Priscilla Delgado as Angel in Euphoria season 3

Photograph by Courtesy of HBO

Major spoilers ahead for Euphoria season 3 episode 2

Euphoria season 3’s second episode, “America My Dream,” sets up the rise and fall of Rue’s (Zendaya) starry-eyed vision of her new job with Alamo (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) through Angel (Priscilla Delgado), a stripper at the Silver Slipper whose spiral after Tish’s (Emma Kotos) death lands her in rehab.

At Alamo’s behest, Rue had covered up Tish’s OD and got rid of every trace of her in the club owner’s home and business. Tish’s friends were told that she’d fallen in love and ran off, but Angel never believed the lie. She knew Tish was missing and when Rue finally told her the truth, it changed the direction of her life.

Rue’s also the one who checked Angel into Hope Springs, the sketchy facility where she’s supposed to receive care. However, Angel has a line about California having the highest missing person rate in America, which may be foreshadowing a dark fate for her.

If it is, the shiny, glittery veneer of Rue’s managerial position at the Slipper is bound to tarnish as she begins to realize the person she’s chosen to work for is just as bad as Laurie (Martha Kelly).

What Happened To Angel On Euphoria Season 3

When Rue met Angel, it was her first day on the job. She was aware she’d made a deal with the devil by taking Alamo up on his offer to manage his club. But the role got her away from Laurie and happened to be her dream career path. Falling into a relationship with Angel was an added bonus.

While they kept things casual, Rue did grow close enough to Angel to tell her the truth about Tish. Seeing Angel become increasingly volatile and violent over the disappearance of her best friend weighed on Rue’s conscience. So she shared that Angel was right, Tish didn’t run off with some man. She wasn’t answering her calls or messages because she OD’d.

But telling Angel worsened the situation. The once feisty and flirty woman became a shell of herself. She slipped into a depression and began using drugs excessively. When it started impacting Alamo’s business because she couldn’t do her job, he told Rue that he’d pay for Angel to go to rehab. However, it fell on Rue to get her there.

Forbes‘Euphoria’ Season 3 Episode 2 Gets Gross In A Half Dozen Different WaysBy Paul Tassi

Having been in and out of rehab centers since her teens, Rue knew something wasn’t right about Hope Springs. It was cast in shadow and foreboding light when she and Angel arrived. The person at the front desk cared more about the phone game they were playing than receiving Angel and welcoming her to the facility.

There was no paperwork to fill out, just a dismissal as they took Angel in. And, weirdly, as Rue left, an ambulance pulled into her spot while someone across the street watched her drive away. When she mentioned she was concerned about Angel, Bishop (Darrell Britt Gibson) said, “God helps those who help themselves,” and that was the end of their conversation. But this likely won’t be the last we hear about Angel’s rehab stay.

Angel wasn’t making up the statistic about California’s missing persons rate. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System’s (NamUS) January 2025 Bi-annual report listed the state as having the most cases at 3,580. Los Angeles ranked second in top cities with 427 cases.

But this data is based on people who have been reported missing and doesn’t reflect every missing person in the United States. Such as people like Tish whose remains and belongings were disposed of as if she never existed. Whose family will never have answers to what happened to her unless the people responsible own up to the truth. And possibly like Angel considering “America My Dream” reveals that Laurie was introduced to drug running by Alamo.

Alamo Could Be Trafficking Women

Though Laurie has a clear distaste for Alamo’s exploitation of young women, she’s not above exploiting them herself. Laurie used Rue and Faye’s (Chloe Cherry) bodies to smuggle drugs into America. Last season, she drugged Rue with the intent of selling her to cover the debt Rue owed. But if Laurie learned the ins and outs of human trafficking, she may have done so through Alamo.

Enraged over her calling him a pig, he mentioned that the only reason Laurie has a business is because he brought her into this life. If he hadn’t, she’d still be a suburban drug addict instead of a dealer with some weight behind her name. She’s a queenpin who makes money off the bodies of others, including selling them.

While Euphoria hasn’t revealed that Alamo traffics the women he employs when they no longer meet his standards on the job, it may only be a matter of time. In an interview with TV Insider, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje shared the following about Rue and Alamo’s relationship:

"She sees as freedom, you know, she sees the glitz, the glam, the girls dancing, the house perched on top of the hill, the gold guns, all of the trimmings. She wants that for herself, but there’s a cost to that.

Alamo is a ruthless man who has pulled himself up from his bootstraps and built his empire with five strip clubs, selling sex, selling drugs out the back door, selling guns, and selling people, and she will discover how dark he is as this goes on and how entangled she becomes in this world."

As someone who came close to being sold herself, Alamo selling people could be what sours the dream that Rue believes she’s living. She thought she was doing right by Angel and instead she may have brought her into a nightmare.

New episodes of Euphoria season 3 air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and stream exclusively on HBO Max. Follow me on Forbes for weekly coverage of the season and news about the business of TV.