‘Euphoria’: Jules’ Side of the Story Is Revealed in 2nd Special Episode – Which Ends With a Twist

HBO drama’s latest episode, “F*ck Anyone Who’s Not A Sea Blob,” filled in some Season 1 blanks

Euphoria Jules special
HBO

(Warning: This post contains spoilers for the “Euphoria” special “F*ck Anyone Who’s Not A Sea Blob.”)

HBO’s second “Euphoria” special premieres Sunday, but for fans who have an HBO Max subscription, the story was revealed Friday with the streaming service’s early launch of the episode, “F*ck Anyone Who’s Not A Sea Blob.”

And it’s during this installment that we find out Jules’ (Hunter Schafer) side of the story after the first “Euphoria” special revealed what Rue (Zendaya) has been going through since the Season 1 finale saw the girls’ plan to run away together fall apart when Rue bailed and Jules left without her.

Part 2 of “Euphoria” standalone episodes picks up with Jules in a therapy session on Christmas, her first session with this new therapist whom her father has forced her to see because of her behavior. Jules is not happy to be there, but eventually gives into the idea and opens up about the events that brought her there, including her relationships with her mother, her ex Rue and her former online boyfriend Tyler, who was actually Nate (Jacob Elordi) cat-fishing her.

It turns out that, though we didn’t see it during the first season of “Euphoria,” Jules was dealing with her mother’s fragile sobriety and attempts to reconcile with her for months. Jules’ holiday therapy session helps her realize the similarities between her relationship with her mother and her relationship with Rue: both people who really “saw her” (her mother when she was a baby, Rue during their friendship and then romance), but who were also incapable of seeing how their addictions affected her.

This plays out with Jules having her own vision of what could have happened if her and Rue ran off together, which is Rue overdosing while Jules is out of their apartment.

Jules also tells the therapist about her sexual relationship with Tyler, which she still fantasizes about and misses. But she also knows it was all imaginary and that’s why it was so perfect to her — though she is now traumatized by it after the revelation Tyler was really Nate tricking her.

Rue’s first kiss with Jules is shown in a flashback, during which Jules explains to the therapist how many times she had wanted to kiss Rue, but was afraid to, and then is ashamed that she froze when Rue finally kissed her.

Jules tells the therapist she is thinking of going off her hormone replacement therapy, as she has previously been afraid of what the “thickening” and “deepening” of puberty would do to her as a transgender woman, but is rethinking the idea of femininity that she’s held onto for so long now, which she says was purely informed by what she thinks men want.

The special ends with a bit of a twist when Rue comes to visit Jules, who is grounded after running away. Rue tells Jules she was riding her bike by her house on her way to see her sponsor, Ali (Colman Domingo), and the girls confess they have missed each other. Jules begins to apologize for leaving Rue and Rue begins to cry and blurts out, “Merry Christmas, Jules” before leaving. Jules bursts into tears alone in her room.

It’s this emotional encounter that makes it clear to viewers that, though this “Euphoria” standalone special is Part 2, it takes place before the events of Part 1, during which Rue has just gotten high before her Christmas-night meeting with Ali. So in that Rue episode, “Trouble Don’t Last Always,” when Rue gets that “I miss you” text from Jules — which she sends along with a link to the song “Me in 20 Years” — it’s coming from a Jules she has just seen and walked out on.

Both “Euphoria” episodes, which are meant to be “bridge” installments between Season 1 and Season 2, were filmed under COVID-19 safety guidelines. No premiere date has been set for the drama’s second season yet.

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