Why Eric Dane’s ‘Euphoria’ Return as Cal Jacobs Is So Powerful

Home TV Columns Apr 26, 2026 7:00pm PT Why Eric Dane’s ‘Euphoria’ Return as Cal Jacobs Is So Powerful By Daniel D'Addario Plus Icon Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic DPD_ Latest Why Eric Dane’s ‘Euphoria’ Return as Cal Jacobs Is So Powerful 28 minutes ago ‘Over Your Dead Body’ Director Jorma Taccone on the Lonely Island’s ‘SNL’ Legacy and Recovering From a Shattered Pelvis: ‘I Had a Moment of My Life Flashing Before My Eyes’ 5 days ago Sydney Sweeney’s Work in ‘Euphoria’ Season 3 Is Complicated and Compelling 1 week ago See All Courtesy of HBO SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers from “The Ballad of Paladin,” Season 3, Episode 3 of “Euphoria,” now streaming on HBO Max. One of the defining loose threads of “Euphoria” has been settled — in moving and compelling fashion. The action of the first season of “Euphoria” back in 2019 kicks off with a crime. Jules Vaughn, the new girl in her high school, solicits sex from older men; Cal Jacobs, a seemingly upstanding member of the community, commits an act of statutory rape. The act is captured on a tape that haunted the show through its first two seasons — as evidence of Cal’s unfaithfulness and of a queer identity he can barely admit to himself, and as a potential catalyst for his fall from grace. Related Stories Philomena Cunk Returns! Diane Morgan’s Beloved Idiot Heads to the Movies With ‘Cunk on Cinema’ for BBC, Netflix (EXCLUSIVE)