‘Euphoria’ Season 2 Finale Recapped and All Your Questions Answered

Warning: Spoilers for the season finale of Euphoria ahead. 

This season of Euphoria has brought a swath of hard-to-watch moments. A couple of episodes ago, Rue verbally attacked her friends and family and tore her house apart when they destroyed her drug stash. In the following episode, Nate held a gun to Maddy’s head, then to his own, to get her to give up an incriminating disc. But the season finale, which aired Sunday, really kicked up the tension. I don’t remember the last time I held my breath, covered my face with my hands and felt tears welling while watching an episode of television. This episode was excruciating.

There’s a lot to unpack from the finale, but we have to start with that scene. 

What happened to Fezco?

The season 2 finale wasted no time in addressing the foremost question on everyone’s mind from the penultimate episode — why Fez didn’t make it to Lexi’s play. The episode starts with Fez announcing he’s going to leave for the play, as we saw in episode 7. He then gets stopped by Custer. 

We know Custer is helping the police take down Fez and Ashtray for Mouse’s murder, and Faye also knows. When Custer begins to talk about Mouse, Faye drops a glass, which shatters on the floor. Then — in an amazing, crowd-pleasing move — she puts a finger to her mouth, indicating Fez should stay quiet.

Faye begins to say that drug dealer Laurie murdered Mouse. But just as odds seem to be turning against Custer, Ashtray fatally stabs him in the neck. Fez tells Ashtray he’s taking the fall for the murder when the police come. But Ashtray doesn’t listen and winds up locking himself in the bathroom with firearms and ammunition.

The events at Fezco’s house play out in between other Euphoria scenes. Soon, we arrive at that brutal one. Fez still can’t get Ashtray to open the door. The police burst in, and Fez begs them not to shoot, pleading that Ashtray is just a kid. Ash fires the first bullets through the door, and one of them hits Fez in the gut. While he lies on the floor bleeding, Fez continues to scream for the officers to stop. The end only comes when Ash shoots a policeman at close range, then Ash is shot off-screen.

The roughly four-minute ordeal is excruciating. I might go out on a limb and say the heaviest stuff on a teen show maybe ever? (Though I admittedly haven’t been keeping up with Riverdale lately.) An hour later, my head was still pounding.

What does Cassie do after being dumped by Nate?

Cassie, freshly dumped by Nate, makes her way on stage and starts berating Lexi. She claims Lexi put on the play to humiliate her, and starts to pick a fight with a cast member. Then a long-awaited moment comes to fruition. Maddy still hadn’t truly been able to have it out with Cassie after learning she and Nate were sleeping together. In a scene set to comedic circus music, Maddy runs on stage and slaps Cassie, then chases her off.

Do Maddie and Cassie reconcile?

Unfortunately not. In a later scene in a bathroom, a scuffed-up Cassie tells Maddy that she and Nate broke up. “Don’t Worry,” Maddy replies. “This is just the beginning.”

Does Rue continue to recover? 

At the very end of the episode, Rue reveals she’s stayed sober throughout the rest of the school year. We also learn through a flashback that Rue has made amends with Elliot, but not Jules. The scene gifts us a full-length song performed by Elliot, who’s portrayed by musician Dominic Fike.

Do Rue and Jules make up?

Rue and Jules have a short and unrevealing conversation near the end of the episode. Jules tells Rue she loves her. Rue kisses Jules on the forehead and leaves. In a voiceover, Rue says Jules was her first love. It’s unclear whether that is a definitive “was,” but I’m willing to bet it’s not the end for these two.

Do we see Cal again?

Indeed, it’s another dark part of the episode. We see Nate walking up to his dad’s business with a gun. Nate reveals to Cal he found videos of Cal having sex with prostitutes when he was just 11. Cal opens up to his son, saying that he loves Nate and regrets not keeping him safe. But Nate says he doesn’t want an apology, just revenge. He pulls out a flash drive that has “everything” on it. We see police car lights appear outside, and Cal is arrested.

What else happens in Lexi’s play? 

The drama stirred up by Maddy puts Lexi in low spirits, but after a crowd-cheer started by Rue, she returns to the stage and the play resumes. Lexi also quotes something Fez said to her regarding upsetting people with her show: “Sometimes people need to get their feelings hurt.”

The play features flashbacks with Rue at her father’s funeral and Lexi at her father’s bedside. We also get a rare scene in which the pair have a heart-to-heart. That interaction between the two appears to happen in the future, after Lexi’s play, but somehow is still a part of the play. Rue tells Lexi that seeing the play meant the world to her, and that the play was the first time she was able to look at her life and not hate herself. They talk about losing their dads, and how it’s affected them.

How did Mouse die?

In the very first episode of the season, a continuation of a scene from the season 1 finale, money was changing hands between Fez and Mouse. Ash charged in with a hammer and hit Mouse square in the head, leaving a pretty gross, gaping hole. That was the end of Mouse. 

Given that Mouse was a pretty irredeemable character, (remember when he forced Rue to take fentanyl in season 1?) we weren’t sad to see him go. 

Will Euphoria get a season 3?

Yep. Earlier this month, HBO renewed the show for a third season. Euphoria is now the second most watched show on HBO since 2004, trailing only behind Game of Thrones, according to Variety. 

Stray observations:

• In between the opening scene at Fez’s house and Lexi’s play, we see a flashback to an undeniably sweet Fexi moment, which makes everything that much harder to bear. What is Lexi going to do when she finds out what happened? I’m a mess.
• We get a funny reaction from Rue to a furious Cassie breathing on glass like the velociraptor from Jurassic Park.
• What happens with Kat and Ethan? She and Ethan broke things off back in episode 6. Ethan’s impressive performance in Our Life’s workout musical number was a show-stopper, and a reminder of how this unproblematic and frankly awesome character deserves better from Kat. (C’mon, they don’t have to get back together, but the guy at least deserves an apology for that fake brain disorder spiel.)
• Some other unresolved bits: We still have creepy Laurie to worry about. Rue owes her money, so unfortunately, we likely aren’t free of this unsettling teacher turned drug dealer yet. Also, I’m still wondering about that camera we saw in Samantha’s house. Something weird is definitely afoot.