Alamo Brown’s criminal roots run deep
Exploitation and greed have been the dominant forces driving Season 3 of “Euphoria,” and this week’s “Stand Still and See” opens with a glimpse of how those vices took root in the heart of the season’s main antagonist, Alamo Brown. In a flashback, we see how a much younger Alamo briefly lives a storybook childhood when his mom shacks up with a friendly man named Preston.
His face may be covered in ghastly scars, but Preston’s heart is full of kindness. For instance, Preston accompanies the family to church, sneaks Alamo Hershey’s Bars, and shares his wealth when he gets a huge payout from the chemical factory that led to his disfigurement.
But this is “Euphoria,” so of course the dream inevitably turns ugly. It turns out that the love story was just a sham to rob Preston of everything he has. Alamo’s mom and another boyfriend conspire to run off with Preston’s riches, and Alamo’s broken heart leads him to his future life as a misogynist sex trafficker.
Rue digs herself deeper, literally and figuratively
The shocking cliffhanger that ended last week’s episode left fans wondering if Rue was about to get her head lobbed off with a polo mallet. When we see Rue again this week, she’s still buried up to her neck on the hilltop by Alamo’s mansion, and in order to save herself, she has to dig herself deeper into yet more trouble.
This time, Rue promises to get back the money stolen during the robbery of the Silver Slipper in “Kitty Likes to Dance.” To set up the scheme, she recruits the help of her ole friend Faye Valentine — a fellow drug mule who’s now shacking up with one of Laurie’s neo-Nazi stooges, with a fresh swastika tattoo to show for it.
In the meantime, a shaky ceasefire falls into place when Laurie and her gang set up a parlay with Alamo Brown at his swanky Western mansion. The scene seems primed for an old-fashioned Wild West shootout at first, but the two camps agree to a truce that involves Alamo letting Laurie use a Mexico-based plastic surgery operation as a front for smuggling fentanyl across the border.
Of course, the DEA is following along too, and Rue’s two federal handlers promise her a sweet deal so long as she sticks to the plan. But her luck is running out with the Alamo crew, a point that the devious henchman Bishop makes clear towards the end of the episode when he tells Rue a creepy story about a python that suggests her mom’s life is at stake if Rue double-crosses them again.
Lexi gets her big break in the worst possible way
After securing a minor role last week on the hit TV show “LA Nights,” Cassie has a breakdown on set when a line about a honeymoon triggers memories of her disastrous wedding night. You remember, the one where her husband Nate got beaten half to death by a loan shark and then lost his pinkie toe to a garden pruner.
Tearfully improvising lines about the traumatic episode, Cassie wins over the show’s producers and then opens up about her experiences as a sex worker. Impressed, Lexi’s boss decides to supposedly rescue Cassie from sex work — even though Cassie seemed perfectly happy with the job until now. She lands a recurring role on “LA Nights,” and her sister Lexi is tasked with writing Cassie’s storyline.
Lexi deserves success more than any of her peers, and “LA Nights” stands as a golden career opportunity for her. That said, Cassie securing a recurring gig puts Lexi in a bind: She resents Cassie for barging into her corner of Hollywood, but now they’ll have to work even more closely together.
Maddy and Jules are doing their thing
Now basically working as one of Alamo’s business partners, Maddy Perez seizes on the opportunity to avail herself of additional resources and talent. Specifically, she hosts a photo shoot at the Silver Slipper, using the old-fashioned cowboy decor for some memorable OnlyFans content.
She’s just hired two of Alamo’s dancers and wants to take them out on the town for makeovers and networking opportunities. Alamo is skeptical — ever the penny-pincher, he sees this as lost revenue at the Silver Slipper. But the usually taciturn Bishop seems to trust Maddy, or at least not distrust her. It seems that Maddy is well on her way to succeeding in Alamo’s sex-trafficking empire, where a more hesitant Rue failed.
Somehow, between all this, the episode also checks in with Jules at her swanky sugar-baby penthouse. Her storyline has been fairly static this entire season, and she’s practically become a fringe figure, living an isolated life as a rich man’s girlfriend for hire, and her angst shows through in a painting covered in big streaks of bloody reds. In a dramatic scene, Rue talks with Jules about rekindling their romance, but her disapproval of Jules’s situation leads to a fight, and the two separate once again.
Against all odds, Rue still has faith
“Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson has made a few efforts to thread Biblical themes throughout this season, and it feels a little tacked on at times. But in one of the episode’s most touching moments, Rue retreats to a beautiful church to call her mom. Surrounded by stained-glass windows, she offers something of a confession, and for a few moments, we actually see Leslie Bennett — her first appearance on “Euphoria” since Season 2.
Rue has suffered terribly through the six seasons of Season 3, and it’s heartening to see her mom offer reassurance at a time when Rue has been stripped of all her agency and self-respect. In the final scene, after a recording of the Old Testament cuts out during a late-night drive, Rue nearly dies in a head-on collision with a semitruck, only to swerve off the road and encounter a burning bush. (In this case, it appears to be a very Californian Joshua tree, engulfed in flames.) Like Moses, Rue is on her own march through the wilderness, a strange sign of hope.
