so i promised i would do a kind of review (?) on the rest of the characters for euphoria. so here’s the next:
(dividing into parts because this one is long.)
i have much less harsher words for the writing of maddie as i did cassie. thankfully, her writing, at least for her character’s personality, is still on par with the previous seasons.
i will say that after s1 and s2, i definitely did not picture maddie to be an internet pimp(?). i pictured her to be a figure in fashion, such as a designer, maybe a stylist, a makeup artist, even a fashion/makeup influencer. i didn’t visualise her as an assistant, especially to some C-tier TV actor, which is part of her job. definitely not a social media manager/agent figure. a part of me has an inkling, that maddie being given this specific job set is more of sam levinson’s personal motto of making every female character, literally every single one, whether directly or indirectly to some kind of sex work/mafia which again leads to sex work, but i can give the benefit of the doubt.
did i think maddie would be take the line of work she does in s3? no. does it surprise me like cassie’s did? also no.
i think maddie’s storyline is interesting, and with the way cassie has been written in s3, nothing will give me more satisfaction than maddie taking the bag from cassie. but it’s the small things that really show discrepancies in the writing, which might be not the case for some, however this is how i feel.
starting of maddie’s “interview”(?); now, i know, many people are pointing out that that scene with her straight up going to her future boss, and just bluffing her way into a job is highly unrealistic and it’s true, however, it’s also highly out of character. throughout seasons 1 and 2, maddie does use manipulation to get people do what they need to for her but never at the level to downgrade herself. even when her toxic relationship with nate, demanded her to act a certain way for nate, she did use more pastel colours to agree with the feminine look that his toxic masculinity preferred and to convince about her inexperience towards her sexual life, she never changed herself, or outwardly turned herself submissive for him to keep their relationship.
now i know, the counterpart will be, that it isn’t that easy to get a job without playing the cards right, or there is only some point till which maddie could keep her name ahead. but you’re telling me she can just waltz into a café that penzler’s in, and admit that her parents are immigrants (as if it’s something to look down upon, i will not look over this dogwhistle), that her generation is entitled, that she doesn’t have any college degree or work experience and that she believes in capitalism and just get a job? not only is this bad writing script completely unrealistic and in no way a method to get a job, even if it does involve social media presence, but it’s so unlike maddie to downgrade herself and play along with the system when maddie is the utter opposite. you can’t convince me that maddie isn’t the type of person who would rather use her bluff in getting connections, finding good references and successfully convince the interviewer on a fake resumé. now, that’s maddie.
to me, i couldn’t help but feel, that in his own way, even through a small thing like this, and please call me petty if you’d like, but sam levinson could still find a way to paint a picture of women downgrading themselves for the system and men, in general. this is such a recurring theme.
in s3ep5, we see maddie cleaning dog’s shit which has two main problems i can’t help but gape at: a) why the fuck are there so many gruesome scenes of animals just excreting? i don’t need to see pig or dog shit on my screen and whatever serious atmosphere that levinson is trying to convince me into, is certainly not being conveyed in this. this adds to absolutely nothing, and there are so many of such scenes, i’m just convinced that this has to be some kind of subculture. b) maddie would rather rather snatch her boss by the hair and smash it into a glass wall, than clean dog shit. no one can tell me she doesn’t know her job description, and definitely never come knocking at my door to tell me maddie would ever clean anyone’s shit even if it was in her job description. that’s just not who maddie is.
yes, maddie is money-oriented. yes, maddie absolutely loves and indulges in success and luxury and would go down to a murder for it. but never at the cost of her self-respect and dignity. she would murder someone but she would never degrade herself for the sake of money. even if nate was a rich kid, and his dad had a booming business, which for maddie’s fucked up household with a deadbeat dad and a mother with a small job at a salon, would’ve been a blessing, it was only at some level maddie would take shit from nate.
whenever i see whatever the writers are doing for her, i remember her conversations with samantha (who btw, i would’ve loved to see in s3, what happened to her??). maddie has taste for success and money and she has class, and i think levinson forget’s that. this is also one of the reasons, i did not really picture maddie being a behind-the-scenes kind of management figure but it’s still believable, unlike cassie.
unfortunately for me, i do love the fact that maddie is making a business out of cassie. not only because their dynamic is interesting but also because again, this is one of the few times the plot actually sticks to character. for maddie, revenge is still a huge part of who she is and, she has given cassie enough chances.
i think initially maddie did miss cassie’s friendship as nostalgia, although she was cautious. i think the idea of helping cassie become a social media figure started when she saw the doggy video. the wedding scene was purely maddie missing cassie. no one can and will convince me otherwise. i think, maddie did get the inkling from their meeting before that cassie wasn’t really there to apologise but she got closure from that wedding. it was almost like maddie was hoping for cassie to speak up for what nate’s mother said, or at least privately apologise. she realises then cassie wasn’t really ever friend and that it wouldn’t be long before cassie betrays her again.
i do not want to give levinson credit, and maybe it was someone else who pitched the idea, but the reference of two children being a miniature version of maddie and cassie is more of a reference of what maddie and cassie once used to be— and how they drive away from it into the city.
anyways, this part i, what are your thoughts?
