transcript
Speaker 1:
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Speaker 2:
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Speaker 3:
[01:13] Hello, welcome back to The Prestige TV Podcasts. I'm Joanna Robinson.
Speaker 4:
[01:16] I am Rob Mahoney.
Speaker 3:
[01:16] We're here to talk about Euphoria, season three, episode two, America, my dream. And I don't know if you know this, but created, written and directed, and executive produced by Sam Levinson.
Speaker 4:
[01:26] I had heard that, yeah.
Speaker 3:
[01:27] Yeah, yeah, okay. Anything you wanna say in the wider world of The Prestige TV Podcasts right now, Rob Mahoney?
Speaker 4:
[01:32] I think we're still mourning the pit. We're winding down, we're moving on, but excited to have Euphoria in our lives, excited to have beef in our lives. We should also know because we didn't last week, I think, Jo, if you're new to our coverage, if you're checking in for Euphoria, you should also check out our socials, Prestige TV Pod on Instagram and TikTok, et cetera. So come hang out and get some Euphoria-tinged content.
Speaker 3:
[01:53] Right, you can watch us on Spotify if you want.
Speaker 4:
[01:55] Of course.
Speaker 3:
[01:55] You can watch us on YouTube at Ringer TV. And if you didn't watch the pit finale episode, you might have missed something special.
Speaker 4:
[02:05] I would recommend it.
Speaker 3:
[02:06] Okay, great. Speaking of sort of how people can get in touch with us, et cetera, we usually do show specific emails when we're going to spend some time. We're going to spend some time here with Euphoria.
Speaker 4:
[02:15] Amen.
Speaker 3:
[02:16] So last week we had sort of poked around with some ideas, but not really landed on anything perfect. We got some listener suggestions, but I'm curious, Rob, have you come up with any Euphoria specific emails that you would like to float to me?
Speaker 4:
[02:29] I do have some. I was very sad to find that bitch you better be joking at gmail.com was already taken. So unless that was you, Jo, unless you jumped on that.
Speaker 3:
[02:38] It wasn't me.
Speaker 4:
[02:39] Very unfortunate. Never Been Happier at gmail.com also already taken. Those are off the board. I have one specific to the season, one larger Euphoria option. One, is this fucking play about us at gmail.com is available for the taking.
Speaker 3:
[02:53] Is this fucking play about us? Okay, longer than our usual ones, but that's okay.
Speaker 4:
[02:57] If we want to go season three specific, what do you feel about Only Florals at gmail.com?
Speaker 3:
[03:04] Okay.
Speaker 4:
[03:05] Again, we're doing a little word play with Cassie's storyline at this point. I also don't know how much only feigning we're going to do going forward, so maybe it's committing to the wrong thing.
Speaker 3:
[03:14] Here's my suggestion. Please. It is Rob Mahoney specific.
Speaker 4:
[03:19] Well, now I'm terrified.
Speaker 3:
[03:21] Maddy's Boy was taken.
Speaker 4:
[03:22] Okay.
Speaker 3:
[03:23] But Maddy's Number One Boy is available. Maddy'sNumberOneBoy at gmail.com.
Speaker 4:
[03:30] It feels presumptuous to say that I could be.
Speaker 3:
[03:34] I think you are, though.
Speaker 4:
[03:36] I'm flattered. I'm honored.
Speaker 3:
[03:37] Would you like to make that the winner?
Speaker 4:
[03:39] I think we should.
Speaker 3:
[03:40] And Maddy, for the record, is spelled with a Y. So it's M-A-D-D-Y-S, NumberOne, all spelled out, Boy at gmail.com.
Speaker 4:
[03:49] What a life I've chosen for myself.
Speaker 3:
[03:51] You did this to yourself. Great. All right. So that is how you can reach us with all of your Euphoria thoughts, questions, comments, concerns.
Speaker 4:
[03:56] If I am the Number One Maddy's Boy, does this mean I have supplanted both Nate and Cassie that she is my Maddy now?
Speaker 3:
[04:04] She's definitely your Maddy.
Speaker 4:
[04:06] Let's do it.
Speaker 3:
[04:07] She's definitely not Cassie and Nate's Maddy. I'll tell you what.
Speaker 4:
[04:09] Let's put that in pen.
Speaker 3:
[04:10] Okay. So PrestigeTV at spotify.com is how you can always reach us, but Maddy's Number One Boy at gmail.com is how you can reach us for the stretch of Euphoria we're going to do. We do have some listener emails that we'll talk about already in the mix here this week. But I wanted to open with this larger conversation. Obviously, Euphoria, huge viewership, by the way. I think it was either 22% or maybe even 44% from season two. Wow. But it's a huge leap from season two viewership into season three, and that just speaks to Sydney Sweeney, Sandeia, you know, like Jacob Elordi just being such undeniable stars. But we already knew that the critics didn't like it, and now we've had a chance to hear from OnlyFans, the fans of Euphoria, and they have a lot to say. I'm sure this isn't like a unanimous consensus, but if you go on YouTube, a great place to be, almost all of the videos about Euphoria from a sort of like fandom culture point of view are all hate watch videos. What the fuck is wrong with Euphoria? What's going on? I don't know if they're just like feeding into, that's the general sort of vibe and they want the clicks.
Speaker 4:
[05:22] It's also the internet.
Speaker 3:
[05:24] You know. But I just want to sort of look at what some of those critiques were outside of the TV critical critiques and see how we thought of it. So one question I had for you is, one criticism I saw, a widespread criticism was, these don't even feel like the same characters to me anymore. So two things I want to talk about. Number one, it's been a five year time jump. So do we want these characters to feel the same as they did five years ago? And then number two, do you agree? Do these characters feel like the same characters or at least conceivably connected to the characters that you knew in season one and season two?
Speaker 4:
[06:01] I think most of them do, at least for me. I'd say the biggest exception is Nate. I don't know who that person is. I'm not familiar with him or his work.
Speaker 3:
[06:09] I really agree. Do you think he had a traumatic head injury in the last five years?
Speaker 4:
[06:13] It's really the most compelling explanation and maybe when we get what Nate been doing during the time jump episode, we'll find out.
Speaker 3:
[06:19] He was a football player, right?
Speaker 4:
[06:20] He was. He was a quarterback. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The CTE is really rampant.
Speaker 3:
[06:25] That's my best guess here.
Speaker 4:
[06:25] But other than that, like Rue, I don't want everyone to be in the exact same place. I want to see some indication of they've been through some things, they've grown in certain ways or maybe have resisted growth in certain ways. Rue, that feels truthful to me. Jules, we see in this episode for the first time this season, feels so much more confident in herself than when we last saw her.
Speaker 3:
[06:43] We really just get a taste of it, you know? I think it's too early to tell, but that Jules looks identifiable to me.
Speaker 4:
[06:50] Maddy tracks, Lexi tracks. Cassie, I think, kind of unfortunately sort of tracks just because that was a bit of a hollow character in season two and remains a hollow character, although in ways that the show is at least attempting to engage with. But yeah, Nate, I genuinely don't know what they're doing there.
Speaker 3:
[07:06] I fully agree. Nate feels like a completely different person in a way that I'm just curious if... Is it possible in his, like, I need Bottega Veneta to be involved in this show? He negotiated, can I play less of a sociopath this season or something like that? It would be great for my mental health. I don't know. I don't know what the conditions were for all of these actors to come back to the show, given all the behind the scenes drama and all of the star wattage. Something we missed last week is, like, in calling out Nate's, Jacob Elordi's Bottega Veneta leather flannel shirt and all that sort of stuff like that, we missed, of course, that Sydney Sweeney has a whole lingerie line. So the siren corsets that she was wearing.
Speaker 4:
[07:44] Dog corsets included.
Speaker 3:
[07:45] Exactly. So those two are heavy on their product placement promotion. I don't know if anyone else in the cast is vlogging anything. Maddy's number one boy at gmail.com if you have some insight into that. I don't think Zendaya has a line that she's pushing, but we'll see.
Speaker 4:
[08:03] I think maybe some of the, like, super high heels that she and Angel are hurling at each other. They must be from somebody's line.
Speaker 3:
[08:09] I love that. I love that. And then a bigger question, I guess, is, like, what are we looking for from Euphoria? Are we looking to Euphoria for profound thematic depth in its writing? Or are we looking for incredible visuals and great performances? So for me, like, you know, once again, here in season three, they've got bespoke film stock from Kodak, you know, they're, you know, giving us the they're inspired by Sergio Leone and they're giving us, like, wide open, you know, desert landscapes and blue sky and all this sort of stuff like that. We've got Zendaya here full throttle, just like incredibly great, charming. And then in the sort of Rue relapse flashback, another one of those like heart wrenching Rue calling her mom moments, watching Hunter Schafer do what Hunter Schafer does so well. That's what I'm really here for. And so for people to say Euphoria doesn't have enough on its mind this season, I was like, I actually don't think Euphoria ever had that much on its mind. I think Sam Levinson thinks it does, but I'm not sure that I fully agree. We got a good email about this that I do want to talk about, but I'm just curious for you, like I know you just sort of did a speed run through Euphoria. But what is it about the show that really hit for you in that two season run that you did, and is it hitting for you in these first two episodes?
Speaker 4:
[09:33] I think I'm in a similar place to where you are, Jo, which is the visuals, the style, the character beats, and like the emotional truths of those characters are interesting to me. But as far as a show with like a lot to say in a big grandiose sort of like, let me speak to multiple generations kind of way, clumsy at absolute best. And this season, I'm eager to see if they can wrangle any of that any better. These first two episodes, I mean, there are a lot of kind of ties that you can feel being strung through the season. The biggest one just being like the commodification of the human body, right? It's like everything we see, drug mules, OnlyFans, strippers, toe sucking influencers, like even making a maybe sometimes exploitative TV show about your own personal kinks, you know, perhaps a kind of commodification of the human body.
Speaker 3:
[10:19] Is it too late for toe sucking influencers at tmobile.com, do you think?
Speaker 4:
[10:23] It's really not. If you want to pivot, I suspect it's already taken.
Speaker 3:
[10:27] I bet it is. Our listener Alana wrote in with this, I thought a very interesting point of view. Alana wrote, I would love to hear your takes comparing Sam Levinson and Taylor Sheridan. For years, I thought that they are sort of cut from the same cloth and the cloth is wrapped tightly around simmering generational anxieties and traumas, masquerading as poignant cultural commentary. Now, Sam Levinson has even jumped over to the neo-Western genre and the overlaps are even more prominent. Hello, William Tell scene. People call Yellowstone a Western soap opera or Middle America sopranos obsessed with property and legacy, and Euphoria has been a teen soap or a California sopranos obsessed with identity and belonging. Now, what will season 3 be? A Western sopranos obsessed with identity and legacy? One thing I want to say really quickly to Alana and anyone else, I had a revelation this last week when I saw that Ed Harris was going to be involved in one of the Taylor's Sheridan, Dutton Ranch or whatever. I was like, I got Ed Harris and that's how I felt about Michelle Pfeiffer. That's how I felt about Ellen Beard and that's how I felt about Harrison Ford. I was like, is this how people felt for years about the MCU? They're like, my favorite actors in the MCU. I'm like, the Sheridanverse got them, but you can't be mad at them for getting the money. But I was just like, I had new appreciation for the MCU haters in my Sheridanverse hatred. Here's what I think. Euphoria was originally in an Israeli TV show that Sam Levinson took, barely used. It was just sort of like teens, are they okay?
Speaker 4:
[11:53] Very loosely adapted.
Speaker 3:
[11:55] And then in To Rue poured his own experience with addiction and as a teenage fuck up and all of this sort of stuff like that.
Speaker 4:
[12:03] And to his credit, we use him as, I would say, something of a punching bag on the show fairly often, but very effectively. You feel how personal Rue's story is in particular within Euphoria.
Speaker 3:
[12:13] It just feels incredibly true and incredibly unafraid to show the ugly sides of who Sam Levinson is. And so when you hear all this behind the scenes drama about Sam Levinson and his relationship with the cast or his various collaborators over the years, you're like, yeah, he's essentially Rue. He's a fucking mess. I'm not surprised that any endeavor that this person, if Rue is a true reflection of him, would have all of this mess associated with it. So in his depiction of Rue and his unvarnished look at what it means to be not a terrible person, but a person who has a lot of problems that you make other people's problems, that's a way in which Euphoria has something very special about it. Now, the question of Rue's sobriety in this season, even inside this episode, we get conflicting ideas where she talks about the relapse, which is basically a way to knit one of the most specials that I'm not sure you've still even watched, but that was sort of a jump forward in time of Rue visiting Jules. And art school was one of those specials. So I think they were just kind of trying to tie that into the continuity, where Rue being like, a couple years ago, I did this, and then I relapsed. But in that relapse voiceover, she says, and I haven't been sober since. And then to Jules inside of this episode, she says, I'm California sober, right? And I'm drinking, and I'm smoking lean.
Speaker 4:
[13:35] She's never been able to be honest with Jules.
Speaker 3:
[13:36] But like, when Angel's like, I've got leftover party favors, like Rue gives one of those like, well, hey, looks, you know?
Speaker 4:
[13:43] So does literally anyone on the planet right now give a wry smile, like Zendaya gives a wry smile?
Speaker 3:
[13:49] When she's about to do illicit drugs, I don't know. But so like, is Rue, that's the thing is like, if that's what was so special, this examination of addiction and the havoc it can wreak on you, but Rue this season doesn't feel like even if she is like still doing hard stuff, it doesn't seem like that is what is derailing her from, I don't know, doing her job at the strip club or anything like that. So kind of meandered all over the place, but I'm curious if you have any reactions to what I just said.
Speaker 4:
[14:18] Yeah, I think framing some of this season as Rue's ability to resist some of these, the temptations of those cycles, right? And she talks about this with Jules as far as like working at a strip club, I'm around all of this stuff all the time. Part of my job is like kind of keeping it at arm's length to the degree that she can. I think she's trying to do that. I do think juxtaposing where Rue is in her not really sobriety, not really clean living with everything that's going on with Angel in this episode, not only the way she spins out, but the rehab facility she ultimately delivers her to, which is just like shady as all fuck.
Speaker 3:
[14:52] Is she dead?
Speaker 4:
[14:54] I think we need to dig into it. But ultimately, what this episode does, I think, very well, is show us the ways that all of Rue's support systems that she's used to relying on when things do go bad, going back to her mom, checking into rehab when things get really, really terrible, even just like having Jules as a sometimes constant, who she can lean on in her life. Everything feels up for grabs right now. Ali is still there and we know he's been established this season, but other than that, she's having to redefine what her support looks like as an adult.
Speaker 3:
[15:23] I love that. When you hear Sam Levinson talk about it this season, that is sort of his ideas. We went from the methamphetamine high of high school to this sort of vast. He's trying to shoot the characters in larger frames so they look smaller and they are just smaller. We talked about inside of this episode, small fish, bigger ponds, that they are just thrust into this wider world and where is my place in this wider world. The problem that that presents for Euphoria is part of the juice of the first two seasons. We talked about this in the previous episode is the illicit nature of all of the sex and drugs, but they're teens, they're underage. It's high school. There is this thematic cover to that of when people clutch their pearls about Euphoria, there was this response one could give which was like, don't be so naive. You think the teens aren't doing this? They're doing this. This is an unalloyed look at the realities of American teendom right now, et cetera, et cetera. You don't have that cover when you're just showing us early 20s doing 20 something is doing sex work. So I think it like when people are, and this is a hilarious reaction to the season of Euphoria that I saw on the internet this week was just sort of like, all this gratuitous nudity. And I was like, did you not watch season two of Euphoria? Or like any of Euphoria? It's always been this way. This is not new. I do feel, and I told you this when I watched this episode, I do feel grimy watching this show.
Speaker 4:
[16:52] You're supposed to feel grimy.
Speaker 3:
[16:54] And there are parts of it that I feel like help the story. And there are parts of it where I'm like, Sam, what are we doing? You know, and so, but I feel like that's always been the devil's bargain that you make when you watch Euphoria. So I'm surprised by people feeling like it's new. And I can only believe that they are feeling like it's something new, because all of a sudden we take away that sort of thrill of teenage done, and then they're 20-somethings, and you're like, oh, you're just showing me, you know, Sydney Sweeney wearing only an LA Dodgers cap and a carefully placed catcher's mittens, you know, et cetera.
Speaker 4:
[17:28] This episode did seem keenly aware of Euphoria's reputation and where it sits in the public consciousness and discourse. We just get so many specific lines that are referencing, like, it's not gonna be the way it used to be from Jules. You can't just, like, fall into these old habits and pretend, like, yeah, although talk about missing high school. I think even just the idea of, like, where is the line? And so many characters are dealing with this in their own ways between, like, good taste and bad. What is exploitative and what is not? What is, like, you know, every girl I meet is a sugar baby, but I'm not because I'm not a whore. You know, it's like that's happening constantly throughout this episode in a way that feels obviously subtextual about what Euphoria is and our willingness to engage with it. I guess what I'm saying is, like, is this fucking play about us? Is this show, like, turning its lens to us and us watching all this stuff?
Speaker 3:
[18:14] Well, and I think, you know, we were talking with some folks here in the office about sort of what about Euphoria was and wasn't working for us. And we agreed pretty unanimously that, like, the Cassie and Nate stuff, we just, like, don't really care that much. No. And but I'm always interested when I go back to what Ru is doing and, you know, we get some Maddy stuff in this episode, we get a hint of Jules in this episode, you know, and we don't get any Lexi in this episode, but I am interested in Lexi's storyline, you know. But the Cassie and Nate stuff is so interesting to me because it really feels like when you're saying, is this fucking play about us, it really feels like this episode is like, Sydney Sweeney, what a piece of work. Like, right? Like, isn't that like the description of Cassie as being desperate for attention and all this, like, it feels like, like, I cannot believe Sydney Sweeney allowed herself to be part of this. That really feels like it's calling out her particular brand of sexuality, the way she's presented herself in her career thus far. The fact that the show is both kind of obsessed with Cassie and Nate or Sydney Sweeney, but also has this contempt for them. It's an interesting combination to me. What do you think?
Speaker 4:
[19:25] I think it's part of kind of the bile that makes this show go. Like, there is a dark heart in Euphoria. It's not all like... Like, Jules and Rue cannot be happy together all the time. Like, it's just not in the DNA of the show to allow it. No. And in the same way, it's like people are constantly pulling each other apart. Even the characters we love, you just get such harsh looks at them at their worst possible moments socially, chemically, whatever it may be. And so, I actually think, like, Sydney Sweeney deserves a lot of credit for her humility in this role, because I'm with you. It's like, it's not only exposing in ways that are very different from the way she exposes herself in other contexts, but just like emotionally and playing with that reputation. And specifically the idea that she is, like, so vapid. I mean, it says Cassie. Cassie as a character is so vapid, she's willing to be a blank slate for basically anybody. And just like wants somebody, whether it's Nate or Maddy or anyone else, to tell her what to do. And projecting that onto Sydney Sweeney specifically is a very interesting thing to do and a very interesting thing for an actor to allow.
Speaker 3:
[20:31] I think that's interesting that you're like, I give her credit for that. And I'm just like, I can't believe it. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 4:
[20:36] I kind of, a star of-
Speaker 3:
[20:38] You admire it? I like, I'm just like, girl. Okay, this might-
Speaker 4:
[20:41] But like, who else would do that? A star of her magnitude, who would play this kind of role?
Speaker 3:
[20:46] But I just don't think that's smart to do. I think what's interesting is watching the behind the scenes that they did for episode one and watching who consent, because famously the big stars around the show are not doing press for this show, which is a very wild thing to have negotiate into their contract that they don't, that Zendaya does not have to, she showed up to the red carpet briefly and then was like, bye, that's it. Jacob Elordi is not giving interviews about this. And so on the talking heads section of the behind the scenes of episode one, it's Maude Apatow and Sydney Sweeney and that's it. And I was just like, and Maude Apatow is like with love and respect, not on the same caliber as Sydney Sweeney, Zendaya and Jacob Elordi in her career right now. So I could kind of understand that, and like they got Sharon Stone to talk about it. They got like whatever, but I was like, Sydney Sweeney missed whatever contract negotiation Jacob Elordi and Zendaya did. And she's just like showing up and talking earnestly about what Cassie is going through on Euphoria this season. I was just like, wow, okay. There's also, you know, you talked about the commodification of the human body. And one critique I saw, which is a very fair critique, is that with the exception of Lexi, every single woman inside of this season is in sex work in some way, you know. Whether it's like Maddy sort of managing this sort of only fans' talent or room, you know, working security or whatever her job is at cleaning toilets.
Speaker 4:
[22:10] She's kind of a fixer at this point.
Speaker 3:
[22:11] Whatever she needs to do at the strip club, or, you know, Jules being a sugar baby, or what Cassie is pursuing, or the strippers that we meet inside of this episode. But I was thinking about it, I was like, okay, so all the women are doing this, and like, what are the men doing? And then I was thinking about the male characters on Euphoria, and how, you know, Ethan's gone, McKay's gone, you know.
Speaker 4:
[22:34] There aren't that many left.
Speaker 3:
[22:35] Like, is it just Nate at this point?
Speaker 4:
[22:38] Or Alamo, and some of the new introductions.
Speaker 3:
[22:40] Right, so it's like, so Ethan's gone, McKay's gone. Elliot, I think, is going to be at somehow in this season, but not much, I think. Fez, unfortunately, has passed away. Ashtray was written off, frankly, I think, because he was growing too fast inside of the show. And then, you know, Ali and Cal are very minimally, I think, being used this season. And then, yeah, we get Dylan Reed, you know, television star Dylan Reed. Very low maintenance. And the whole Alamo crew are, like, new additions. But, like, you know, we lost Kat. But we've shed most of the male characters. And Alamo and Dylan Reed are not in that we're new young adults in the world mode that Nate is. So it's just Nate, my least favorite character, carrying the load of that for the show. I think that's kind of interesting.
Speaker 4:
[23:33] But he's in debt and he's, you know, he's really fighting the good fight against California regulators.
Speaker 3:
[23:37] Is he?
Speaker 4:
[23:38] He's really sticking up for somebody. I don't know who it is.
Speaker 3:
[23:40] Can I tell you something about Los Angeles zoning?
Speaker 4:
[23:44] I would love to hear it.
Speaker 3:
[23:45] And building laws. So I belong to like a gym that's a chain and it was really close to my home back home in Northern California. But like down here, it's like 40 minutes. The closest location is like 40 minutes from here or my house. Like, you know, there's several of them. Then I saw they were opening a new one like seven minutes from my house. I was like, should I quit this gym and join another one? There's a million in LA. Or should I stay with this chain that I like? They're opening a new one seven minutes from me. So I called them and I was like, you say opening soon, what does that mean? And she literally started talking about the like zoning and regulation. And I was like, got it. Okay. She's like 10 weeks minimum. I was like, okay, but probably longer if this is a documentary that we're watching here.
Speaker 4:
[24:30] I do think it's a totally fair point about the way the female characters in the show are represented and specifically the jobs that they have. I also think the show is yet again kind of pointing the camera at us and saying, how you define which of those things are sex work is a kind of a personal reflection. It's like, I think some people might look at a sugar baby type arrangement as sex work and some people might not. Some people might look at like, I think the very delicate line that this episode gets into, and really Maddy is navigating with her two jobs between, why is like an established star allowed to do a revealing photo shoot? But an influencer who wants to be a star, it's like, this is beyond the pale, right? They go to fight, it's like the tasteful flowers for you versus the tasteful flowers for like, if Nicole Kidman wanted to do this photo shoot, would be received totally differently.
Speaker 3:
[25:15] And she should.
Speaker 4:
[25:16] And she honestly should. And so, I mean, to pair it from Maddy's boss, like the called me old fashioned, but if you're sucking toes and spreading your beaver, that's porn. I mean, Potter Stewart, you've been replaced, we have a new threshold. But also, I think that's kind of the point, is that we're showing people in various kinds of sex and sex adjacent work and forcing you to make judgments on how you feel about them.
Speaker 3:
[25:38] How did you feel about the way that Maddy's storyline unfolded in this episode, as Maddy's number one boy?
Speaker 4:
[25:43] I mean, Jo, there are so many things that disappoint you in life, and Maddy is not one of them. So, I would have loved, I was frankly a little shocked by how little Jules we got in this episode. I was kind of just expecting, given the way episode one rolled out, that this would be more Jules heavy, but if you're going to trade off with literally anything, I would prefer it to be Maddy, and I really enjoyed her stuff this week.
Speaker 3:
[26:05] I think because we're not getting, we've done this sort of flashback to their childhood, intros in season one and season two, all these characters. So, I think without that, it's sort of like, what have they been up to?
Speaker 4:
[26:15] It's a really smart way to adapt that.
Speaker 3:
[26:17] And so, the first episode, we get Rue, and we get Lexi, and we get Cassie and Nate, to a certain degree. I don't really know how they got to their house in the suburbs, but okay. And then this is Maddy's episode. And then, I have to imagine we're going to get a yada yada yada Jules.
Speaker 4:
[26:33] Without a doubt.
Speaker 3:
[26:34] I can only hope that's episode three or something like that.
Speaker 4:
[26:36] But they knew how to hook me, and it was more Maddy out of the gate. Frankly, is there anything better on TV than Maddy pantomiming Cassie's whole deal?
Speaker 3:
[26:45] You want to do it right now?
Speaker 4:
[26:46] I don't because I don't want the clip out there.
Speaker 3:
[26:49] Are you sure?
Speaker 4:
[26:51] But I was bawling in a very different way than Cassie is often bawling.
Speaker 3:
[26:55] I thought it was so funny. Rue's reaction where she was like, yeah, the crying, okay, you can do that part.
Speaker 4:
[27:02] We'll stick with the crying.
Speaker 3:
[27:03] Yeah. Rue's reaction when she's dinging round two, and it was very funny.
Speaker 4:
[27:09] But honestly, that's the way you revive my interest in the Cassie stuff, is put her with people like Maddy and not people like me.
Speaker 3:
[27:15] I was wondering if you can have the opposite reaction as the number one Maddy's boy. I thought you were going to be like, oh no, they've looped her into the Cassie storyline. God damn it.
Speaker 4:
[27:24] But she gets to go in and be extremely right. She gets to roll into the pool with the furs. Hold on one second, I'm still on the phone.
Speaker 3:
[27:30] She looks incredible.
Speaker 4:
[27:31] She has wisdom, she has grace, she's got it all going on.
Speaker 3:
[27:33] I have questions. Here's my one question. We get the product placement Mercedes-Benz hood ornament as Cassie arrives. She drives down the PCH, the Hans Zimmer score is scoring. She arrives right into camera, the Mercedes-Benz logo cut across the street. Maddy in her own Mercedes-Benz. I was very curious about that because Maddy's living in like, she's got this funky place that she's living in. She's got a ton of clothes that she's amassed, probably through PR machinations, honestly. She's got a ton of clothing, but she's helping her mom with the rent. The whole storyline is Maddy is broke as a joke, but somehow trying to project success. The Mercedes kind of confused me.
Speaker 4:
[28:19] But it's not the class or niceness of Mercedes that Cassie's is, no?
Speaker 3:
[28:25] No, no, it's an older Mercedes.
Speaker 4:
[28:26] It's definitely older, and maybe that's kind of the play, right? It's like a Mercedes in name, but is it really?
Speaker 3:
[28:32] I like to believe it's Mika Kelly gave her that Mercedes.
Speaker 4:
[28:35] I would also like to believe it.
Speaker 3:
[28:37] Her entrance into the Paradise Club, I think, as Sam Levinson and his DPs are talking about, this sort of spaghetti westerns are inspired by, but also just this sort of like LA noir, Chinatown, 70s sort of thing, like her dreamy entrance into, and Cassie being like, I am outclassed in every way. Cassie already looked like she stuck out as des classe A inside of this country club, but when Maddy comes in just looking like a good Jillian Bucks, it was an incredible moment, I thought.
Speaker 4:
[29:09] Especially like the, you need promotion, you need to know the right people, you need taste. It's like all of the shots.
Speaker 3:
[29:15] I have that.
Speaker 4:
[29:17] So she says, so she insists. I do think too, I mean, to kind of rewind before we even get to the Cassie stuff, as far as like what Maddy has been up to.
Speaker 3:
[29:25] Sure.
Speaker 4:
[29:26] Euphoria's treatment of the pandemic felt like a very euphoria moment to me, as far as like, there's just a cohort of younger people, but really all people who just like were deeply unserious about any of this like global health crisis stuff fly out there. And it's like Euphoria not only portrays that in a really honest way, but doesn't make any apologies about it. And that felt like the closest we've come so far to the kind of like underage sex, drugs and rock and roll appeal of the first two seasons, not in the like the allure, but just like, this is a real thing and we're just going to show it in unsparing terms.
Speaker 3:
[29:58] Yeah, people didn't give a shit. And like what I love is that Maddy's boss, played by the great Rebecca Pigeon, is giving that line of like people are like something serious is going on, but you can tell that she doesn't give a shit actually. Dylan Reed with the mask like off his face, what's the point of wearing the mask if you're going to wear it like that?
Speaker 4:
[30:17] Mask off your face, fucking family guy hat. Just really the shorthand is very good on this show.
Speaker 5:
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Speaker 1:
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Speaker 6:
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Speaker 3:
[32:52] Deciding to tell a Hollywood story is this fucking play about us kind of story with Sharon Stone as a showrunner and Lexi working as a PA and all that sort of stuff like that. To give us the world of publicity, what Maddy is representing is like an underexplored aspect. But I'm friends with a lot of publicists and it was just kind of a joy to me to watch her. We got a little bit of it in episode one, but to watch her work her shit inside of this episode was really satisfying.
Speaker 4:
[33:21] I could just watch the taking swipes at Cassie for hours.
Speaker 3:
[33:24] I really agree.
Speaker 4:
[33:25] If that was a whole spinoff show, I'd be tuned in for every episode.
Speaker 3:
[33:28] And Nate making it about him was pretty phenomenal.
Speaker 4:
[33:31] Well, to spin off into the Nate and Cassie stuff for a second.
Speaker 3:
[33:34] We have to.
Speaker 4:
[33:35] We'll touch on it very briefly, I promise. How much of this do you felt like to give maybe Cassie a modicum of credit?
Speaker 3:
[33:42] Sure.
Speaker 4:
[33:43] How much was she actually interested in having an OnlyFans and being internet famous? And how much of it was, I'm going to put this thing at the table so that Nate insists I take it off and trade for the flowers?
Speaker 3:
[33:53] Um, that's interesting.
Speaker 4:
[33:56] Or did you feel like there was a point at which it tilted from one to the other?
Speaker 3:
[33:59] Well, I just am not convinced she's done with it.
Speaker 4:
[34:00] I'm not either, but who knows?
Speaker 3:
[34:02] I think she wants attention. There was this whole, the season two idea of the explanation for all the shit for Cassie season two is this idea of like, if we're telling a story about addiction, she's addicted to love and however you wanted to find love. But like in this case, kind of just attention and the attention that comes from. And I will say in season one, the glimpse we get of Cassie as a young girl turning into a young woman and all the men around her who were so creepy when she still had like braces on her face and stuff like that. So like this messaging that she's been fed her whole life that, and that even her mom tells her of like, you're a beautiful girl. This is what you have to offer the world. This is what she's always been told she has to offer the world. Unfortunately, I have not seen much else inside of Cassie to give a counter-argument. No, Cassie, pursue this because there's like not much there, there, unfortunately. I think there was in season one, but season two on, there's just like not much there, there, unfortunately. And so with her like, you know, and I say this with like, I don't say it to demean it, but like daddy issues, abandonment issues, all this sort of stuff like that. I think they, the addictive nature of the attention economy that is online, you know, whether it's only fans or just being on any kind of social media as a creator, I think that's irresistible to Cassie.
Speaker 4:
[35:24] I still don't particularly enjoy her scenes as of yet, but I do think just the idea of turning the vacant nature of that character into a feature, not a bug. Like again, making it what the character is about, versus just like clearly underwritten in season two, or like very shallow in season two, not by design. I'm intrigued by that, and specifically the idea that she has like, that Maddy clocks immediately of like, oh, she has kept on with this relationship to justify this betrayal.
Speaker 3:
[35:54] But this is what I'm talking about. It's like Maddy's there to take swipes at Cassie, the Rue voiceover, like this dumb bitch, right, is there to take swipes at her. The neighbor couple who are like, they're in the kitchen with them at the end of the party are just sharing looks and eye rolling and just sort of like, should we go home?
Speaker 4:
[36:13] I want to say this, Jo. You know, we live in a non-kink shaming time.
Speaker 3:
[36:17] I agree.
Speaker 4:
[36:18] I'm glad we can all come around the idea that baby stuff is weird. Like, there are some lines, they do exist.
Speaker 3:
[36:25] Maddy's number one boy at gmail.com, if you would like to push back on Rob, who's come out calling certain furries basic and is now kink shaming baby people. Is there a name for that? Baby people feels weird to say.
Speaker 4:
[36:37] It's a little weird, you know? Baby play. I don't know what it is, but I don't like it and I'm glad that we're drawing a line somewhere.
Speaker 3:
[36:44] Cal is in this episode. Nate is in hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt to a shady character. He has that we meet in this episode, doesn't seem great. Anything else you want to say about this?
Speaker 4:
[36:56] I think Cal's appearance in this episode and the way he appears, to me is the most confounding thing about Nate. I just don't believe for a second that Nate, even all these years later, is like, yeah, come over, Pop, I'm making some burgers and you can sit at my kitchen table and we're going to have a nice chat. What? He hates this man.
Speaker 3:
[37:17] It's a great question.
Speaker 4:
[37:19] He turned him into the police.
Speaker 3:
[37:20] He sure did. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Here's my favorite part about the entire Cassie and Nate mess of this episode. The sequence where Joanna, who gets to title this episode, America, comma, my dream.
Speaker 4:
[37:35] Also, what a fucking pro.
Speaker 3:
[37:37] When she's like, should we keep the cheese? Should we keep the patties? Should we keep the buns?
Speaker 4:
[37:42] Throw the pigs in the blanket.
Speaker 3:
[37:46] Was genuinely, I think, one of the funniest things that happened in this episode.
Speaker 4:
[37:49] That is the closest, I think, we got to seeing the real Nate. The Nate that we know is-
Speaker 3:
[37:52] He's like, I'm going to kill you.
Speaker 4:
[37:53] I'm going to kill you.
Speaker 3:
[37:54] And I'm like, he will.
Speaker 4:
[37:55] He honestly would. Also interesting that the baby play was beyond the pale, but Cassie full topless photo shoot with ice cream in the front yard?
Speaker 3:
[38:04] In the front yard where anyone can see.
Speaker 4:
[38:06] Front yard. I guess nobody noticed or nobody cared.
Speaker 3:
[38:10] Or they enjoyed it. Okay, let's move on to a plotlet I liked much more. I will say the rise and precipitous fall of Angel played by Priscilla Delgado. She got less than one episode so far. We don't know, you know. I really don't think she's okay. I don't think she's making an out of Hope Springs rehab. That feels like a place you put people to disappear them, especially when she's talking about people disappearing in California, this magnet under the dirt, all this sort of stuff like that.
Speaker 4:
[38:38] Once Ru promises, I'll be back to pick you up.
Speaker 3:
[38:40] I promise. It'll be fine.
Speaker 4:
[38:42] We're done.
Speaker 3:
[38:42] We're. But Priscilla Delgado, the actress who's playing Angel, I thought she was fantastic.
Speaker 4:
[38:48] Really great.
Speaker 3:
[38:49] I thought this whole thing was really good.
Speaker 4:
[38:51] I mean, she's a hellcat.
Speaker 3:
[38:53] The way she snaps her gum.
Speaker 4:
[38:54] She can throw a fucking shoe.
Speaker 3:
[38:55] Yeah. I thought she was great. And her breakdown when she finds out what happens to Tish, and then just her completely dissolving.
Speaker 4:
[39:07] Yes.
Speaker 3:
[39:08] You know, she still looked like a million bucks, but her hair was a little messy. And so she is just falling apart. But you know. That's the way it goes.
Speaker 4:
[39:15] I'm sorry to say.
Speaker 3:
[39:15] She's wearing basketball shorts. Oh no. But I just thought this was really, really good. I really liked it.
Speaker 4:
[39:22] And I think the framing is really smart of she's kind of the girl who's catching Rue's eye. And so then she catches our eye. We're following her in every scene to see what's going on with her and Rue. And then we're seeing the way that her friend disappearing is taking a toll on her, her sobbing and trying to make these calls, like trying to get in touch with this person who's disappeared from her life. And for as often as I would presume that kind of happens in this line of work or those adjacent to it, like this is uncharacteristic and this is scary. And you just fall into her corner so quickly.
Speaker 3:
[39:50] He's trying lines, he's like, baby play no, also this uncharacteristic.
Speaker 4:
[39:55] I'm clearly very familiar with how to run a strip club.
Speaker 3:
[39:57] Well, I think, you know, we're watching Rue, you know, she's like, I know a lot of people who have died from fentanyl, but this is the first time I've had to like help disappear a body. Watching her like clear the hair out of the drain, like let's eliminate every trace of this woman.
Speaker 4:
[40:10] And Chekhov's like earring or whatever that tumbles out of the rug.
Speaker 3:
[40:14] Like there's a lot of Chekhov stuff inside of this episode. Like, so Rue is complicit in that, right? She has just said, okay, God brought me here, but also have I made a bargain with the devil and Sam Levinson and all of his subtleties like giant flames in front of Rue as she says that, right? But you know what? You like it.
Speaker 4:
[40:31] That's why I'm here.
Speaker 3:
[40:32] I like it too.
Speaker 4:
[40:33] This is why, this is, you brought up, well, you brought up the Sheridan comp, like this is why I'm here and not watching Yellowstone. It's like you're either over there, like don't get me wrong, maybe this is my background talking. I have great allowance in my life for people in cowboy hats speechifying. Like I'm just, I'm on board.
Speaker 3:
[40:50] It's your route.
Speaker 4:
[40:51] It's where I come from. And so having Alamo like do his spiels out on the balcony, fucking in.
Speaker 3:
[40:58] Yeah.
Speaker 4:
[40:59] But I'm interested in more in like this, yeah, over the top, yeah, hit you over the head kind of visual flair, than I am necessarily the soapier aspects of the Sheridan verse.
Speaker 3:
[41:08] I really agree. I have like, honestly, I had the bullet list of all the sort of the complaints people had. And my last bullet was like, and I'm still having a great time. I like Euphoria. I don't know what to tell you. But so watching Rue help disappear a body and then drive Angel to this shady establishment that like she knows this is not on the up and up, right?
Speaker 4:
[41:33] If anyone, she knows what this is supposed to look like.
Speaker 3:
[41:36] And she's like, dirt under the fingernails are a no, flickering fluorescents are a no, like the haunted aura of this place is an absolute no. And so, but she does it anyway. And if Angel doesn't make it out of that situation, if she is like already dead as we speak, that's two young women that Rue, a person who has been a young woman in peril in the course of this show herself, is complicit in helping cover up. So this idea of like Euphoria Season 3 talking about grappling with evil, it's like how much can we watch Rue be complicit in and still be with her? Probably we can go pretty far because Andea is Andea, but like what do you think?
Speaker 4:
[42:24] Well, and how much can Rue experience that and go through and not go reeling off to the side as a result? I think this one is even different, right? There's the covering up the death and the OD. You could convince yourself and talk yourself into that if you're Rue, maybe. This is her trying to tell Angel the truth about what happened to Tish. Angel, her whole life kind of submarining as a result of that truth, and then driving her to the rehab facility where she might be disappeared. I just think Rue would take a totally different level of responsibility for something like this.
Speaker 3:
[42:54] Rue being like, they take you bowling.
Speaker 4:
[42:56] They take you bowling.
Speaker 3:
[42:57] It's fine.
Speaker 4:
[42:58] Well, let me ask you this. Obviously, we are meant to wonder, will we ever see Angel again? Is she just being disappeared? If you're Alamo though.
Speaker 3:
[43:05] Why go to the trouble of the sham of the rehab?
Speaker 4:
[43:08] What's the song it is? You just had Rue get rid of a dead body.
Speaker 3:
[43:11] Well, what if they... I mean, if you get rid of every girl that way, of like just rolling them up in a rug, people might ask questions. But if a woman like... Because if they disappear that way by staging an OD or something like that inside of a rehab facility, that's a cleaner way to dispose of someone, right? In theory.
Speaker 4:
[43:32] I guess in theory, it's just...
Speaker 3:
[43:34] I agree. It seems quite elaborate.
Speaker 4:
[43:36] The question is, who is he doing it for? Is it for Ru and the other people working for him? Is it for the other girls at the club? Is it for just like the broader awareness of his operation?
Speaker 3:
[43:44] It seems like something he does all the time because they know to expect him.
Speaker 4:
[43:47] For sure.
Speaker 3:
[43:47] And all the rest.
Speaker 4:
[43:48] No paperwork, guy outside with a cigarette, just kind of like lurking about. It's going great.
Speaker 3:
[43:54] It's tough. Here's the Chekhovs list that I would like to run through.
Speaker 4:
[43:59] Let's do it.
Speaker 3:
[44:00] The camera in the private room, in the champagne room. 100%. Okay. We get double safe check-in in this episode, right? Over in Camp Laurie, the safe gets open to get the gun out because the pig is dropped off there. We'll talk about the pigs a bit more. And then we get Big Eddie, played by the great Khadim Hardison, Dwayne Wayne from A Different World himself. Very excited for me, a 90s kid to see him. But Rue turns her back while he opens the safe there. There's two safes on each side of the warring crime families inside of this. So my question is, which safe is getting robbed? Or can Faye and Rue together double safe it?
Speaker 4:
[44:43] I would love the double safe path. Especially now that we know Faye's fella, a chicken guy, just a straight up Nazi.
Speaker 3:
[44:51] Oh, you were surprised.
Speaker 4:
[44:53] Well, I can't say I'm surprised, but whatever they had cooking, I didn't know he was like, tat on the chest, flag on the wall Nazi. I had some questions.
Speaker 3:
[45:00] Yeah, and you're like, tat on the chest, I can excuse. I've spent time with Boy Crowder, but flag on the wall, that's the first two bars.
Speaker 4:
[45:06] Maybe she doesn't have the money to get it removed yet. It's a process. The laser, I mean, it's this whole thing. I would love the double, but I think the strip club safe specifically, any safe behind a painting is gonna get robbed.
Speaker 3:
[45:18] Yeah, okay. I think it's both. I'm hoping for both and I'm hoping Faye's involved. And I'm hoping it's like a really fun, because yes, this show still has a lot of stylistic oomph, but we're missing a bit of the like, Rue does a slideshow or something I really liked in season one, Cassie's like ice skating routine during like her abortion, like these like really sort of surreal moments. We haven't had any of, you know, yeah. And so I wouldn't mind, this isn't quite like impressionistic or surreal, but like a Thomas Crown-esque like split screen sort of like multi-heist. I love a heist. A double heist, I am in a dream world.
Speaker 4:
[45:56] Well, while we're talking stylistic oomph, I think the Tarantino influence on these first two episodes is kind of like right there in ways that may appeal to you or may not. I did think in this episode, and this can get into the pig talk if you like.
Speaker 3:
[46:08] That's exactly where I'm going.
Speaker 4:
[46:10] That whole conversation was like, what is this? It felt like someone writing Reservoir Dogs tipping dialogue badly.
Speaker 3:
[46:17] It was like Reservoir Dogs meets I'm a White Guy and I love to write the N-word into scripts all the time.
Speaker 4:
[46:24] Quentin, we're also paging you on that.
Speaker 3:
[46:25] Exactly. So our listener Adam wrote it and said, great pod, but has the show ever modeled Quentin Tarantino so relentlessly and frankly, shamelessly? Did you both not notice this? I found it extremely distracting. And I will say in episode two, when the N-word start flying back and forth and you get written by, directed by, created by, executive produced by a White Guy, Sam Levinson. I was like, I have some questions about this. But yeah, that whole roundtable with our guy, Marshawn Lynch, and felt very Reservoir Dogs. Very just sort of like Royale with cheese also. Just sort of like, you know, like talking about the nature of pigs and all that sort of stuff like that. It was, yes.
Speaker 4:
[47:06] It felt like it was supposed to be like buzzing, popping dialogue and it just was not.
Speaker 3:
[47:10] It was just not hitting for you. Where you, well, you already said you love watching Alamo speechifying, but like other than that, like anything else you want to say about sort of the dueling crime families. We get a bit with a dog, which you always love, Lieutenant Dan. He's fired from Watchdog Duties. Anything you want to say about this crime story line?
Speaker 4:
[47:31] I also like the pig introduction at the end. I mean, look, we were going to get a remember the Alamo or remember Alamo drop at some point.
Speaker 3:
[47:38] It was- Did it come faster than you thought?
Speaker 4:
[47:40] It did. I thought there'd be a little more restraint, but what show am I watching? I do have questions about the pigs in general. Are Alamo's pigs Deadwood style pigs, which is to say the ones that eat dead bodies to hide them?
Speaker 3:
[47:51] That's so funny that you say Alamo. Yeah, okay. I was thinking Guy Richie style pigs, but yeah, same, same, same.
Speaker 4:
[47:57] Also that works. Or are they tax break pigs? You have farm animals on the land, you just get different accommodations for tax purposes. At least it is in a lot of places. We got to check the codes on California.
Speaker 3:
[48:07] Should we get some chickens?
Speaker 4:
[48:08] I mean, how much land do you have, Jo?
Speaker 3:
[48:10] I think I could do a small coop.
Speaker 4:
[48:13] We might have to go to a processing quantity of coop. You might have to have a certain amount where it registers as farm, I would imagine, right? The people who have tried to loop this stuff.
Speaker 3:
[48:23] I don't like that you said processor.
Speaker 4:
[48:26] At least now we know how to do it after episode one. But I'm wondering what the purpose of the pigs is other than this episode.
Speaker 3:
[48:33] I thought for sure they were people eating pigs.
Speaker 4:
[48:35] I assume.
Speaker 3:
[48:37] Why be a crime boss and have pigs on your property if not to eat corpses?
Speaker 4:
[48:42] So we're burning the rug, but feeding the corpse to the pigs.
Speaker 3:
[48:45] That's my guess.
Speaker 4:
[48:47] Also tracks. Also tracks in terms of Alamo's larger thing with Laurie about like, you took one of my girls, I'm going to take one of yours. And if I'm going to put the pig who just ate her dead body in your house and it's going to shit all over your floor.
Speaker 3:
[49:00] Shit like her remains on your floor.
Speaker 4:
[49:01] Yeah, I'm going to make this your mess thematically, again, very elegant in the way that Euphoria often is. Also just a lot of shit in this episode. And I'm not opposed to a Babylon-style gang. Well, I mean, it's just like Rue and Faye shitting themselves in episode one. Obviously, the pig shitting on the floor.
Speaker 3:
[49:19] Some people thought we missed the dog eating the shit.
Speaker 4:
[49:22] I assure you, we did not.
Speaker 3:
[49:23] I just want to talk about it. I don't want to talk about poor Lieutenant Dan.
Speaker 4:
[49:28] Yes.
Speaker 3:
[49:29] But anyway.
Speaker 4:
[49:29] There's just a lot of shit. Is that going to be a runner throughout the entire season? I kind of hope not. But who knows?
Speaker 3:
[49:36] What did you make of Jules' entrance into the show this season? Hunter Schafer is here, and he had a dramatically long wig, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 4:
[49:45] I mean, I want as much Jules as we can get. And that seems to be, at least from my view, in watching seasons one and two, one of the fundamental tensions of the show is, how much do you want to put Jules at the center of the frame versus how much do you want to make her this light that's coming in from the sides? And her situation and her circumstances and who she is as a person feel a little different. But honestly, Jules and by extension Hunter Schafer, they're like only more like ethereal here in season 3 somehow.
Speaker 3:
[50:13] Otherworldly, alien almost in a complimentary alien sort of way.
Speaker 4:
[50:18] Full elven mode at this point. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like always a welcome presence on the show. I love watching Jules and Ru bounce off of each other and try to make sense of each other and try to make space in their lives for each other and ultimately fail. So I'm glad we're here.
Speaker 3:
[50:30] Jules being like monogamy is a construct and Ru being like, so you're saying I have a chance? Really great. And the way that like Zendaya just sort of like plopped down the floor, just like dirty converse on, you know, like fresh off of cleaning the toilets or whatever. Just like great stuff. Jules who shows up in season one as this sort of like, yeah, otherworldly, you know, alien creature inside of suburbia.
Speaker 4:
[50:56] Yeah.
Speaker 3:
[50:57] And to be even more sort of unattainably up in the clouds in this penthouse this season I think is great.
Speaker 4:
[51:03] Particularly at first blush to feel like colder and a little more distant than she used to be.
Speaker 3:
[51:09] Yeah.
Speaker 4:
[51:09] And I really do think as far as, you know, those jumps in personality, we were talking about for these characters, this one feels like really rewarding immediately. And I give Hunter Schaefer a lot of credit for that. Just in terms of that, like physical conveyance of Jules in season one is very confident in who she is in a very specific way, but also like searching for so much, including the affirmation of all these men that she's sleeping with. And then over the course of time, like she unravels, she puts herself back together, she's trying to distance from her room, she's trying to pull her room closer, all that stuff is happening. This just feels like a different person in the sense that she has manifested a lot for herself and convinced herself of a totally different set of life criteria.
Speaker 3:
[51:48] Yeah.
Speaker 4:
[51:49] And I'm very eager to see what that means for her.
Speaker 3:
[51:52] Anything else you want to say about this episode?
Speaker 4:
[51:55] I liked it.
Speaker 3:
[51:55] I liked it too.
Speaker 4:
[51:56] I really did like it.
Speaker 3:
[51:57] Guess what? I like Euphoria.
Speaker 4:
[51:59] I like this show. I'm having a very good time with it so far. Because it's Euphoria, there's always going to be stuff in the mix that doesn't really work. And that we don't really like very much. But this is a fun ride for me. I'm a little, maybe episode three is just a total swerve off the cliff. But I'm a little confused so far as to why the critical response was so poor.
Speaker 3:
[52:17] Well, I will say critics didn't really like season two either.
Speaker 4:
[52:19] That might be it.
Speaker 3:
[52:20] It was my experience. And I think are super burned off the idol, understandably. Because what a trash fire that was. So I think, you know, they're just like Sam Levinson. I'm over it. Fair enough. One question you had had was sort of, given that these people graduated from high school, if we're giving a hyper realistic version of the story, none of these people still talk to each other.
Speaker 4:
[52:44] Probably not.
Speaker 3:
[52:45] Probably. Cassie and Nate certainly aren't still together, like all this other stuff like that.
Speaker 4:
[52:48] But her force of will to make it feel justified.
Speaker 3:
[52:51] But your question was, how will we, how will the plot bend to, you know, how will these people intersect and interact? How is it going so far? Are you excited that Maddy's invited to the wedding? How soon do you want the wedding episode?
Speaker 4:
[53:05] I totally forgot she's invited to the wedding.
Speaker 3:
[53:07] Yeah.
Speaker 4:
[53:07] Now I really need the wedding episode.
Speaker 3:
[53:09] Who else is invited to the wedding? You know, like, will this be the event of the century?
Speaker 4:
[53:13] I mean, Lexi obviously will be there.
Speaker 3:
[53:14] Lexi will be there.
Speaker 4:
[53:15] Rue.
Speaker 3:
[53:15] Parents will be there.
Speaker 4:
[53:19] Don't tease me with a Susan appearance in season three. I think most of it has felt fairly organic. The one that I was maybe like, I don't know that Rue and Maddy are just like hanging out like this, having this chat, but I also love that scene so much that I'm willing to forgive a lot. I think the big one that this episode asks you to buy is that if Cassie did reach out to Maddy, then Maddy would go or that Cassie would reach out in the first place.
Speaker 3:
[53:43] The funny thing is, is like when Nate's like, did you invite her to the wedding for vengeance? But like, that's why Maddy's showing up to like, fuck with her and show off how much better she's doing, even if she's not technically, but like to make her feel that way.
Speaker 4:
[54:01] Right.
Speaker 3:
[54:02] The, as you said, I could watch her make Cassie feel small all day long. It's very exciting. Get ready for round three.
Speaker 4:
[54:08] That's our most toxic trait. It's like we do want to participate in some level on the Sydney Sweeney humiliation ritual that is this show.
Speaker 3:
[54:15] And that's why he's Maddy's number one boy. All right, so Maddy's number one boy at gmail.com, PrestigeTV at spotify.com. If you have further questions or comments or concerns about Euphoria, if you hate watching it, if you love watching it, I'm curious to hear from folks how they're feeling. We didn't get a ton of emails from people saying, I fricking hate this show. How dare you watch it? So I don't think those people are listening to this podcast, but maybe they are.
Speaker 4:
[54:38] I hope not. One thing I did want to raise, that I'm really glad we dismissed with very quickly, I don't know how you were feeling about the larger economics of drug running. I wouldn't say I had a great feel for like, how many runs is Rue going to need to go on to erase her hundred thousand dollars in debt? I'm kind of glad that we just like Alamoed our way out of it. It's like she's in this different line of work now. We made sure we close the loop so you don't have, you don't need to go to the forums and say that we left this hanging. But also I didn't really understand how she's going to get out of it in the first place other than that's kind of the point.
Speaker 3:
[55:08] I have a really important question for you. How many of those remember the Alamo flags, do you think he has sort of stockpiled somewhere?
Speaker 4:
[55:16] You don't think it was custom work for this occasion. It's like he's got a box.
Speaker 3:
[55:19] That's his move. His whole life he's been doing to remember the Alamo, don't you think?
Speaker 4:
[55:24] Alamo birth name or assumed name?
Speaker 3:
[55:27] Okay, not his whole life, but as soon as he called himself Alamo, he's like, get those flags ready.
Speaker 4:
[55:33] What's the point of naming yourself Alamo if you're not gonna do that shit?
Speaker 3:
[55:36] I really agree. Thanks to everyone who worked on this particular podcast. Devon Renaldo is on this podcast, Jacob Cornett is here, Kai Grady is around here somewhere, not in a furry costume. And thanks to everyone at Sycamore. Anything else you want to say before we go?
Speaker 4:
[55:52] Thank you, Jo. Thank you, Maddy.
Speaker 3:
[55:53] Thank you, Rob. We'll see you soon. Bye.
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