The second episode of Euphoria begins where one episode left off: at the New Year's Eve house party where FaZe attempts to comply with his threat against Nate, namely by killing him. He doesn't. Several people drive Nate to the car as Rue's description begins.
Each Euphoria episode favors a single character with Rue acting as the third-party narrator. Episode 1 featured FaZe, who has a history from criminal witness to criminal as a teenager. Episode 2, although it begins with Nate, will make several character leaps, in order to reach the thoughts and activities of several people. In other words: it was a wild episode.
How Rue is able to perform these moves has always been questionable. Several times in this episode she reminds us that she wasn't there - or sober - to find out what really happened. She tells us anyway. At this point, nothing Rue says should be taken without a pinch of powder. Her unreliability has been proven many times over, as we often see things that don't really happen, or are laughed at by talking about her. (His and Jules' matching tattoos, for example.)
This unreliability allows the chain to dial down full bombshell. Maybe these things are happening. Perhaps they are stylistic exaggerations. Maybe the whole show is a lie Rue tells a group of addicts at a meeting. Who knows.
What's important for Episode 2, though, is what we learn about the situation after Nate's attack: He is now inexplicably in love with Cassie.
The rest of the episode moves on from there.
Here's what happened in episode 2.
After the party
According to Rue, after being taken to the hospital, Nate begins to fall for Cassie. He imagines a life with her, which includes giving birth to her child. He also imagines the death of his father, which frees him from most of his current woes—including the fact that Maddie still has a recording of Daddy Jacobs hooking up with Jules, an item that becomes Nate's serious pursuit. Has been.
Next, we return to the school where Rue and Jules make a mac in the hallway, revealing that Rue finally has everything she's always wanted. Then Elliot shows up, Rue becomes awkward (she's hanging out with Elliot and doing drugs, even though Jules thinks she's cool), and Jules becomes upset.
Meanwhile, Cassie becomes increasingly awkward around her best friend, Maddie. (Remember, she hooked up with Nate at an NYE party.) Cassie decided she wanted to stay single, even though she's never actually been single, and, like, totally doesn't want to be single. Maddie later tells Cassie that Nate had texted. Kashi is jealous. Cassie doesn't want to be single.
Maddy tells him this while babysitting from a home in the California hills. Turns out Maddie is trusted around kids - as well as super rich kids. We learn that she mostly takes care of the kids, so she can try on all of Mom's clothes in her walk-in closet. When the parents return, Maddie is almost caught. Instead, Mom asks Maddie to help her unwrap her dress and the camera goes a little too long, which makes us think that some weird things might have happened between Maddie and this mom.
Back to school
The girls are in the bathroom where Kat is asked about her sex life with Ethan. Through Rue, we learn that Kat thinks Ethan is cute, but that something is bothering her. We see Kat and Ethan entertained. Ethan leaves to go to the bathroom. In the bathroom, Ethan is imprisoned by a Dothraki warrior who then enters the bedroom to "conquer" Kat. They have sex. Kat tells the girls in the bathroom that it was Ethan winning. Obviously, it was not so.
pause. A couple things here. Obviously, this is Kat's imagination—and one symbolically substitutes rough Game of Thrones sex (actually, rape) with the impotence issue in her relationship with Ethan. Euphoria is committed to showing male genitalia on screen, perhaps as a criticism of its own medium – a premium cable TV company that has shown female genitalia unnecessarily for decades. The fantasy is a dig at Game of Thrones, which was criticized for its dramatic sex. Here in Cat's bedroom, it's the man who is under our eyes, not Cat. Okay, the critical theory discussion is over.
Meanwhile Cassie is freaking out as she thinks Maddie will find out about her and Nate and kill her. Jules is running out because of Elliot. And then Cassie and Lexie are making out as Daddy Jacobs is in their living room asking them who beat Nate. Casey tells him. Lexi is angry.
We learn here that Lexi struggles to do what she knows is right. We see that she threatens Rue to tell her mother about her drug use – a hoax that Rue calls out. Later we see that Lexie is woken up by her mother who tells her that Rue has overdosed (presumably the Season 1 finale). Lexi blames herself. This time, wanting to warn FaZe, Lexie decides to look for her at his convenience store. Outside, we see Daddy Jacobs reach for the gun.
Sometime that night
Meanwhile, Nate is hanging out with Cassie, trying to break up with her, but is usually predatory about it. He takes her to a construction site where they meet (after following her like a gentleman). Maddie calls both Nate and Cassie, but the call goes unanswered. She looks suspicious.
Elliot and Rue smoke during this time. Elliot asks Rue if he brings out the worst in him, a question Jules' father simultaneously asks Jules about Rue. (They're about to hang out. Instead, she's with Elliot.) Elliot's mother later asks about Rue, saying that Elliot doesn't often have girls.
Rue then goes to an AA meeting where she meets Ali who notes that Rue is still on her suicide mission.
During all this, Kat is facing another crisis regarding Ethan. He realizes that perhaps it is his fault that he did not love her. (We see her sitting in her room arguing with a number of hallucinatory models who tell her to just love herself—an obvious critique of the self-love message. The problem is that Kat loves herself. Can't. She's fucking sad.) Instead of watching Ethan by himself, she invites him to go bowling with Maddie and Jules. Maddie later tells Jules that she wants to get back with Nate, even though it's terrible for her.
Back to convenience store
Lexi stops to see FaZe, but before she can talk to him, Daddy Jacobs shows up. He gives a dramatic warning to Fez and then leaves. He never draws his gun.
Ali later takes Rue home, introduces himself to his mother. Rue is terrified Ali will tell her mother that she has started using it again. Ali is not.
In the final scene, Dad Jacobs confronts Nate, who reveals he knows everything about the Jules sex tape. When Dad Jacobs asks if Nate has it, he simply stares at the show credits.