Episode 4 of Euphoria season 3 begins with Rue in police custody. The sniffer dogs have discovered fentanyl in her car, but the investigation doesn't stop there. In the interview room, Rue is questioned specifically about Laurie and Mexico. Despite being photographed meeting a Mexican cartel member named Uno, who operates a club just 20 minutes from the border, Rue claims she's never been to Mexico. She could be facing a long prison sentence if she's not careful. Either decades behind bars or becoming the DEA's confidential source and helping take down the drug runners.
When Rue returns to Alamo, she's holding sugar pills and laxatives instead of the actual drugs. She's understandably on edge, and there's a new app installed on her phone that she's told to keep in plain sight as much as possible.
Meanwhile, Nate has been patched up, with his toe sewn back on. He sees it as a metaphor for gluing together the pieces of his life. When Nate mentions that he owes $1 million to Naz, Cassie is shocked and scoffs at their marriage, telling him that the fairy tale is over. As a result, Cassie calls Maddy for help, packs up her things, and leaves Nate. Cass then gets a makeover, updating her from "the suburbs to the city." Once that's done, it's time to move on to Hollywood.
Lexi gives Jules a new opportunity to paint a portrait, but it doesn't go as planned. Jules winds up painting something rather provocative, and the producers are not happy. They call on Lexi to handle this elegantly, where Jules is "struggling" to get rid of the nudity from her painting. Instead, she just splashes red paint over it. Unfortunately, this delay has cost the studio $56,000 in shooting. They have to hold the studio for another week, which has cost a further $191k. That's a lot of cash, and Lexi is told by the director, in no uncertain terms, not to be a net negative.
Laurie is grief-stricken after losing her bird, and there's no way she's going to do business with Alamo anytime soon. That's a problem though, given it's the only reason Rue has been let go.
Nate decides to take a desperate gamble and ventures into court, seeking a way out of this predicament with the endangered flower. Being unable to build around or on it has put him in a very tight spot. To the California board, he goes down on his knees, pleading for their help. But his efforts are met with denial, and he breaks down in tears.
Meanwhile, Maddy sets her sights on turning Cassie into a new internet pornstar, right across the way from Lexi. Lexi is trying her best to stay on the straight and narrow, without selling her body or - in the case of Rue - drugs.
Speaking of which, Rue questions Alamo about drug running in Mexico, which makes her very suspicious. Alamo calls her out for being a rat or even using drugs.
Rue uses this opportunity to change the subject and admits to having a slip-up. It's super tense, but thankfully she emerges from this in one piece, with the card game they're playing acting as a solid distraction. And let me add, Rue wins the game. Perhaps a subtle bit of foreshadowing?
Word spreads that Angel has run away from rehab, and her locker is replaced with a new stripper called Kitty. Unfortunately, stripping isn't all it's cracked up to be, especially when a couple of punters wind up using her in one of the bedrooms. Rue is shocked by what she sees on the monitors.
Back at the club, Rue is caught by Magick, another stripper, asking Kitty if she wants to work or if she's being forced into it. Rue is ringing all sorts of alarm bells here with her questioning. She leaves her phone in the office too, but "mum" rings and Rue is allowed to answer.
It's the DEA agents who warn her that she's compromised and suspect her of being a traitor. She needs to find a way to discredit Magick. As the pair engage in a heated fight, masked men suddenly burst into the office and demand the safe be opened. After shooting Eddy in the stomach, he reluctantly opens the safe, and the men swiftly make off with the gear. As they do, Magick reviews the footage and relays back to Alamo what's happening.
Rue gets a clear view of the driver, as they zoom in on her lips, and claims that it's Faye. The DEA, of course, are listening in the whole time.
