Euphoria season 1 episode 6 free

This time around, we begin with a look at McKay’s intense pressure from his father during his upbringing. This leads to him on the cusp of going pro in football but ultimately missing out due to falling in love with Cassie and doing the math on his odds of actually making it into the NFL. However, tensions brew as McKay has issues with the way Cassie dresses which opens up a rift between them that only seems to be growing.

Meanwhile, Kat starts webcamming properly and making a good amount of money from it. Ironically, she heads to the Halloween party dressed as a nun while Rue feels left out as the only sober one, sensing that something is off with Jules. The way she conveys this sickening knot in her stomach is really well written and throughout the episode we see through her sober lens the damage this is doing her.

With Nate’s reputation completely shattered, he finds solace in Maddy, hooking up with her while keeping an eye on everyone else from a distance. He then continues his crusade to besmirch Jules’ reputation by printing out topless photos which he later uses to blackmail her.

Back at the party, Rue patches things up with Fezco but all eyes are on Cassie as she starts dancing with the boy from the carnival. Her and Mckay’s relationship is in a strange place and via a flashback we see him jumped by his roommates midway through having sex with Cassie, thrown on the floor and humiliated. As he uncontrollably sobs in the bathroom, Cassie texts Lexi and tells her what’s happened. Composing himself, McKay arrives from the bathroom again but this time the romance is all but gone between him and they engage in an uncomfortable and hard to watch sex scene.

We jump back to present day soon after where Cassie takes the boy upstairs and things begin getting heavy, just as McKay walks in the front door to the party. Dressed as an angel, Jules stumbles outside and falls in the pool prompting Rue to go and save her. She spouts out lines from Romeo and Juliet while Cassie has second thoughts about cheating on McKay. As she refuses his advances, he throws down some seriously harsh words, telling her she’s not interesting and wishes her good luck with her boyfriend.

A musical montage then kicks in as we see all our characters in various emotional states before seeing Nate head to Tyler’s to give him a proposition. He’s going to confess to choking Maddy and to make matters worse for him, Jules is in on the act too to give this statement some depth. Given she has incriminating photos held against her, Jules doesn’t have much of a choice despite the policewoman telling her false evidence could lead to 7 years in prison. As it happens, this incident with the police and Tyler actually happened prior to the Halloween party as Nate shows up with Maddy, much to the disdain of Jules who looks on from a distance.

Unlike the opening episodes that really doubled down on the damage drugs do to a family and allowing everything else to spiral around this plot point, Euphoria really settles into a more familiar and rigid high school drama format now that Rue is sober. With the characters already established there’s certainly a good amount of tension and the episode itself has some really nice moments, especially the rising tension around Nate’s ordeal.

While the latest episode doesn’t quite hit the same lofty artistic heights others have in this series, with a distinct lack of impressive camera movements and stylistic ticks, Euphoria feels much more akin to other shows in this genre. Still, when it comes to plot progression, Euphoria certainly moves things forward and delivers another highly enjoyable episode, with an even better soundtrack to boot. Quite where this one is likely to go next remains to be seen but HBO’s teen drama has been a thoroughly enjoyable watch over the weeks and that doesn’t look like changing any time soon.

Last week’s Euphoria, the painful and smart “‘03 Bonnie and Clyde,” stood out as the best episode in the HBO hit’s sometimes unnecessarily punishing first season. Sunday night’s “The Next Episode,” only improves upon that success with another difficult, but not mindlessly abusive, hour of television. Halloween does tend to bring out the very best in Euphoria’s obsessions: beauty looks and teen parties. The fact that “Episode” is the second episode in a row helmed by a woman also doesn’t hurt (this time, Bleed for This writer Pippa Bianco was in the director’s chair).

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Bianco had to handle one of Euphoria’s most difficult scenes yet in a very difficult show. Of course, we’re talking about the dorm room assault of Chris McKay (Algee Smith) and his subsequent terrible sex with Cassie Howard (Sydney Sweeney). The same Cassie who is likely pregnant with McKay's baby. It’s time to dig into that complicated situation — and many more orbiting East Highland High.

The trauma of Chris McKay

McKay is the anchor character of “Next Episode.” Young McKay opens the episode yelling “America” by Harlem Renaissance poet Claude McKay. It’s nice to believe this McKay is a descendant of that McKay. However, Euphoria’s McKay doesn’t release his feelings through beautiful words. Rather, he bottles them up just to allow them to erupt on the football field.

That is the legacy McKay’s dad Frederick (Cranston Johnson) wants for his son.

This is why Frederick cautions his oldest child from feeling his emotions after being called the N-word during Pee Wee football. In a vacuum, Frederick’s words make sense. He knows acts of violence, no matter how warranted, will only end up ruining the life of his son, a Black boy in suburbia. But, if McKay can save his rage for the football field — one of the few places men of color are cheered for their aggression — he can become a success. He can become a star.

But, McKay doesn’t live in a vacuum. He lives in the real world with real people. That fact and Fredrick’s instructions come to a head when a group of ski mask-wearing white fraternity brothers break into McKay’s room, rip him out of bed naked, pin him down, and repeatedly pantomime sodomizing him while filming the entire nightmarish scene. It’s impossible not to think of the countless horrors and indignities Black men before McKay have suffered in a similar fashion — and the fact many died in the moments after. It’s likely McKay is also thinking of those men.

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In the aftermath of the assault, McKay neither explodes on his attackers nor explains his feelings to Cassie. Instead, he quietly shudders on the floor and then cries alone in the bathroom, following his father’s advice (“If you get angry, you lose”). Then, he comes out of the bathroom to pretend everything is fine and asks Cassie if she still wants to have sex. The underlying question is: after all of that, do you still see me as a man? Although Cassie is shaken herself, she agrees in an effort to save McKay’s feelings, sublimating her own desires own again.

Photo: Courtesy of HBO.

However, there is something different in Euphoria's approach to Cassie and McKay's hookup this time around. The way McKay pushes her around in bed to reassert his idea of masculinity isn’t justified by pithy faux empowerment quotes from Cassie. Rather we see her discomfort as McKay shoves her face into the sheets and her shock when he finishes on her back. The unspoken suggestion is,“This is wrong.” Euphoria doubles down on that statement as we watch Cassie tearfully wipe cum off of her back in the bathroom. All of this is even more awful when you remember how, as Rue Bennett (Zendaya) explains in the cold open, McKay deeply resents his girlfriend for her pass, still alleged, sexual encounters.

McKay may have been traumatized, but he didn’t need to pass that darkness on to Cassie. Especially since, as Cassie realizes to her own horror, she just might carrying McKay's child.

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Nate: TV’s most malevolent teen villain

Every week, Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi) manages to out-do himself in the evil department. At the top of “Next Episode,” we find out Nate has been using Maddy Perez (Alexa Demie), his abuse victim, as his own personal motel therapist.

Yet, Nate raises the stakes on his brand of toxicity when Maddy reminds him he needs to come up with a plan to nip the abuse allegations in the bud. His answer is forcing Tyler (Lukas Gage), the 22-year-old he nearly beat to death in “Stuntin’ On My Daddy,” to confess to the crime of assaulting Maddy. It’s a three-prong plan, and the blackmailing of Tyler is only the first part. Nate has Maddy then corroborate Tyler’s story when brought in by police. Finally, Nate prints out the nude photos he has of Jules Vaughn (Hunter Schafer) and blackmails her into telling police she also saw Tyler attack Maddy.

Words can barely describe how upsetting it is to see Nate continuously threaten and manipulate the only trans girl on this show.

By the end of the day, Nate is seemingly cleared of all charges and free to go to Daniel’s (Keean Johnson) Halloween party in an ironic jailbird costume. Unfortunately for Nate, his cocky attitude may be his undoing. Jules spends the party unraveling for a reason unknown to BFF Rue. When Rue notices how Jules looks at Nate, and how Nate looks at Jules, she realizes something very bad is going on. With two episodes left, can Rue bring Nate down?

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Someone be nice to Cassie

Speaking of Daniel’s Halloween party, Cassie suffers even more disrespect at the hands of the bash’s host. After weeks of flirting, Cassie makes out with Daniel in his room, but stops short of sex to avoid guilt over McKay. Daniel responds horrifically, telling Cassie she is a serious bore and that any guy is lying if he pretends to be interested in anything more than sex with her. Cassie leaves crying and you’re left wanting to give her a hug.

In a show of terrible boys, Daniel may be the second worst (Nate is always the worst).

Someone be nice to Ethan

Ethan’s little face when Kat (Barbie Ferreira) tells him they could never be boyfriend and girlfriend should break your heart. Seeing Ethan (Austin Abrams) happily go down on Kat in the bathroom should put it back together. Someone please tell Kat she deserves love too, if she wants it.

If you have experienced sexual violence and are in need of crisis support, please call the RAINN Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

If you are experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or TTY 1-800-787-3224 for confidential support.

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