'Euphoria' Ep. 6 Recap and Review

The 6th episode of the HBO series Euphoria starring Zendaya was centered around Mckay. Mckay is one of only character who's not in high school and a freshmen in college. In previous episodes McKay forms a relationship with Cassie and they even go as far as saying I love you towards each other. Their relationship seems cute and adorable, but McKay has some insecurities about being with such an experienced girl as Cassie. This episode takes place on Halloween and at a Halloween party where everyone is in costume figuratively and literally. For more information regarding previous episodes and the overall series please check out my other articles where I go more in depth.

McKay's Story

Like I stated before, this episode is centered around Mckay so is background story was the first part of the show. I was actually kind of disappointed with McKay's background because it was honestly pretty basic. Tough dad coaches his son to be the best football player he can be, I feel I've seen that on tv many times. Nate also has a very similar story to Mckay in regards to a good portion of their lives being focused around football. What is interesting about his back story to me is none of it really connects to his current situation which is relationship with Cassie. McKay was groomed to be strong and number one like Nate, but he doesn't have a possessive nature or any desire to assert dominance over Cassie. That is until this episode when he makes her change out of her provocative costume and put on his football jersey. To me I didn't think this action was that bad, because her outfit was a little over the top with just a bra and shorts, and she was about to go into a house of college boys.

McKay's Attack

One of the more shocking moments of the show is when Cassie and McKay are about to have sex in his dorm, but are stopped when a group of guys come into the room and force McKay to the ground while he's naked. This part of the scene was crazy because of the big elephant in the room being the fact that the group of guys were all white and forcing a black man to the ground. The characters on the show are seen really as just teenagers and their race seems disregarded so I don't think the writers of the show fully thought out this scene. Or they did think about it and plan to address it more. After this scene I want to feel bad for McKay, but he ends up doing the one thing I didn't expect him to do - acting like Nate. Just like Nate he takes his anger out on his girl and has aggressive sex with Cassie where we can see she's clearly not happy. I had to skip through this scene because ultimately I did loose respect for McKay regardless of his attack.

Rue and Jules

Like McKay, Jules is experiencing doubts in her relationship with Rue. In the last episode they got really close and signified their relationship, but towards the end Jules seems to be more distant. All of her subliminal feelings come out in this episode at the Halloween party where she gets drunk making an uncomfortable situation for Rue. Rue, who is still sober, sits on the sidelines of the party sort of observing everyone having fun. If I were her and newly sober going to a party filled with drugs wouldn't be something I would do, but Rue did after all stay sober. I did feel bad for her after watching this because after this party Rue and Jules' relationship will sure be different. One of the positives from this scene is that for whatever reason Rue's ex drug dealer Fez was at the party and they reconciled after Rue called him a bunch of names when he wouldn't sell her drugs.

Maddy and Nate

Maddy and Nate's love for each other once again makes them not look at the abuse in their relationship. Nate who has been accused of strangling Maddy, which he did, finds a way out of the situation. He blackmails Jules into telling the police that Tyler, the guy who Maddy had sex with in the pool, was the one who strangled Maddy. So if you were planning on not hating Nate this episode that won't happen as he gets away with strangling Maddy and they're still together. This scene like many others made me mad because Jules could've told the police officer she was being forced into confessing and that was the chance for her to say yes. Sure she would have to admit to committing another crime, but I think they would let her off.

Overall Review

This episode was great, but again I would like to see McKay's background go deeper. This episode seems like the sequel to the pilot that also took place at a house party. I will say the sex scenes in this episode didn't seem like they were just placed thee, and they were adding to the story and plot. The plot is still unraveling, and I find it weird that there are only 2 episodes which seems like a lot to get to the end of the plot.