After the Euphoria season, a lot of fans are starting to ask the same question: is Jules actually the real villain of this season? For years, Cassie has been treated as the chaotic center of destruction in the show. And yes, she’s still messy, impulsive, and constantly hurting people around her. But season 3 has complicated things. Weirdly enough, Cassie at least seems to be surviving in the only way she knows how.
She’s financially supporting herself and Nate, even if the methods are completely unhinged. Her online content career has spiraled into increasingly bizarre territory, but she’s still actively trying to keep their lives afloat while Nate continues being emotionally useless and financially unstable.
Jules, on the other hand, feels different this season.
A lot of viewers feel like season 3 has exposed how selfish and emotionally destructive Jules can be, especially toward the people who genuinely try to help her.
One of the biggest examples came through Lexi. Lexi literally handed Jules an opportunity she did not have to offer her. At a point where Jules had dropped out of art school and seemed directionless, Lexi trusted her professionally and gave her real creative work. Instead of respecting that opportunity, Jules nearly destroyed it.
Rather than delivering something safe for the production, Jules submitted explicit artwork filled with penis imagery that immediately caused problems for Lexi at work. And instead of helping resolve the situation after Lexi got reprimanded, Jules simply walked away from the mess she created.
That moment felt like a turning point for a lot of fans.
It reinforced one of the biggest criticisms surrounding Jules since season 1: she constantly creates emotional and personal chaos for other people, then disappears before facing the consequences.
Her dynamic with Rue has become even more frustrating this season.
Episode 5 heavily hints that Jules still wants emotional control over Rue without fully committing to her. During their tense penthouse conversation, Jules gives Rue mixed signals, practically inviting intimacy while still keeping her emotionally unstable.
At the same time, the show also makes it obvious that Jules is jealous of Angel and Rue’s past relationship. Rue talks about Angel with a level of passion and emotional honesty that visibly affects Jules.
Then comes the brutal reality check involving Jules’ sugar daddy, Ellis.
For maybe the first time this season, somebody directly confronts Jules about her behavior. Ellis tells her very clearly that while he likes her, he loves his family more, and he refuses to risk his marriage or health while she continues sleeping with other people in his apartment. You can literally see Jules realizing that she has built her entire life around attention, desire, and emotional validation from other people without creating anything stable for herself.
That’s what makes her arc this season feel so dark.
Cassie is destructive, but Cassie is openly chaotic. Jules operates differently. She presents herself as emotionally intelligent and self-aware while repeatedly damaging the lives of people who care about her. Even her career storyline reflects that emptiness. She left art school, abandoned structure, and when a genuine opportunity finally came her way through Lexi, she sabotaged it almost immediately.
Season 3 also keeps circling back to an uncomfortable question about Jules and Rue: does Jules actually love Rue, or does she just need Rue to want her?
That tension has quietly become one of the most important parts of the season.
And while Cassie may still be the loudest disaster in Euphoria, episode 5 makes a very strong argument that Jules is the one causing the deepest emotional damage.