When it comes to Euphoria, every episode is either an artistic look at love and growth through the lens of teenagers living in California, or it’s an anxiety-inducing ride for the duration of the episode. Episode 5 of season 2, titled “Stand Still Like the Hummingbird,” was the second option.
From the first few moments of the episode on, we were thrust into Rue’s screaming match with her mother that resulted in her breaking down a door, running from her mother’s car, and fleeing from the cops through multiple backyards—all ending with a tense five minutes where no one was sure whether Rue would get out of Laurie’s apartment alive.
The episode started with Rue’s meltdown as her mother confronted her over her drug addiction. Since the beginning of season 1, Rue has been lying to her mother about her drug use, and despite telling everyone around her that she was just smoking some weed to help with her anxiety, Rue has really been using Laurie’s supply of drugs to keep her addiction going despite not having a plan to pay Laurie back.
But Rue’s breakdown ushered in truths about how she has been feeling, as well as the new feeling of betrayal over learning who told her mother about her addiction. Rue thinks Gia ratted her out—she thinks her sister told their mother and that it’s the reason she’s being attacked in her own home and why her mother and sister flushed all her drugs. In reality, it was Jules who told Rue’s mother, after Elliot told her the truth about his drug use with Rue.
And while it was heartbreaking watch Rue fight with everyone who loves her about her addiction, the anxiety only continued once Rue went back on her choice to go to the hospital with her mother.
Rue’s addiction
Throughout the first season and now well into season 2, we’ve been seeing how deep Rue’s addiction runs. It came to a head in episode 5, when she fled from her mother’s car and constantly told her that she was just a drug addict and wanted her addiction to kill her. While we all sat on the edge of our seats, we were also shown just how lost Rue is in her drug use. She was in pain and was willing to flee from cops, steal from friends and strangers, and ruin lives in order to be free again.
She outed Cassie’s relationship with Nate to all of their friends, including Maddy, so that she could run out the front door while everyone was distracted. She ran into someone’s home and stole whatever she could find to try to pay Laurie back to get more drugs, and Laurie, despite recognizing that Rue is an addict, gave her morphine and probably made matters so much worse for her.
All of us were filled with anxiety for Rue because we care about her as a character. It’s all Euphoria fans are talking about online. She’s on a destructive path, and despite having people care for her, who want her to be healthy and clean, she’s so engrossed in her own addiction that she can’t see a path out.
Episode 5 ended with Rue going home, and maybe that’s a good sign, but it also could backfire just as easily as everything did in this episode, and that anxious feeling we all had doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon.
(image: HBO)
