After waiting four long years for Euphoria to return to our screens, the beloved HBO show’s third — and possibly final season — is premiering on Sunday.
Season 3 is picking up five years after the events of the last season and finds Rue (Zendaya) running from drug lords in Mexico while Jules (Hunter Schafer) is paying her way through art school by being a sugar baby, and Nate (Jacob Elordi) and Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) are married and living in the suburbs as Cassie finds success making adult content.
That all sounds great, but since social media has rotted all of our brains and destroyed our attention spans, you’ve probably forgotten half of the things that happened in the first two seasons.
You’d be forgiven if you only have a vague recollection of the messy drama that went down since the show has been on hiatus for close to fifty years. Okay, it hasn’t been quite that long, but four years is way too long for us to remember exactly where we left off with the toxic high schoolers.
So here’s a rundown of all of the important info you’ll need to enjoy the new season.
Jules and Rue’s relationship
Jules and Rue in 'Euphoria.'
HBO
When the show starts Rue is a 17-year-old drug addict who just got out of rehab. She stays sober for a good chunk of the first season as she meets and falls for the new kid at school, a trans girl named Jules. The first season ends with a tearful goodbye at a train station when Rue decides to stay behind and relapse instead of running away to the city with Jules.
Jules and Nate and the whole catfishing saga
Jules in 'Euphoria.'
HBOAfter Nate’s father Cal (Eric Dane) sleeps with Jules in secret, Nate finds the sex tape he made and attempts to catfish Jules on Grindr in a twisted attempt to protect his family. Jules starts to fall for his made-up persona, and Nate starts to have feelings for Jules too, stirring up questions about his sexuality. When Jules finds out what happened, Nate switches to blackmailing her instead.
The Nate-Maddy-Cassie love triangle
Nate and Maddy in 'Euphoria.'
HBO
Season 1 starts with Nate and Maddy (Alexa Demi) in a toxic — and abusive —relationship. Nate slams her against a wall and chokes her in oner episode and plays Russian Roulette with her in another. For her part, Maddy is emotionally manipulative and blackmails Nate. It’s bad all around.
Cassie and Nate start hooking up in secret while he and Maddy are in one of their many on-again-off-again moments. While they might not have officially cheated, Cassie broke girl code and their friendship falls apart because of it.
Elliot, Jules, and Rue’s messy relationship
Jules and Elliot in 'Euphoria.'
HBO
The show hasn’t had one, but two volatile, toxic love triangles. Rue and Jules have a codependent relationship that gets complicated when Rue starts using again and Elliot becomes her drug buddy. Rue starts to pull away from Jules as her addiction takes over her life and so Jules starts hooking up with Elliot behind Rue’s back.
Everything falls agate when Elliot tells Jules and that Rue has replaced and Jules takes that information to Rue’s mom.
Lexi’s play
One of the biggest and most dramatic moments of season 2 came in the form of a play that parodied the lives of all of the show’s main characters. Cassie’s sister Lexi — who also used to be Rue’s BFF — created an elaborate school play that ends up lambasting pretty much everyone. As the play unfolds, the characters start getting uncomfortable as they watch their lives play out on stage.
Cassie and Nate have the biggest reactions to Our Lives. Nate is called out for potentially being a closet case with a hot and sweaty homoerotic dance routine featuring a gaggle of hunky shirtless twunks. He’s furious and embarrassed, so he breaks up with Cassie, who then throws a tantrum and tries to destroy the end of the play.
Rue is the only one who seemed to enjoy the way she was portrayed in the play, and this leads to her and Lexi reconciling.
Where season 2 leaves off
Maddy yelling at Cassie in 'Euphoria.'
HBO
Rue is able to stay sober after an intervention (and the help of her sponsor, played by Colman Domingo), and makes amends with her ex-girlfriend Jules, who was the one to tell everyone Rue had relapsed. Despite her commitment to sobriety, Rue still owes thousands of dollars to the terrifying drug dealer Laurie.
Nate broke up with Cassie after that wild homoerotic dance number in Lexi’s play, which outed him as potentially being gay. In anger, Cassie attempts to destroy the end of her sister Lexi’s play, and gets into a fight with her former bestie Maddy, which leads to the pair sitting in silence together before Maddy walks off.
Nate’s relationship with Cassie and Maddy exploded, and he ended up having his father Cal arrested for all of the illegally recorded sexual encounters Cal had over the years. This was after Cal finally came out to his family after decades of being in the closet.
Rue finally apologizes to Elliot after he told Jules (who subsequently told Rue’s mom) that she had relapsed. Leaving Rue, Jules, and Elliot all in a better place.
Now, let’s see what kind of chaos season 3 brings out beloved messy characters!
