The third — and likely final — season of “Euphoria” is a case study in excess. It is the Artemis II of TV shows, going so far over the top it passes the Moon before crashing back down to Earth. What was once an eye-catching clique of wayward teens bathed in purple hues has metamorphosed into a barren hellscape rife with drug-smuggling cartels, pistol-packin’ pimps, sugar daddies with mummification kinks and online streamers. These kids certainly ain’t in high school anymore and feel untethered to what once was.
Part of the reason for this evolution is that the two forces that were keeping Sam Levinson’s embattled protagonist, Rue (Zendaya), grounded in reality have been either entirely (her younger sister Gia, played by Storm Reid) or largely (her mother Leslie, brought to life by Nika King) written off the show. Leslie’s absence has been the more jarring for viewers, since Rue has mentioned over and over how adrift at sea she feels being estranged from her mother, and the phone calls she keeps placing for her. In Sunday’s sixth episode of the season, titled “Stand Still and See,” we finally caught an oh-so-brief glimpse of Leslie on the other line.
Rue had just received a lifeline in the form an incriminating exchange she’d recorded on her phone between Alamo (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and Laurie (Martha Kelly) about smuggling fentanyl in ambulances from Mexico to the U.S. — enough intel to get her off the hook with the DEA. She was also slapped into another dimension by Jules (Hunter Schafer) after lobbing several insults at her about Jules’ whole sugar baby situation. And so, Rue finds herself in a church pew, praying for forgiveness. She calls her mom. “I love you so much, and I’m sorry if I made it harder. I didn’t really realize how tough it is to be out here by yourself,” Rue tells Leslie. “I know I’m not alone. I know that. But yeah, I’ll — I’m coming home soon.”
