WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Euphoria Season 2, Episode 7, “The Theater and Its Double,” which aired Sunday, Feb. 20, on HBO.
Nate Jacobs has been the most controversial Euphoria character ever since the show debuted in 2019. Nate has been deemed the series’ main villain due to his cold, calculated, and often violent behavior. His treatment of the show’s other main characters has made fans despise him even more. But Euphoria has often tried to delve deeper into why Nate became who he is, and the series’ latest episode gives audiences the most intimate look into Nate’s psyche yet.
Season 1 was revealed that a young Nate found out about his father Cal’s extramarital affairs when he discovered his extensive collection of personal sex tapes. Cal was having aggressive sexual encounters with various individuals, mainly young men. It is suggested that this discovery had a great impact on Nate and is potentially the cause of his severe anger issues. Nate also went to extreme lengths to protect his father’s secret. He extorted Jules — his trans classmate whom Cal slept with in the series premiere — so he could maintain his family’s status. After Cal came out to his family during an emotional breakdown in Season 2, Nate’s mother Marsha confessed to Nate that she noticed him drastically changing around the age of eight or nine from the sweet son she knew to a darker version of himself, without knowing the reason why.
“The Theater and Its Double” takes a look inside Nate’s mind through a nightmare, showcasing the overwhelming effect Cal’s actions have had on his son’s mental health. The nightmare mirrors Cal’s one-night stand with Jules that Nate saw on the tape. The sequence begins with Nate looking in a mirror but his reflection is the back of his head instead of his face. This indicates Nate’s deep confusion with who he really is now that he doesn’t have to protect his father’s secret anymore.
When Nate turns around, he sees his ex-girlfriend Maddy, who is taking off her dress and intensely stares back at him. Nate and Maddy’s relationship has been toxic and even abusive, making Maddy despise him. When she starts walking towards him, Maddy turns into Jules. The appearance of Jules purposefully shows that while Nate mistreated her in the past, he actually has romantic feelings for her that were complicated by her past involvement with Cal.
Nate throws Jules onto the bed and tears her clothes off, much like Cal did in real life. At this point, the girl is no longer Jules but Cassie — his current girlfriend who was Maddy’s best friend until she cheated with Nate — in Jules’ clothes. This shows why Nate thinks Cassie is a more stable choice for him: because she seems to be more easily controlled than Maddy. Euphoria then shows Cal approaching the bed, putting a horrified Nate in Cassie’s place with his father getting on top of him. This truly disturbing twist clearly demonstrates that Nate is deeply traumatized by his father.
Depicting Cal in the form of a sexual predator and Nate as his victim, Euphoria can be interpreted metaphorically as Nate being a victim of Cal’s twisted tendencies (despite the LGBTQ trope used to humanize him). Nate is victimized by knowing and having covered for his father from such a young age. Nate’s greatest fear is confronting the severe trauma that his father unknowingly afflicted upon him and the idea that he could turn out to be even worse than his dad. With the Season 2 finale soon to come, maybe he’ll get a chance at moving past that fear or it could even tighten its hold on him in Season 3.
The Euphoria Season 2 finale airs Sunday, Feb. 27 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.
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