The 'Euphoria' Christmas Special Felt Like A Therapy Session
“I just feel like I’m in one of those old movies, It’s a Wonderful Life,” Rue's sponsor Ali (Colman Domingo) says during Euphoria's Christmas special. He adds, “It is a wonderful life.” The standalone episode, titled "Part 1: Rue," or, "Trouble Don't Always Last Always," shares several life-affirming qualities with the classic Jimmy Stewart movie, as well as the heartbreak required get there.
Euphoria's latest installment centers on a conversation in a diner between Rue (Emmy winner Zendaya) and Ali on Christmas Eve. While the pair eats pancakes in the nearly empty restaurant, they talk about everything from the Black Lives Matter movement to addiction to Rue's confession that she doesn't "plan on being here that long" when it comes to living her life. It's a powerful, extended scene that follows a dream sequence between Rue and Jules (Hunter Schafer) in which Rue imagines she and Jules are in a relationship and living together. But even in her fantasies, Rue is again using drugs. In real life, she continues to struggle to get clean.
Enter Ali, who speaks about his own experiences as an addict and the impact of believing in a higher power. Rue resists subscribing to any one religion and tells Ali that another relapse was always inevitable for her. "To tell you the truth, drugs are probably the only reason I haven't killed myself," she reveals. The entire episode feels like a therapy session, as Ali sheds light on the disease that is addiction and the ways in which "sobriety is your greatest weapon."
At one point, Ali asks Rue how she would like to be remembered by her mother and sister. She heartbreakingly responds, "As someone who tried really hard to be someone I couldn't," indicating this is only the beginning of her journey to getting clean again. By the time the duo takes a rain-soaked car ride as "Ave Maria" plays, the audience feels as if we, too, have been through an emotional reckoning.
Viewers will have to wait a little longer for the gift of Euphoria season 2. Until then, read some of the most emotional reactions to the latest episode.
this new episode of Euphoria got me sobbing rn like I sobbed 3 times already today YALL GO WATCH THIS SHOW OMG pic.twitter.com/WJaYK4yIMl
— ??anandi_clouds (@clouds_army) December 7, 2020
me watching the special episode of euphoria realizing i just got tricked into a therapy session pic.twitter.com/iIsTv9cgeo
— bean?? (@unstablenegro) December 7, 2020
dear god that new euphoria episode just called me out on my bullshit but also made me legitimately take look at my own habits and be emotionally introspective for the first time in a long while not sure what to think pic.twitter.com/7ILANiWcUI
— black tar heroin chic (@ChadsDad3) December 7, 2020
me the entire ep. #Euphoria pic.twitter.com/hxjgrjI7T1
— Maddi Cederholm (@CederholmMaddi) December 7, 2020
Wait, I also love the way that #Euphoria subtly showed that Rue is an unreliable narrator when she told Ali that she and Jules talked about getting lip tattoos but never did. Now, I wonder what else didn't actually happen in Season 1... pic.twitter.com/oMu8EUSg99
— Nora Dominick (@noradominick) December 7, 2020
#Euphoria might be the only thing that can fix 2020 pic.twitter.com/6PcppaO7kU
— bih (@Slimmybih) December 7, 2020
it’s the free therapy for me #Euphoria pic.twitter.com/JK6bz0U40a
— agar ?? (@igottafxxling) December 4, 2020
this new episode of euphoria felt like one big therapy session for anybody who’s ever struggled with mental health...the dialogue really hit on a DEEP level #EuphoriaHBO pic.twitter.com/av9hvDVVyx
— tate whittaker (@tatewhittaker) December 4, 2020
Ali is reading the shit out of rue and low key myself #Euphoria pic.twitter.com/tF0yz8NHmE
— zari (@dayapinnock) December 7, 2020
“everything that’s good to you ain’t always good for you” #Euphoria pic.twitter.com/JqKIgPSmvS
— doused (@eustakiamoreta) December 7, 2020
Thread -I can’t understand people who said that they don’t like this ep.
WE NEEDED it.
We needed to understand Rue. To understand Euphoria.
It’s not just a conversation between Ali & Rue;it’s a conversation between all of us.
It’s her feelings,her story,her struggles. #Euphoria pic.twitter.com/8w8Aj216eZ— Margokih ?? (@Vairons_Split) December 7, 2020
listen to the wise words of miss marsha #euphoriahbo #euphoria pic.twitter.com/lKNVGNmAab
— ~ ???????????????? ~ (@_xandaya) December 7, 2020
How much do I have to pay for like, a therapy session with Ali#Euphoria pic.twitter.com/e8O5EziqMY
— marg ?? MAGNUS BANE DAY (@D4NCEFLEUR) December 5, 2020
‘For some people there is no rock bottom. It’s bottomless.’
I need to start writing these down. #euphoria #EuphoriaHBO pic.twitter.com/JJC8SV5iEc— THE Gentleman (@Abovethelaw187) December 7, 2020
my therapy from now on will be me watching the euphoria special episode #Euphoria #EuphoriaHBO pic.twitter.com/eKk5s7efOv
— b (@brainardrclark) December 4, 2020
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