Paloma Bennett
Spoilers Below (Warning some mature language in this recap)
INTRODUCTION
In Euphoria Season Two Episode Four, ” You Who Cannot See, Think of Those Who Can,” directed and written by creator Sam Levinson, Elliot (Dominic Fike) and Cal Jacobs (Eric Dane) drop some truths that blow up their worlds. Rue Bennett (Zendaya) loses control over her life and steps closer to her seemingly inevitable death because of drug use. Even though being with Jules Vaughn (Hunter Schafer) is a dream come true, Rue’s drug addiction destroys their relationship.
Cassie Howard (Sydney Sweeney) has a mental breakdown fueled by jealousy and alcohol during Maddy Perez’s (Alexa Demi) birthday party. Cassie desperately wants Nate Jacobs’ (Jacob Elordi) love even though he is abusive and more invested in Maddy.
Drunk out of his mind Cal Jacobs (Eric Dane) drives over to the gay bar where he and his best friend Derek (Henry Eikenberry) went after graduating from high school. Cal’s walls come down as he embraces his queerness and lets go of his double life. Unfortunately, Cal destroys his family unit by revealing everybody’s secrets, including his own. Cal apologizes to Nate for messing him up before leaving his family.
LOVE & RUE’S MESS-UPS
Rue and Jules’ love is epic, but even that can’t keep the drug addict on the straight and narrow. “You Who Cannot See, Think of Those Who Can” starts with Jules eating Rue out. A sequence of lush reenactments of famous paintings and movie scenes invokes the complexity and depth of Rue and Jules’ love. For example, in Sandro Botticelli’s painting “The Birth of Venus,” reenactment Jules stands in for Venus, revealing how she represents pure love to Rue.
Another painting reenactment is Frida Kahlo’s “Self-Portrait as Tehuana.” Jules acts as Frida in the reenactment, and Rue is painted on her forehead like Diego was in the original. Frida painted “Self-Portrait as Tehuana” when she and Diego were divorced to represent her desire to possess him even though he was having affairs. The Frida Kahlo reenactment expresses how Jules feels uneasy about her relationship with Rue because she worries that her girlfriend has a crush on Elliot. She wants to possess Rue’s heart.
There is a Brokeback Mountain reenactment where both teenage girls are dressed like male cowboys representing their queerness. Jules is still discovering her gender presentation and where she fits in the Kinsey Scale. The gay cowboy reenactment shows Jules and Rue fighting before finally having sex showing that they are still learning about same-sex sexual relationships.
Even though their love for one another is so deep, Rue can’t orgasm while Jules tries to please her orally. She has taken so many benzothiazines that she can’t feel anything. Rue blankly repeats, “It is amazing.” Jules desperately wants to please Rue but is not buying her half-assed commentary. The drug addict fakes an orgasm lazily, making Jules think she is not attracted to her. Rue believes she is fooling Jules but gaslighting her girlfriend into an eventual breakup.
ELLIOT’S MANIPULATION
Episode Four clarifies that Elliot has been after Jules this whole time. Jules confides to Elliot about Rue’s faked orgasm. At first, it seems like he is protecting Rue because he says she is too lazy to fake an orgasm. However, he says that Jules could be “bad at eating pussy.” Elliot teaches Jules how to please a woman orally using her hand. The lesson turns into them making out. In a way, Elliot is safe for Jules because she knows what it is like to have “no feelings” sex with a man while her relationship with Rue is new.
Jules has never dated a woman before and has never had sex with somebody she is dating. That is why her inability to please Rue sexually causes so much stress. Jules is highly sexual, while Rue’s drug addiction has tampered with her sex drive. Elliot keeps pushing Jules’ boundaries, even kissing Jules when Rue secretly snorts coke in the bathroom. Elliot pretends to sneak off to the bathroom to take drugs, but he stays sober for Jules.
Jules and Elliot steal liquor while Rue chills in the car. Everybody, including Rue, starts drinking as Elliot drives them around. Jules doesn’t notice that Rue is drinking the beer because she is also drinking and grooving with the music. Elliot keeps on looking between Jules and Rue. Is he trying to protect Rue or get her in trouble with Jules? Elliot mentions to Rue that she shouldn’t drink after taking drugs. Jules doesn’t hear what he is saying. Elliot begs Rue to put the drink down, which finally gets Jules’ attention.
Jules pushes Rue to stop drinking. Rue, who doesn’t want her high messed with, becomes agitated with Jules. She doesn’t want to be saved. Rue asks Elliot to take her home. When Jules asks why Rue wants to go home, her lover says she can’t stand her. Rue wants to be high and drunk in peace. Rue chooses a self-destructive path rather than spending time with her girlfriend Jules, who wants to support her recovery.
After taking a shower at Elliot’s house, Jules starts to have sex with him. Elliot wants Jules but can’t be with her until he tells the truth about Rue. They have been taking drugs together. Jules feels betrayed and heartbroken. She leaves his house. Jules has sex with a random adult man from a dating app like she did before meeting Rue. A close-up of two straight cuts on Jules’ thigh reveals that she self-harmed. Rue’s self-destructive actions hurt the one person she loves the most. She is taking two people down with her.
LAST THOUGHTS
Cassie, Jules, and Rue all self-harmed in the delirium of intoxication in “You Who Cannot See, Think of Those Who Can.” Cassie self-harms by drinking herself into a meltdown because she desperately wants Nate’s love even though he is abusive. In a twisted way, Nate’s father, Cal Jacobs, owns up to sleeping with men and “transexuals,” but the confession will hopefully lead him to stop hurting others. Unfortunately, if Nate continues to live a life of lies like Cal, he will keep hurting himself and the women he dates. What do you think of Euphoria Season 2 Episode 4? Let us know in the comments.
I don’t think Jules had sex with a random man. That was Elliot, that was 100% Elliot’s room in the end ot the episode. Even the same shit stain in the curtains.