

Let's just hit it right up top.

[B]

Jacob Elordi, you're free. You're done. Godspeed.

[A]

What will his brand partners think? You know, the luxury. He couldn't be buried with a luxury bag.

[B]

Yeah, made of snakeskin, perhaps.

[A]

Right.

[B]

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?

[A]

So how do you feel about that based on your choice of voice as you read that quote?

[B]

I mean, Sam Levinson's whole thing, 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, like, agitated about euphoria. And whether that's positively agitated or negatively agitated, it is people engaging in the art that he's making.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So that is his goal.

[A]

Well, let me say this. I think that quote, that idea is a great idea.

[B]

I don't think know that it was executed.

[A]

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 this season.

[B]

Well, that's not true because you just watched season two of Euphoria.

[A]

Yeah, in theory. If I were a normal watcher of

[B]

this show, season two of Euphoria when it aired.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

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.

[A]

Oh, for sure.

[B]

As soon as the snake went down the pipe.

[A]

I like, that part is undeniably effective.

[B]

I, like, turned away from. But I wasn't like. I was like, oh, no, not like this. Only because it felt like kind of dramatically inert to me for Nate to just die in a box via Snake.

[A]

You know, I genuinely had, like, no emotional reaction to Nate dying, only a physical reaction to and feeling kind of

[B]

like, you know, nice. Nice for you, Jacob Elordi. You're done.

[A]

The sweet release of death.

[B]

Yeah, there you go. Anything else you want to say about? Did you enjoy seeing his dumb brother one last time?

[A]

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. Innate's, like, kind of unconscious until it's too late. It's like, we really did need that.

[B]

I agree.

[A]

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?

[B]

Oh, Kill Bill definitely exists in this universe.

[A]

Well, then what's Nate doing? He didn't even attempt it. He should have some bloody knuckles at bare minimum.

[B]

Were you thinking most of the Bride when you were watching this?

[A]

I mean, that's where I go first in terms of a successful escape from a coffin burial. Do you have another touch point?

[B]

Did not Ryan Reynolds get buried also canonically?

[A]

I'm gonna be honest, don't know how it ended.

[B]

I also don't know how that ended.

[A]

I'm not just showing up for Ryan Reynolds movies.

[B]

I was thinking also about the Bride, and I think it's Ru had the yellow sweatshirt on inside of this episode. Right? 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 and ruined. You and I both were like, we've been there. When Z. You were like, joanna, this is why we prep in separate rooms now for Euphoria. So you won't yammer at 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.

[A]

You know, to a couple tough places.

[B]

Like, here's the deal. Lexi. Lexi is being very kind to Ru. You can crash on my couch anytime, Ru.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

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.

[A]

Every time I've tried to explain the plot of season three to somebody, they have asked me that question. So that feels fair.

[B]

No wonder your mother doesn't speak to you anymore.

[A]

That's the one that's tough. Fucking Yikes.

[B]

But here's. 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.

[A]

I 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.

[B]

If Maddie. If Maddie had sold Rue out to get what she needed from.

[A]

It was a transaction.

[B]

Right? If she's just like, hey, I heard Rue's talking to the dea. 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. Her just sort of flippantly saying it was deeply bizarre.

[A]

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.

[B]

Not until the end of this episode. She doesn't understand the gravity of what

[A]

she does until the gunslinger comes out. Sure. But she at least knows not to mention the DEA around the drug dealer. If your friend is working with the dea.

[B]

This was. I turned. I don't usually. I try not to speak during these episodes of euphoria. Cause 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, I think.

[A]

Hashtag NotMyMaddy tough.

[B]

Tough for you, Jules role in this episode. A name on the phone.

[A]

Yeah. So here's my again. We might have to get the lawyers involved in this show.

[B]

Would you rather be Jacob Elordi? Done. Or Hunter Schaeff? Still here, but not really here.

[A]

That 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?

[B]

Interesting.

[A]

Let's get SAG involved.

[B]

Okay. Let's get the many lawyers who emailed us about contract.

[A]

That's what I'm saying.

[B]

Jules, what do you want to say?

[A]

I don't understand anything that's happening with Jules. I have 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 Ru and that's it. Why are we doing this?

[B]

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, like, she's a sugar baby, Essentially, she's. She's a sex worker. And Maddie emphatically says, I'm not a hooker.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

But inside of this episode appears to me to trade sexual favors for a million dollars.

[A]

Trade something. Well, a million dollars in playing cards.

[B]

Right. How does that feel for you?

[A]

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. 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.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Maddy having to eat her words and make compromises that she never thought she was gonna make. Like, that's good storytelling for this character. As far as I'm concerned. What they do with it in the finale, I don't really know. Hopefully with the jumbo runtime, we get some good Maddy time in addition to everything else. But I'm a little worried that this was her big episode and she's gonna get a little lost.

[B]

Everyone. Cassie to Maddy. Taru. Um. Lexi doesn't care. I guess Jules is unaware. Is invested in Alamo. Like, dying before.

[A]

That's true.

[B]

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 will work.

[A]

You love a team up.

[B]

I do. Um, 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?

[A]

I don't even know how to parse that.

[B]

Slapping slapp, Cassie saying, I'm your boss, you work for me, all of that.

[A]

That tracks.

[B]

Does that feel like we're going down the ASP pipeline for Maddie?

[A]

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.

[B]

Okay, well, I can't say I don't see the comparison.

[A]

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, like, plays differently than what we've seen from Yaz on industry. Maybe it's just the extent of it. Maybe it's like the manifestation of that behavior over time. I don't know. This, like, 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.

[B]

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. Yes, 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.

[A]

That's what part of what I mean.

[B]

Yeah, no, no, I know.

[A]

I know this idea that she's a money tree is, yes, the thing you say to Alamo, but trees are not that fruitful. Like, there's just no way Cassie is going to make enough money.

[B]

I don't know. 100,000 subscribers overnight.

[A]

I don't know, buddy.

[B]

Listen, the cat. 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

[A]

seduction, specifically the, like, beanbag poof that Dylan is resting on, I just found to be really funny.

[B]

Can I do a breakdown for you of what Dylan is wearing in. In this episode? Uh, his hat says violence in movies and sex on tv, which is a Family guy. The opening theme of the Family Guy.

[A]

He's Worn it, I would say in four episodes. We just never.

[B]

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 Frank. James. James Franco's cursed fashion brand.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Do you want to guess how much that shirt goes for?

[A]

I am loathe to know.

[B]

This $300 shirt.

[A]

Is it secondary market or can you still buy it from the website?

[B]

You can still buy it.

[A]

Oh, wow. So that's just retail. MSRP. $300?

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. Upper twos on some sites, but threes on other sites. So Denial of Death Cult girls T shirt. Yeah, just like a shitty looking $300t shirt and a Family Guy hat. And that's Dylan Reed, the face of young Hollywood. How do you feel about it?

[A]

I think the future's in great hands. You know, this really is the entire future of the planet eroding under our feet.

[B]

Marcy playground here. How'd you feel about it?

[A]

How else could we feel about it? People of our age?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I'm happy anytime it's in a soundtrack.

[B]

An incredible needle drop moment. Incredible to think of Cat, do you think? Okay, because we saw Maddie clean the apartment of all its various accoutrements.

[A]

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

[B]

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 on. On Marcy's playground.

[A]

Yeah. If she has to put all the dildos into the kiddie pool. Yeah, she's definitely micromanaging the playlist.

[B]

Dildos in the kiddypool.com.

[A]

there were so many missed opportunities in this episode.

[B]

Finger in the watermail dot com. Dylan drinking the finger water. Yeah, Toss.

[A]

I don't like that finger water.

[B]

What would you call it?

[A]

I mean, it's what it is. I just don't like it.

[B]

It's kind of like finger tea by the morning because, like, it sort of oozes. Yeah, it has, um. I will say that Sydney Sweeney's delivery of like, oh, who moved 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.

[A]

It was like that dude was being ridden to exhaustion like the world's most loyal horse. Dylan Reed just could not. Could not stop himself. Could not stop anything happening.

[B]

Um, were you thinking, okay, perhaps it's just Because Sharon Stone is here. But when Cassie put the cell phone under the mattress, I was thinking of Basic Instinct is that.

[A]

I'm sure that has to be in the ether here. Right?

[B]

All right.

[A]

Even just some of, like, what is

[B]

a nice pick in modern day if not a cell phone that you've uploaded a, you know, a damaging photo?

[A]

And how did we get a frozen finger without a shot of an ice pick anywhere involved? You know, great question again, real missed opportunities here by the show.

[B]

If you were delivered the finger of a beloved of some kind, would you just put it loose in the ice, the ice bucket in your freezer?

[A]

You know I would not.

[B]

I know you wouldn't.

[A]

I find the behavior of TV characters regarding the freezers to be very confusing. On. I remember on a previous season of Slow Horses, someone put, like, a absurdly expensive diamond in, like, a pint of Ben and Jerry. Ben and Jerry's.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's like, what. Why would you think this is a safe place to put it? Why would you think this? You're supposed to put a loose fan in the freezer.

[B]

It was a loose diamond too. Right? She just, like, put the diamond into the ice cream, and we were like, absolutely not. Needs to be wrapped in something at the very least.

[A]

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 gonna work.

[B]

What if the water had been filtered?

[A]

Maybe it would have helped a little bit.

[B]

Here's what Sam Levinson had to say in that Esquire article about the. If Cassie and Onlyfans stands for social media and narcissism.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

This is the contrast he's trying to get through here. 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, the. All of the selfies and all of the videos and all of the things that we've seen. You know, the. 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. Like, are. Are these the two? The hell and heaven? Sort of polar opposites.

[A]

I mean, the homestead didn't seem great. It Was quiet. It was secluded.

[B]

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.

[A]

So what else does it need to have?

[B]

No crucifixes. Zero crucifixes on the wall.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

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. And I'm like, can we have all of that and vaccines at the same time? That's my idea of heaven.

[A]

I think you're asking for too much.

[B]

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 they're 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 gonna have to live with the consequences. Yes. So consequences as I think the main theme of. 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 sowing. Like, here we are. Here's Maddie in. In debt to who, like, Cassie has inherited debt. This is all Nate's fault.

[A]

It really is all Nate's fault.

[B]

He's taking down his entire graduating class with him. But like, well, even.

[A]

Even more than that. Like, Alamo takes on a not insignificant risk in all of this. Yes, he stands to benefit from whatever money he siphons off of Matty and Cassie and everybody else in the same way that he does from all of his dancers and all the people work from him. Like, him killing Nas is not a thing that will come without repercussions for him. Somewhere down the line, like, there's always.

[B]

Think of all of Armenia is coming.

[A]

I'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 Matty, too, is that like. Like, even though this guy is dead, it's not as if he's not gonna have to be looking over his shoulder for the foreseeable future. For what may come for him.

[B]

Interesting. A very sort of like, last of us. These are the consequences of your actions.

[A]

Unfortunately, the chickens do come home to roost. The parrots, the paladins do. Paladins roost.

[B]

Maddie's number on boy at gmail dot com. If you know roosting habits. Tell us about parrots.

[A]

Is that a parrot? I honestly don't know.

[B]

That's the. That's the quote card for tell us about parrots. If you were curious about the translation of the Armenian that is spoken between Naz and his hench, Arthur, here at the end of his life, when he's gurgling blood, kill the whore son, is what he was saying in reference to Alamo. Right. And Arthur says, forgive me, as in, like, I can't kill him. So, like, you know, I'm gonna get in this. I don't know. Was that a backhoe? I don't know what that was. A dirt scooper.

[A]

We're not construction guys.

[B]

So of the people, okay, that's one

[A]

thing that could have saved. It is like, what if Maddie was driving that thing, just hoeing some dirt, just digging up Nate's corpse on the

[B]

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? He's got her mounted on the wall with the rest of his kills.

[A]

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.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

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. I'm a sucker for it.

[B]

No, 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 Allah 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.

[A]

I mean, when a Nazi is preaching to you about your lack of character.

[B]

I wrote this literal thing in my head.

[A]

Life has taken a turn.

[B]

Also, here's another Nazi rule as I like to dish them out. Do not follow a Nazi tramp stamp to a second location. Oh, the minute you see a Nazi tramp stamp, I don't care what your relationship is with the owner of said Nazi tramp stamp, it's too late. Don't. Don't follow them down those stairs. Don't follow them down those creaky stairs. Don't rattle around some keys with them. Yeah, don't do it. You know, just make a break for it.

[A]

Rules to live by from Joanna Robinson.

[B]

Is Faye going to make it out of the opening minutes of the finale alive?

[A]

I mean, she did at least rat Rue out.

[B]

Yeah, but how did Rue get out?

[A]

Who's to say she snuck out? Don't. Don't believe her lies. You know, maybe there's.

[B]

Yeah, the memento excuse works every time.

[A]

You can pull the wool.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I'm gonna say, like, Wayne does not strike me as the smartest guy in the world.

[B]

No. But nor does, with love and respect, Faye.

[A]

How dare you.

[B]

So are you gonna defend Faye after the end of the episode she has here?

[A]

I do think she could out Fox Wayne into thinking that she's a more helpless in this scenario than she perhaps was.

[B]

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.

[A]

You know, I also would recommend not getting it once. But, like, how would Faye die but ru. Survive? Like, that's the sequence of events I would have a hard time understanding.

[B]

Running.

[A]

I don't know. Yeah.

[B]

If they get into a lover spat and. 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. 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.

[A]

The one behind the painting.

[B]

The one behind the painting.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

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.

[A]

I don't know, in whatever way.

[B]

Here's my question.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I'm not an organ or sex trafficker.

[A]

Okay. Yet.

[B]

What's the advantage of Keeping the incriminating evidence of the girls you have disappeared in one way or another.

[A]

You know, I couldn't tell you. And I've been going around the country assembling organ and sex traffickers and preaching to him about this very idea.

[B]

Yeah, put it in the shredder.

[A]

You just can't do it.

[B]

No.

[A]

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.

[B]

Put it in the shredder.

[A]

Just destroy it.

[B]

Yeah, absolutely.

[A]

It does no good for you.

[B]

How dumb does Rue look when Laurie'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? Yeah, 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 happen to Kitty, et cetera, et cetera, can she be as naive as we find her here in the penultimate episode?

[A]

It seems impossible. Look, 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.

[B]

She's like, it's great. All that's happening now is I'm bashing my face open on dashboards.

[A]

Just normal road trip stuff.

[B]

Really fun stuff. Yeah.

[A]

But this part I really have a hard time grasping why Rue, this character we've seen, like, at least be perceptive enough about the world around her to know. Wily, you know, street smart, if nothing else. Like, she has to know she's seen too much to think. Like, oh, my God. I'm totally taken aback.

[B]

Heavens to Betsy. Yeah.

[A]

Like, the guy I've been running drugs and guns and girls for, Right? Might be a murderer.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Come on.

[B]

I did Google why you Botox a tongue just in Case you wanted to.

[A]

Do you want to share it with the audience?

[B]

It makes oral sex easier to practice. I also googled puppies and the ss.

[A]

Was that right?

[B]

That is true. So I'm going to burn this laptop after this podcast is over.

[A]

So snakes sizing up their owners to eat them. Not true. Debunked.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

SS officers in training raising and then murdering puppies turned into dogs. True.

[B]

What's interesting to me is that, is that it was, I read about. I read an article that was, you know, it was written by or part of a study about why. How mass murdering happens.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

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?

[A]

You know, Nazi forums, you know? Sure, just, just Reddit.com the dark web.

[B]

Our listener, Miranda asks, just let's just take a light break from what we were just discussing. Miranda asks, would you rather drink from the finger water or let Alamo touch your toes in the hot tub? Rob, which would you rather?

[A]

See, you said that like maybe there was an exchange of services involved with

[B]

Maddie Alamo, you think it was just footsteps?

[A]

Maybe. Maybe it was just, you know, this little piggy.

[B]

I don't think. Wrong.

[A]

No, no, no. I don't know. 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.

[B]

Yeah,

[A]

I think. Wait, wait. So the either or was finger water or Alamo messes with your feet? Yeah, I guess I'm giving up the feet. You're doing, but you have to answer this too. What are you choosing?

[B]

I'm finger water.

[A]

You're drinking the finger water?

[B]

Yes, absolutely. I'm drinking the finger water over letting Alamo touch my finger.

[A]

There's some flesh eating bacteria in there or something. I don't want any part of that finger water.

[B]

Earlier tonight we filmed a promo 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,

[A]

so I'm not showing feet. I just wasn't aware of the framing. And so I'm like moving my feet like a madman.

[B]

You know, I know for a fact you're. You're anti foot stuff.

[A]

I'm not.

[B]

But you're more anti finger water.

[A]

That feels like a bad idea. That feels like life altering consequences. Drinking finger water. Don't drink finger water.

[B]

And don't get a Nazi tramp stamp. The more, you know, one of our listeners. Blonde fix. Fiskwana. Great. The Jerusalem address is 6:13.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

3 John 3:16 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?

[A]

Of course.

[B]

Why not?

[A]

Of course.

[B]

All right. Anything else you want to talk about that we have not gotten to yet?

[A]

I 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?

[B]

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 Ru 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.

[A]

The we'll go get your mom is really the smoking gun of like, there's just no chance they're making it to morning to go get her mom.

[B]

Because we're not. We're not giving Nika King more lines in euphoria.

[A]

Well, I mean, it did seem. Am I mistaken in that the preview for the finale, did we see some shots of Rue in her childhood home? Am I?

[B]

Was I. I thought we got it in the. I mistook Lexi's kitchen for her childhood kitchen in last week's preview. So I'm done with guessing where Ru is based on.

[A]

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.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Couldn't say.

[B]

Tune in to find out. Tune into the finale. Anything you want to say about the Aliru conversation that we haven't gotten to?

[A]

I think mostly just like I. 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. Like, the way he reacts to her is very different than Lexi's again, but. 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 gonna do anyway?

[B]

I know it's. It's upsetting to Colman Domingo is so good. He's really great in this.

[A]

If anything, I think maybe we didn't say enough about his performance in the Cold Open, which straight up, just like Colman Domingo getting high in slow motion is cinema. Like, I will just. I could watch those. Him, like, shadowboxing to a drum roll on a jazz beat is 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.

[B]

I do think it's worth noting. And our listener, Lindsay, 17, in the chat, 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.

[A]

Entirely fair counterpoint the gag about Rue being in the gray area. Yeah, I did think was very funny.

[B]

Yeah. 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, so welcome to the neck brace free lifestyle. Rosalia.

[A]

I guess the lawsuit's over.

[B]

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.

[A]

I couldn't get to the bottom of it.

[B]

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, stepping on a mirror. But it seems to be an earring, and I don't really know whose earring it's supposed to be.

[A]

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. Right. Like, this idea of she's now just part of this machine.

[B]

He picked it out for you. Some other girl wore it before you.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

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. It's like, do you think that's why

[B]

the colostomy bag is there?

[A]

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 costume 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.

[B]

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.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I don't know how she gets out of the. The bind that she's found, found herself in other than Alamo die. Like, if Alamo dies, do a lot of problems get solved?

[A]

It sounds like your angle.

[B]

Does Armenia, all of Armenia, come to create new problems?

[A]

Maybe Armenia is our only hope.

[B]

Do you think Nate got the. The ending he got because he disrespected the flower?

[A]

Maybe so.

[B]

Yeah. But.

[A]

And so does the henchman live? Do we see if he seems like it? Because he. I did note that he did stop to smell the roses at one point, and I was like, you know what?

[B]

He respected the flowers.

[A]

He respected it. He gets to live.

[B]

Okay, but maybe this is the thing.

[A]

Like, 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.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But in the end, they can't save you if you're just gonna stomp on the flowers and call them dirty names.

[B]

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. His voice in the show. So Ali. 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.

[A]

It's just a very strange way for Euphoria to wind up. 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 everything.

[B]

I mean, I think. Here's what I feel like I might understand about that. If you're Sam Levinson and you, you've burned some bridges. You made the Idol and the Idol did not get renewed for a second season and people did not 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 on something I'm about, something I'm thinking about.

[A]

Like, maybe the real Euphoria is the friends we made along the way.

[B]

Speaking of friends we made along the way, let's do a finale survival chances roundup, shall we?

[A]

Yes, please.

[B]

Lexi, 100%. Does she keep her job?

[A]

She seems like she's getting promoted.

[B]

Does her story make it to air? Do we see any of LA Knights? But it's the story of the characters of Euphoria in the finale.

[A]

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

[B]

on LA Knights, Jules.

[A]

I mean, we do know that she appears in the finale.

[B]

She paints in the finale.

[A]

She does paint. She will be on Hunter Schaefer will be on screen in the finale.

[B]

Correct.

[A]

100% survival rate. Because otherwise, what are we doing here?

[B]

Okay, Maddie.

[A]

It's tough. Significantly lower proximity to danger. Makes sense, but now you're talking me into, like, the team up angle in

[B]

which this Charlie's Angels moment.

[A]

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

[B]

would love to see that.

[A]

But I do think Maddie is more likely to survive.

[B]

We dream of that version of Euphoria tonight.

[A]

She's still more likely to survive than not 70% Cassie.

[B]

Cassie has to survive for Rob's theory of Sydney Sweeney being the star of euphoria season four to maintain season finale.

[A]

Joan.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Not series finale. 100% Cassie. Survival. Right.

[B]

Okay. So the Cass. The Cassie Howard show is season four

[A]

of Euphoria, I think. I mean, it's already that show. We've been watching it a little bit.

[B]

Ru.

[A]

I don't know, given what you shared earlier about this season, ending on something resembling a hopeful note.

[B]

But not for everyone.

[A]

Not for everyone. But it can't be Ru. Right?

[B]

I think it might be. I. I really think there's no way we don't get the final shot being rue on the homestead. Whether or not she's actually dead or not she's actually there or not is the question.

[A]

I think.

[B]

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.

[A]

We're going back to the homestead. We gotta go there for sure. Cows need to be milled. Crops need to be tended to.

[B]

Do you think Dominic Fike will be there?

[A]

Genuinely? Is he gonna show up this season?

[B]

I don't know. Was that a. Was that a rumor?

[A]

What a misdirect.

[B]

If so, Laurie. Is she gonna live?

[A]

No, I think Laurie and Alamo will probably die in each other's arms. One can only hope that's a true love story.

[B]

Bishop, who is not in this episode.

[A]

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.

[B]

Here's my pitch. Season four, Bishop season.

[A]

I'm down for that. Bishop spinoff Euphoria Colon.

[B]

Bishop season.

[A]

On this podcast, it's always Bishop season. Joe.

[B]

All right. I think we've done about an hour. And let me 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?

[A]

I don't know. You seem like you really turned your nose at our listeners.

[B]

Nope. I love all of our listeners. Christopher Dominic d' Amato says the scenes of Rue walking towards Cassie apartment. Oh, yeah. We haven't talked about this.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

The scenes of Rue walking towards Cassie apartment are the same angles of flashbacks re Ollie's dying mentees. Literally the same shot. Thoughts? So maybe like, of Ali walking towards the garage.

[A]

One of the Ali's sponsors, he's in like. Like the hall outside of a very similar apartment building. Alluded to.

[B]

Well, we see a body go by corner moments. Okay.

[A]

In body bags, on stretchers, or on, you know, rolling carts.

[B]

That makes sense.

[A]

Gurney. That's the one.

[B]

I just want.

[A]

We covered the pit.

[B]

Yeah, we could. 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. You know, the gun at the. At the eye hole, and then be like, let's take you back in time to Cassie's story. Yes. But then we continue to tell Rue's story in parallel. So by the time we circle back to that moment, Rue's story is already. She smashed her head on the. You know, like, the dashboard. So, like. Like, we're already past that in the story. I thought that was really odd temporal storytelling.

[A]

I don't have any problem at all with the. 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.

[B]

Yeah, I think we did it. I think we made a podcast.

[A]

I think we did.

[B]

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. Jason Cornett is here.

[A]

Indeed.

[B]

Jack Wilson helped us out. Def Ronaldo is here, of course. I don't know. Who else do we see? Chris Wallers is banging around.

[A]

Takes a village.

[B]

Yeah. All kinds of people are here tonight. Anything else you want to say about Euphoria before we say goodbye?

[A]

Thank you, Joe. Thanks for doing this. Thank you, Ramoni, and thanks to Jules. You know, we just missed her call, but we'll get her next time.

[B]

We'll connect with her next week. See you soon. Bye.

[A]

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