If drug dealers drove you to a remote location, presented you with a shovel, and told you to start digging, would you know what was going on? For some reason, Rue (Zendaya) didn’t put two and two together until it was too late. Or maybe she was being wilfully ignorant as a survival tactic. On that note: is Rue dead on Euphoria? The fifth episode of the final season ended with her in a bit of a tight spot figuratively and literally.
Halfway through the final season, Rue became a DEA mole and almost immediately made Alamo (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) suspicious. Even though her target is Laurie (Martha Kelly), not him, she’s a snitch and a threat to his organisation. Towards the end of the episode, Alamo confronts Rue and Maddy (Alexa Demie) at a diner. He sends Rue out to get in the car with his henchmen and continued to charm and ultimately do business with Maddy by allowing her to recruit his strippers for OnlyFans. There was a brief moment where Maddy could have followed Rue to the car, and either saved Rue or put both of them in danger. Does her decision to stay with Alamo demonstrate a stronger survival instinct or a lack of one? Discuss.
Alamo’s plan was (hopefully) a swing & a miss!
To be fair, the execution of this alleged execution on the latest episode of Euphoria was a little surprising. I assumed that the plan was to have Rue dig her own grave and either shoot her or bury her alive. That’s tradition, according to what I’ve gathered from pop culture over the years. Alamo’s guys opted for something particularly twisted. Once Rue was finished digging, they buried her up to her neck. Some time later, Alamo made a grand entrance on a horse swinging a polo mallet in the direction of her exposed noggin. A horse!! Did he kill her?? Tune in next week, I guess..
There are three episodes left in the season. Would Euphoria kill off its de facto main character like that? Honestly… maybe. On one hand, I wouldn’t put anything past Euphoria showrunner Sam Levinson after the choices he’s made in this season so far. On the other hand, a low point like this two-thirds of the way through the story typically means a happy ending.
She’s not featured in the teaser for the next episode – probably just to keep us guessing. We see plenty of Cassie, Lexi, Jules, and Maddy in the teaser. None of them are acting like their friend is dead. That’s a good sign, right? Maybe? Let’s go by the old Game of Thrones rule: Rue’s not dead until we see a body. She hasn’t finished reading the Bible, and the last episode is called “In God We Trust.” Rue might not survive the series, but there’s no way she’s dead already.
All of the former teenage main characters on Euphoria are trapped, in various ways, at this point in the final season. Whether they’re indebted to violent criminals like Rue and Nate (Jacob Elordi) and probably soon-to-be Maddy, or feeling the restraints of their seemingly liberating career paths like Cassie and Jules (Hunter Schafer), there’s a general lack of autonomy all around. Well, to be fair, Cassie might be fine at the moment. Her delusions could very well carry her to the finish line. But is Lexi (Maude Apatow) the only one living some semblance of a conventionally normal life? Will anyone survive? Your guess is as good as mine.
