Euphoria
S.00, E.01 – “Trouble Don’t Last Always” (2020)
The great anomaly is officially here. One has to wonder what would Euphoria look like if Sam Levinson and crew immediately jumped into season two, free of any pandemic restrictions. A lot of things would be different by virtue of a show hitting its groove and just rolling with it. Odds are that there would be something early 2021 to kick things off and it would be more of the same, or at least in the sense that it would be a lot of confrontation and characters grappling with the fallout over season one. So much is at play here that one has to wonder what would be in store. And yet, as I’ve continued to harp on, I sincerely believe that the restrictions have brought out the best in the series in unexpected ways.
Compared to most shows, Euphoria didn’t really need to fill time doing specials. Most HBO programs have gotten into the habit of just lying dormant for several years on end. For Levinson, it clearly felt like a chance to dive into character studies as he created scripts that welcomed limited settings and minimal cast. It was a brilliant move, allowing him to film in a protocol-heavy time. There wouldn’t be a lot of action nor was there any need to bring in the major ensemble. It technically exists mostly as an interim, but along with the second special “Fuck Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob,” this is standalone; a character study that is mostly found somewhere in the abstract conversation.
It makes sense to start with Rue for many reasons. For starters, she’s often billed as the lead character, and her finale ended on a very dramatic note. She was relapsing, falling into a pile of bodies that could’ve symbolized death or just a giant hole of addiction and depression. So much was cryptic, save for the fact that she was using again, hurting her family in ways that she openly admits were irredeemable. What are the reasons to keep moving forward when she has burned the bridge once again for everyone around her, meanwhile blaming Jules for every single step of her relapse?
The episode does open with a new setting, a bit of a fantasy as she wakes up alongside Jules. It’s a new apartment and they’re clearly college bound at this point. It feels like they have life worked out. Then again, this could all just be a fantasy, something that they share a dream of doing but realize that they’d never be able to be perfect enough for it. In fact, Levinson ends the sequence (a preamble of sorts) with Rue beginning to imbibe drugs. It’s the idea that even if Rue was still with Jules, the chances of her falling back into bad habits were inevitable. It was never Jules’ fault, though she’s easier to blame mostly because of how emotionally attached they had grown by the end of the season, themselves working as some strange co-dependency.
Which makes the rest of the episode a revelation from the show’s standpoint. What the remaining 45ish minutes amount to is a conversation. Nothing all that special, just Rue and her sponsor Ali sitting around at Frank’s Restaurant hashing out their feelings. Ali has been able to see through deflective nonsense before, even in his cameo-level appearances. He has been a source of wisdom even when he’s been a completely flawed person. What he symbolizes in the grander scheme of Euphoria is the idea of hope. Sure, it will not be the perfect life where suddenly addiction and sadness go away. Ali has simply learned to live with it, having become Muslim while trying to do good in the world.
That includes talking Rue off of the ledge, which looks to have a foot already dangling off. It’s a long way down, but Ali knows how to negotiate. Credit to Colman Domingo, who delivers a powerful performance here, managing to deliver such brilliant monologues that include the identity politics-shattering speech about Nike Shoes as well as slowly breaking apart the belief that drugs make someone a bad person. While it’s true that the behavior influenced by drugs can be obscene, there is humanity underneath that is needing to escape, to become free of this trap. It’s a demon that he continues to struggle with, even 12 years on. He knows that any slip would mean starting over, and the chances of him getting to another 12 years would be unlikely. Sobriety may get easier as you go along, but this detail suggests that it’s an everyday struggle.
Domingo in general has been a rising actor in the underrated camp. This special coincided with the release of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020) where he had a significant supporting role. Along with Zola (2021) the following summer, he has been gaining traction as someone who can turn mundane monologues into breathtaking art. With Zendaya required to do little else than to stare, depressed with a monotone accent, he gets to steal the show for several scenes. It’s the greatest character build in the show’s history. The secondary character hasn’t had this much time to be explored, allowing the study of what it means to live as an addict, even post-sobriety. He is a beacon of hope, the evidence that, as the title suggests, trouble don’t last always.
But it feels so awful when you’re in the moment. For Rue, this is seemingly in the weeks after Jules left. It’s the moment of desperation that has spiraled from an earlier depression bout. Drugs feel euphoric now. The need to go back to bad coping habits feels necessary. After all, what could possibly make her feel as good as Jules did? The sense of rejection and need to just disappear is prevalent, where even the music on Rue’s iPhone alludes to how much she misses that romance. It’s a song of affection and trust, something that she feels has been personally broken due to Jules’ relationship with Anna. So much feels taken away, like nothing at all matters.
At the same time, it’s to Levinson’s credit that most of the seemingly inconsequential dialogue is building to a greater point. There are portions where it doesn’t feel like Ali and Rue are talking about significant plot. There are times where it’s about the basic ideas of feeling like life isn’t worth living, where an addict cannot be forgiven. Since Ali has a history, there is room for him to see past this, to have compassion, and recognize the potential for humanity. He is an optimist, capable of seeing past the artifice put up by companies like Nike and finding the “poetry” inside. He wants to find Rue’s spirit that thrives on jubilation. It doesn’t make an appearance in this episode, but he keeps digging anyway.
Which is the thing. There are points where the conversation is so candid that Rue cracks a smile, finding the conversation to be humorous. It’s never outright comedic, but Ali knows how to break down these small barriers, creating a deeper connection to her. It’s also a chance to see what addiction is like, allowing the darkness to be explored in a serious way. The show claims to be about these subjects, but it’s rarely as simple as just talking around a table and hoping for any breakthrough. Levinson is too obsessed with the style at times to allow human emotion to be the central driving force like he does here. Maybe that is why audiences generally consider these two specials to be the show at its best. In a lot of ways, it’s already more honest than anything that he’s done before and features way more sincerity.
This is like a rehab meeting, where those who have experienced it firsthand get to duke it out. It’s tragic to see Rue so defeated. While it’s true that she’s been that way since episode one, there is the hope that she would’ve grown by now. There had to be something beyond Jules that made life worth living. As she jokes about Billy Ocean having more of a significance in the world than her, she deflects any deeper thought about her actions until she is forced to. Without turning into high-stakes drama, Levinson allows the slow reveal to be cathartic, maybe even personal. Given that he’s seen himself as Rue in the past, it makes sense that he uses her as a vessel for any ideas on sobriety that he has.
Again, Ali is a flawed man with a rough history. Even then, Euphoria has given him a chance to at least express his desire for some small redemption. During an interlude, he is on the phone with various people, laughing away during the Christmas season. The moment fills him with laughter and joy, though even then there’s that sense of distance. He’s not there with his loved ones. He has to call and discover how the world has changed without him. He recognizes his actions and has a lot of regrets, realizing what it’s cost him. Levinson’s ability to reflect this without overtly stating anything shows his control of character, making the loneliness shine even brighter. Sobriety may make things more tolerable, but there’s still living with the past mistakes, the people who may believe you’ll never change.
It is true that Rue is no closer to being sober by the end of the episode. Even the final shot zooming in on her depressive state suggests that there’s going to be a lot to cope with. How will she live Post-Jules? Will she forgive her, realizing that Rue and Rue alone was responsible for her sobriety? Given how little other context clues there are, nothing can really be said or hinted at for season two, save maybe that her habits may be scapegoated on somebody else at some point. As she points out multiple times, she doesn’t think that she’ll be around for a long time. The idea that she maybe will die unceremoniously, perceived as unloved, is not unfathomable. Given how Levinson fails to provide happy endings (at least for long), it makes sense to worry.
On some level, this is one of those silly contrasts of “happy holidays” with “sad emotions.” It’s melancholic and is a perfect downbeat for a Christmas special. It’s not really about the holidays, save for maybe the feeling of being outcasted, unable to be home with family in a normal, festive way.
But what remains of this greater Euphoria world? Given that the Jules special airs a little over a month later, it’s amazing what Levinson has done with his downtime. Whereas every show existed in a question mark uncertainty, he used his wisely to create versions of the show that were adaptive and clever. What’s more impressive is how different these two are not only from the larger show but from each other. There’s little connective tissue outside of their analysis of each other’s attachment style. There’s even less to be said about the rest of the cast who will enter 2022 having not been seen in 2.5 years.
I can only hope that Levinson has taken a few lessons from this experiment and tried to make a version of the show that is more immersive and less driven by gimmicks. While the back half of season one found a satisfying middle ground, there is a reason that “Trouble Don’t Last Always” has been as acclaimed as it has. It’s going for something more integral to the series. It’s allowing them to speak for themselves, to address their problems in a way that is accessible while being entertaining. It’s also a chance to get Domingo more credit for his amazingly underrated work as an actor. If anything should allude to future episodes here, I hope it’s the amount of Ali we get. Despite being drawn as a dark and complex figure, I still think he’s the ultimate symbol of hope and potential in the series, and one who is necessary for Rue to hold onto at all costs. Let’s see how things go from here.
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