Rue Proves That Healing Isn’t Supposed to be Linear in Euphoria
Euphoria is Gen Z’s headlining manufacturing, and Zendaya is its shining star.
The actor has continued to captivate viewers of the HBO drama (now in its second season) along with her efficiency as Rue Bennett, a recovering drug addict. Rue is the collection’ unreliable narrator, bringing levity as she takes viewers by means of the messy net of facet plots in Euphoria.
Because the main character, followers of the present are most intimately accustomed to Rue: she will be goofy and loveable one second, and manipulative and merciless the subsequent. She’s nuanced and complicated, and her type is just too. (Spoilers forward!)
Not like her teen friends within the hyper-glamourized Euphoria universe, Rue’s outfits are sensible. At all times paired along with her high-top black Converse, she primarily wears hoodies, graphic outsized tees, basketball shorts or cargo pants, and has an affinity for layering to create her signature dishevelled look. An important a part of Rue’s wardrobe is, in fact, the maroon hoodie that belonged to her late father (however extra on that later).
Her skater-reminiscent wardrobe typically options streetwear manufacturers like On-line Ceramics, Aries and Andrew. Outsized, messy and completely androgynous, Rue’s type additionally represents the fluidity of her gender identification and sexuality. In some methods, her understated trend conveys her want for anonymity, particularly when she relapses.
From the beginning, Euphoria costume designer Heidi Bivens styled Rue as much less placing than her friends; she isn’t as ostentatious as Maddy Perez (Alexa Demie) or as artistic as Jules Vaughn (Hunter Schafer). However Rue’s wardrobe will not be missing in symbolism. That is Euphoria, in spite of everything.
On the finish of season one, it’s revealed that the maroon hoodie Rue wears in practically each episode belonged to her dad, who died when she was 14. The hoodie is intrinsically tied to her father’s presence — he’s even carrying it within the flashback scene the place she describes her personal delivery.
The sweater is her biggest consolation, but it surely’s additionally an emblem of her emotional trauma, reminding viewers that Rue’s battle with dependancy is fueled by her grief for her father. When she relapses on the finish of season one, she begins hallucinating that she’s being lifted up by a crowd of individuals all cloaked in the identical maroon color. The garment’s presence (or lack thereof) within the present is intentional.
Season two takes Rue down her darkest path but. Beginning in episode one, she’s making an attempt to cover the truth that she’s utilizing medication once more — mendacity to her mother Leslie (Nika King), her sister Gia (Storm Reid) and her girlfriend Jules. Her dependancy leads her to enter an settlement with soft-spoken-yet-terrifying drug vendor Laurie (Martha Kelly), who offers her a suitcase full of $10,000 price of medication to promote.
Rue’s chaotic storyline involves a head in episode 5, when she launches right into a violent breakdown after her mother discovers she’s utilizing once more and hides the suitcase. She spirals, lashes out at these closest to her and makes an attempt to bodily escape the looming actuality of rehab by…operating in entrance of shifting visitors, hiding in trash cans and even burglarizing a home.
The episode is a transparent unraveling of Rue. In her moments of desperation, we see the hoodie re-emerge. On the finish of the episode, she has a drug-induced flashback of when she spoke at her dad’s funeral whereas carrying the sweater.
It turns into more durable to root for her as she pushes everybody who loves her away. However in episode six, which premiered on February 13, we see Rue start to repair her errors, together with apologizing to her sponsor, Ali (Colman Domingo).
Three episodes earlier, as she was leaving a Narcotics Nameless assembly, the 2 had a battle when Rue crossed a line with Ali, who informed her he was “accomplished” and left her and her suitcase on the steps of the constructing alone. Within the newest episode, she expressed remorse for lowering somebody’s life to the worst factor they’ve ever accomplished. It’s a metaphor for the place she’s at in her personal life, after burning practically each relationship bridge. Will her family members forgive her, or has she gone too far?
This season, Bivens needed Rue’s wardrobe to mirror her sombre storyline. “I didn’t wish to do any brilliant colors or modern stylish appears to be like for her due to the seriousness of what she was going by means of,” she stated in a current interview. Bivens added that she pivoted away from the playful colors and patterns of final season — like Rue’s Hawaiian overshirt — to suggest the severity of her actions.
When Rue is sober in season one, she experiments with make-up and trend, thanks partly to Jules’s affect. Within the season one finale, the ever-fashionable Jules calls out Rue for her laid-back type. “The truth that you normally costume like Seth Rogen — though you make it cute typically — like, it crushes my soul,” she remarks, finally pushing Rue to decorate up for his or her college’s formal. However this season, she retracts, eschewing make-up fully and not taking part in round with trend as dependancy takes centre-stage and he or she alienates Jules.
Together with carrying darker tones in season two of Euphoria, Rue distances herself from her dad’s hoodie and all it represents. Bivens informed V Journal that initially, she had Rue put on the hoodie much less typically this season to present the viewers a break, however that its absence is consultant of Rue’s downfall.
“Rue’s actually turning into borderline diabolical with how she’s deceiving her family and friends,” Bivens stated, referencing how final season, Rue wore the hoodie when she was sober and “on monitor.” In season two, she doesn’t put on the hoodie as a lot, notably in moments the place she’s being merciless — like gaslighting her sister and yelling at her mother.
“To me, instinctively, it simply didn’t make sense to have this hoodie be along with her each step of the best way. It’s a reminder of her father and a reminder of somebody who loves her,” Bivens continued. “So it’s just like the sense of conscience which she’s making an attempt to dam out.”
After hitting all-time low, episode six of Euphoria ends with a sliver of normalcy for Rue. Notably carrying her maroon hoodie, she’s having dinner along with her mother, her sister and her sponsor. Regardless of going by means of withdrawal, we see her start, ever so barely, to fix damaged relationships.
Based on Zendaya, issues will get higher for Rue. “Episode eight is the place we’ll get that sense of redemption,” she informed The Reduce. “That you simply aren’t the worst factor you’ve ever accomplished in your life. I feel Rue deserves it, and I feel anybody who suffers with the identical factor she does deserves it.”
As Rue struggles on a path to restoration in Euphoria, her quiet type journey is poignant.
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