Tear Jerker / Euphoria

Despite what the title suggests, Euphoria is not always a joyful series.

As a Moments subpage, spoilers are off! You have been warned.

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Season 1

• When Jules excitedly tells Rue she's meeting Tyler in person, Rue warns her that it could be dangerous, hurting Jules' feelings and leading to a fight. Rue is a nervous wreck for the rest of the day, and when she later goes to Jules' house to apologize, she immediately falls apart, saying Jules is the best thing that's happened to her in a long time and she doesn't want to lose her.
  Rue: I just, I don't want anything bad to happen to you. You can't just be mad at me for wanting you to be okay. You can say I'm being anxious, you know? Just...(voice breaking) it hurts my heart too much.
• Rue, unable to handle her burgeoning feelings for Jules, attempts to procure drugs from Fezco once more to try and cope and Fez tells her he won't help her kill herself anymore and cuts her off. In a scene reminiscent of The Basketball Diaries, Rue cries and pounds on the door, calling Fez a "hypocrite" and angrily insulting him, before blaming him for getting her addicted to drugs in the first place. All Fez can do from the other side of the door is quietly apologize.
• An 11-year-old Jules being forcibly admitted by her mother into a mental health facility. Word of God states that her gender dysphoria was a major reason, alongside her struggles with self-harm.
• Maddy coming home from the carnival and crying upon seeing the bruises on her neck from where Nate choked her for confronting him.
• Cassie getting told by McKay in episode 4 that he doesn't want to admit publicly they're dating because her infamous and very sexual reputation already precedes her and her subsequent breakdown afterward.
• In "'03 Bonnie and Clyde", Rue presents her relationship with Jules as a good thing, driving her to stay sober and rebuild her relationships with her family and friends. For Jules, on the other hand, it's extremely stressful, as her dad now has reasons to ask about her sex life, she's still not entirely sure that she's sexually attracted to Rue, and she is terrified that if things don't work out, Rue will fall off the wagon again. The last shot of the episode perfectly encapsulates the disconnect, with Rue snuggled contentedly against Jules while the latter has a Thousand-Yard Stare.
• In "The Next Episode", Rue becomes convinced that she's the reason Jules has started drinking and begins to question whether their relationship is truly healthy for either of them. Making things worse is her realization that she's getting a taste of what she's put her family through with her own drug abuse.
• Jules and Rue try to take some time off from their relationship. Rue ends up so depressed that she can't even go to the bathroom, while Jules finally realizes that she really is attracted to Rue... after having sex with another girl.
• "And Salt the Earth Behind You":
  • While visiting Rue in the hospital, Jules guiltily asks if her decision to leave town was responsible for Rue's depression. Rue's assurance that her health problems were unrelated backfires, causing Jules to start talking excitedly about her trip to the city... and the fact that she slept with Anna, not realizing that Rue might see her actions as an indicator that she's getting bored with her.
  • After escaping Nate's influence, Maddy still is shown to care about him, even as she tells him to his face that he's an abusive monster, which he admits is true.
  • Realizing that McKay will probably not step up and become a dad, Cassie reluctantly gets an abortion.
  • The episode ends with Rue deciding to stay in town while Jules runs away to LA, ending their relationship. This is followed by flashbacks to Rue's family life set to Donny Hathaway's cover of "A Song for You," while being intercut with Rue sobbing as she walks home from the train station. Moreover, the scene (and ultimately the season) ends with Rue doing drugs again.
    • What makes it worse is that leaving Jules was likely the most rational decision Rue could have made under the circumstances. She knows that she needs to be on medication, she knows that running away would have upset her family and friends, and she knows that Jules will either cheat on her with Anna or expect her to have an open relationship. It's quite possibly the first time in the whole series that Rue seriously thinks about her future... and there is no assurance that she'll be better off for it in the long run.
    • Not to mention subtle reveal that Rue had been wearing her deceased father's clothes throughout the entire season.

Specials

• The Christmas special "Trouble Don't Last Always" has Rue admitting to Ali that she thinks that she's a terrible person for her actions towards her mother and her drug addiction. But, more so, she even admits to him that she doesn't want to live much longer. In response, Ali asks her an Armor-Piercing Question: "How do you want your mom and your sister to remember you?" After several long beats, Rue responds devastatingly with "As someone who tried really hard to be someone they couldn't."
  • Ali admitting his past as having relapsed for a year and a half, which led to him striking his ex-wife in front of his children. This caused a My God, What Have I Done? moment that led to his return to rehab because he didn’t want to end up that way.
• The second special "Fuck Anyone’s Who’s Not a Sea Blob" gives us Jules’ perspective on the events that occurred during the first season. The audience learns that her mother Amy came back from rehab to reconcile with Jules and her father David, but Jules rejected her. Shortly afterwards, Amy relapsed, which Jules felt responsible about (hence her breakdown at the Halloween party midway through the season alongside the issues with Nate).
  • The opening montage is set Lorde’s "Liability", which appropriately sets the tone for the rest of the special.
  • Additionally, the audience learns that Jules feels burdened by the constant emotional labor that comes with her relationship with Rue, whom she believes will probably relapse without her, which she doesn’t want her to do.
  • The fact that Jules still feels a connection to “Tyler” despite knowing that he doesn’t actually exist.
  • Then, there’s the ending: Rue arrives at Jules’ house, with Jules trying to apologize. Rue, on the verge of tears, simply tells her Merry Christmas and leaves. The episode ends with Jules’ breakdown in her room.

Season 2

• "Ruminations: Big and Little Bullys": Increasingly consumed by addiction, Rue begins to offer to deal drugs. When Ali confronts her, Rue coldly brings up his distance from his children. An understandably furious Ali calls her out over using what he confided in her to help her against him, telling Rue if she ever does that again they're done. Rue brings up him striking his wife in response. The heartbreak on Ali's face is palpable as he departs without a word; his attempts to save Rue are thrown back in his face when she does nothing but twist a knife, and he seems to come to the conclusion that Rue doesn't want to be saved.
• "Stand Still Like the Hummingbird" is just one long tearjerker from beginning to end, as it shows in raw, unflinching detail Rue's absolute lowest point.
  • Leslie confronts Rue about her relapsing, leading to a violent screaming match between the two of them and Gia. While Rue goes from breaking down doors to collapsing into tears, she discovers Gia and Leslie flushed the $10,000 of drugs she acquired for Laurie, only furthering her meltdown.
  • Rue finds out that Jules was the one who told Leslie Rue had relapsed, and upon realizing Jules is in the house, tells her that in no uncertain terms she hates her and wishes they'd never met. The sheer venom Rue shows to Jules—whom she has adored from the second they met—is absolutely heartbreaking.
  • When Leslie tries to take her to the hospital, Rue jumps out into traffic; she spends the rest of the day hiding and eventually heads off to the Howards' house after the sun sets. Here she's found and given an impromptu intervention—during which Rue reveals Cassie and Nate's secret relationship, for no other reason than to redirect attention.
  • In her mania, Rue flees to Fezco's, where she tries to steal his grandmother's medication; after he demands her to leave, she gets physical with him, forcing Fez to swiftly throw her out. Rue whimpers and begs like a child, but he just can't forgive her this time.
  • With no friends or family to turn to, she finally ends up at Laurie's—begging for anything to help with the withdrawal pains. Then, when she passes out from a morphine injection, she has a memory of the eulogy she gave at her father's funeral. At the end of an hour of watching her lose her friends, family, and her own mind to her addiction, it's like a tragic reminder that Rue's addiction started with the loss of her father.
    • Laurie also reveals that this entire time she knew Rue would mess up, and it's heavily implied Laurie is giving her the morphine injection to foster a new addiction in Rue and intends to traffic her.
• "A Thousand Little Trees of Blood":
  • In this episode, Rue is still going through withdrawal, and Gia and Leslie are taking care of her. Rue is so weak and feverish that she struggles to open a Jolly Rancher, let alone bathe or feed herself.
  • While it is somewhat Played for Laughs, Cassie's state in the episode is hard to watch due to how unstable and outright hostile she's become. She's either crying and throwing a tantrum or screaming her lungs out at her family for not taking her side in the debacle with Maddy. Even worse is that despite her guilt being clear as day, she refuses to acknowledge she did anything wrong. By the episode's beginning, Lexi and Suze are already exhausted with her.
    • At the end of the episode, Cassie has become so irate with her family that she runs away to live with Nate. As she walks out the door, she simply glares at Suze (who clearly is guilty and heartbroken at how deteriorated their relationship is) before leaving without saying a word.
  • The breakup between Kat and Ethan. After finally getting together in the Season 1 finale, Kat feels a sense of dissatisfaction in their relationship that she just can't figure out. When she finally decides to cut it off, she refuses to take any responsibility. She first lies about a terminal illness, is offended when Ethan is incredulous, and finally, when Ethan correctly deducts she's trying to break up with him, insists that he is breaking up with her. While it's Played for Laughs to a degree due to the plan's complete ridiculousness, it's still upsetting to see Kat immediately backslide into her toxic habits just to avoid being honest (with Ethan being too disappointed to even be angry).
  • Rue as the narrator continues to explain the other characters' situations, but when she goes to Jules, she—for the first time in the series'—backtracks, saying she doesn't want to talk about Jules or Elliot. "Fuck them." Rue feels remorse for what she said to her family and Ali, but she's as angry as ever with Jules.
  • The final scene of the episode. Leslie finally gets a call back from the rehabilitation center, only to be told they won't be taking Rue in. Leslie completely falls to pieces, sobbing and begging for them to help her daughter, fearing she'll kill herself without rehab.
• "The Theater and Its Double":
  • While watching a movie together at night, Leslie tells Rue about how fed up and broken she is from having to deal with her, and tells her that she's given up keeping watch over her. She informs Rue that when she turns 18 and gets out of her house, she could do whatever drugs she wants since she’ll be an adult by then. Leslie also mentions how traumatized Gia is from her behavior, as she has begun failing classes and staying up all night. Rue finds it to be understandable and sadly agrees with her.
    "You'll be 18 soon... and outta my house. And you're gonna make whatever decisions you're gonna make. I'm takin' you off my plate. (...) If I have to choose between losin' one daughter or two, I'mma fight to save her."
  • We see more of what happened between Maddy and Cassie the night Rue exposed Cassie's affair with Nate. After Cassie ran away and locked herself in her bathroom, Maddy cried and demanded a straight answer about why Cassie slept with him and if it was worth it. Maddy is clearly more devastated at Cassie's betrayal than the fact that she lost Nate.
    "I'm just sick of it... I'm sick of it. He put me through hell and now he's with my fucking best friend? Like, what the FUCK? When is it gonna END?"
• "All My Life, My Heart Has Yearned for A Thing I Cannot Name":
  • This episode features arguably the most devastating scene in the series to date: the death of the thirteen-year-old Ashtray. Fezco's house is raided by the police, and with Ashtray having just killed Custer, Fezco tries to get his younger brother to surrender himself and let him take the fall. Instead, Ashtray locks himself in the bathroom, and despite all of Fez's pleas for him to come out, a shootout ensues between Ashtray and the police. Fezco is wounded, all the while screaming and begging at the officers to not shoot. At the very end, Ashtray pulls a Wounded Gazelle Gambit, killing one officer with a shotgun—and is gunned down just a moment later. He sees the red light of a rifle aiming for his head, and has just enough time to share a terrified last look with his brother before he's killed.
  • The conversation between Fezco and Lexi, in which they both talk about what they want to do with their lives. Fezco wants to live a farm life a la Little House on the Prarie, while Lexi has her life scheduled down to the year, and plans to have three kids by the time she's 30, to which Fez replies that the Little House family has three kids. It's a subtle joke that implies Fezco wouldn't mind having a family with Lexi, emphasized by the two mutually saying they're happy that they're friends. However, with Fez being arrested at the episode's end, it seems unlikely the two will have any chance of a life together after all.
    • Fezco is left in a situation with at least 3 dead, including a police officer and a kid, and he already tried to take responsibility for it. Despite the good-natured and kind person Fezco is, he is facing a likely life sentence, if not the death penalty, for simply being the last one left alive.
    • It all becomes Harsher in Hindsight as this is the last time Fezco will be seen with the sudden death of actor Angus Cloud on July 31st, 2023 at the age of 25.
  • In the aftermath of their fight, Cassie and Maddy are in the bathroom, exhausted and bruised all over. Cassie confesses that Nate broke up with her just before she started the whole fiasco on the stage anyway, so there was no point to it. Maddy's response: "Don't worry. This is only the beginning." Maddy seems to be warning her about just how dangerous he is and judging by Cassie's Thousand-Yard Stare and her crying silently, she knows that her relationship with Nate is going to be nothing but misery, but she's gotten herself in too deep to go back.
    • The tone Maddy has while saying that line to Cassie isn't just anger toward Cassie, but also due to disappointment in herself for not doing anything to prevent her best friend from falling in love with the psychopathic Nate. But since Cassie chose not to apologize and chose to keep being with Nate despite the consequences with that decision, Maddy has no choice but to just watch her former friend being miserable.
  • Before the aforementioned fight with Maddy, Cassie's venomous "The Reason You Suck" Speech towards Lexi in front of the school, expressing her utter contempt for her younger sister and telling her that she is completely irrelevant and useless. Indeed, her tirade against Lexi, for a brief period of time, did have an effect against her, and it took Bobbi coming to her aid for the play to continue. What makes it painful is that by the end, Cassie has completely broken ties with everyone she cared about due to her obsession with Nate and her anger: Maddy is completely done with her, Lexi is abandoned and hated by her and now practically the entire school might see her as a bully which will worsen her reputation even more due to her meltdown. Cassie's arc this season ends on a tragic note as she is left all alone with nothing but bitterness, hatred and anger in her heart, while her former friends and sister leave her behind as a distant memory and move onto to healing themselves.
    • Even worse, during the play Lexi mentioned that for a long time she has had huge fears of losing the people she loved and cared about no matter what she did and blamed herself for what happened to them if she ever screwed up. And it's even made more heartbreaking when Cassie proves those fears true and uses it against her when she interrupts her play and cuts ties with her permanently.
    • If you think about it, Fez and Lexi have very similar, and depressing, situations; both lost their siblings in one day, with Ashtray dying trying to protect Fez, while Cassie has abandoned and permanently cut ties with Lexi.
  • The ending. Jules, who sees Rue alone, walks over and says that she wants to make things right with Rue, saying that she loves her. Rue then walks over and kisses her, which shows that, although she loves Jules as well, which is why she kissed her, she's afraid that she's gonna get in the way of her recovery, and would probably mean trouble for both of them, and while Rue wants to be in good terms with Jules, she feels they would work Better as Friends.
    • Jules' reaction as well. The last we see of her this season is her sitting alone and crying, most likely thinking that she truly messed things up with Rue.

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