Editor’s Note: Euphoria is a show that deals with themes meant for mature audiences and is not appropriate for all ages. 

Spoilers ahead!

If there is one thing that we know about the hit HBO Show Euphoria, it’s that the people portrayed in this show are messier than a food fight. This applies especially to Jules and Cassie in episode five of season two when Rue lays nearly the entire cast’s dirty laundry on the table for everyone to see. 

Unfortunately for Cassie and Jules, this dirty laundry just so happened to be the basis of their whole personalities and secrets that they were keeping from the people closest to them.

“Hey, Cass? I have a quick question for you. How long have you been [intimate with] Nate Jacobs,” Rue said looking at Cassie from atop the stairs.

Let’s be honest, there was a lot to unpack in that whole scene and I simply wasn’t prepared to be getting this scene at that moment. Rue calling Cassie out on her mess? Yeah, I was definitely not ready for it.

However, what I was ready for was Rue calling out Jules. Throughout the entire series, Jules is constantly at odds with her need to be loved and feel loved.

From my point of view, it looks as though Jules did what she did not just to protect Rue but for her own selfish gain. In her head, if Rue can’t change for her then she needs to almost force Rue to change and she needs to make her jealous while she’s at it.

Unfortunately, for Jules, that’s not quite how things work out. In fact, she ends up losing a girlfriend and having her whole perception and delusion of life under fire.

Now, it’s not like I don’t have any sympathy for Jules. I understand why she craves the attention and the need for Rue’s sobriety. At the beginning of the series “there is a scene in which Rue says that around the time Jules got better, [Jules’] mom got ‘worse,’ but there are no further details just yet,” said Hannah Chamber in her article about Jules and her back story.

This suggests that something happened to Jules’ mom before she moved to the sleepy town of East Highland. Jules was also a fully transitioned transgender woman who was struggling with the perception of being a woman and the things that she had gone through prior to moving.

I believe this all factored into Jules’ near delusion of her relationships with others. For one thing, Jules is constantly struggling with loving herself due to the changes of her body and the treatment of her mother when she was younger. Constantly told that something is wrong with her, Jules falls into the belief that she needs male or female validation no matter where it’s coming from. Oftentimes that meant choosing other people over Rue because they gave her more attention than she did.

Prime examples of this behavior are when Rue proposes the idea to run away to New York together. Jules obviously agrees and off they go running to the East Highland train station. However, when they get there Rue has a change of heart and asks Jules to stay with her and in Jules fashion she steps back into the train and leaves Rue to go to her friends in New York.

When Jules comes back to town again all she can talk about is a mysterious girl who blew her mind and introduced her to the world she’s never seen before. A place where she would not only be given an endless stream of attention but the carefree party lifestyle that she was used to.

Now, believe it or not, I don’t like Jules but I also don’t hate her. I understand why she does the things that she does but I also don’t. I don’t understand why she constantly puts relationships that mean the most to her on the line because of a little bit of attention from someone else.

I also don’t happen to think she’s the worst person in the show. However, in comparison to Cassie, she does take the cake. While Cassie and Jules are interchangeable in the regard that they crave affection and attention Jules was the worst of the two.

Jules is not special; others have attention-seeking problems too. Cassie has a more outwardly and less internalized desperation for affection, Jules is more internalized and almost delusional. She believes that she couldn’t be in the wrong and that everyone should change for her instead of the betterment of themselves.

She craves a version of unconditional love that is only displayed in acts of service or her general favor. A good example of this would be in episodes four and five where Jules cheats on Rue with the person she has revamped her addiction with. She then tells Rue’s mother about her falling off the wagon claiming that she loves her and only wants to help.

However, if that was true wouldn’t she have stopped bringing Rue to parties? Parties where people used drugs and drank heavily? Actions speak louder than words and right now all I can see is that Jules wants instantaneous change and affection from Rue. Change that Rue may or may not be capable of yet.

All I can say is I was yelling hallelujah at the end of that relationship. Rue and Jules were not it for each other and that was apparent by the amount of times Jules chose other people over Rue.

Cassie, on the other hand, is still a complete and utter mess. Maddy, her best friend, and she have had a falling out when the truth about Cassie getting intimate with her ex gets out. A little while ago it was revealed that Maddy still had some feelings for Nate even if they weren’t going to be together again. Within a matter of two episodes, Cassie went from cute best friend to ex-boyfriend stealer and victim in a matter of minutes.

Now, Cassie may not be the worse out of the two but she’s not the best for a long shot. If there is one rule in girl code you should know like the back of your hand is that you are never supposed to go after a friend’s current or ex-boyfriend. 

Whether Cassie knows it or not (spoiler alert she doesn’t) she was wrong for what she did. Maddy clearly still harbored feelings for Nate and she knew it. Cassie committed the ultimate best friend sin. She let Maddy cry on her shoulder and then left to go hook up with Nate Jacobs behind her back.

However, I feel like my opinion might just change when it comes to Cassie later. She has a habit of changing herself to fit into other people’s lives and Nate just happens to be her newest boyfriend. If we know anything about Nate it’s that he spent most of high school in a toxic relationship with Maddy. He was also Cassie’s bully at some point making off-handed comments and making her feel less than what she was. 

As for Cassie, she’s already been seen dressing up as people that she thinks would be most appealing to Nate. One of those people being her best friend Maddy.

Now, I don’t know about you but I’m ready to see how Rue deals with Jules and how Maddy proceeds with her situation between Casse and Nate. Maddy is gunning for revenge and she only has two people in her line of sight.

For these particular people, I might just have to say that overall Jules is worse than Cassie. Cassie may have committed a cardinal sin in the best friend handbook but Jules absolutely demolished the rules of being a girlfriend.