Happy Birthday Sydney Sweeney: Here is the complete breakdown of her most beloved character on Euphoria, Cassie Howard

Sweeney Sydney’s name has become synonymous with her on-screen portrayal of a character named Cassie Howard in the top-rated HBO drama series Euphoria. The show has garnered international fame and recognition amongst the younger generation of our times. It tells the tale of American high school teenagers and their journey dealing with individual struggles, be it family, drugs or dating. Euphoria is based on the Israeli series of the same name and features Hollywood actors like Zendaya, Jacob Elordi, Maude Apatow, Alexa Demie, Barbie Ferreira and Nika King including others in lead roles.

We are first met with Sydney’s character when Zendaya visits her friend Lexi’s house to get a fake urine sample for a drug test that her mom wants her to take. Cassie (Sydney) appears in the scene along with her mother at the dinner table in her all-perfect look with hair, clothes and make-up done. She comes across as naive, yet with a hint of ambition in her eyes. She is blue-eyed blonde that everybody desires and there is no denying the fact that she can mesmerize anyone with her enchanting looks. Cassey doesn’t say much in the scene except for stopping her mother from embarrassing her when she goes on about Cassey being in a relationship with a guy named Christopher McKay (Agee Smith).

Cassie seems to be head over heels for McKay and the two enter in an intimate relationship. Cassie showcases the best side of her personality during her time with McKay, where she is a loyal and honest girlfriend. She comes across as sweet, naïve and a nice person who would never try to hurt anybody, but the future course of action in her life leads to Cassie’s transformation that makes us believe otherwise.

The next few episodes follow the individual lives of all the characters involved in the series where Cassie gets pregnant with McKay’s child, but his reluctance to take responsibility for the child makes her abort the baby. That moment later proves to be a turning point in the plotline of the show where Cassie loses her sense of self and fools around with other men, being all anxious at the same time that she is cheating on her boyfriend McKay. During one such encounter of her’s with another high school teenager named Daniel, she hits a new low in her life when Daniel gives her a reality check saying that she is boring, and has got nothing to say except to whine about her boyfriend. He exclaimed that she is nothing except for a pretty face and that no guy would ever be genuinely interested in her. That breaks Cassie and she enters into self-doubt.

During one of the scenes, Cassie tells her friend Maddy that she deserves a guy who is passionate and loving, who yearns for her and can’t wait to see her, who she's not gonna fight with and who just wants to be with her, who truly really loves you. The scene makes us believe that Cassie might just not be talking to Maddy about her and Nate but is delving into self-reflection and validating what she deserves to have in a relationship. Her shallow caricaturish personality hits depth with this scene and marks an important point in justifying her future course of action where she years for love and also to be loved.

Cassie might be the hottest and the most beautiful girl in her high school but her sense of perfection and ambition in terms of looking the best causes her to have serious anxiety and stress which also stems from her childhood trauma involving her parents. Cassie was born beautiful, with her father’s handsome genes that would attract a lot of attention from other ladies and would make her mother feel jealous and cause a rift in their relationship. The rift between the two keeps growing leading to her father becoming an alcoholic who is unable to keep a steady job and her possessive mother that also ends up becoming an addict and embarrasses the family with her social antics. Cassie loved her father but had to accept her parent’s separation. She could not deal with this trauma of separation and tried divulging her focus on beauty and makeup. The tarnished relationship caused a deep impact on her mental psyche and made her indulge in sexual behavior to try to get some male attention.

After Nate and Maddy break up, Cassie and Nate get in a relationship where she is faced with an ethical dilemma on dating her best friend’s boyfriend or not. Cassie yearns for Nate’s company when he gets hit by Fez, the drug dealer, and stays in the hospital for weeks. They both confess their love for each other but later Cassie gets to know about new developments that happened between Nate and Maddy trying to get back together. This pisses Cassie off and reveals her true mean personality, she becomes psychotic and threatens Nate to be in a relationship with her. She threatens Nate by telling Maddy about the whole truth which is just an attempt to hurt Nate and destroy any chances of him and Maddy getting back together. This is when you hate her, despise her, do not believe her, and hope for her to be her old self again.

Later, Rue, in an attempt to flee her mother, reveals the truth about Cassie and Nate’s relationship to Maddy, which causes quite a squabble between Cassie and Maddy. Maddy is crazy and threatens to kill her, kill the best friend who sneaked behind her back to be in a relationship with her ex-boyfriend. This marks the end of the friendship between Cassie and Maddy and also ends any chances of Maddy getting back together with Nate, which upsets him and hence he gets back together with Cassie instead. The devil ultimately gets what she wants.

The final episode of Season 2 is the end and the whole episode makes quite a statement. It focuses upon the transformation that Cassie has gone through over the year, which is displayed through a play written and directed by her sister Lexi, which is being presented in front of a live audience. The play is a summary of the year and also of the series, which shows character developments that have happened across the seasons. The final episode also takes away the limelight from the protagonist of the show, Rue and makes Cassie the ultimate lead, even though in a negative role, which she accepts with open hands. The plotline of the play upset Nate, who breaks up with Cassie and she ultimately breaks down on stage embarrassing her family and friends.

Sweeney Sydney is impeccable in her performance and aces both the shades of her character from being a dum-blonde bimbo to ending up being a psychotic, manipulative person. Cassie would literally be the prettiest girl you would see on screen but her biggest powers also come in the way of her making real connections with other people like when she gets too ambitious in making everything perfect and wakes up at 4 in the morning, taking three hours to get ready for school just to impress Nate. She is neither respected nor desired by teenage boys the way Maddy or even Jules is, who make real connections and does not relapse whenever anything insignificant goes wrong.

Euphoria is one of the most complicated yet interesting plotlines that I’ve come across in a really long time. All the actors nail their characters' portrayals by getting into the psyche of their roles and looking effortless yet aesthetically pleasing on the screen. The must-watch HBO series is available on Disney+Hotstar.