Euphoria Season 3, Episode 5: “This Little Piggy”
*includes spoilers
In Euphoria season 3, episode 5, we primarily focus on Cassie, as she continues to ascend into the world of Only Fans, gaining traction, money and subscribers along the way. Maddy is right by her side, benefiting from her friend’s success, as she continues to collect a commission for managing her career. Rue’s criminal involvement has put her smack in the middle, between two battling drug lords and Nate… well, he’s in deep shit.
The poignancy of these storylines exposes the consequences of each character’s actions, as they simultaneously continue to dig themselves into a deeper hole – quite literally (more on this later).
Euphoria Season 3, Episode 5: “This Little Piggy”
Similar to the last episode (but even more so now), the absurdity of Sam Levinson’s use of visual imagery (in order to convey a certain message) is exaggerated to new extremes. In season 3, episode 5 of Euphoria, we explore the use of small and large scale models to portray the enormity of Cassie’s career in conjunction with the destruction it might also catapult her into.
Characters
We start with Cassie (Sydney Sweeney), in a collection of explicit scenes that detail the progression of her Only Fans career. Maddy (Alexa Demie) continues to guide her, working her “to the bone” in order to produce more content and increase her social media presence.
Cassie’s career is taking off and she will do anything to make more money and get ahead, even if it means doing the most absurd things, like farting in a jar and mailing out her dirty underwear.
Larger than life
In a very tacky and weirdly conceptualized montage, we see the representation of Cassie’s professional growth depicted through an over-sized/over-scaled version of herself, as she trudges along a miniature sized Los Angeles. This life-sized version of Cassie is seen stepping over cars, knocking down buildings, breaking overhead power lines and even shattering the office windows of one of her Only Fans subscribers. Her large-scale (bare) breasts demolish the glass windows in a very graphic and irreverently comical scene.
The juxtaposition between her larger-than-life figure and the inevitable damage she causes to the small-scale city beneath her, could very well symbolize and foreshadow the destructive path she is headed towards.
Conflicting contracts
Brandon Fontaine (Jeff Whalberg) invites Cassie to move in with him in the most popular TikTok house in all of Los Angeles County. He promises her that they can build something bigger and better than anything Maddy might be able to provide. Tempted by such a generous and promising offer, she signs his contract. Before she can actually return it back to him, she confronts Maddy in her dingy, old-ass basement.
When she realizes she’s basically being dropped as Cassie’s Talent Manager, Maddy pretends to call the Casting Director for LA Nights and “cancels” an audition she had secured for her. Tempted by a glamourous acting lifestyle, Cassie takes back her word and stays with Maddy instead. To reduce conflict and confusion, Maddy requests that Cassie formally sign a contract. Now she’s locked in.
Little does Cassie know, that Maddy never secured an audition in the first place.
That’s where Lexi (Maude Apatow) comes in. LA Nights is the same show she’s been working on (since episode 1). In an effort to secure an audition and regain Cassie’s trust, she threatens Lexi for an audition slot.
Cassie auditions with an intensely melodramatic Shakespearean monologue which, in any other case, would have served her perfectly, but unfortunately this audition calls for a very small co-starring role as… “job applicant.” Her audition couldn’t be any more tone deaf.
For context, a co-starring role in a television show or series is a small day player part with very few lines. In other words, it won’t make your career and it definitely won’t make you famous.
To (everyone’s) surprise, she books the job.
Another day, another finger
Somewhere else in Los Angeles, Nate (Jacob Elordi) breathes a sigh of relief when he receives another money transfer from Cassie. All is going according to plan (or so he thinks). His apparent optimism and (short-lived) happy dance come to a halting end when one of Naz’s boys breaks into Nate’s house. In a brutal altercation (that results in the loss of another toe and a finger), Nate is once again seen bleeding and suffering to no avail.
At this point, he won’t have any fingers left to accept the money transfers that Cassie continues to wire him.
Rue and the drug lords
Parallel to these storylines is Rue’s and her involvement with the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration). She continues to go undercover in order to help the DEA expose these two battling drug lords: Alamo and Laurie.
At the Silver Stripper, Magick (Rosalía) is not lightening up and continues to discredit Rue, this time, bringing it directly to Alamo’s attention. Tensions flare and Alamo’s distrust over Rue grows deeper.
At some random diner (likely in the middle of nowhere), Rue and Maddy meet up to… catch up, I guess? Strategically, Alamo (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) shows up and corners her. Trying to play it cool and hide his true intention behind this seemingly random appearance, he chit-chats with Maddy and coerces Rue out of the booth, guiding her toward Bishop (Darrell Hadari Britt-Gibson), who is ultimately there to kidnap her and bring her to the desert, where a more sinister plot is about to unfold.
Back at the diner, Alamo is taken away by Maddy’s charm and career ambitions. She discloses the details behind her commission scale, prompting Alamo to join in and receive 15% commission of any Silver Stripper girl that Maddy decides to represent. Suddenly, we have two very random characters that once had absolutelynothing to do with each other, joining in an apparent business partnership. This season is truly wild.
Themes to Consider
Season 3, in its entirety, really pays homage to one of the most important themes of all: dealing with the consequences of your own actions.
Throughout season 3, we see how most of these characters continue to involve themselves in situations that are rooted in vicious cycles (making deals with the wrong people, involving themselves in criminal schemes, getting themselves deeper into debt and falling prey to addictive tendencies… among many other things). Consequences for these actions follow suit, as a reminder for the poor decisions these characters (continue) to make.
Towards the end of this episode, Rue is dragged to the dessert by Alamo and Bishop’s crew, in an apparent attempt to kill her. Little does she know, they have a bigger scheme up their ass: have her dig herself into the ground. Putting aside this intense absurdity, the irony of this scene is brilliantly conceptualized as it quite literally represents the idea of someone “digging their own grave.” This scene, as bizarre as it might be, is really a culmination and a repercussion of Rue’s actions. Actions have consequences and unfortunately, this is hers.
The poignancy of this theme is represented in the trajectory of every character’s story (in the consequences that follow Nate, in the consequences that follow Cassie and in the consequences that are seemingly foreshadowed for Maddy, in relation to her most recent involvement with Alamo).
“Who Even thinks of this Shit?”
The exaggerated tonality of this season, particularly in this episode is astronomically bizarre. Some storylines hold up while others fall flat but I think cumulatively and in true Euphoria fashion, we pay witness to some pretty weird stuff. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Even Rue tells us herself (while she’s 6 feet underground): “who even thinks of this shit?”
Euphoria’s season 3, episode 5: “This Little Piggy” released on May 10, 2026 and you can now stream it on HBO Max.
