Euphoria Episodes 1–2; Andale, America My Dream
Euphoria is back after a 4.5 year hiatus and here are my thoughts on the characters and episodes.
By Reichan Pendragon | Apr 20, 2026; 10:08 a.m.
Let's waste no time and get straight into where everyone is and the recaps. Rue Bennet – Well, shit. We catch up with Rue to find out Laurie caught up to her and now has Rue working for her
smuggling fentanyl across the U.S.–Mexico border. She and Faye smuggle drugs over by swallowing little bags of the fent with the help of plastic, gelatin, and a prayer that the bags don't burst in their systems and kill them instantly. Laurie doesn't seem to be doing too bad though. She moved out of East Highland and into the suburbs after Fezco's raid, and seems to be taking decent care of Rue, who owes her over 600,000 dollars.
Nate and Cassie (soon-to-be) Jacobs are living out their youth and wealth is the suburbs, looking forward to their posh wedding. All seems to be well as Nate has taken over his father's construction business since his predatory scandal 4 years prior, however, when Cassie expresses her need to have a $50,000 flower arrangement, which is denied by Nate as he explained it is a ridiculous amount of flowers for one day that will die anyway. An upset Cassie decides if her soon-to-be husband won't get her the flowers she desires, then she'll need to pay for them herself. But Cassie is a housewife with no job, so she comes up with the idea to start and Onlyfans. When she brings this up to Nate, he immediately rejects the idea and berates her as a whore who's showing off her body for a flower arrangement. But it's more than that to Cassie. She knows what she wants and whatever she wants, she plans on getting, no matter how she gets it (Flashback?) They compromise in an agreement she won't show her breasts and her face at the same time.
When Rue drops off drugs to a mansion in the desert mountains, she finds herself in some hot water when she starts feeling herself a little too much and begins dancing with homeowner and strip club mogul Alamo Brown's women. After some small talk, one of Alamo's girls is found dead; overdosed on fentanyl. Rue persists she had no idea that the drugs were laced, and neither did anyone else as it was a mistake on Faye's end, who didn't clean the table while packing Xanax. Rue practically takes a bullet to the head in a William Tell styled russian roulette round, shot by Alamo Brown.
To everyone else, Maddy Perez is living the high life. Beautiful clothes and a beautiful visage, but in reality, Maddy's broke, working as a receptionist and living in some ugly basement getting 800 checks which I'm sure she's spending less than half of on her rent. In America My Dream, Maddy responds to a DM from Cassie who says she misses her and asks if they could meet. Maddy accepts the offer and the two seem cordial but there's obviously still sharks in the water, and it seems like Maddy's that shark. Nate is clearly caught off guard when Cassie tells him she's invited Maddy to the wedding.
We find out Nate is in fact having money problems when he's told by a mortuary owner that he owes him $600,000 and will accept $100,000 by the upcoming Friday. Call me crazy but I feel like this is the first time we've really seen Nate worry or be scared. He's always been so calculated for better or worse and has always seemed to have a future plan. Cassie also tells a party guest of theirs she is in fact doing partially nude shoots (that show her face despite her and Nate's agreement), the sneaky bitch tells her husband, who tells Nate, who becomes upset. Nate finally caves in to the $50,000 floral arrangement and Cassie deletes her OnlyFans.
Rue begins working for Alamo Brown at his strip club, after telling him she can't stand working for Laurie, who has now been aware that Rue has been 'bought'. Dancer Angel is slowly becoming erratic as she has not heard from her friend, Tish, who unbeknown to Angel, has been disposed of after her overdose. After seeing Angel go on a downward spiral, Rue (who also did a downward spiral on Angel) confesses Tish has died, which really sends Angel over the edge as Alamo has been telling her she 'fell in love and ran away'. It becomes so bad that Alamo gives Angel the ultimatum of going to rehab or getting fired. Angel agrees as Rue drops her off at the sketchiest fucking place of all time. Something by the way Rue didn't have to sign Angel in to the rehab, the way Angel desperately wanted Rue to promise to say she'd be back, the dirty fingernails of the receptionist, and the final look Rue and Angel exchanged before Rue left tell me we won't be seeing Angel again. R.I.P. Queen.
Oh, and before I forget, Lexi is somewhat established, working as an assistant for Sharon Stone's character, and Jules is a sugar baby. Still don't like either, but hey, just an opinion.
