TV Review: EUPHORIA: Season 1, Episode 4: Shook One: Pt II [HBO]

Euphoria Shook One Pt II Review

HBO‘s Euphoria: Season 1, Episode 4: Shook One: Pt II is the best written episode of Euphoria so far, with storylines and characters colliding at a central location. Shook One: Pt II contains cinematography and editing that stand out for a mere TV show episode, creating singular, tense, and memorable moments outside of the drama within its scenes.

Jules and the Mental Institution

Jules Vaughn (Hunter Schafer)’s backstory is the centerpiece of the episode. The question of how Jules’ dad ended up with custody over her mother is answered in Shook One: Pt II. The mental health segment is the most intriguing part of Jules’ past, with shades of Girl, Interrupted and the A Blade of Grass episode of Penny Dreadful mixed within it. When younger Jules gets out of the mental ward, she may be more traumatized (e.g. the cry-for-help suicide attempt) than when she entered the psychiatric facility. The one benefit of her ordeal is that before and after the psych-ward, Jules finally verbalizes her internal struggles. It is the beginning of the most transformative period in her life.

The Pond Meeting

Jules and Tyler’s meeting has the potential to be the best moment in Jules’ life if the fiction that is Tyler turns out to be true.

It doesn’t.

In the beginning of their meet up, Tyler / Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi) does the unthinkable. With his words, he begins winning over cynical and jaded Jules, a person that has seen a glimpse of Tyler’s darkness in Pilot and wants nothing to do with him. By that body of water in Shook One: Pt II, Jules finally sees all of Tyler, parts of him hidden from his family, father, and girlfriend.

That full picture of Nate is a nightmare. When he drops the mask that he wears, Jules sees that he is: highly-intelligent, manipulative, cruel, duplicitous, and violent.

The possible redemption / reinvention of Nate ends with a brilliant plot-turn and Nate protecting his father from himself. Nate obviously found Jules’ DVD in his father’s collection, saw the danger that liaison represented to his family, and laid an extremely clever trap for Jules. The problem with that trap is that it reveals a large part of Nate wants to be with Jules. Because of what he does by the pond, however, he kills that possibility forever.

Cassie Howard and Her Past

Chris McKay (Algee Smith) not acknowledging his growing relationship with Cassie Howard (Sydney Sweeney) in front of Nate is a situation that is completely unnecessary. Chris knows Nate is going to give him a hard time about dating Cassie so why does Chris bring Cassie to the fair in the first place? Why does he bring her to Nate’s booth? The result of that decision is breaking Cassie’s heart and destroying the illusion that her past would not catch up with her.

When Chris explains to Cassie why he doesn’t want Nate to know that he is dating her and the reasons for the reticence, the viewer can see Cassie cracking with each word. Until that moment, Cassie has no idea that her past sexual activities have permeated to so many and that it has gotten back to Chris. She has no idea until that moment that Chris thinks she is a slattern, this perception is widely held, and that is why he doesn’t want to publicly acknowledge dating her.

As her eyes water, Chris is oblivious to the hurtful effect his words are having on her, like she is less than human so hurting her feelings is irrelevant, her tears merely vestigial.

At least Chris has enough conscience residue not to tell her about the video that he has seen. He spared her that mental and emotional coffin nail. Cassie has no idea that one of her previous sexual encounters was digitally recorded and capriciously passed around like a juicy nude pic.

Cassie thought she had found a good guy, someone that she could reinvent herself with, someone that saw her as special. Those guys exist in this narrative but Chris proves in Shook One: Pt II that he is not one of them. Is Cassie blinded by affection or naive enough to believe that her ample sexual liaisons have no social consequences? It is never revealed in the episode. What is revealed is that Chris and Cassie see their relationship from completely different perspectives and in this episode of Euphoria, those two perspectives collide to emotionally devastating effect.

The Rejection Scenarios

Cassie and Maddy Perez (Alexa Demie) both deal with boyfriend rejection in different and colorful ways. While Cassie’s method is entertaining (to the disbelief of everyone that sees it), Maddy’s method is at first pugnacious then tragic. The feisty “cunt” part of it is hilarious but it’s the abusive relationship segment, complete with finger-marks on throat, that reveal just how toxic Nate and Maddy’s relationship has become. Throughout the first three episodes of Euphoria, Maddy seemed like a vapid character. After she looks at the bruises on her neck and begins crying in Shook One: Pt II, Maddy becomes something else. Beneath the bravado and the acting out, Maddy is a vulnerable human being who is in a situation she never dreamed of, one she both hates (the physical abuse) and loves (Nate). Like some of the other characters on personal journeys in Euphoria, it seems Maddy’s is just beginning.

Bad-weather Friend

Lexi Howard (Maude Apatow) has become Rue Bennett (Zendaya)’s bad-weather friend, someone Rue turns to when the times get tough. In Shook One: Pt II, as soon as Jules and Rue are no longer on the outs, Lexi is instantly forgotten by Rue. It is a sad, quick moment in the episode but obviously one that Lexi is used to as she reflexively takes out her phone to a.) ‘act’ like she is talking to someone so she isn’t perceived as being ditched (a clever and quick-minded performance) or b.) actually contact someone else to hangout with at the fair.

Lexi is living in the past, wanting a friend and bond that Rue no longer desires. For Lexi’s emotional well-being, it’s time to cut all ties and move on.

The Past, Present, and Empowered Future

Katherine “Kat” Hernandez (Barbie Ferreira) is quickly becoming one of the most interesting characters on the show, second only to Jules. Her journey into self-confidence and reinvention is different than everyone else’s arc because Kat is literally becoming that new person in front the viewer’s eyes. Jules is already the new her. Cassie doesn’t know how to change. Cal Jacobs (Eric Dane) is trapped in a cage of his making. Rue doesn’t want to change (not in a real, substantive way yet). And Nate is afraid of indulging his inner-self…but not Kat.

When Kat sees the past repeating itself at the fair with Ethan Lewis (Austin Abrams), thanks to the wonderful backstory presented in Made You Look, the viewer knows why Kat reacts the way she does. The viewer also knows why Kat has sex with Luke Kasten (Will Peltz), a guy that never would have given her previous incarnation the time of day.

The power dynamic between the two of them is completely different then it normally would be if: a.) they were in high school together and b.) Kat wasn’t going through her change. This power and status shift allows Kat to get something she ordinarily wouldn’t be able to – one of the most physically pulchritude guys she has ever meet or heard of inside of her. The joy on her face when Luke takes down his pants and is thrusting is open and blatant. Luke is enraptured by the sensations he is feeling while Kat is enduring a living fantasy, almost not believing what is happening or that fortune has turned so beneficially in her favor. She is also transfixed by the fact that Luke, the lover of an entire grade of girls during his high school days, is enjoying having sex with her so much, a nobody that is transforming herself into something new.

The apex of the scene is not the coital session but what Kat says to Luke when he asks her if she climaxed. Her response, with her back turned to him, is a power move. His mystique, his thought-of prowess in bed, his fabled man-hood, all of them were ineffective on Kat (at least that’s what she wanted him to think when all is said and done). Before she has intercourse with him, she is a fan girl (like so many during his high school days) and the power in the situation was his. After having sex with him, the power is her’s and she uses it to take Luke down an inch or two. Not too far down though, considering what has just occurred between him and one of his last adoring fans.

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