Cold as Ice. | I'm watching Euphoria, so you don't have to. (Episode 4 Review)
This week, Rue dodges bullets like the hand of god itself is batting them away.
Will the relentlessness never cease?
If you can get past the deeply irritating dialogue between Nate and Cassie and the absolute futility of Sam Levinson's approach to female sexuality under patriarchy, there is a little bit of fun to be found in this episode. The hijinks and tension that Rue finds herself in are almost hyperbolic - having been caught by police with some supply of drugs, she has become a snitch, but she keeps finding herself avoiding strays and otherwise managing to just about get out of trouble. Masterfully acted by Zendaya, these events don't feel absurd but rather one long journey from episode one's declaration of God's saving grace.
This is perhaps the only redeeming part of this week's episode, which tries to fill out its runtime with a few other nominal events, namely Cassie's induction into the influencer- and coke-filled world of Los Angeles and her unabashed, brazen pursuit of fame.
In a small part of the episode, Jules is proven to be deeply selfish and unable to think of others and respect their craft. She is tasked with creating a painting for a network TV show, which, though gorgeous, was not suitable for air. She reacts to the news of paring down her artistic craft for this network TV show with a bout of immaturity. Alas, I don't know what the point of these scenes was.
Levinson tries to paint Nate as some sort of tragic figure in this episode. Perhaps some kind of comeuppance can be gleaned from the events that occur to him - bloodied and bruised on his knees, begging for the local council not to shut him down, in way over his head. Alas, Nate has indeed mellowed out since high school and is nowhere near the unsympathetic figure he used to be, so these scenes fall flat and actually provide some sympathy for Nate in his moment of crisis.
Cassie has ditched him and is now being managed by Maddie, who is both pragmatic and out to enact her high school revenge. I'm willing to be patient on this specific plotline, as I think Levinson is cooking something up here that could be dangerously good. However, my hopes are not raised - this man does not often deliver on the high promise of his premises.
This week was as uneventful as any, but I fear I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Do I think this show will have some grand final note that it'll land on that will satisfy me? It is unlikely. This show is not what it used to be and has far too much to achieve, but Zendaya did some of her best work in this episode, and I don't doubt that the Maddie storyline, however clumsily managed, will reach some kind of satisfactory conclusion soon.
Goddamn it, I hope so.
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