Everything wrong with Rue and Jules's relationship, Euphoria

The hit hbo series, Euphoria, consists of eight episodes, with an additional two special character episodes. Set in a boring suburban town in America the show follows the lives of multiple high school students through a school year, giving insights on many current themes in the lives of many young adults, like teen pregnancy, substance abuse and relationships. The variety of relationships on the show stretch from healthy to unhealthy relations. The relationship between lead characters, Rue and Jules, is blindy read as healthy and desirable by many viewers. I will be arguing that it is in fact an unhealthy relationship for both partners. Impacting both characters' mental health negatively, based on their pasts, their desires and wants and their current mental health status. Proving they aren't compatible, and their relationship has led to unhealthy dependence.

Rue and Jules meet in the first episode of Euphoria, starting off as friends, we watch them slowly become more. But before we talk about their interactions during the series we need to take a step back and look at the path they took to get here. Starting with Rue, a teenage girl, who suffers from bipolar disorder and substance abuse, she lives with her widowed mother and younger sister. Rue starts the series fresh out of rehab after a nearly fatal overdose. We are given a brief insight into Rue's childhood filled with confusion, sadness and struggle, we learn about her drifting best friend, Lexi and her continuous use of drugs upon return from rehab. Rue's substance abuse teaches us she has struggled with mental health for many years and is no stranger to deception and lies. Leaving her with many unstable relationships. This provides the first red flag in this relationship, for Rue, who is still struggling with substance abuse, is not in a place for any new or serious relationships that may affect her emotional wellbeing and overall stability, this is reinforced when Rue's mother warns Rue to take it slow "baby just take your time, you've come a long way". However, to really understand how Rue's past affects the relationship we must look into Jules's past.

Jules's character is built on trust issues and trauma and for an understandable reason. Jules's storyline is also faced with themes of substance abuse and deception, however not by her own creation. The new girl at school, Jules, lives with her dad in their new suburban house, a huge change in dynamic from the city life left behind. The storyline of Jules and her mother is all too familiar to that of Jules and Rue. Jules's mother is the location of substance abuse in Jules's story. In the series special episode 'F*ck Anyone Who's Not A Sea Blob', we dive further into Jules's past as we observe a therapy session for Jules. This therapy session provides new perspectives on Jules's characters, featuring her struggles with gender identity, throughout her transition from male to female. During the session Jules reveals "Without The Self-Criticism, I'd Be Lost." Showing us that Jules is exhausting herself with her self-representation, and is often very hard on herself. However it doesn't end here, the story of Jules's mother is revealed, opening up themes of abandonment as her mother's substance abuse removed her from Jules's life. We learn that Jules's mother is still alive and trying to get sober, but her parents divorce and Jules's overall mistrust for her mother has kept her out of her life. This brings us to the biggest problem with Jules's and Rue's relationship, dependence. During Jules's therapy session she says (in reference to Rue) "I feel like her sobriety is completely dependent on how available I am to her." bringing to light the instability of their relationship. In reference to this quote the therapist lightly suggests that Jules feels the same way about Rue as she does about her mother: "The same person who saw you, who truly saw you, the same way your mom did when you were a baby, was also incapable of seeing how her addictions affected you." Linking Rue and Jules's mother's position is Jules's life, showing Jules's and the audience how Rue is negatively affecting Jules's mental health, bringing up past trauma. We also begin to understand the burden placed on Jules of constantly feeling responsible for Rue's life, making them the most unhealthy couple on the show.