Euphoria Season 3 Episode 7 Recap: Nate Jacobs Dies, Cassie Becomes A Widow And Rue’s Faith Leads Her Into Danger

This article contains full spoilers for “Rain or Shine,” Season 3 Episode 7 of Euphoria, now streaming on JioHotstar. Once again, Rue Bennett ends an episode of Euphoria in peril — but one of her high-school classmates is even worse off. It’s Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi) who ends the episode actually dead — seemingly incontrovertibly, as we watch his wife Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) weeping over his necrotizing body. 

Episode Details At A Glance

Euphoria delivered one of its most shocking episodes in years with Season 3 Episode 7, “Rain or Shine,” detonating multiple storylines just one week before the finale. The episode crossed a major line with the shocking death of Jacob Elordi’s Nate Jacobs, a moment that instantly changes the emotional landscape of the series.

The Death Of Nate Jacobs: Buried Alive And Bitten

Nate’s fall from power has been one of the slower burns this season. Once the terrifying high school force who generated so much menace through barely contained rage, he’s now a failed real estate developer drowning in over a million dollars of debt to loan shark Naz. The loan sharks, who’ve been holding Nate hostage over a $1 million debt, have buried Nate in a shallow grave with a small vent to the outside world, giving Cassie, whom they also kidnap in this episode, three days to come up with the money to buy Nate’s freedom. 

Nate was buried alive in a coffin underground, with only a single drain pipe for air at the Sun Settlers site. He tried his best to call for help, including reaching out to his own brother, but no one could hear him. A rattlesnake had gotten into the vent and bit him, leading to his death from the poisonous venom as Cassie weeps over his body. The coffin opens to reveal Nate’s swollen body, glassy eyes, blue bloated tongue protruding, and the still-hissing rattlesnake coiled on his chest like some final insult.

How The Rescue Attempt Unfolded — And Failed

It is a vile arrangement, but the show makes it worse by letting hope arrive too late. Cassie reaches out to Maddy, Maddy turns to Alamo, and Alamo brings bullets to the drop site. One loan shark dies, the standoff breaks, and Cassie finally reaches Nate. But Nate is already finished. A rattlesnake has slipped through the vent and bitten him, making the entire rescue feel like a cruel joke.

Jacob Elordi Breaks Silence On Nate’s Death

“That’s a cool way to go,” Elordi said in a behind-the-scenes video after the episode. “Nate is someone who’s made so many mistakes and made so many dark choices. It’s cool to see it all come to what it’s come to.” Of his character’s death, Elordi said: “It’s a bit of sweet thing. This show is a massive part of not just my career, but my life. It’s been amazing, and I’m so proud being a part of this.” 

Series creator Sam Levinson explained that Nate’s brutal death was intentionally designed to challenge viewers who wanted the character punished. “How can I give them what they want, but make it so horrific and anxiety-inducing that by the time it happens, the audience isn’t so sure they wanted it?”

Cassie’s Desperate Arc: From Fired Actress To Widow

Cassie has been scrambling for relevance and cash all season, and this episode puts her through it in ways that feel both ridiculous and painfully real. Fresh off getting fired from her “L.A. Nights” acting gig because the producers didn’t want the OnlyFans baggage attached to her public image, she tries (and fails) to get her old account back. With income gone and followers drying up fast, she pivots hard into pure survival mode. Before the kidnapping fully swallows her life, she pulls off a scheme involving Dylan Reed. She gets him drunk, sleeps with him, steals his phone, and posts from his Instagram to make herself look desirable and valuable again. 

Cassie created the post while Dylan was in the kitchen, drinking a glass of ice water that he didn’t notice contained the frozen finger of Nate — a morbid reminder of just how much suffering was playing out elsewhere. It’s a gruesome sendoff for a character who’d previously shown no small capacity for violence toward others. And, as the season finale nears, it opens up an entirely new emotional playbook for a character who’s gone from dissatisfied wife to, suddenly, a widow, all within the first months of her marriage.

Cassie’s Season 3 Trajectory

Rue’s Spiritual Awakening: Faith Or Delusion?

Rue, after seeing a burning bush as a sign at the end of last week’s episode, tells Ali she has heard the voice of God, telling her, “I heard your cries, I feel your pain; have faith and I will take you from Egypt and I will lead you to the Promised Land.” Rue, in her connection to faith, seems to have a new sense that anything is possible — she survived a near-car crash only to see a burning bush, after all.

But that faith leads her straight into danger. She’s at risk of being discovered attempting to rob a drug cartel, after Faye (Chloe Cherry), who’d been attempting to help Rue, flips on her and screams to wake everyone up. In service of this mistruth, Rue attempts to beat herself up and leave bruises. To reward Rue’s professed desire to swap sides, the cartel threatens her with all manner of violence before slicing her palm open with a knife. Their methods are questionable, but they’re right to be suspicious; Rue attempts her robbery with Faye’s help in the middle of the night, before the state of the safe convinces Faye that Rue’s been lying the whole time.

Ali’s Flashback: The Quiet Anchor

In a signature Euphoria Rue-narrated flashback, we see Ali (Colman Domingo) during his journey to finding sobriety. After an explosive fight with his wife, Ali hangs out in a flophouse with a character played by Natasha Lyonne; later, as he works the steps, we see him attempting to sponsor other addicts, especially during the dark days of COVID when in-person meetings went away. Ali’s now trying to do the same, once again, for Rue, although he seems to have the sense that this is going to be an increasingly challenging battle. 

Colman Domingo brings the kind of weight that makes silence feel written. Ali is not presented as a saint. He is a man who has broken things and tried, day by day, to stop breaking more. That is why his scenes with Rue matter so much. He recognizes the glitter in her latest belief, but he also knows the danger of confusing a sign with permission.

Where Every Major Character Stands Going Into The Finale

Alamo’s got other plans in mind and kills Naz on the spot. Unfortunately, turning to Alamo was all for naught, and it tipped off Alamo to Rue’s activity with the DEA after Maddy mentions a fight between Rue and Lexie while soliciting Alamo’s help in the hot tub.

The Finale Setup: Everything Converges

The ending doesn’t simply set up a finale. It completely reshapes it. With Nate’s death, fans now await what will happen to Rue, who is also walking into her own nightmare, as Euphoria Season 3 comes to an end. Euphoria Season 3, Episode 8, “In God We Trust,” will air on Sunday, May 31, 2026, on HBO and Max. The season three finale, “In God We Trust,” which is rumored to be the show’s last episode ever, is set to debut next Sunday (May 31). The runtime is set to make history for HBO.

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