A few weeks ago, the second season of the HBO American teen drama, Euphoria, came to a close. Just like the first season, season two was wildly entertaining.

First, the party. The characters are all at a party, drinking, socializing, flirting, and more. This party is also where everything starts crashing down for the characters.

During the party, we are introduced to Maddy, Nate, and Cassie. Maddy has to use the restroom, but the door is locked. “Why” you may ask. Well, it was because Nate and Cassie were making out and about to have sex in the bathroom. Maddy hears Nate’s voice and then tries to get into the bathroom because she desperately has to use the restroom, however, she cannot get in because she would catch Nate and Cassie in there together. Eventually, Nate walks out of the bathroom, but Cassie is not with him. Where is she? Hiding in the shower with the curtain closed to conceal herself from Maddy. What happened when Nate left the bathroom though? Well, he got into a physical fight where Fezco pummels him. He actually beat him so bad that he had to be hospitalized. Cassie makes it out of the bathroom without revealing herself to Maddie. However, this moment is what her character harps on the entire season. This party is also where we see Rue relapse into her drug addiction when Elliot gave her heroin. Audience members also see a glimmer of affection between Lexi and Fezco.

Then the season delves into Cassie’s life, following her journey with Nate and highlighting her obsession with him. It showcases her vigorous 4 a.m. routine which actually turned into a trend on TikTok and YouTube. This episode follows her efforts to get Nate to genuinely care about and notice her. The episode then finds Cassie, Nate, Maddy and others in the pool while they were all drinking alcohol. Maddy and Nate get into an argument where Maddy is calling out Nate for his lies and for what a horrible person he is. At one point, Maddy brings up her and Nate having babies, which causes a drunken Cassie to vomit in the pool. Ruining the party for everyone, and the thought of losing Nate, makes Cassie fall into a sad, desperate, drunken state, begging Nate to forgive her.

After Cassie it is Cal Jacobs, Nate Jacobs’ father’s, turn. Cal’s story was very self-explanatory for us, the viewers, to understand why he behaves the way he does. He discovered he was bisexual when he was younger, however, his father was extremely against the lifestyle. He had a secret boyfriend and lived his life in secret. As he grew up, he ignored his true feelings, got married and started a family. Cal was still living a secret life though. He started to create video clips of him having sex with partners of all genders, taking on the dominant role in the encounters. As this episode progressed, he got too drunk and went to the place where he and his “first love” met. He then proceeded to get kicked out of the bar and went home to confront his family where he accounts how they have made him feel and revealing all he was up to.

The season then progresses to one of the best episodes included. Zendaya’s episode. Zendaya, Rue, is finally confronted by her family and friends about her drug use. Her mother and sister, alongside her girlfriend, Jules, and Elliot are all at her house. This leads to another fight between Rue and her family which ends in them all driving to take Rue to rehab. At least… that was the plan. Once Rue realizes her family is taking her to rehab, she jumps out of the car and takes off, spending the entire episode trying not to get caught by the police, her family, or anyone else. In doing this, Rue wreaks havoc on everyone in her life. She tells Maddy about Cassie and Nate, Maddy’s ex-boyfriend. She bad-mouths her sponsor, Ali, and gets into drug dealing as well. The episode concludes with her running away from the person she’s selling for and returning home.

Now, the biggest moment in the season… the play. These two episodes are easily the most anticipated of the season. This is because Lexi alluded at an earlier point in the show that she was creating a play about all of the people in her life. The audience saw her in the background of a situation, and then went to go write about it in her script. The anticipation also was high because the audience knows everything that the characters are up to, however, the cast members only know it is a play, not the contents of it. So, when the play hits the stage, it is bound to cause some commotion.

The play, “Our life,” kicks off with the introduction of the “main characters”, afterward chaos ensues. Before we recap the play though, I want to talk about the budget they had for it. It looked like a million-dollar set on a high school stage; it was beautiful. Nonetheless, all the characters’ actions are outed to the audience: Cassie and Maddy’s drama, Rue’s trauma with her father, Lexie’s trauma with her father. It also takes a look at everything viewers of the show have but presents it through Lexie’s point of view. At one point there is a song that Ethan, playing Nate Jacobs in the play, performs. It is a sexualized version of “I Need a Hero” portraying Nate as a gay man. This upsets Nate who storms out of the play. This scene influences him to break up with Cassie. That is where all hell breaks loose, and the first episode of the play concludes.

Opening the second episode is Cassie. Thoroughly agitated, she confidently struts into the auditorium and disrupts the play, holding Lexi accountable for her behavior and showcasing her anger about her portrayal in the play. She then asks Lexi if her getting with Nate is included to which Lexi responds “no.” Maddy takes this as an opportunity to embarrass Cassie and the two have a heated verbal debate that turns physical. A scene of Cassie in the play starts commencing and, obviously, Cassie gets upset and tries to stop it. Maddy notices this and then runs on stage to stop Cassie from ruining anything else. Running on stage, as she takes off her heels with friends Kat and BB following her she grabs Cassie and slaps her. Then in a separate scene, the four are shown again with Maddy chasing Cassie with the intent to harm, followed by Kat with the intent to stop Maddy, and BB instigating the whole situation. BB was portraying how a majority of Euphoria fans felt during the series. Then, after that tipping point in the show, the play commences like normal, and that is when we get a look into Lexie and Rue’s lives. They have both been through terrible situations with the loss of their dads. Seeing a visual representation of this finally allows Rue to realize that she has been through a lot of pain and suffering throughout her life. It also serves as the moment she needed to finally accept her dad’s passing and reflect on her and Lexie’s friendship. In the closing moments of the episode, Rue and Lexie realize how much they mean to each other and become friends again, while Cassie reflects on her relationship with Nate with Maddy. Cassie is shown disheveled, signifying that Maddy won the fight, as we expected, and with that, she realizes it did not take much for Nate to break up with her to which Maddy responds, “it is only the beginning.” We also see Rue and Jules’s rocky relationship come to an end.

This season of Euphoria definitely was presented from a different viewpoint than the first season. This season was about redemption, growth, and realization for the characters. The first season was introductory, giving us background to the characters, letting us get glimpses into their pasts’, and more. This season took it one step further. Instead of glimpsing us in, it showed us everyone’s flaws and allowed us to understand them on a deeper level. Showing us how deep their pain, trauma, and other issues really go. It also allowed us to see a majority of them face their pain and trauma head-on: Rue with addiction and her father, Nate with his father, and more. This season definitely felt personal.

With the conclusion to Season Two of Euphoria, fans are already making presumptions about what is to happen next. What happened to the payment Rue owes her drug lord? Afterall, $100,000 is a large sum to ignore. What happened to Cal Jacobs after he was arrested when Nate showed the police the sex tapes? What is going to ensue with Rue and Jules’s friendship in the coming season? Probably the biggest plot point of them all is seeing what is going to happen between Maddy, Cassie, and Nate. Euphoria fans will find out with the release of the third season in 2024.