exo

In the finale of the first season of Euphoria there is no sense of closure for any of the characters.

However for Kat & Ethan there is a sense of a new beginning.

As Kat gets ready for the winter formal she no longer carries her “bad bitch” persona. She can’t even look at her own reflection without crying. Her Mom attempts to cheer her up & let her know how beautiful she looks in her dress but Kat knows that there’s something ugly festering within.

When she gets to the dance she sits amongst her friends awkwardly yet doesn’t start any further drama at least. As Cassie laments about the darkness of love that should just be avoided at all cost Kat sees Ethan’s face emerge amongst the crowd. She even asks Cassie out loud “What if you’ve already fallen in love?” & Cassie darkly states that she should just cut off those feelings. Maybe the old Kat would have agreed,but something sparks Kat to get up & go straight to Ethan to ask if they can talk.

When Ethan & Kat are alone she finally lets herself be vulnerable with him. She immediately apologizes to him for treating him badly,admits that she’s was trying to hurt him before he could hurt her,acknowledges that she sees Ethan as a genuinely kind person,& even confesses that seeing him flirt with another girl at the carnival triggered her insecurities. She doesn’t say any of this to him as an excuse for her behavior or actions but simply because she doesn’t want to hide herself from him anymore. She’s showing him all her true colors with tears streaming down her face & owning up to all of her messy emotions.

Ethan’s response to Kat’s words are nothing short of swoon worthy. He doesn’t lash out at her or even disregard what she’s saying. He truly listens to her. He tells her how even though they may not last forever & that there’s no guarantee that neither will get hurt that he’s known about his feelings for her since the first day they met. Then to top it all off he attempts to comfort her by saying he’s willing to take on all the pain if they inevitably get hurt by each other. When he seals this promise to her with a passionate kiss it’s like the closets thing to wedding vows. Even Lexi watching from afar cheers for them!

In a romantic fashion he asks her if they want to get out of there & she agrees grabbing his hand as they whisk off to a new adventure together.

Although I am thrilled to see them be honest with each other & to start a relationship together I also remember that this is not the end for Kat’s issues. However it is a start for Kat to open up her heart to someone & to have faith in love. The Kat from the first episode would have never been able to do such a thing. Kat’s overall growth this season reminds me so much of Marina & the Diamond’s album “Electra Heart”; in the beginning she’s all about indulging in her darkness but by the end of the album she’s trying to find the light at the end of the dark tunnel. The song “Fear and Loathing” particularly resonates to where Kat is now. I’m also aware that Ethan is not a perfect person,but he is a person who is willing to take a leap of faith with Kat despite no gauruntees for a happy ending.

Falling in love or being in a relationship with someone is not something that completes a person’s life. It is simply something that happens to a person in their life & it becomes something that those two people have to work on nurturing over time.

I’m excited to see how Kat & Ethan develop as a couple next season,but more importantly I’m excited to see Kat embrace all the good & bad parts of herself on the path to fully embracing who she is.

I researched the actor Austin Abrams to try to figure out what it is exactly that makes me attracted to him. I vaguely remembered him being in projects like The Walking Dead,Paper Towns,& Ben is Back.

Then while looking at his acting resume I found that he had been in shows like SMILF & the Americans as an identical character; the website the Decider even dubbed him as Hollywood’s go to “cougar bait”. In both shows he plays a young bookish college student that manages to swoon older women & even has sex with him despite his shy nature. The article even compared him to Timothee Chalamet in the sense that they’re both in their 20’s,have a boy next door look to them,& tend to play intellectually shy young men with a hint of humble confidence within them. Especially nowadays a majority of straight women are over being attracted to meathead jocks or men consumed with their own toxic masculinity. What woman doesn’t want a man who’s smart,sensitive,& actually treats them as a human being who’s their equal?