It says a lot about Euphoria’s second season that last week’s episode, primarily focused on the show’s main protagonist and central narrative, felt oddly like a standalone event. So far, this season has largely reveled in the explosive secrets and underlying tension among (some of) the show’s supporting cast and has often been more entertaining when doing so than when spotlighting Rue’s struggles with sobriety. Even when these moments aren’t executed perfectly—and we still have some plot holes and loose threads hanging around—you can tell that Sam Levinson is having more fun leaning into the series’ more frivolous, soap-y and even comedic aspects than expounding on boilerplate ideas about addiction.
Likewise, “A Thousand Little Trees of Blood” only spends about 20 minutes with Rue following the harrowing events of the past 24 hours. This feels like an appropriate dose given that Rue is quite literally shaking, crying and throwing up, as Twitter likes to say, the entire time as she waits for an open bed at a rehab facility. Still, this episode features what I consider a more significant development than what we’ve seen over the past two weeks, in that she mends things with Ali after throwing his abusive past in his face a few episodes ago.
Rue’s demons are outlined best when she’s being psychoanalyzed by Ali rather than narrating through her inner monologue, as seen in her 2020 special. Hence, their reunion could have done without Levinson’s clunky dissertation on why everyone in our society is a cop via Rue’s voiceover. Her concise, tearful apology to him over the phone is moving and emphatic enough on its own.
Upon accepting Rue’s apology, Ali visits the Bennetts and prepares them dinner. The funny banter and chemistry within their makeshift family feels very lived-in and speaks to how much their particular unit thrives with a father figure present. Throughout these scenes, there’s a rare focus on Gia, who has been traumatized by her sister’s addiction but not given much in the way of introspection beyond the fact that she’s emotionally drained.
The rest of the episode largely belongs to Nate, as we circle back to his home life following Cal’s departure and whatever the hell is going on with that DVD. It becomes clear in this hour how Nate has insidiously become a unifying force in a pretty detached ensemble, accruing fraught entanglements with several of his classmates. Additionally, he’s quietly made for one of Euphoria’s more intriguing characters, given how self-contained he is. And in the moments he’s violent and intimidating, it reads so obviously like a mask.
Hence, it’s easy to reduce what Jacob Elordi is doing on-screen to a standard high school douchebag performance. But there’s a sort of moodiness he carries and the awkward manner in which he wears his masculinity throughout this episode that feels very James Dean-esque, in addition to his physical appearance resembling that of a classic Hollywood leading man.
Despite Cal’s exit, the Jacobs are still a fully dysfunctional, loveless household, as seen during an alcohol-fueled conversation between Nate and Marsha. Like Cal, Marsha seems disgusted in the boy Nate has become but is oddly encouraging of his toxic ways, including his abuse of Maddy in season one. The contradictory nature of her mothering is seen in Nate’s actions later on in the episode, in which he attempts to redeem himself for his previous bullying but has to commit another act of terror to do so.
But first, at the Howard residence, Lexi and Suze are hiding kitchen knives in bushes in case Cassie decides to kill herself following her and Nate’s affair being exposed. The monster that inhabited Rue’s body last week has seemingly been transferred to Cassie, who’s at her most deranged this episode. After watching Cassie wail on a kitchen floor and try to stab herself with a corkscrew, it’s fair to say that Levinson has squeezed all the comedy and entertainment out of this particular scenario. At this point, it’s almost offensively passé how utterly hysterical this girl is over a guy who treats her like trash, particularly when season one’s finale saw her attempt to gain some personhood beyond her relationships with boys.
Lexi is concerned that the portrayal of Cassie in her play will send her over the edge. So she goes to Fez’s house to get his advice, which then turns into a viewing of Stand by Me and a cute sing-a-long of the titular tune. Levinson has been unusually stubborn in depicting their romance—if it will even fully blossom into that—throughout the season, given how much of the show revolves around that sort of drama. But his resistance to go all-in with Lexco is a refreshing departure, considering how quickly the relationships on this show are corrupted.
Speaking of which, Maddy is rage-texting Cassie and ruminating on ways to ruin her life. On the other hand, she hasn’t sent Nate a single text, which leads him to believe that she’s going to release his father’s sex tape as revenge and ruin his dream of inheriting Cal’s real-estate business. (Apparently, Cal pretty much disavowing him as a child hasn’t ruined this hope). In an equally terrifying and ridiculously over-the-top scene, he pops up in Maddy’s house like Michael Myers and taunts her with a gun until she gives up the DVD. Even after she hands it over, he puts the gun to her head again to further traumatize her.
Strangely, this is all so Nate can have a restorative moment by giving the tape to Jules instead of destroying it. It’s unclear whether he believes she’ll be moved enough by his kindness not to share it with anyone else. Otherwise, it doesn’t really make sense that he’s not just getting rid of it. Ultimately, this gesture feels more indicative of his rare feelings for Jules as opposed to a new moral code he’s trying to live by. At the end of their exchange, he grabs her hand and says, “For what it’s worth, everything I ever said was true,” referring to their previous catfishing saga.
Of course, after this, he officially makes Cassie a prisoner of his love by moving her into his bedroom.
Also, in this episode, we learn that the police are investigating Fez and Ashtray as suspects in Mouse’s murder, and Custer is cooperating with them. We also get a slightly longer but disappointing and redundant scene with Kat, who attempts to break up with Ethan by saying she has a brain disorder and then uses terms like “gaslighting” and “incel” to make him feel bad for not believing her.
“A Thousand Little Trees of Blood” ends on an especially depressing note: Leslie on the phone begging the rehab facility to admit Rue as a patient instead of just detoxing her. We’ve watched Rue dodge death so many times, including in last week’s episode, that it’s easy to take her life for granted, but hearing Leslie say that her daughter “is going to kill herself” reminds viewers of an outcome that could substantially alter the course of the show.
