Euphoria's Rue Strikes A Deadly Deal — But With Whom? Read Episode 4 Recap
Looks like Rue spent all of her luck escaping that wall-climbing-car-ramp earlier this season, because her good fortune is in seriously short supply in this week's "Euphoria."
The Drug Enforcement Administration agents who pulled her over in the previous installment know what she's been up to, and they need her to be an informant — or else, she'll do major time in federal prison. What's our girl to do?
Read on for the highlights of "Kitty Likes to Dance."
'And that is how I became a snitch'
The DEA agents bring Rue in for questioning and ask her how she knows Laurie, etc. She lies her face off and is caught in every single deception, especially when she says she's never been to Mexico only for the agents to produce a photo of her meeting with a cartel leader south of the border. They also found drugs in her car, so her only way of avoiding federal prison is to become an informant. "And that is how I became a snitch," Rue voiceovers.
Problem is: After Paladin's untimely demise, it's unlikely that Alamo will buy from Laurie again, which seriously messes with Rue's position as an informant. The DEA lets her know that if she has no access to drug dealers, she is of little use to them. So Rue (with her phone broadcasting to the DEA) uses a poker game with Alamo to ask him if she should try to use her contacts in Mexico as their new dealer. Alamo immediately wonders why she's volunteering to do that, given that she recently expressed interest in going legit.
After a very tense conversation in which it seems like Alamo knows Rue is a rat, he comes to the conclusion that she's using again. She nearly pees with relief as she says yes, that's 100 percent correct.
But Rue's problems aren't over: Magick overhears her asking a new dancer, Kitty, if she's OK after she had to have sex with a trio of men in the Champagne room. Rue gently presses and wonders if she's being trafficked. Kitty says no, but Magick runs to Big Eddy and says that Rue is a snitch. The tension ratchets — and it's not looking great for Rue — when two of Laurie's guys, wearing masks and holding guns, force their way into the club's back room. They shoot Big Eddy in the gut to get him to give up the location and combination of the safe, then they take off. A look at the parking lot surveillance footage reveals that a woman with gigantic lips was driving the getaway car. Rue tells them she knows her: It was Faye.
'The toe is a metaphor'
Nate's severed little toe is once more part of his foot, thanks to some skilled doctors and the fact that he and Cassie threw that sucker on ice before they went to the emergency room. And he's feeling philosophical about the whole shebang. "The toe is a metaphor," he muses as a ticked-off Cassie cleans his incision; she's definitely not in a forgiving headspace. She demands to know how much Nate owes Naz. "Somewhere between a little and a lot," he says, but whatever weird charm he's going for won't cut it. She demands an exact number. "A million...ish," he says, which is enough for her to call Maddy and pack her bags: She's going back to work.
As part of her management of Cassie, Maddy oversees a makeover ("The goal is to take her from the suburbs to the city"), takes new photos, and brings her to a party where her only goal is to get an influential (and maybe influencer?) dude Brandon Fontaine to take a video of her. She winds up in his bedroom with another woman; they all do coke and Brandon is about to have sex with a very willing Cassie when Maddy and some other influencers get into the locked bedroom — of course with a camera running. Cassie proudly announces her name and social media handle, beaming into the lens. The gambit works; on the way home, Cassie's phone is blowing up with notifications.
Meanwhile, Nate appears before a city board in an attempt to restart work on his end-of-life construction project, but the officials tell him nothing will change until the environmental studies are done. So he kneels before them, sobbing, in an attempt to get them to change their minds. They don't.
'Don't be a net negative'
Lexi asks Jules to paint a canvas that will hang on the set of her primetime soap. Lexi suggests something Georges Seurat-esque. What Jules delivers has a lot of penises in it, and that won't fly; she's called back in to nix the nudity, full-stop. And because it'll take her a few hours, filming of the scene has to be moved — to the tune of $56,000. And, as showrunner Patty Lance makes clear to Lexi, her mess-up has caused that number go even higher. "Don't be a net negative, Lexi," the executive producer advises as Lexi tries not to cry.
While this is happening, Jules is alone on set, where she smears red paint all over her commissioned work.
Now it's your turn. What did you think of the episode? Hit the comments and let us know!