Euphoria Season 3 has been a lot of things: confusing, surreal, deeply unhinged in the best way possible. But episode 5, This Little Piggy, just raised the stakes higher than ever before. The episode ended with Rue Bennett buried neck-deep in the ground while Alamo Brown bore down on her on horseback, swinging a polo mallet. With episode 6, titled Stand Still and See, dropping on May 17 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max, here is everything the previews and episode 5 are setting up.
Euphoria Season 3 might give us another death
The question everyone is asking right now is the most obvious one: is Rue dead? After five episodes of triple-crossing Alamo, working as a DEA informant, and generally being a walking target, Alamo’s guys had her dig a ditch in the middle of nowhere, buried her up to her neck in dirt, then had Alamo come riding toward her head with a polo mallet right before the screen cut to black. It is, objectively, one of the most horrifying cliffhangers this show has ever done. That said, most fans are not buying that Rue is actually gone.
The practical reality is that killing her off three episodes before the Euphoria Season 3 finale would be a bold swing.
Maddy and Alamo’s new dynamic
Nobody saw this coming in Euphoria Season 3. Maddy Perez, who started the season as a low-level Hollywood assistant mopping up dog puke, has quietly maneuvered herself into one of the most interesting positions of the entire season. While Rue was being driven to her hole in the ground, Alamo stayed behind with Maddy and talked business. He was intrigued by what she had pulled off with Cassie and wanted to know what it would take to replicate that success with some of his own girls.
What followed was genuinely unexpected: at his request, Maddy went with him to the Silver Slipper and chose Kitty and Magick as her newest clients. So just like that, Maddy Perez is now managing OnlyFans talent for a dangerous crime boss. The actor who plays Alamo, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, spoke to Decider about where this partnership goes next.
Cassie’s career is about to hit a turning point
Cassie Howard’s arc in Euphoria Season 3 has been a lot of things, but subtle is not one of them. After a viral collaboration with influencer Brandon Fontaine, Cassie hit 50,000 OnlyFans subscribers. She auditioned for a role on Lexi’s show LA Nights by performing a Shakespeare monologue, and it somehow worked but the episode 6 preview hints that things are shifting fast. The synopsis for Stand Still and See suggests Maddy will hand Cassie a new mission that could dramatically accelerate her mainstream career. The trailer also features Rosalía’s character Magick alongside Cassie in what looks like a saucy joint performance.
Cassie is also seen telling another character that she’s a performer while navigating tension with her family and pressure around her working relationship. The real drama might be Cassie finally having to choose between the version of fame Maddy is building for her and the version she thinks she deserves. She has been bouncing between Maddy, Brandon, and Nate all season long, saying yes to whoever is standing in front of her. Hopefully she will take gears in her own hands soon, and it will change her arc.
The Laurie-Alamo war is about to explode
The Laurie-versus-Alamo tension has been simmering since before Euphoria Season 3’s premiere, and episode 6 finally looks like it is bringing everything to a head. The episode 6 trailer includes a line from Laurie directed at Alamo: “Alamo Brown. I hate that things have gotten so contentious between us,” which is something you say right before everything goes completely sideways. In episode 5, Alamo made clear he is nobody’s subordinate, telling Rue he is “no monkey” of Laurie’s while casually playing a trumpet about it. The robbery at the Silver Slipper opened this war up properly, and now both sides are mobilising.
Alamo asked Rue to draw a map of Laurie’s farm, suggesting Laurie is holding something far more valuable than money in her basement. On the other hand, the DEA subplot adds another sharp wrinkle because Rue has been feeding information to agents while also being buried alive by the very man she is supposed to be helping expose. That’s quite a complicated web and seeing as these two are the most dangerous characters this season, a war between them would destroy a lot of other things than just their own lives.
Nate’s spiral and Jules’s complicated feelings
Two characters who have not been getting as much attention lately are quietly building toward something. Nate Jacobs has spent Euphoria Season 3 getting progressively dismembered, having his pinky torn off and a finger cut off by one of his loan shark’s enforcers in what the show is mostly playing for dark laughs. But there is a real pathos underneath it: he has nothing left. He is financially ruined, physically falling apart, and still somehow trying to run Cassie’s life remotely. The episode 6 trailer shows growing conflict involving Nate and Alamo, which could mean Nate finally crosses paths with the most dangerous person in the show.
Meanwhile, Jules has her own quietly unresolved storyline. The episode synopsis mentions Lexi enlisting Jules to create an original painting for LA Nights, which draws her deeper into the world of Lexi’s show. And after Rue visited Jules in episode 5 and the two shared a charged moment that left Rue’s boxers on Jules’ apartment floor, whatever they are to each other is clearly not finished. This season has largely kept Jules in the background, but the show seems to be pulling her back toward the center right when it counts.
Euphoria Season 3 will premiere on HBO Max.
Edited by Nibir Konwar