Euphoria season 2: What’s next for Rue?

It’s been two years since the hit HBO teen drama Euphoria first aired, introducing viewers to Zendaya‘s Emmy-award-winning turn as Rue Bennett. The 17-year old drug addict with a quick wit, big heart, and a romantic’s penchant for fantasy has become a household favorite for those that have taken this glitter-bombed, neon-drenched ride. But with Euphoria season 2 to be released sometime in the nebulous future, we can’t help but wonder what’s next for the character.

In the season 1 finale, Rue watched heartbroken as Jules left on a train to the city, leaving her behind. The initial plan was to run away together, outpacing their troubles and starting fresh in a whole new life of their own design. However, the closer they got to the station, the more Rue began to second guess what had originally been her idea until finally she decided she couldn’t go.

It was a devastating moment as Rue watched the girl she loved be taken away from her, one that served as the spark for her season ending relapse. When we meet up with Rue again in this universe, it’s in the bridge episode “Trouble Don’t Last Always” during a check-in with her sponsor Ali.

What follows is an hour of television that takes place primarily in a diner over pancakes as Ali gets Rue to cop to her drug use. The two trade conversation back and forth covering topics of religion, addiction, social movements, love, and loss.

Rue’s bridge episode deals with her relapse and mental health

Alarmingly, Rue admits to suicidal ideations. She’s not actively trying to kill herself, if one ignores her drug use, but to her the world is too angry and cruel. Rue sees no place for herself in it, and in a moment of immense vulnerability she tells Ali that she wants her mom and sister to remember her as someone who tried really hard to be someone she couldn’t be.

There’s a fragility to Rue that’s always been a part of her character but it was put on such heart-aching display in this bridge episode that it revealed depths to her that had yet to be mined. Much of that has to do with how scraped raw she was by losing Jules.

She is both her best friend and the person she wants desperately to be with to the point of euphoria and at the cost of ruin. The bravado she’d shown in front of Jules in the finale, accepting her kiss drunk escapades in the city as yet another story of fancy with minimal jealousy and an ear to listen completely disappears with Ali.

We’re given Rue’s true feelings of being wronged, cheated on, treated as if their relationship didn’t hold the same weight of significance to Jules as it does to her. She blames Jules for her relapsing, pushing her reaction to disappointment and seeming rejection onto the girl’s doorstep to deal with as if she’s not responsible for her own behavior and how she chooses to respond to the world and people around her.

Though Ali corrects Rue, trying to sort out whether there was a lack of communication between the girls (there was), it remains true that despite the fact that Rue had set herself up for a relapse by holding onto a pill, she still wants to cast blame elsewhere. Away from herself and onto a person, a situation that she can turn to and rage against instead of deal with her own sadness and shame.

Ali’s continued refusal to let Rue do that and his push for her to accept accountability for what she’s done without painting herself as an irredeemable monster is likely to have put Rue on a path to reckon with who she is in season 2.

Euphoria season 2 could explore Rue’s mental health

With a synopsis for the season yet to be released, we have no compass with which to guide us when it comes to the next part of Rue’s journey. However, her mental health is likely to come to the forefront.

Last season Rue explained that she’s dealt with OCD and anxiety from a young age which causes her to have panic attacks. It’s also possible she has some form of bipolar disorder that’s gone undiagnosed. She’s depressed, suicidal, and believes her drug use is the only thing keeping her from killing herself. But as “Trouble Don’t Last Always” showed, Rue now has someone to talk to about her issues.

Ali calls a spade a spade without hesitation. Unfazed by the act Rue puts on and unwilling to tolerate even her attempts at trying to snow him, he is the one person in Rue’s life where judgment isn’t on the table.

He won’t tell her what she wants to hear or soften his opinions, but he’ll listen and help her untangle the knots she’s twisted herself in. He’s her grown example of an addiction journey, imperfect but his own as he pieces together his life for himself and his family despite past wrongs.

However, whether Rue will take another go at sobriety in Euphoria season 2 is unknown at this point. Her mother and sister don’t know she’s using again. Neither does her NA group. Ali called her out, and she was only honest with him because he had her pinned on the issue the moment he saw her. This means we’re dealing with a Rue that’s not in a place to be honest without being pushed on it.

Rue and Jules in Euphoria season 2

As such anything goes with her character at this point. What’s most clear, however, is that the series hasn’t put the relationship between Rue and Jules on the shelf. It’s still very much at the forefront of the show as the bridge episodes made obvious with both girls working through what happened to them in season 1 along with how their relationship connected to it.

Jules’ bridge episode, “F*ck Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob,” revealed that Rue had gone to see her before she met up with Ali which put Rue’s bridge episode into an entirely new context. Though Jules had apologized for what happened, Rue clearly wasn’t in a place to forgive her despite not being able to stay away from her.

By season 2, judging by the teaser Zendaya posted to Instagram on Euphoria‘s premiere anniversary June 16, when Rue and Jules reunite after Christmas break she’ll be starting to move past the events of the season 1 finale.

The teaser uses a flip of the light motif present in the first season between the two girls but instead of shadows encroaching Rue’s world as Jules leaves, the shadows fade to reveal the brightness of the school hallway as she sees Jules.

It’s also apparent that the same symbolized feeling of lightness is happening to Jules whose world was also dark without Rue. Though, while we linger on Rue’s growing smile, it’s unclear what expression is on Jules’ face.

We don’t know whether the girls will salvage their friendship in Euphoria season 2 or further explore their romantic feelings for one another, but, hopefully, their communication skills improve. For Rue’s sake and for Jules’.

A release date has yet to be announced for Euphoria season 2. Stay tuned to Hidden Remote for news about the upcoming second season!