Here's what could have happened to Rue and Fez in Euphoria's season finale
Euphoria had its season finale on Sunday and we’re not gonna lie…it left us with more questions than answers.
Sure, we saw Jules (Hunter Schafer) get on a train and leave Rue (Zendaya) behind. We also saw Kat (Barbie Ferreira) get a rom-com-like conclusion with Ethan (Austin Abrams). But as for everyone else? Conclusions were not so cut and dry. Where the hell was McKay (Algee Smith) the whole episode? Why is Nate (Jacob Elordi) still alive? What is Maddy (Alexa Demie) going to do with that CD she presumably burned a copy of? Will Lexi (Maude Apatow) finally get her due and get a love life of her own like she wants?
And of course, the biggies:
What does that music video ending mean for Rue and what in the hell happened to Fez?
We’ve been racking our brains since the episode first faded to black, and here’s what we’ve got:
Rue overdosed and died.
Earlier this season, we discussed the theory that Rue has been dead this whole time and the finale leaves some hints to support that. At the end of the episode, we see Rue walk home in tears after being abandoned by Jules. This occurs right after her mom Leslie’s (Nika King) eulogy-like scene and it’s intercut with events that occurred in Rue’s more distant past (her with her dad as a kid, some of their final dinners together, dancing with her sister Gia (Storm Reid), keeping her dad’s hoodie for herself) and her recent past (her time with Jules). It’s almost like an RIP Rue slideshow. After that, we cut to her snorting her drug of choice in her room, seemingly passing out on her bed, and launching straight into an in-show music video of the song “All for Us” by Labrinth featuring Rue, err Zendaya. In the video sequence, Rue touches her mom and sister, but neither pays any attention to her; however, her father, who is dead, does interact with her, hugging her and then kissing her forehead before disappearing once again. Add this to Rue’s ominous final line about disappearing “into that good night” and it’s not looking good.
To further support this theory, earlier in the episode, Leslie reads a letter that she presumably wrote to Rue, alluding to the weird period of time where she was born, but also making mention of a narrator, stating “What if I heard the voice of some narrator who said: ‘Here’s what’s going to happen?” This could be a nod to the prevailing theory that Rue’s omniscient but undependable narrating powers have been bestowed upon her from the grave and that her mother is here to remind her us, the audience, of that fact. Leslie’s speech also reads somewhat like a eulogy, and the setting does not help — with Rue sitting in a church pew and not being visually acknowledged by her mother. Is Rue even really there? Is she a hallucination?
After the finale, EW asked Schafer and Elordi what they thought of the “Rue is dead” theory. Here’s what they had to say:
Schafer: “I guess you could apply that perspective if you wanted to. But I don’t really see anything that confirms that.” (Read full interview here)
Elordi: “My feeling is that that’s pretty morbid. That’s a different show isn’t it? I hope not.” (Read full interview here)
OR…Rue is simply asleep. And dreaming.
The other side of the dead theory is that Rue simply cried herself to sleep at the end of the finale and is having one of those Euphoria dream sequences that love to play with time and space. You could also believe that Rue snorted her drugs and then just passed out in a state of — ahem — euphoria, but then you’d have to ask questions about where she got the drugs to begin with since she’s been supposedly clean for months at this point. And speaking of dreams, while her father is in fact the only one who interacts with her in this sequence, it can be interpreted is a warning, rather than a red flag that she’s dead. Perhaps he’s warning her and reminding her that it’s not her time…yet (a la…Deadpool 2). And if so, it would match the equally ominous line at the end of “All For Us” where Rue/Zendaya mentions disappearing “into that good night” and a man utters right after “Until then,” perhaps signaling that an overdose resulting in death is inevitable for her, but has not yet occurred.
Mouse let Fez walk
Since Fez is a fan-favorite who we do not want to kick the bucket (not that we want that for Rue either), our first order of business is assuming that Fez is alive and well (for now) and that the show is playing with us.
The last we see of Fez, he has returned to the home to an impatient Mouse (Meeko), who was waiting for him, gun in hand. He turns in the money he got from robbing — and brutally beating — one of Mouse’s associates (Was the good doctor a friend? A buyer?) and trying to recover from a police raid. And while it seems like Fez managed to pull off a clean break, Mouse’s unnamed money handler pointed out the money he turned in was spattered in blood, signaling that the “bulls—-” Fez was dealing with before arriving was not something to be dismissed after all. Trying to play cool, Fez asks if they’re “good” and Mouse doesn’t answer. All we see is the camera zooming in on his face as he looks at Fez.
Mouse is…certainly ominous, but we want to believe that he would refrain from shooting Fez as long as all the money was accounted for and he wouldn’t be dragged into some future nonsense. Fez had a menacing encounter with Mouse earlier in the season when Mouse gave Rue Fentanyl, but then things calmed down when Fez offered Mouse double what the drug cost. Here’s hoping Mouse is money hungry enough to just let all of this slide.
Some fans also swear that it’s Fez uttering the “Until then” at the very end of the episode, assuming it’s a nod to him surviving.
OR…Fez was killed by Mouse.
Of course, the former theory may just be wishful thinking, as it is not wise to underestimate the dark-sided nature of Mouse. This is a guy who was probably going to assault an underage Rue in exchange for her Fentanyl trip and only calmed down when Fez agreed to cough up way more money than was deserved. And with Mouse being as sinister as he is, we wouldn’t be shocked if he played like he was gonna say “yeah, we good” and then shot Fez right in the face because he didn’t want to be bothered by whatever risky business Fez had gotten into.
While Euphoria‘s season finale has us more stumped than anything, we appreciate the thought-provoking conclusion that left us on the edge of our seat waiting for next season.
Until then.
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