The third episode of Euphoria season three featured the wedding of TV’s most toxic couple, Nate (Jacob Elordi) and Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) — with more bloodshed than even Game of Thrones’ infamous Red Wedding episode could muster.
Why was there bloodshed at a wedding of high school sweethearts, you ask? Well, the much-hyped wedding episode saw much of Euphoria’s core cast — including the newlyweds as well as Jules (Hunter Schafer), Rue (Zendaya) and Maddy (Alexa Demi) — reunite for the first time this season, so drama was always bound to ensue.
If you’re still feeling a little dizzy from everything that went down, we’re sifting through all the biggest bombshells dropped in Euphoria’s latest episode, “The Ballad of Paladin”. There are of course spoilers ahead, so proceed with as much caution as Cassie should’ve had when agreeing to marry someone like Nate in the first place.
What happens at Nate and Cassie’s wedding?
Though it looks idyllic (exorbitant floral arrangements included), Cassie and Nate’s wedding quickly devolves into a nightmare when Naz (Jack Topalian), to whom Nate owes $500,000, arrives as an uninvited guest.
The revelation of Nate’s enormous debt, as a result of a failed development project, sends Cassie into a spiral at the wedding, to the point of a rogue champagne cork whacking Nate in the head and a very public argument in front of all their wedding guests.
But the trouble only intensifies when the newlyweds arrive home, to find Naz and his goons waiting for them. It’s at this point that creator Sam Levinson goes full Quentin Tarantino with a gory sequence of Nate being roughed up by Naz’s men, culminating in his pinky toe being chopped off by a pair of pliers.
That scene — complete with Cassie’s cartoonish wails in the middle of all the chaos — is the cliffhanger of the episode, so we’ll have to wait and see whether Nate is able to pay back his debts as the season progresses. Perhaps Cassie’s OnlyFans career might pay off after all?
What happens between Jules and Cal in Euphoria’s wedding episode?
Aside from the main event of the wedding, one of the buzziest moments going into the latest Euphoria episode was the reunion of Jules and Cal (Eric Dane). If you recall, the pair had a tryst way back in season one, and simmering tensions have followed the pair as well as Nate in all the episodes since.
“Do you remember me?” Jules asks Cal at the wedding. What follows is a surprisingly sweet (in Euphoria terms) interaction as Cal apologises for secretly recording their tryst and expresses regret over sleeping with someone who was barely-legal at the time. “I just wish that everybody didn’t think I was a pedo,” Cal says.
The pair’s relationship mirrors that of Jules and her sugar daddy, Ellis (Sam Trammell), which we get more insight into at the start of the wedding episode. That storyline is also still in-the-making, so expect more on that front as Euphoria’s third season unfolds.
How are fans reacting to Euphoria’s wedding episode?
The hype going into the latest Euphoria episode was huge, and so too was the reaction as fans pored over all the dramatic wedding antics. Some reveled in Maddy, Nate’s ex and Cassie’s former bestie, arriving at the wedding in a revenge dress (“Maddy you dodged the biggest bullet of your life”), or cackled at Cassie’s reaction as Nate was being beat up.
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Elsewhere, fans simply listed the amount of sh** that went down during the whirlwind episode, praised Sweeney’s performance, and cringed at Cassie and Nate’s air-guitaring, lasso-wielding wedding dance. Peep some of the best fan reactions to Euphoria’s wedding episode below.
Despite some plot points reaching their apex, Euphoria’s wedding episode is still early within the series’ third season, so expect even more fireworks as Rue’s life of crime continues to devolve, Maddy’s intentions in befriending Cassie become clearer, and Jules’ sugar baby career takes off. We’re in for a wild ride!
Euphoria’s third season is streaming on Aussie screens on HBO Max.
Lead images: HBO and X
