Euphoria’s penultimate episode showcases Zendaya’s acting range and proves this show can pull off just about anything.

Euphoria season 1, episode 7, “The Trials and Tribulations of Trying to Pee While Depressed,” separates Jules and Rue for the first time since they met. While Rue is buried beneath her depression, Jules gets out of town to visit some old friends and forget about everything going on back home.

Neither one of them is very successful in their endeavors, with Jules having a hallucination about Nate, and Rue only making it as far as the hallway before her mother finds her curled up in a ball on the floor.

While this episode was an incredible snapshot of what it’s like to have depression, in addition to several other mental illnesses, I couldn’t help but be floored by Zendaya’s range as an actor. This show really does place the world at her feet.

So far, we’ve seen a few different sides of Rue. Even when Rue is at her lowest points, whether that’s when she’s incredibly high, incredibly depressed, or incredibly cruel, Zendaya has a way of making you care about this character.

In the beginning, we met the version of Rue who was hellbent on staying high for as long as she possibly could. For the most part, she was pretty laid back, but she was also cunning and resourceful. That bottle trick with the pee is kind of ingenious, even if it is ultimately hurting her.

While this version is clearly not Rue, but rather Rue-on-drugs, I see this as her base personality. She’s not looking to cause any trouble or rock any boats. She just wants to get through life without thinking about how shitty it is all the time.

But once Rue tries to get sober, her emotions shift and we begin to see a different side of her. Desperate Rue is angry and volatile. For someone so small and quiet most of the time, Rue finds ways to make herself heard. We especially see this when she confronts her mom with the shard of glass, as well as when she’s cursing out Fez for fucking up her life.

Rue is happy when she’s with Jules and sad when they’re apart, but nothing is done in moderation on Euphoria. Zendaya really gets to play to her character’s extremes, and the show is all the better for it. When you’re a teenager, every situation feels like life or death, and that’s exactly how Jules and Rue’s relationship plays out.

When they’re together, Rue is on top of the world. It’s almost as good as being high. She’s happy. She’s laughing. She’s content. For someone who has struggled her entire life to feel “normal,” this must be such a wonderfully foreign concept. She’s found something in life that makes her feel good without being a detriment to her mental and physical health.

But what happens when they’re apart? Jules goes away for the weekend in Euphoria 1×07, and Rue falls into a deep depression. All she does is watch Love Island and stay in her bedroom. She doesn’t eat and she definitely doesn’t go to the bathroom. This isn’t just sadness over the fact that she can’t hang out with Jules on a Friday night; this is about the fact that Jules is clearly keeping something from her and does not feel as though she can confide in her best friend.

As Rue’s body flushes out the last of the drugs, we start to see what Rue is like without any outside influences. What’s left is someone who clearly struggles with depression, OCD, and bipolar disorder, just to name a few. In this week’s episode, we see Rue during a manic episode, and this is really where Zendaya gets to shine.

Before we talk about Zendaya’s incredible acting here, I just want to point out that Euphoria has the unique ability to do pretty much anything it wants while staying firmly in the realm of believability. Rue’s proclivity for drugs and her current mental state means it makes perfect sense to see a couple of pill bottles talk to her, or watch her and Lexi walk around like a pair of detectives, trying to figure out what’s been going on with Jules.

(For the record, I would watch the hell out of a detective show starring Zendaya. Seriously, put her in all the things.)

In most shows, this flat out wouldn’t work. In others, it would have to be a dream sequence of some sort. Euphoria, on the other hand, can flawlessly transition between what’s happening in reality and what’s happening in Rue’s head without it being confusing or jarring. And when it is either of those things? You know the show is trying to tell you something. Everything has a purpose.

Zendaya handles Rue’s many facets with ease. She can switch between chill druggie, desperate addict, depressed teen, and manic sleuth within the blink of an eye. None of these states of being are like the others, and yet every single one of them feels like a part of Rue. I have to chalk it up to both the writers and the actor for this one, as that is not an easy feat to accomplish.

What makes me most excited, however, is the idea that Euphoria is a limitless playground for Zendaya. The narrative allows anything in Rue’s imagination to become a reality in her world. We’ve already had an animated sequence. We’ve also seen a group of Dothraki attack the school. Maybe next week Jules will momentarily transform into a unicorn.

As long as there is a reason, something like this wouldn’t feel out of the ordinary. Its purpose is to further give us a glimpse into Rue’s mind.

We know Zendaya is already capable of playing many different sides to Rue. What I want to see is how far she, and this show, can push the boundaries of television. Will there ever be a point where they’ve ceased to make her journey as believable as it is relatable?

Honestly, I don’t think so. And I look forward to seeing every second play out on screen.

What do you love most about Zendaya on ‘Euphoria’?