Fantasy has always been core to the storytelling on Euphoria. One of the hallmarks of the first two seasons was switching between the drudgery of high school and the expansive imagination of adolescence. Sometimes daydreams were influenced by drug and alcohol consumption, but it was always clear what was and wasn’t real. Sam Levinson’s HBO drama continues to embrace heightened scenarios, but up until “This Little Piggy,” everything depicted in the third season has occurred as it is. So when Cassie’s 50-foot woman stomps over a miniature version of Los Angeles, it offers a taste of Euphoria’s signature blend of reality and illusion. The heavy use of Western and crime genre tropes and scenarios this season adds a heightened element that stretches believability. Having a brief fantastical interlude is a reminder of a previous Euphoria signature in an episode where Rue wishes her nightmare wasn’t real. As the desperate pieces start to come together, Levinson falls into old habits in more ways than one.
The Cassie sequence itself is Euphoria in a nutshell: incredible production detail combined with purposefully provocative visuals. It is kitschy and fun before tipping into bombastic nudity courtesy of an OnlyFans user with a giant woman fetish. It is sequences like this that ensure the “Shock me, shock me, shock me with that deviant behavior” line from Empire Records plays in my head on a loop. That applied to Cassie’s nude photo shoot in the second episode, Nate losing a finger (and his toe again) this week, and myriad moments from the first two seasons (so many dicks in the locker room for one). That a fantasy scenario comes back into play is intriguing, and fits with Cassie’s OnlyFans narrative—even if Margo’s Got Money Troubles beat them to the B-movie giant woman punch (or, in Margo’s case, green alien). Having both air simultaneously shows that the Apple TV comedy continues to better serve the women at the center of the OnlyFans story.
What the internet stardom plotting does well is emphasize how little Cassie has changed since high school. She will still pick a guy over Maddy if he has what she desires. Previously, she wanted to be Nate’s girlfriend; now, she wants the world that influencer Brandon inhabits. But while Cassie hasn’t evolved in the last five years, Maddy is no longer a ball of fury ready to explode at the smallest slight, and this growth is welcome. Cassie expects the latter when she approaches Maddy to reveal that she is leaving her for Brandon’s TikTok house. The scene is shot as if Maddy is a crime boss, with Cassie reasoning that it isn’t personal. Maddy’s calm response deliberately destabilizes Cassie and viewers alike. Of course, Maddy is not out of moves, and her benevolence is a weapon in her arsenal—here, she dangles a scheduled audition that doesn’t exist in front of her frenemy/client. Still, Maddy’s powers of persuasion can only get her so far. She’s still cleaning up dog mess from her boss’s office carpet, after all.
The headline-grabbing aspects of the OnlyFans setup (that real OnlyFans creators are not thrilled about) focus on Cassie, but Maddy’s journey so far this season is more compelling. She is also the thread that connects to Rue’s ongoing precarious predicament. Earlier this season, I mentioned that Rue and Maddy had barely overlapped in the first two seasons—especially not one-on-one—so this friendship came across as a plot contrivance. Watching Alexa Demie and Zendaya’s ease with each other at the diner almost makes me forget that Rue and Maddy were not friends. But that contrivance rears its head when Alamo enters the conversation, and it becomes clear that Rue is a way to get Maddy into Alamo’s orbit.
Still, it is not out of character that Maddy sees Alamo in his cowboy swag and immediately wants to know more. She is not one to ignore a money-making opportunity, so she doesn’t take Rue’s attempt to give her an easy out. Instead, she sees it as a way to bridge physical and digital sex work promotion that will take her far from the degrading tasks at her current job. It also comes back to this idea of legitimate business, with Maddy offering Alamo’s Silver Slipper employees a chance to make more money online. It is no surprise that Maddy selects Kitty and Magick to work with (seeing as they are the featured Silver Slipper dancers), and maybe Maddy will be able to afford a place that isn’t in a basement soon. Most of the characters this season are driven to make as much money as possible, and at the moment, Maddy is securing a brighter future. I only wonder when it might all fall apart, and she loses the equanimity she tells Rue is the outcome of reaching a state of pure harmony.
The diner scene is also a reminder that religion is playing a significant role this season, no matter how scattered those references—from Rue’s leap of faith in the premiere to Nate using the Bible to argue for a construction permit last week. When Rue is buried up to her neck and staring down a horse-riding, polo mallet-wielding Alamo at the climax of “This Little Piggy,” she might be wondering where God is. And while it seems highly unlikely that this test of her loyalty (or act of retribution for her snitching) will end in Rue’s death, it’s still an alarming cliffhanger. There are potential clues to her fate in the song that plays over the credits, “The Master’s Call” by Marty Robinson, which tells the story of a man who cries out for God to save him. His call is answered—with a lightning bolt. Is Rue about to experience her second intervention by God?
The sequence also reminds us of the visceral charge Euphoria derives from practical filmmaking (see also: the model Cassie stomps through). Zendaya’s body really is encased in dirt at the end of the episode, and no matter the behind-the-scenes precautions or the hunch that Rue will survive, that instantly increases the tension.
Rue has gotten herself out of many scrapes in the past through a mix of good luck and sheer gumption. For this reason, it isn’t out of character for her to comply with this digging task even if it doesn’t come across as the smart option—though framing the savvy Magick is foolish. I cannot give the same overall grace to Nate, whose suburban dream continues to curdle, and he only has himself to blame. It is very “fool me twice, shame on me,” but with missing payments. Has Nate always been this stupid? In past seasons, he had teenage bravado and persuasive powers of violence and blackmail. But even factoring in his overinflated ego and methods, I still can’t buy that he wouldn’t take the experience of having his toe cut off and not make sure all of his payments are in on time. While he was waiting for Cassie to wire money, it didn’t stop him from pawning possessions for cash. Nate’s entire personality has been overhauled, and I struggle to believe his jealousy has entirely dissipated now that Cassie is “bringing home the bacon.” At the moment, Nate is in a sideshow where he’s losing body parts (can you reattach a toe twice?) and briefly dancing around his living room to Mel Torme’s “Comin’ Home Baby.”
Likewise, Jules and Lexi are underserved as they barely orbit Rue and Cassie. Lexi’s fury that her sister has stolen her thunder hits repeat on their dynamic from high school, as another reminder that Cassie hasn’t changed. Meanwhile, Jules sounds bitter and jealous when she asks Rue what she wants, commenting that it feels like high school. But if “This Little Piggy” really did feel like high school, then Hunter Schafer would get more screen time. Instead, she is left to linger in the apartment of her sugar daddy, fielding questions about why Rue’s boxer shorts are there. Given that the latter suggests Rue and Jules hooked up, then I am going to need some confirmation, and for this pairing to get more than five minutes together every other episode. First, Rue needs to escape her fraught circumstances (not to mention being a DEA informant), and with only three episodes remaining this season (maybe ever), the storylines are mostly coming together.
Stray observations
- • Cassie’s in-person audition for a minor role, such as “job applicant,” would likely take place over Zoom, but that nitpick aside, her choice of a Shakespeare monologue from Antony And Cleopatra is deliberately surprising and disquieting. Lexi is aghast, but Cassie’s feeling everything approach is working in her quest to break into Hollywood. Euphoria casting director Mary Vernieu appears in this scene to lend authenticity to the scenario.
- • There are some lines Cassie won’t cross, though: She will gladly mail out dirty underwear for $50 a pop, but refuses to fart into a jar for $700. Maddy has zero qualms about doing this task for her 15 percent commission.
- • If you are wondering where Cassie falls on letting men be men, her appearances on various podcasts make it clear that she is courting the manosphere. It is impossible to watch this montage and not read it as poking at the discourse surrounding Sydney Sweeney’s IRL public image.
- • Maddy immediately clocks that Magick’s neckbrace is part of an insurance scam, and these two are either gonna be a match made in heaven or want to kill each other.
- • Is Rue cursed? That is what Bishop theorizes, remarking that everything has been falling apart since she came onto the scene. What makes this observation more unnerving is that Bishop is quietly getting ready for a light bit of torture and murder by putting on a very Patrick Bateman protective suit as he shares this theory with Rue. Darrell Britt-Gibson continues to steal every scene he is in.
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