All Your Questions About Lexi's Play on “Euphoria” Answered

The poem Lexi reads to Rue (Zendaya) at the start of the play is “Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower” by Rainer Maria Rilke. While the meaning behind any poem can be debatable, this poem that Lexi chooses seems to send a message to Rue that even though everything is bad right now, she can get through it.

One stanza reads, “What batters you becomes your strength. Move back and forth into the change. What is it like, such intensity of pain? If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.” These words feel like a message of support from Lexi to Rue, especially considering she knows Rue is hurting from her dad’s death and because she becomes aware of Rue’s increasing substance abuse issues and wants better for her.

There are some confusing aspects of Lexi’s play because it’s unclear if the scene is happening in Lexi’s play or outside of it.

The perfect example of this would be the scene that begins with Lexi’s voiceover explaining that Nate (Jacob Elordi) and Maddy’s relationship was her and Cassie’s first idea of real love. At first the characters are played by Nate and Maddy’s look-alikes, but suddenly, the camera pans to Nate in the audience, and then we’re watching the real Nate watch Maddy undress, only for her to change into Jules, who approaches Nate and hugs him. Then Nate pushes a girl down on a bed and rips off her tights, but that girl is now Cassie. Finally, Cal replaces Nate as the man who’s looming over the girl on the bed, but when he leans down, it’s now Nate who’s laying face down on the bed.

It’s unclear if any of this actually transpired in Lexi’s play, but chances are it didn’t, since it’s hard to believe Maddy or Cassie would have revealed this much to Lexi, no matter how observant she is. It’s more likely that, in cases like this, the characters in the audience are processing what’s happening in the play in their own minds and filling in the blanks.

If the scene did take place in Nate’s psyche, it begs the question: what does it mean about Nate and Cal? Some fans believe the scene is hinting at the possibility that Nate was sexually abused by Cal as a child, but other fans believe that the scene is Nate processing the emotional and psychological effects of having watched Cal’s porn collection.

Toward the end of the play (and the episode), Ethan as Nate finds himself at the center of a very homoerotic scene in the locker room that features a choreographed dance (including a lot of grinding, humping, and generally salacious behaviour) to “Holding Out For a Hero” by Bonnie Tyler.

This particular scene has been the subject of debate. While some fans interpreted it as commentary on locker-room culture and what a boys’ locker room sometimes looks like due to toxic masculinity, others felt the scene is a pointed statement meant to out Nate as queer (which would not be OK on Lexi’s part if it is the case). While viewers have long questioned Nate’s sexuality since he frequents gay dating apps in season one and has a collection of penis pictures on his phone, it’s hard to know how Lexi would have been privy to these intimate details of Nate’s life that would clue her into this possibility. Since Maddy has tried to get Nate to acknowledge that sexuality is on a spectrum and he may be into guys, it’s possible she or even Cassie said something that made its way to Lexi’s ears.

Nate storming out of the auditorium and telling Cassie that the scene from the play was “homophobic” suggests that even if the scene wasn’t specifically directed at Nate, he took it to be about him.

From what we can tell, Lexi sticks pretty close to reality with her play. She touches on all the details of her life over the past handful of years – everything from Cassie hitting puberty (which she insisted she would go through in exactly 433 days since she’s 433 days younger) to Kat’s (Barbie Ferreira) cam-girl days and everything in between. All under fake names, of course. Considering what we know of the story of these teens, it all feels incredibly accurate, which doesn’t seem to bother most of her friends. But if there’s anyone who loves their portrayal in the play, it’s Lexi’s mom (Alanna Ubach)!

Here’s the thing with Lexi: she’s been humming along in the background for two seasons (and years in the lives of her friends) just taking notes on everyone’s drama, waiting for her moment. She’s the quiet one everyone feels like they can confide in. It seems pretty clear that her friends weren’t aware of what this play was going to be about, but it also seems like most of them aren’t too upset. Despite their harsh portrayals at times, no one else seems to care. Well, except for Nate and Cassie, of course. Even though their own actions in season two have solidified them as antagonists in viewers’ eyes, they don’t seem to appreciate those actions being laid bare in the school’s play.