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Warning: Spoilers for Euphoria season 3
Euphoria has officially overshadowed our Sunday scaries for the foreseeable - which also means our minds are firmly off Coachella, and instead, laser-focused on how Cassie and Nate made it this far.
If you're not quite caught up, season three takes place five years after the events of season two (there's been four whole years between seasons, after all), and our favourite dysfunctional friendship group have left East Highland.
Rue (Zendaya) has found herself eyes-deep in drug debt (let's be honest, what's new?), Jules (Hunter Schafer) is living the sweet life as a sugar baby, Maddy (Alexa Demie) is a talent manager, and Lexi (Maude Apatow) is trying to work her way up in Hollywood.
One of the biggest season three storylines, however, comes from Cassie (Sydney Sweeney), and Nate (Jacob Elordi), who have somehow almost made it to walking down the aisle - even if their relationship doesn't appear smooth-sailing to everyone else.
HBO
While Nate has big dreams for his failing construction business, Cassie has turned to a slightly more lucrative career to secure the $50,000 flowers she wants for the wedding: OnlyFans.
Much to her fiancé's disapproval, the housewife-turned-cam girl is seen in the opening episodes degraded as a series of characters, including a dog and a baby (a scene which has caused an outpouring of controversy among fans of the show), in a bid to get attention on her X-rated page.
It becomes a big source of tension between the pair, with everyone both on and off-screen left wondering how a ticking time bomb has made it this far.
However, according to relationship experts, it's not an uncommon series of events, and the 'upgrade trap' is one that millions of people fall into - with 20 per cent of engagements being broken off as a final straw.
When it comes to Cassie and Nate, every red flag present in their high school dynamic is still there. But now she's got the ring, a sizeable house, and even a wedding date as evidence that something must be working between them. Instead, it's masking an even bigger problem for the pair.
HBO
“The upgrade trap is where couples use milestone escalation as a replacement for evaluating whether their relationship is actually working. The ring, house and wedding date are signals of avoidance, rather than love or success", explains Robyn Alesich, matchmaker and relationship expert from Sister Wives.
“It happens more than most people realise. In a healthy relationship, milestones are escalated by shared excitement about their future together. In the ‘upgrade trap’, they’re pushed forward by anxiety, unresolved conflict of the need to justify time already spent together.”
“It’s not unique to Cassie and Nate,” Robyn adds. “I see this pattern frequently among couples who have reached breaking point, and instead of having an honest conversation, they book the venue.
“The trap is particularly hard to spot because escalating feels like things are improving, but it doesn’t tend to last long. On the outside, a healthy engagement and an upgrade trap engagement look identical. But behind closed doors, they feel completely different, and most people inside struggle to pick up on it.”
Signs that you could be in an 'upgrade trap' can include conflict triggering those major milestone moments; for example, getting engaged straight after a particularly difficult period - or, worse - feeling the buzz quickly wear off 48 hours later.
Most couples who fall into the 'upgrade trap' aren’t deliberately avoiding a conversation, but there’s usually some lingering doubt or unresolved question that gets pushed aside by the new, shiny, exciting element of their lives.
For Cassie, it’s whether Nate actually chose her over Maddy, or if she just ended up being the last one standing.
With six episodes left, there’s still several milestones to go before we find out if they’re headed for anything like a happy ending.
Euphoria season 3 is now streaming on HBO
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Euphoria season 3: Fans react to second episode 'America My Dream'
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