I Love Fexi Too ... but Maybe I Shouldn't?
Sam Levinson, writer and creator of Euphoria, did us dirty in season 2.
In the very first episode following a nearly 3-year-long Euphoria drought, Levinson plants the seeds of romance between two characters we've yet to see cross paths: Fez (Angus Cloud), the local drug dealer, and Lexi Howard (Maude Apatow), the nerdy younger sister of Euphoria high's very own Barbie girl, Cassie (Sydney Sweeney).
But is it too good to be true? Levinson paints a picture of Fez as this warm, cuddly, teddy bear of a human, one whose circumstance is created not by any fault of his own, but by the life he was born into. He allows us to empathize with Fez, to see that he didn't want any part of the violence, the drug dealing, the shady characters. Like most kids — even like most of the characters on Euphoria — he just wants a normal life; someone to love him, to listen to him. Our affection for Fez grows, as he and Lexi get to know each other at the New Year's Eve party. Fez is paraded before our eyes as a possible love interest, the only other character who seems to exist on Lexi's deeply introspective plane, to care deeply. And then, Levinson turns him into a beast.
Cloud himself told InStyle he sees his character (and himself) as a lover and a fighter, "You gotta fight for love sometimes. Can't just be one or the other, kind of got to be both."
Levinson makes it hard for us not to. Fez is clearly the good guy when Nate's dad comes to confront him. He's continuously looking out for Rue, who falls deeper and deeper into the throes of her addiction. And to top it off, Lexi and Fez have an undeniable chemistry. Relative to their classmates' X-rated escapades, their interactions are delightfully wholesome. They pass hours chatting on the phone; they hold hands while sitting on the couch; they cry open and unabashed tears while watching, of all things, Stand By Me. What is this, a John Hughes movie?