Last night’s Euphoria was one of the biggest episodes of the series yet as Rue starts to deal with the consequences of her addiction. Stars Nika King (Greenleaf, Best Friends Whenever), Storm Reid (A Wrinkle in Time, The Suicide Squad), and Colman Domingo (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Big Gay Sketch Show) spoke to Collider on season two, episode five and tackling the intervention episode.
In this week’s episode, titled “Stand Still Like the Hummingbird”, Rue (Zendaya) experiences painful withdrawal symptoms after Jules (Hunter Schafer) tells her mother, Leslie (played by King), that she is using again. Throughout the episode, Rue is confronted by those who love her and tries to run away to find a way to pay for the suitcase of drugs that she borrowed from druglord, Laurie (Martha Kelly).
Reid plays Rue’s little sister, Gia, and Domingo plays Rue’s sponsor and fellow addict, Ali.
“There’s a lot of running after each other, and tackling and holding. You forget there’s emotional and physical exhaustion,” King told Collider on what it was like to shoot the episode. “It was a lot, but I think it’s what was needed for this season. Rue’s character needs to understand that it’s not just her younger sister, Gia, being affected. It’s her whole sphere of people in her life, her tribe, and to see everyone come together and really root for her to get better, I don’t know if that’s gonna get her clean, but I think that’s definitely something that the audience need to know. She does have support. Everywhere she turns, there’s someone supporting her.”
When asked about preparing for the episode, Reid said, “My process with anything, but specifically Euphoria and being Gia, is to prepare but not over-prepare.” Reid spoke on how there are many opportunities to find something that works and is brilliant for the moment.
“It’s exhausting, doing those scenes,” she continues. ” It’s literally physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausting. I feel so privileged and so blessed to be able to work on scenes like that when I’m doing them because what I want, as an actress, is to be challenged, to be pushed, to feel like I just don’t wanna do this anymore, and like I can’t do it anymore. I feel like that’s where my best work comes from.”
Domingo spoke about the relationship that he and Zendaya’s characters had throughout the series. Their relationship was expanded upon in the special episode, “Trouble Don’t Always Last.” Domingo told Collider that there was a lot to unpack about their relationship and their bond, and he was just as shocked as Ali was when Rue broke off this bond in episode three fo the third season.
“It keeps letting you know how unsettling and how unstable the disease of addiction is and how people will do anything to have things go their way,” he told Collider. “I think Ali, understanding the disease of addiction, and his whole purpose and engine in the scene, is to be that north star to say, “I’ve been through it. I’ve been through the worst. I’ve done it.” And possibly, he can offer up some light that things can get better, and you can do something different with your family.”
The latest episode of Euphoria can be streamed on HBO Max and new episodes premiere every Sunday on both HBO and HBO Max.
To read the full interview, click here.