'Euphoria' Special Part 2 Ending Explained: What happened to Jules' mother and why did she leave Rue?
HBO's 'Euphoria' pretty much rocked the teen drama genre when it first debuted from creator Sam Levinson in 2019. The depraved, drug-addled lives of high school teens not only soared Zendaya to her first Emmy but also made us hooked on the one couple nobody saw coming — Rue and Jules, aka Rules. Zendaya and Hunter Chaffer's chemistry is off the charts and their budding relationship on-screen is even cuter. Then why is it that the end of the debut season finale sees Jules leave town on a train, leaving Rue behind? Until now, the general consensus was in favor of Rue being the more heartbroken one as these events folded. But as Part 2 of the winter special titled 'Jules' reveals, there's more to the titular character's crushing heartbreak than we've been led to believe.
First things first. Due clarification is needed for the timeline of the events. It is only after the episode wraps that we understand that the narrative of the episode, which begins with Jules in therapy and ends with Rue going up to meet her, happens ahead of the first part of the winter special episodes. Titled 'Trouble Don’t Last Always' — the first part had dropped early on December 4 and focused on a diner conversation between Rue and her sponsor, the older guy Ali, on Christmas eve. That conversation where Rue was busted as an unreliable narrator happens after the events of Part 2, titled 'F**k Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob', where Rue and Jules see each other one last time before spiraling into heartbreak again.
But why did Jules leave at all you ask? Currently, in therapy, Jules opens up about her own toxic relationship with her mother, who always suffered from drug addiction. Jules opens her monologue saying she doesn't want to take her hormones anymore as she feels like a fraud, yet somewhere down the line admits the best sex she's ever had was while phone sexting 'Tyler', the guy Nate was catfishing to be. But crushed as she was to run away from Rue, whose addiction became overly dependent on her, Jules was also quite mad at her for making her the crutch of her sobriety. It's too much responsibility to carry and she's just a teenager. She's lived this torture once, it makes sense why she doesn't want it again.
Also, before Jules leaves, the night she went to the Halloween party with Rue, her father got a call that her mother had overdosed; but Jules didn't stick around, she left, first for this party, and eventually, the town. The second episode sees Jules admit, “No one had ever looked at me the way Rue did.” She admits to calling Rue after leaving town but has received no answers. The episode ends with Rue going to meet Jules, the usual apologies and a Merry Christmas before they leave it at that, open ended, with Jules breaking down into violent sobs, imitating the pouring rain outside. Are they over for good or is there more Rules to come?
'Euphoria' will return with Season 2 sometime in 2021.