By Tyler Banark

For the first time in what feels like an eternity, an episode of Euphoria opens with Rue’s narration, providing exposition on a particular character. The one in question is who other than Cassie? Since the wedding, her OnlyFans career has taken off, thanks to attending a party hosted by a popular TikTok influencer. She surpassed 50,000 subscribers and started being invited to appear on popular podcasts. The catch, though, is that the bigger Cassie’s following got, the crazier her content became. I won’t go into further detail, but this exposition led to a sequence where Cassie turns into a giant and goes full-on Attack of the 50 Foot Woman on a practical model set of LA. It’s fun-ish and serves as a fair metaphor for her rise, with a fitting Hans Zimmer score. Still, it’s Euphoria, run by Sam Levinson, we’re talking about; anything bizarre is there merely for shock value. 

Color me surprised when I say that this episode, titled This Little Piggy, was equally unamusing and not cringeworthy. Aside from the opening scene, nothing weird happened for the rest of the show. Nate loses another toe and a finger because of the debt he’s still trying to get paid off, but that was about it. There has been discourse among OnlyFans content creators about the ethics of Cassie’s actions. A lot of them say what she does is too extreme and that they would never put themselves through what Cassie does. In an effort to shift gears, Maddy cons her way into getting Cassie an audition for the soap opera Lexi has connections to. Cassie gets an audition, and it works, but we’ll have to see how it pans out. The way the director and producer watch her recite a monologue from Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra has me thinking Cassie has some humiliation coming her way. 

Meanwhile, Rue’s side story is spicing up as she continues to serve as a DEA mole and seeks to expose Alamo and Laurie. After she fails to call Laurie and tries to antagonize her by wiretapping, she calls one of her henchmen, who makes the connection. After this, things turn in a direction I wasn’t expecting, and Maddy is introduced to Rue’s subplot. While out at a diner one night, Rue and Maddy are unexpectedly visited by Alamo. Rue introduces them to each other and is asked to leave with Alamo’s henchmen, Bishop, and G. From there, Alamo and Maddy talk about what she wants to do with her life, and he introduces her to the strippers at his club. What this will mean for the rest of the season has me intrigued, for once, as I wonder whether someone on the show will be roped in to one of Rue’s endeavors. 

If Kitty Likes to Dance had me worried as to where the second half of this season’s going to go, This Little Piggy has me slightly roped back in. It may end up being a strategic game of where, when, and how to incorporate all the subplots to the finish line. If it’s done right, this season of Euphoria may end on a somewhat better note than I had anticipated. My main hope is that nothing cringingly gross comes of the last three episodes, and that the sour taste this show has put in my mouth doesn’t get any worse. 

3 1/2 stars