Euphoria — the warm sensation that floods into your body, lightens your soul and makes you forget that you need something, someone or that anyone ever needed you.
In the HBO series “Euphoria,” each character is chasing this feeling, usually in the form of reprieve, through drugs, love, adoration from strangers or romanticized sexual encounters. Each episode delves into a teen’s troubled home life, from childhood to present, showing what particular traumas have manifested themselves into the adolescent character that we see on screen.
“Euphoria” aired a special episode, “Part 2: Jules,” which is a standalone vignette of Jules’ seemingly elegant yet profoundly fragile soul, on Jan. 22.
You fall in love with “Euphoria” because there is no way for you not to fall in love with its complex character in the way the show unravels their backstory. If the character is particularly sinister, you can’t help but sympathize with their origins; the intimate flashback to the root of it all, crosscut with a soulful soundtrack, pulls the darkest and heaviest parts of your soul to the surface. This is evident in a Labrinth and Zendaya collaboration “All For Us,” which was made specifically for the show. Even the most confident characters lay exposed on screen in moments of raw, ugly vulnerability, with adorned makeup in hues of glittery purple and pink.
It’s all about the backstory. The cast may be high schoolers, but millennials and some older Gen Z’ers resonate so deeply with the show because the themes are mature and align with anyone who grew up in the age of the internet.
Euphoria’s special episode “Part 2: Jules,” takes the core elements of the show — experimental and abstract storytelling, expansive emotion, vulnerability, extensive backstory —— and amplifies them, shedding off the excess.
“Part 2: Jules” not only gives us a pure depiction of Jules, but it also fills in the gaps of the romance that we all desperately root for between her and Rue, season one’s main character. This is an enormous perk for anyone who is a fan of “Euphoria.”
However, as a fan myself, I do not recommend this episode solely for its satisfying efficacy at filling in plot holes. Everyone should watch the “Euphoria” special for its portrayal of a trans woman’s most tender memories and her desire to be loved and valued by those who should the most.
What kind of love is Jules seeking? “[H]ow a mom sees you before you’re anything. And like, loves you just for that. And all you have to do is sit there and exist,” Jules said. She doesn’t ask for much.
In the first season of the American teen drama, we don’t see much of Jules’ inner emotional life. Her nature is enigmatic, up until her running away and leaving a heartbroken, drug-addicted Rue in the season finale. Jules’ needs and what she deeply longs for are largely unknown, and we can only attempt to derive meaning from her spontaneous actions.
Part 2, titled “F**k Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob,” was co-written by Hunter Schafer, the trans actor and model who plays Jules in the show, and “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson. The majority of the episode consists of a therapy session between Jules and an inquisitive, yet thoughtful therapist, spliced with flashbacks ranging from Jules’ traumatic childhood to her tumultuous relationships with Rue and various men on the internet.
“How the f**k did I spend my entire life building this … my body, and my personality and, like, my soul around what I think men desire?” Jules reveals to her therapist. “ … my entire life, I’ve been trying to conquer femininity, and somewhere along the way, I feel like femininity conquered me.”
Jules explains how girls constantly analyze and compare themselves to each other. The instant they lay their eyes on you, “[t]hey search for where you fit in their hierarchy and then they treat you accordingly.” The higher you are to the top, the closer you are to the image women create in their head of the elusive, nonexistent ideal female. Jules is cripplingly self-critical, especially under this intense scrutiny.
The episode continues to dive deeper and deeper into Jules’ struggle with perception and femininity — acceptance, romanticism, forgiveness, fantasy. She expresses herself so sincerely, eloquently turning these frustratingly ambiguous and deeply buried notions into tangible expressions that the audience in turn feels so acutely, although, will probably never be able to comprehend fully. Jules expresses something that is so pure, despite being shrouded in fear or vulnerability. To conjure words that acutely relay specific human experiences and emotions is a miraculous feat. Schafer’s monologues, stand alone, do exactly this.
Not to mention, the episode includes angelic chorus tracks that play throughout. One notable moment is during a flashback in Jules’ point of view, in which Rue lays in bed, looks into her eyes and smiles purely back. Rue gazes at the camera the way everyone wants to be looked at, without judgment — eyes that light up simply at the fact that you, the perceived, exist and are looking right back. No song could ever amplify the same, unadulterated innocence in that gaze in the way that choral music did.
But not to worry, the “F**k Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob” soundtrack includes some memorable pop music, featuring a new wistful song by Rosalía and Billie Eilish. Additionally, Lorde’s melancholy “Liability” reels us into Jules’ pensive and concerned world during the episode’s introduction.
Jules’ special episode is a flow of soft and billowy storytelling, romantic retrospectives and gloomy childhood memories, scattered with intense scenes of family conflict and rough sexual experiences. This episode is an essential narrative building block in the “Euphoria” series, which you must watch in order to see Jules’ self perception. Moving forward, the story wouldn’t make sense any other way.
Jacqueline Lee is an Entertainment Intern for the Winter 2021 quarter. She can be reached at jacqusl4@uci.edu.