'Euphoria' Cheekily Pays Homage to 'Brokeback Mountain'

In the opening sequence of Episode 4 of "Euphoria's" second season ("You Who Cannot See, Think of Those Who Can"), Jules (Hunter Schafer) and Ru (Zendaya) are seen in a number of homages: first to classic art – Jules as Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" and Frida Kahlo's "Self-Portrait As A Tehuana"; which are followed by homages to classic movies – the iconic "Titanic" image with Jules and Ru as Leo and Kate at the ship's helm; "Ghost's" clay-making scene; Disney's "Snow White" with a woke twist; then, in a slightly longer sequence, Jake Gyllenhaal's and Heath Ledger's campsite sex scene from "Brokeback Mountain."

In the scene, Schafer plays Ledger's character Ennis Del Mar with Zendaya as Gyllenhaal's Jack Twist and they recreate the passionate, if awkward moment when they hooked up for the first time in a tent.

The moment turns out to be a favorite for Schafer, who told Entertainment Weekly: "I mean, I love 'Brokeback Mountain.' I also like [that] it's also something I never would've thought I would be offered to emulate on film, so that was really cool. And that was fun for me and Z just because we got to do our Southern accents and act like kind of old withered Southern dudes who were secretly gay for each other. It was just fun on set for that. And also 'Ghost.' I mean, I love that scene from 'Ghost,' it's so iconic. But also just getting to play with the pottery wheel while we were filming. That was really fun.

She added that filming the sequences was "so much fun. It was sort of sprinkled throughout filming when we got to film those, but it was always a really exciting day when we saw that on the schedule because we knew we were going to probably get into some wild costume, and have to do something insane, whether it's like massaging a clay d--- on a pottery table, or aggressively making out as Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in like 'Brokeback Mountain.' We had a live pony there for that. Just the most wild, out-of-pocket filming circumstances that I would never normally have gotten to work on this end. I was really excited."

But what proved to be another artistic moment that is getting a lot of attention came at the end of the episode during a montage centered on Ru's fantasy of meeting her father and asking for forgiveness in a church while in the arms of a choir member (played by Labrinth). But it wasn't Zendaya who got the attention, rather it was the heartbroken Cassie (Sidney Sweeney) who is seen tear-stained amongst garlands of pink roses in an image that brings to mind the iconic work of French artists Pierre et Gilles.

The image, Vanity Fair wrote, encapsulated Cassie's story arc. "All season long, Cassie has been one of the show's most catastrophic figures. She kicks things off by hooking up with her best friend's ex-boyfriend, Nate, becoming more feckless and delusional with each passing episode. When he starts ignoring her, she begins primping and preening at 4 a.m. every day, replicating Maddy's aesthetic in order to get a millisecond of Nate's attention. Cassie radiates desperation and, on paper, runs the risk of being offensively one-dimensional. But the character is rescued by a forceful, layered performance by Sydney Sweeney, who is quickly becoming the season's acting MVP."