For the past seven weeks, Euphoria has wowed viewers with beautiful visuals, powerful performances, and shocking sex scenes. Between graphic hookups, micropenis, illicit relationships and more, HBO's teen drama is non-stop, and Sunday's finale will likely have even more at stake. In honor of Euphoria's Season 1 finale, we've collected the show's most outrageous moments to date. You know what that means: time for a decision maker after dark, euphoria vibes.
Watch Euphoria Episode
If you are a fan of NSFW teen dramas, this series is for you. Produced by Drake, the series follows a group of teenagers as they come to terms with their sexuality, identity, prejudices, and addictions while battling the stresses of everyday high school. While each episode delves into the backstory of a different teenager, Euphoria's many stories are tied together by Zendaya's Rue, a drug addict who doubles as the series' narrator. As the show's all-knowing presence, Rue is with the characters even in their most private moments, even when they're drinking, doing drugs, and having sex – lots of sex.
But enough talk, let's get to the point. Curious to know which scenes made our list of Euphoria Season 1's 10 Most Outrageous Scenes? Check out our gallery to find out.
"Bread" is a word that comes up often when talking to Zendaya about the heartbreaking fifth episode of Euphoria Season 2, "Stand Still Like the Hummingbird."
Speaking to EW about his disastrous opening scene, in which his character Rue argues with his mother Leslie (Nika King) and sister Gia (Storm Reid) over the location of their drug stash, the Emmy winner said, "It was a very difficult situation." Day. I mean, I hit myself. I still have scars on my legs and bruises."
She credits the hour of high-octane television, written and directed by Euphoria creator Sam Levinson, as a "street episode." According to Reid, it took a long time. "I think even in season one we knew that Sam had a vision of having an episode like this where it was all on the line and we would just do it and try to tell him he needed help, but it happened was a challenge to film."
Zendaya agrees, saying "it was still a very intense episode." She explains that while some episode details have changed over the years since Euphoria season 1, "the basic idea has always been the same, which is the idea that we're going straight into an intervention and it's It's Rue who ruins her life and puts her in her place.” Life is on fire and she tears everything up to hit the bottom she feels for her.
As she runs around town throughout the episode, evading cars, cops, goons and criminals, it's her character's intervention that has haunted the actress, especially when she had to shoot the film immediately after returning from the Venice Film Festival in 2021 "It was so intense and scary to tackle and of course it would be incredibly exhausting emotionally but also physically," says Zendaya. Rue and I hate when she suffers. And I think in this whole episode, there's so much pain that comes to the surface and also cuts across their isolation, which is extremely painful physically."
She cites the show's first special, in which Rue and her sponsor Ali (Colman Domingo) think hard about what it means to be addicted, as a framework for where Rue is at this point in Season 2. "She is in. He is in the heart of the matter. " Suffering from a degenerative disease, he takes control of his life. And in many ways, he feels out of control. He does not have the ability to control his emotions and his body. And like I said, he's in a lot of pain and I think we really wanted to see that. Instinctively and feel the pain and how much it inflicts on others who also need to love people going through something like this." He adds that in directing the episode, "especially during this intervention, it was always important never really knowing what Rue is going to do next because I don't think she knows what's going to happen next. Will she hit anyone? “Are you going to cry? We have no idea how unpredictable his brain is or where he is."
Rue has "lost all control over who she is," Zendaya says, "and you can tell there's a little moment after that where everything turns to regret. You can see her do it and then immediately regret it and you asking why she's doing it. And then she starts again, like it's a really painful cycle she's going through. And I didn't particularly like seeing her deal with it."
She states that much of the difficulty stems from her empathy for the characters and the importance of the story they were telling. "The reason I'm an actor is because I'm quite a sensitive person and, as I often do, I take on the pain and stress, fears and concerns of others, as well as my own. ." and I think [that scene] just let me get all that out. And I'm so grateful to be in a place where I feel comfortable and safe and to be with actors and actresses that I'm obviously very close to," Zendaya said. "After every take, we kiss, we talk, we kiss, we check in because obviously it's like a war zone."
In response to D.A.R.E. Zendaya condemned Euphoria for allegedly glorifying teen drug use and addiction, saying, "Our show is in no way a morality story about teaching people how to live their lives or what they should do. Anyway, the sentiment behind Euphoria, or whatever else we've tried to do with it, I hope is to help people feel a little less alone with their experiences and their pain, and maybe they feel like they're not the only ones going through or coping with what they're facing.
In fact, it's become so clear to her how much Rue's story means to people familiar with addiction and loss that it's shaping what Zendaya plans for her character's future. "We can't leave her here," she says, who also serves as an executive producer on the HBO series. "It's really important that there's a light at the end of the tunnel for her because I think she has a lot of beauty in her. Whether she sees it or not, that's her thing."
Zendaya concludes her thoughts on the episode, "My greatest hope is that people will be able to connect with him and those who need to heal and grow with Rue will hopefully have that hope and change in her d 'by the end of this season." She is grateful to have succeeded on that front. "So many people have reached out and discovered so many parallels of all ages and walks of life. There are so many parallels between Rue and her story, and Rue means a lot to them, in ways I can understand but can't. -be in ways I could never understand, and that means she means more to all of us.
Evelyn Harper
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