3 min readTHE STRUCTURE OF television episodes can be strange sometimes, because you really can sometimes fit so damn much into a single hour. The third episode of Euphoria’s third season, for instance, titled “The Ballad of Paladin,” is jam packed. Most viewers will probably finish the episode and have nothing but Nate (Jacob Elordi) and Cassie’s (Sydney Sweeney) disastrous, violent, bizarre wedding night on their mind. And rightfully so! But it’s also worth remembering what else happened in “The Balld of Paladin” as well. A separate storyline found Rue (Zendaya) trafficking arms for Alamo (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and the latter also trying to get revenge on Laurie (Martha Kelly) by killing her beloved bird, Paladin (hence the episode title).
But that’s not touching what may have been the episode’s most intriguing storyline—that may, somehow, wind up falling under the radar, just because it was placed at the beginning of an episode where simply so much happened.
“The Ballad of Paladin” gives viewers their best look yet at what’s been going on with Jules (Hunter Schafer) in the time since Euphoria’s second season. Jules is in art school and wants to paint—but it’s not cheap, and it’s not easy. That is, until her roommate tells her about “sugaring.” You’ve probably heard of this concept in the form of the term “Sugar Daddy,” and Jules learns that she can spend time with rich, wealthy, lonely guys for significant money. When she discovers that just a little bit of work in that field will pay a whole month’s rent—and the rest of her time can go toward art—it makes a huge difference in her life, and she’s ecstatic.
We see a montage of Jules’s clients, eventually landing on a man named Ellis who’s clearly different from the rest. Ellis is a plastic surgeon, handsome, collected, and depicted as far more put together than anyone else paying for Jules’s company and attention. Eventually, Ellis becomes Jules’s only client—he basically buys all of her time out. But he’s also into some fairly intense BDSM stuff, and he wants her to be his combination muse and guinea pig. He wraps her in plastic wrap in what is almost certainly the only mummification scene in HBO history; The visuals of a blonde-haired woman wrapped in plastic bring Twin Peaks to mind. It’s a bit chilling—as anyone being deprived of oxygen would be. But Euphoria’s Hans Zimmer score suggests this as a moment of wonder and curiosity, and there’s no indication that Ellis, the character, meant it as anything other than an expression of true feelings. The idea is that his character expresses himself via “art,” just like Jules—just in a different way. As long as things are safe and there’s consent, so far so good.
This story, clearly, is only just getting started. But actor Sam Trammell, who plays Ellis, does a great job in bringing this cold, mysterious character to life.
Sam Trammell plays Ellis in Euphoria season 3
If you recognized Ellis on Euphoria and couldn’t quite place where you knew him from, there’s a good chance you are a True Blood fan. Actor Sam Trammell, who plays Ellis, is best known for playing Sam Merlotte in HBO’s hit vampire series. He’s also appeared across TV in smaller roles in shows like Homeland, This Is Us, and Netflix’s horror series The Order. He also led the Australian limited series Reckoning. On the big screen, he’s best known for his part in The Fault in Our Stars as Shailene Woodley’s character’s father.
Trammell is also an accomplished stage actor, having been nominated for a Tony in 1998 for his part in a revival of Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness!. He’s got another connection to HBO as well: Since 2020, he’s been in a relationship with Emmanuelle Chriqui, who Entourage viewers know best as Sloan.
He’ll next appear in a Hulu YA mystery series titled Foster Dade, playing the father of the titular character.
