Euphoria season two, episode three, highlighted the toxic relationship between Cassie and Nate, which saw Cassie dress like Maddy in an effort to win Nate’s affection.
Euphoria’s second season is currently underway. With this season being three episodes deep, it has already had some pivotal storylines that have captured the imagination of viewers.
The biggest of which being the love triangle between best friends Cassie and Maddy, and Maddy’s ex-boyfriend, Nate.
In this situation, Maddy is the only one that is unaware that she is in a love triangle, as Nate uses his already established manipulative skills to pit the two best friends against each other.
Cassie, who is aware of Nate’s action, is still consumed by her affection for him, hence in the last episode, she even dressed like Maddy.
Who is Euphoria’s Cassie Howard?
Euphoria is a hit American teen-drama series which takes, “A look at life for a group of high school students as they grapple with issues of drugs, sex, and violence.”
One of its central characters is Cassie Howard, played by Sydney Sweeney. She is the beautiful, blonde-haired, blue eyed, soft spoken, popular girl in school.
However, during the first season of the show, we learnt about her unhealthy need for male validation, which resulted in her terminating her pregnancy.
Cassie’s need for male validation continues into the second season, as she starts an affair with her best friend’s ex-boyfriend, Nate Jacobs.
Euphoria: Why did Cassie dress like Maddy?
The latest episode to air from season two of Euphoria was the third episode titled, Ruminations: Big and Little Bullys. This episode heavily focussed on Cassie and Nate’s affair, and Nate’s attempts at calling the affair off.
A matter which seemingly drove Cassie into an obsessive tangent, where she tried, by all means, to get Nate’s attention.
Every day, she would wake up at 4:00 to start her highly detailed self-care routine, all in an effort to dazzle Nate and get him to look at her.
At first, she does this by dolling herself up in her best outfits and looks. However, that seemingly does not work. Eventually, in her obsessive tangent, she puts together a look that gets a glimpse and slight shock from Nate.
Initially, Cassie feels elated that she has finally gotten what she had set to get- Nate’s affection. However, that elation is quickly deflated when she realises that she has dressed and made herself up like her best friend, and Nate’s ex, Maddy.
Was Cassie dressing up like Maddy intentional?
During this sequence, the viewers only get to see how the events unfold from Cassie’s perspective. So, when she is fixating on her morning routine, in an effort to get Nate’s attention at school, this is all through Cassie’s gaze.
Therefore, by the time she does, as the viewer, you cannot help but feel the same elation she does.
Moreover, we feel the embarrassment and shame, when we all see that she is dressed exactly like Maddy. The sequence leads viewers to believe that the choice was subconscious, even for Cassie.
Why is Nate in the wrong?
The secret affair between Cassie and Nate is wrong, considering that Cassie is Maddy’s best friend. However, the fans and the writers have placed a large part of the blame on Nate.
This is as Nate had shown that he was emotionally and physically abusive during season one of Euphoria.
Therefore, while it did seem like he was working on his anger and emotional issues, he has also been working on shifting the blame to Maddy, hence his attempt to replace her with Cassie.
The toxic love triangle is also fuelled by Nate, hence the blame is placed on him.
What to expect next on Euphoria
The trailer for the upcoming fourth episode of season two has been shared. The episode is set to be titled You Who Cannot See, Think Of Those Who Can. A title inspired by a popular French surrealist idiom.
In terms of Cassie, Nate and Maddy, it seems that the love-triangle will continue as Cassie and Nate continue the back-and-forth, while Maddy celebrates her birthday and is given a surprise birthday gift by Nate on her special day.
It is unclear whether this is the episode which will see Maddy take Nate back.
Conclusion
Euphoria is currently three episodes into the second season, and the HBO Max hit show already has people talking. One of the biggest talking points being how well Sydney Sweeney is bringing Cassie Howard’s continually search for male validity to life.
This is as she has entered into a toxic love triangle with her best friend, Maddy’s ex abusive boyfriend, Nate.
The last episode saw Cassie so fixated with getting the attention of Nate so much, that she dressed like Maddy subconsciously in an effort to be seen by him.