Previously on HBO Max’s Euphoria, Maddy and Lexi get Cassie an audition for a role in the LA Nights series. She gets the role after citing Shakespeare in her audition. Alamo meets Maddy, and the two of them make a deal to use Kitty and Magick as models for content, so they can make more money. Magick voices her concerns about Rue to Alamo, and he learns that Rue might not be telling the truth, so they make her dig a hole and bury herself in it, with just her head sticking out. 

The episode begins with Rue talking about Alamo’s childhood. When he was young, his mom dated a man named Preston. Preston and Alamo formed a good relationship, Preston treating Alamo like his own. One day, Preston receives a check, a suit he won from an accident at work that left him scarred. Soon, Preston provides Alamo and his mother a better quality of life. While on vacation, Preston asks Alamo’s blessing to marry his mother, to which he says yes. But when they come home to find their apartment robbed, Alamo’s mother leaves Preston. Alamo finds out his mother secretly set up the robbery to be with another man. That day forward, Alamo swore never to let a woman outsmart him again. 

Next, we go back to the current time, where Alamo’s on his horse and Rue’s in the ground. She begs him not to kill her, telling him that she can call Faye to get his money back. During the conversation, Rue asks to take a picture of the key next to a quarter so that they can make a copy. Faye tells her that she can’t do that to Wayne, saying she loves him. Rue begs her old friend for her help, and Faye hesitantly agrees. 

After they get off the phone, Wayne comes back home and starts giving Faye a hard time about doing drugs while he’s trying to get her pregnant. 

Laurie and her family meet with Alamo at his place. They decide to agree on using Alamo’s ambulance side business to move fentanyl around. The DEA gets all this information through a phone call with Rue as evidence. Now, they’ll just have to wait until it all happens to arrest everyone. 

Rue goes to Jules’ place. Rue tells her that she wants to start a life and have a family. Rue says, “I have to live for something greater than myself.” She tells Jules that she wants to be with her. Jules says that the time they spent together last summer was a mistake, believing that time with them has been wasted. Rue argues about Ellis, how he keeps Jules hidden. The more she talks, the angrier Jules gets, resulting in her slapping Rue and kicking her out. 

Cassie does her first scene at the production site with Dylan Reid. During the scene, she begins to have flashbacks of her wedding night with Nate and Naz’s drama. She mutters the words she said that night, leaving everyone confused, but Dylan goes with it. After they get done shooting the scene, the producer and director have a conversation with her. Lexi brings up Cassie’s OnlyFans, and as they talk about it, they start to understand why Cassie’s interested in acting. They decide to bring her in as a regular for the show. The only problem for her is that she has to delete her OnlyFans account. Which she does.

While Rue’s waiting for the key to be copied, she goes to the church and gets a phone call from her mom. They talk about religion, and Rue says that she needs redemption from all the things she’s done. She tells her mom, “I just want to be free to start over, and I want to be forgiven.” 

At home, Cassie receives a package. It’s Nate’s finger. We then meet Nate at the construction site, as Naz’s guy follows and attacks him again. 

Back at Alamo’s, Bishop informs Rue that he knows her mom and has told her she’s doing okay. After the veiled threat, Rue leaves the club to drive home. Her CD begins to act up, and while she’s too focused on it, she swerves and almost crashes into a semi. She ends up on the side of the road. A tree randomly sets on fire, and she cries, moving to her knees. 

Overall, this was a good episode. Between Rue getting Faye to get the key and Cassie getting her role as a lead, there were a lot of positives for everyone. One scene that stood out was when Rue was on the phone with her mom, talking about God and wanting to be redeemed of all her mistakes. This scene shows how much development Rue has made and how she has learned from those mistakes. She’s ready to move on and create a better life for herself. Zendaya did a great job in this episode, with Rue’s raw emotion from the start to the end. What will happen in the next episode? 

Rating: 8.5/10