![]() Euphoria paints a complicated portrait of addiction spurred on by the death of her father, weaving together the suffering of those around her without dismissing her own. Rue is not always a good person, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t deserve respect. It was one of Rue’s lowest moments, and Suze watched with pity and respect. In the episode prior to this interaction, Rue attempted to escape going to rehab by visiting the Howards and stealing their jewelry as she starts to feel withdrawal setting in, until her mother shows up to stage an impromptu intervention. She followed it up by saying Rue has had a hard life, making her one of the only people in the series thus far to understand Rue’s pain, in part because of their families’ long-standing relationship. They were just four simple words that held so much power and validation. Almost instantly, Cassie’s mother Suze interjects with “Rue’s a good girl.” It wasn’t that she was good in spite of being an addict, nor was it ignoring Rue’s issues. In a small but pivotal scene in the sixth episode of Euphoria Season 2, Cassie Howard attempts to shift the focus from having sex with Nate by bringing up Rue’s addiction. Euphoria has taken steps to hammer home the severity of Rue’s addiction and the consequences of her actions, but reducing her into a villain fails to acknowledge how much of that stems from her disease. Usually no one knows or notices.Īs I scrolled through my timeline to get caught up on the wild theories of Rue’s fate following the ambiguous ending of the last episode, words such as “junkie” and “selfish” were scattered across my screen. I don’t know if my high school had a Rue, but I think that’s the point. ![]() ![]() Every high school had the drug dealers and the super seniors, the promiscuous and the virgins, the eccentric and the quiet. ![]() While some parts may be dramatized for entertainment and shock value, such as the characters’ revealing outfits and excessive sex, it is still based in reality. Since Euphoria’s inception in 2019, the HBO show has dealt with a fair share of criticism for its gritty portrayal of adolescence. Aside from Trainspotting, mainstream audiences primarily got their portrayals of addiction from Intervention and Shameless, two highly entertaining but flawed attempts at showing the impact of the disease. It was one of the few movies praised by my mother, a recovering heroin addict herself. While the common denominator is drugs, it also acknowledges the other factors such as class, social pressure and even just the sheer pleasure that comes from escaping the real world for even a second-with a biting wit to boot. Danny Boyle’s 1996 hit Trainspotting is one of the few movies to do it right, balancing graphic depictions of depravity with a nuanced understanding of why those acts are done. But what about their own pain?ĭrug addiction has always been difficult to portray in the media. Most shows and movies that attempt to capture the complicated bridge between addiction and recovery center around a character’s spiral to rock bottom, eventually overcome with the guilt from the suffering placed upon their family that they eventually seek help. It’s often dealt with in silence, and oppressive drug policies, aggressive policing and lack of healthcare have prevented people such as my parents from getting the help they need. Whether it’s phone calls to the sheriff, stolen jewelry to pay for drugs or the baby suffering from heroin withdrawal in the incubator, my family is just one of many impacted by addiction. It’s a tense ten minutes, and Zendaya’s chilling performance may be a work of fiction, but her addiction is a reality for millions such as myself.īoth of my parents were addicts, and I have attempted to piece together the lingering trauma that they left on my family. She snarls in the face of her mother and terrified younger sister, breaking doors and picking at her family’s deepest wounds as she searches for the suitcase that contained thousands of dollars in drugs. In the heart-stopping opening of this season’s fifth episode, “Stand Still Like the Hummingbird,” Rue’s addiction comes to a head after being mostly high for the season thus far. Over the course of Euphoria’s second season, audiences were shown a more gruesome side of Rue’s addiction.
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