Following the events of the third episode of Euphoria Season 3, the acclaimed and provocative HBO series created, written, directed, and produced by Sam Levinson and starring Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, and Jacob Elordi reached its halfway point this week with the episode Euphoria 3×04.
Titled “Kitty Likes to Dance,” the episode picks up where we left off, with Rue sitting in the backseat of a police car while DEA agents search her vehicle, and she reflects on the subjective nature of truth. “Even if we may disagree on what the truth is, we all know when we’re telling a lie,” says Rue. And sure enough, a drug-sniffing dog finds drugs in her car. So, when they ask her about Laurie, and then about Mexico, and so on… Rue finds herself forced to become a mole to avoid what would amount to so many years in prison that it’s practically a life sentence.
Rue, in tears, lowers her head: “And that’s how I became a spy.” She explains that they replaced the drugs with sugar pills and laxatives, and a very calm Rue returns to the Silver Slipper, where Alamo boasts that he’s settled the Laurie issue once and for all by killing Paladin. Rue, meanwhile, can’t stop sweating. We also learn the episode’s title when Alamo calls the stripper Kitty and explains that “Kitty likes to dance.” We know the DEA has installed an app on Rue’s phone and will be keeping an eye on her that way. “You’re going to give me a heart attack, guys,” Rue tells the DEA, as we return to the present, with the club manager putting the fake drugs in the safe.
Let’s move on to Nate and Cassie—great news: his big toe has been stitched back together. “The big toe is a metaphor,” Nate says, explaining that broken things can be fixed. Cassie doesn’t buy it, pointing out that the big toe has a scar and that nothing will ever be the same again. Surprisingly, Cassie is the more pragmatic one of the two, wondering how much Nate owes the loan sharks—a million dollars—while Nate hedges and explains that their love is still alive and that “we have to have faith… In me. In us. In our life.“ ”The fairy tale is over,” says Cassie, walking out of the room. While Nate complains and lies there, Maddy arrives like a Hollywood diva from another era, and Cassie gets to work to earn the money needed to resolve the situation. The goal is to turn Cassie into a social media superstar.
Meanwhile, on the set of LA Nights, Lexi offers Jules a spot, asking her to paint something that will be displayed on a set of the series as if it were a work created by one of the show’s characters. The pitch? Millions of people will see Jules’s work, compared to just a few dozen in a gallery. It’s a risky move for Lexi, and it goes… very badly. Because Jules has painted a very risqué picnic, a clear parody of Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.” While the crew members stay calm with Jules because they’ve discovered she’s trans, Patty explains that the painting needs to be altered and the scene will be filmed the following week. For Lexi, it’s a total disaster, and she nearly loses her job after getting an earful from Patty (this “little” mistake will cost the production $191,000), while at the same time it’s a source of embarrassment for Jules, who smears her painting and walks out without accepting the requested changes.
Things continue to go badly for Nate, as his construction project is put on hold again, while Cassie manages to “become” famous on social media thanks to a party with a Los Angeles superstar.
Back to the main plot: Rue is playing poker with Alamo and the others, with the DEA listening in. He’s trying to convince Alamo to make a big drug deal so he can arrest him, but Alamo isn’t falling for it. Rue doesn’t have what it takes—literally and figuratively—and Alamo knows it. “Why are you asking me something so incredibly stupid?” Alamo asks, and while Rue apologizes, “it’s not enough.” Rue, however, isn’t good at bluffing. She says she has a good hand, but Alamo knows she has that “sewer rat look… “Where are you going now?” But Alamo has misread the situation and thinks the girl is doing drugs again: “Yeah, I had a moment of weakness,” Rue says, relieved, afraid that Alamo might find out about her deal with the DEA, and when the cards turn in her favor, she bets all her chips. While everyone else celebrates Rue’s victory, Alamo tells her not to mess around with hard drugs, and on the other end of the walkie-talkie, the DEA agents keep listening…
Freed from the tense game, Rue goes to erase Angel’s (Priscilla Delgado) name from her locker… She won’t be returning from rehab, and Magick (Rosalia) laments that Angel is lost. Instead, they write Kitty’s name over it with tape while she performs her first dance.
It should be noted that Kitty is sleeping with the guys in the private room, and when Rue finds out, he tries to help her, but this arouses Magik’s suspicion: she tells Big Eddy (Kadeem Hardison) what she’s discovered, and when Rue returns to the club, he realizes that things have taken a more unsettling turn than usual. He goes back to the office to get the phone, but Big Eddy won’t have any of it. “No one goes into my office alone,” he says, explaining that she’s crossed the line with Kitty… At that moment, Rue’s mother calls her. After a tense moment of silence, Rue answers. It’s actually Jimenez (Hamky Madera), one of the DEA agents, and he explains to Rue that she’s been compromised because Magik told Big Eddy she suspects Rue is a mole. Rue will have to find a way to discredit Magik…
But the situation suddenly gets even more complicated, though it turns out to be a stroke of luck for Rue: while she’s arguing with Magik and trying to make her look like a drug addict in Big Eddy’s eyes, masked men burst into the club armed for a robbery. Big Eddy is seriously wounded and opens the safe, and when the robbers leave, Rue calls Bishop, telling him they need to take him to the hospital. Meanwhile, Magik examines the footage from the robbers’ van and discovers who’s driving: it’s a woman with “giant lips.” Rue identifies her immediately: it’s Faye.
The cold war between Alamo and Laurie has just escalated into a full-blown war…
