Image courtesy of Eddy Chen for HBO

Entertainment

Maddy and Cassie’s iconic ‘Euphoria’ fight scene nominated for ‘Best Fight’ at 2022 MTV Awards

By Malavika Pradeep

May 12, 2022

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Euphoria and Spider-Man: No Way Home are all the rage at the MTV Movie & TV Awards 2022. While the latter, credited as the top-grossing film released in 2021, led the pack of scripted nominees with seven nods, Euphoria and The Batman followed closely with six and four nominations respectively. The categories Euphoria has been chosen for, however, is a whole other ordeal.

First, all three shows are up for ‘Best Kiss’, honouring the smooches between real-life lovers Tom Holland and Zendaya, offscreen couple Hunter Schafer and Dominic Fike and steamy co-stars Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz. Euphoria has also been nominated for ‘Best Show’ as Zendaya and Sydney Sweeney got nods for ‘Best Performance in a Show’. A separate category titled ‘Here for the Hookup’ is additionally under the American teen series’ belt—alongside Never Have I Ever and Pam & Tommy.

In a surprising twist of events, Fike’s four-minute long serenade ‘Little Star’—which he’s “still working on,” by the way—is also nominated for ‘Best Song’. Fun fact: according to Euphoria’s end credits, ‘Little Star’ is actually co-written by Zendaya and Labrinth.

But in perhaps the biggest plot twist of the century, Maddy and Cassie’s iconic fight scene is nominated for ‘Best Fight’ at the MTV Movie & TV Awards. Now, we’re not talking about the chaotic-riot-turned-slap-battle that happened at Lexi’s play. The scene in question is the infamously recreated one which took TikTok by storm, where Maddy first finds out about Cassie and Nate from Rue—a reveal that had promised to pave the way for the biggest fight East Highland had ever witnessed.

Here’s a mini refresher of the nominated scene: following a heated debate after Rue dishes Cassie’s secret, Cassie sprints up the stairs and locks herself in her bathroom. Maddy then charges behind her and bangs on the door. “Open the door and tell me it was worth it!” Maddy is heard sobbing while Kat rubs her back and comforts her. A tender teen breakdown—no hair pulled and certainly no punches thrown.

When the news of the nomination hit Twitter, most users scrambled to comment: “What fight?” Rightly so. There was no violent showdown and, to the grave disappointment of fans, the episode glossed over the feud entirely. This is even more surprising, considering the fact that the scene is up against Black Widow versus Widows, Guy versus Dude in Free Guy, the bus fight in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and the iconic end battle in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Yikes.

Nevertheless, Maddy and Cassie’s fight scene—which, let’s be honest, did make some noise—has made its way onto the list of nominations. Now, only time can tell if they would actually bag the golden popcorn trophy.

Meanwhile, you can vote and give the iconic duo a fighting chance here.

Image by Eddy Chen for HBO

Entertainment

Smile, you’re on camera: ‘Euphoria’ episode 6’s telltale signs that someone is always watching

By Monica Athnasious

Feb 16, 2022

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Euphoria’s sixth episode of its second season made its debut and, once again, it’s all we can talk about. The episode was filled with the aftermath of Rue’s actions, Cassie’s Karen-like tears, a blossoming Fezco and Lexie love story and the mothers of the show displaying a deep fear for (and of) their children. However, what I want to focus on is the overarching theme of ‘being watched’. The sixth installment was rife with observation as both Cassie and Rue were meticulously minded by their mothers while Fez and Lexie watched a movie (and more sinister surveillance revealed itself).

While Maddy plays dress up with the gloriously vintage wardrobe of Minka Kelly’s mysterious character Samantha, she receives a text message from her employer who states that she will be home in 15 minutes—prompting our ‘it girl’ to quickly undress. The camera pans to an alarm clock, slowly zooming in. For many of us, we didn’t quite catch the reason behind this—perhaps it made you feel some impending doom regarding the time—but for some eagle-eyed fans online it revealed something more sinister: a hidden camera. So, what does this tell us? Maddy is being watched. It appears that the incredibly wealthy Samantha may be well aware of her babysitter’s Clueless Cher moment in her closet—what’s even more interesting is that she most likely knows and hasn’t yet mentioned it to Maddy. While intent has yet to be disclosed, it is a disturbing fact to realise that once again, a Euphoria adult is filming a minor without their knowledge.

Speaking of that infamous tape, upon Maddy’s arrival to her home, yet another observer is watching her undress—Nate Jacobs. Cooly sat in a dark corner of his ex-girlfriend’s bedroom, wielding a gun, Nate (played by Jacob Elordi) observes her sinisterly—awaiting the moment he threatens the infamous tape out of her hands. While this scene alone is terrifying enough to warrant its own analysis, I want to draw your attention to the vivid yellow of a poster framing the shot when Maddy first notices her abuser—it reads: ‘smile you’re on camera’. An interesting choice and perhaps a deliberate one. Maybe it’s continuing the parallel of her previous scene, dropping hints at the alarm clock, or perhaps an even more far-fetched theory—Maddy herself has a secret camera. What if she got that whole encounter on tape? It would be all she would need to take down the human embodiment of toxic masculinity that is Nate Jacobs.

To top it off, the entire motivation behind the torturous Russian roulette he plays with a traumatised Maddy is to obtain the tape that implicates his father Cal. A tape that he admits to Jules, he’s watched. His perceived ‘kindness’ to Jules in giving her this footage is, to me, a worrying sign of his increased obsession with her. But his affection is often short-lived (as we have seen) before he once again begins displaying his concerningly violent and aggressive behaviour. Basically, I’m not giving him any credit just yet—especially because of what he did to get it. This theme of the observer continues as Jules herself watches the tape.

The episode also gave us the Fez and Lexi sofa scene we had all been waiting for but the cuteness of the scene was seemingly overshadowed by the daunting reality that they too are being watched. Smile for the camera Fez and Ash, it looks like you’re about to be caught up in some serious trouble. Escaping his own monitoring responsibility, Ash leaves his multiple CCTV footage set up to go to the toilet. In that time, while taking the rubbish out, Faye is surprised by her boyfriend Custer who admits to her that he is cooperating with the police who—as he puts it—already have their eyes set on Fezco and Ash for the murder of Mouse. You know, the guy Ash bashed in with a hammer—yeah, that creep. With the police already watching them, Custer says to his confused girlfriend that he’ll be coming around to talk and that she should mind her business—begging the question, is he going in with a wire? Will he be recording the two brothers in an attempt to incriminate them? Guess we’ll have to wait till the next Euphoria Sunday to find out.

While the situations of the lives of Euphoria played out in the episode, so did Rue’s narration. In that it basically stopped. Her observations—ones that usually rule and drive the show—had ultimately diminished by the end. What this means for the character or the show is yet to be determined. Some may view it as yet another sign of the many fan theories that Rue is actually dead/dying? Zendaya, however, quickly shut down such rumours in Entertainment Weekly stating, “We can’t leave her here.” If it’s not here, I wonder where the show will next take us.