‘Euphoria’: The Best Fan Theories Before The Season 2 Finale

(SPOILERS for this week’s Euphoria will be found below.)

Euphoria’s wild, unpredictable second season is about to come to a close, but before the screen fades to black — and, hopefully, Rue heads to an in-treatment facility — we’ve got some fan predictions to sort through. Which characters are on the chopping block? Who’s leaving East Highland? And just how devastated is the Fexi fandom going to be? We’ve got some theories.

Euphoria-Rue-Zendaya
HBO

Rue Takes Her Sobriety Seriously

Does Rue’s latest sobriety attempt feel like a “fool me twice” kind of scenario? Sure, but we’re going to remain hopeful that this latest trip to rock-bottom has finally opened the character’s eyes. Her conversation with her mom felt like somewhat of a turning point. Rue seems to realize how selfish and self-centered she’s been, especially after learning how badly Gia’s been doing in school. And though Lexi’s play used her grief and addiction as a plot point, Rue didn’t seem angry about it. In fact, her reaction to seeing herself through her former best friend’s eyes felt like a step forward. With Jules, Rue traded one addiction for another. With Lexi, Rue might finally be starting to realize what an incredible support system that she had all along. It seems clear that a Jules/Rue reunion is not in the cards anytime soon, so we’re predicting Lexi and Rue will renew their friendship and Euphoria’s main character will actually make some progress in her sobriety journey … before that whole mess with Laurie rears its ugly head in season three.

Euphoria-Jules-Nate
HBO

Nate And Jules Hook Up

Writing out this particular fan theory gives us absolutely no pleasure but, it must be said: a Nate and Jules hook up seems like more and more of a possibility. Nate’s tossed Cassie out with yesterday’s trash, and he knows his relationship with Maddy is irreparable. He clearly still has feelings for Jules — his nightmare proved that — and Jules, for her part, seemed to be appreciative of his efforts to make amends by returning his dad’s sex tape. Jules is not in a good headspace at the moment, since Rue continues to ignore her and focus on her own sobriety so, while we’d absolutely hate to see it, the idea that both of these characters might seek comfort from one another while their lives implode around them is not that unrealistic.

Euphoria-Cassie-Nate
HBO

Maddy Tries To Help Cassie

Let’s be clear: Cassie is a coward, and Maddy deserves better. What’s also true is that Maddy is a really good f*cking friend who’s starting to realize what a joy-sucking parasite Nate Jacobs is. Lexi’s play spent a good amount of time focusing on the friendship between Cassie and Maddy, something that caused Cassie to flee to the bathroom for a quick cry session. And, when Maddy was banging on Cassie’s bathroom door, demanding she admit to sleeping with her ex-boyfriend, she seemed more upset that Nate had once again ruined her life, this time by using someone she viewed as a sister, to do it. Does Cassie deserve forgiveness? Absolutely not, but Maddy is a good person. Such a good person in fact, that we wouldn’t be surprised if she’s able to push past her own hurt to see how Nate’s mind-f*ckery has really warped Cassie’s perception of herself, recognize she went through the same thing while dating him, and try to help her former best friend claw her way out of the cycle. Hopefully afterward, she’ll give East Highland, and everyone in it the big middle finger, find some rich man who wants to give her all of his money, and do whatever the hell she likes with her life.

Euphoria-Nate-Cal
HBO

Cal And Nate Face Off One Last Time

If Nate thought Cal abandoning the family to be his best Queer self meant life might finally get easier, he was sorely mistaken. Left humiliated by Lexi’s play, single after breaking up with Cassie, and still pining for both Maddy and Jules — Nate Jacobs is finally getting hit with a bit of good ol’ fashioned karma. Even his mom — who he might’ve expected to have a better relationship with once his dad was out of the way — sees him as an angry, aggressive jerk. Unfortunately, few characters on this show have the bandwidth to self-reflect on their poor choices so we doubt Nate will look inward to fix the broken parts of himself. It’s more likely he’ll look for someone to blame for his current problems and with no women around to serve as a punching bag, that job will probably go to Cal. Here’s hoping the two most toxic men on Euphoria end up getting what they deserve.

Euphoria-Ashtray
HBO

Custer Dies

There’s really no need to break this down further. He’s trying to set Fez and Ashtray up for Mouse’s murder, and he’s being terribly obvious about it. Ash might not know the whole plot, but he knows a rat when he sees one whispering to his girlfriend in his living room and nervously fidgeting on his couch. Custer is not long for this world.

Euphoria-Fez-Angus-Cloud
HBO

Fez And Ash Get Caught

Sadly, we can’t imagine a season two finale that doesn’t see either Fez or Ash getting busted for someone’s murder — if not Mouse, then at the very least, Custer. Whether both will go to jail (a juvenile detention center in Ash’s case) or one of them will die still remains to be seen, but there’s no way our favorite neighborhood drug dealers are getting away clean. R.I.P Fexi shippers.